Federal Law

ATLANTIC CITY - Hoping to avert a costly legal battle over whether New Jerseyans should be able to bet on sports, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. said he would introduce a bill Monday giving the state an exemption from a federal ban on sports betting. Pallone, a Democrat in the GOP-led House, said his bill would take effect immediately upon passage. How likely it is to get through Congress remains to be seen. It would represent the most direct path to approving sports betting in New Jersey.

A federal court judge yesterday ordered the state to make it easier for citizens to register to vote. The federal government sued the state for not implementing the federal "motor voter" law, which requires states to let citizens register to vote when they apply for driver's licenses, welfare and many other public services. The state opposed the law, arguing that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to order a state to implement the law. Bob Gentzel, a spokesman for Attorney General Ernie Preate, said the state also was concerned about a segment of the law that would stop the state from purging voters who hadn't voted in 2 1/2 years.

Pennsylvania yesterday drew another line in the sand in its fight with Washington over the motor-voter act when a Senate panel approved legislation that would circumvent a major provision of the federal law. By a 6-4 party-line vote, the Republican-led State Government Committee sent to the full Senate a bill that would not change state law on purging voters from registration rolls if they fail to vote in five straight elections. The federal law disallows voters to be dropped from the rolls, except when they die or move.

They met at a birthday party in 1990, were instantly smitten, and, after years of transatlantic romancing, got married in California in 2008. Today, they have four adopted children, ages 6 to 11, and a comfortable home in Harrisburg. But a sword of Damocles hangs over the couple, only one of whom is an American citizen. The other is French, and vulnerable to deportation. Under federal immigration law, married binational couples usually can fix this precarious situation with a family reunification petition, seeking a green card for the foreign-born spouse.

CRAIG HETHERINGTON, a 44-year-old Bedford County trucker, held a sign reading, "Pat Toomey, You Are Fired. " Kay Hartman, a Mifflin County "tea-party patriot old enough to be wise," carried a large white flag featuring a black AK-47 over the words "Come and Take It. " Another woman held a sign: "Gun Control is False Hope; Jesus Christ is the True Hope. " And a bearded man wearing a "Don't Tread on Me" red vest held a sign: "We Come Unarmed (this time). " Welcome to the Pennsylvania gun club.

It was the second-biggest mistake of LaRue Y. Smith's life. Laid off from his job, Smith went to his computer, copied out a list of 7-Eleven stores in and around Philadelphia, grabbed a gun, and started sticking them up. The clerks and customers were terrified. Smith fired his revolver once, by accident, and almost shot himself in the leg. Police caught the former Marine eight weeks after his crimes had started in June 2007. Within hours, he confessed to a dozen robberies that netted him an unimpressive $2,510, plus cigarettes, chips, and soft drinks.

WASHINGTON - How it affects children will be one factor the Justice Department weighs as it determines how to respond to the legalization of marijuana in Washington state and Colorado, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told Congress on Thursday. "I think among the kinds of things we will have to consider is the impact on children," along with factors such as violence connected to trafficking and organized crime, Holder told a House Appropriations subcommittee. He commented in response to questions about ballot initiatives legalizing the drug.

A Philadelphia man admitted in federal district court yesterday that he had sex with three underage females in Egypt from January 2004 to May 2007. Authorities said Omar Rashaad Bey, 33, of South Philadelphia, impregnated two of the victims when they were 15 and both bore Bey's sons at the same age. The births occurred in Egypt in February 2006 and March 2007. Federal law makes it a crime for a U.S. citizen to travel abroad to engage in illicit sex with persons under the age of 18. Bey allegedly entered into "purported Islamic marriages" with the two women he impregnated, according to prosecutors.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court this week will hear an emotional challenge to federal law on the adoption of Native American children, with several states, tribes, and children's welfare groups lining up to support current rules. The case involves a South Carolina couple fighting for custody of their adopted daughter who, after a court battle, was returned to her biological father in Oklahoma. At issue is the Indian Child Welfare Act, passed in 1978 because of the high number of Indian children being removed from their homes by public and private agencies.

The Radnor commissioners are considering waiving lifeguard requirements for swimming pools that meet certain criteria. Codes Enforcement Officer Michael O. Fleig told the commissioners Monday night that an amendment to township law would apply to indoor swimming pools designated for adult use only and having a maximum depth of 5 feet. The only comment came from John P. Bruno, president of the Radnor Board of Health, who said the health board had questioned the basis of the proposal in the fall.

CRAIG HETHERINGTON, a 44-year-old Bedford County trucker, held a sign reading, "Pat Toomey, You Are Fired. " Kay Hartman, a Mifflin County "tea-party patriot old enough to be wise," carried a large white flag featuring a black AK-47 over the words "Come and Take It. " Another woman held a sign: "Gun Control is False Hope; Jesus Christ is the True Hope. " And a bearded man wearing a "Don't Tread on Me" red vest held a sign: "We Come Unarmed (this time). " Welcome to the Pennsylvania gun club.

Federal prosecutors charged the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings with terrorism on Monday, outlining a chilling plot in which the man and his brother allegedly used low-grade but deadly explosives timed to detonate a block apart. As he lay seriously injured in a Boston-area hospital, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property, counts that could bring him the death penalty. He made his first court appearance in an unusual, nonpublic proceeding in which a federal judge and several lawyers went to his hospital bed. The toll from the bombings, according to court documents and interviews on Monday, could have been far higher.

WASHINGTON - How it affects children will be one factor the Justice Department weighs as it determines how to respond to the legalization of marijuana in Washington state and Colorado, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told Congress on Thursday. "I think among the kinds of things we will have to consider is the impact on children," along with factors such as violence connected to trafficking and organized crime, Holder told a House Appropriations subcommittee. He commented in response to questions about ballot initiatives legalizing the drug.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court this week will hear an emotional challenge to federal law on the adoption of Native American children, with several states, tribes, and children's welfare groups lining up to support current rules. The case involves a South Carolina couple fighting for custody of their adopted daughter who, after a court battle, was returned to her biological father in Oklahoma. At issue is the Indian Child Welfare Act, passed in 1978 because of the high number of Indian children being removed from their homes by public and private agencies.

NOTHING makes 150 years fall away quite like seeing the blood of Abraham Lincoln. Visiting a friend in rural northeastern Pennsylvania a few years back, I was ushered to the local historical society in the town of Milford. A dark patch on the 36-star wool flag displayed there is a stark reminder of the first assassination of a U.S. president, whose head it cradled after he was shot at Ford's Theatre. The stain is also somber testimony to the fact that the struggle for equality that he came to personify remains a mission unfinished.

WASHINGTON - A majority of the Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared ready to strike down a key section of a law that withholds federal benefits from gay married couples, as justices concluded two days of hearings that showed them to be as divided as the rest of the nation over same-sex marriage. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the pivotal justice on the issue, said the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) may have intruded too deeply on the traditional role of state governments in defining marriage.

This week, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is expected to decide whether to uphold a ban on girls from playing Catholic Youth Organization contact football. My daughter Caroline Pla was a junior varsity member of Doylestown Romans team in Bucks County. Last fall, the archdiocese decided Caroline could no longer play because football is designated for boys. Caroline had received permission to play from the CYO Philadelphia Office in 2011, was successful on the field, and supported by her coaches, team, and pastor, and capped this last season with an all-star appearance.

WASHINGTON - Democrats gave a boost Tuesday to the pillar of President Obama's plans for reducing gun violence, pushing a bill requiring nearly universal federal background checks for firearms buyers through the Senate Judiciary Committee over solid Republican opposition. The proposal still faces a difficult path through Congress, where GOP lawmakers say it would have little impact on crime and warn that it is a precursor to a federal registry of gun owners. Such a listing is forbidden by federal law and is anathema to conservatives and the National Rifle Association.

LAST MONTH, former Gov. Ed Rendell challenged Pennsylvania's U.S. lawmakers in these pages to answer a series of questions on gun-control measures making their way through Congress. We have published responses from Sen. Bob Casey and Rep. Chaka Fattah, and today publish responses from the rest of the members of Congress. Rep. Bob Brady 1. Will you support mandatory universal background checks? "Absolutely. " 2. Will you support stronger laws to stop straw purchase gun-traffickers?

BEAVERTON, Ore. - An Oregon mother who battled Facebook for full access to her deceased son's account has been pushing for years for something that would prevent others from losing photos, messages, and other memories - as she did. "Everybody's going to face this kind of a situation at some point in their lives," says Karen Williams, whose 22-year-old son died in a 2005 motorcycle accident. The Oregon Legislature responded and took up the cause recently with a proposal that would have made it easier for loved ones to access the "digital assets" of the deceased, only to be turned back by pressure from the tech industry, which argued that both a 1986 federal law and voluntary terms of service agreements prohibit companies from sharing a person's information - even if such a request were included in a last will and testament.