A Sacramento County Superior Court judge has put a temporary hold on a new California law boosting protections for fast-food workers that was set to go into effect Jan. 1.

The order comes in response to a lawsuit filed Thursday by a coalition of major restaurant and business trade groups that is backing an effort to overturn the law, called Assembly Bill 257, through a referendum on the California ballot in November 2024. If the referendum qualifies for the ballot, it would block AB 257 until voters have a say.

The coalition, called Save Local Restaurants, took issue with the state Department of Industrial Relations' effort to implement AB 257 on Jan. 1, arguing that because the referendum effort is well underway, it renders the law unenforceable. Implementing the law could set a harmful precedent that threatens voters’ right of referendum, the coalition said.

Erin Mellon, a spokesperson with Gov. Gavin Newsom's office, said Thursday that the law would be put into effect while election authorities completed the process of verifying voter signatures necessary to qualify the referendum. However, state officials "will, of course, abide by any court order," she said in an email.

In his final days in office, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is shaping the future of the Arizona Court of Appeals with six new appointments.

Ducey selected Michael Catlett, Anni Hill Foster and Daniel Kiley for the Court of Appeals Division I in Phoenix and Lacey Stover Gard, Michael Kelly and Christopher O’Neil to Division II in Tucson.

“These new judges will provide the much needed resources for the Court of Appeals to handle its growing caseload as more and more people choose Arizona as a place to live, work, and start a business. ...They will faithfully uphold the law, defend the Constitution, and respect the separation of powers. I am proud to have these judges serve the State of Arizona on the Court of Appeals," Ducey said in a statement Thursday.

The Court of Appeals is the second-highest court in the state, behind the state Supreme Court. It receives cases that are appealed from state Superior Courts, and participants appear before a team of three judges.

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona court has ruled that abortion doctors cannot be prosecuted under a pre-statehood law that criminalizes nearly all abortions yet was barred from being enforced for decades.

But the Arizona Court of Appeals on Friday declined to repeal the 1864 law, which carries a sentence of two to five years in prison for anyone who assists in an abortion and provides no exceptions for rape or incest.

Still, the court said doctors can’t be prosecuted for performing abortions in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy because other Arizona laws passed over the years allow them to perform the procedure, though non-doctors are still subject to be charged under the old law.

“The statutes, read together, make clear that physicians are permitted to perform abortions as regulated” by other abortion laws, the appeals court wrote.

The pre-statehood law, which allows abortions only if a patient’s life is in jeopardy, had been blocked from being enforced shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing women a constitutional right to an abortion.

BATON ROUGE, La. – When Kaitlyn Joshua found out she was pregnant in mid-August, she and her husband, Landon Joshua, were excited to have a second baby on the way. They have a 4-year-old daughter, and thought that was just the right age to help out with a younger sibling.

At about six weeks pregnant, Joshua, 30, called a physicians' group in Baton Rouge. She wanted to make her first prenatal appointment there for around the eight-week mark, as she had in her first pregnancy. But Joshua says the woman on the line told her she was going to have to wait over a month.

"They specifically said, 'We now no longer see women until they're at least 12 weeks,'" Joshua recalls. "And I said, 'Oh Lord. Is this because of what I think? And they said, 'Yes.'"

She remembers the woman on the phone saying that since the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and with what the woman called a gray area in Louisiana's law, the group was delaying the first prenatal appointment with patients.

Joshua remembers her saying that many women miscarry in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and they didn't want to be liable for an investigation.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Kentucky and Ohio will get more than $1.63 billion in federal grants to help build a new Ohio River bridge near Cincinnati and improve the existing overloaded span there, a heavily used freight route linking the Midwest and the South, officials announced Thursday.

Congestion at the Brent Spence Bridge on Interstates 75 and 71 has for years been a frustration for travelers, a bottleneck on a key shipping corridor and thus a symbol of the nation’s growing infrastructure needs. Officials say the bridge was built in the 1960s to carry around 80,000 vehicles a day but has seen double that traffic load on its narrow lanes, leading the Federal Highway Administration to declare it functionally obsolete.

The planned project covers about 8 miles (12 kilometers) and includes improvements to the bridge and some connecting roads and construction of a companion span nearby. The two states coordinated to request funding under the bipartisan infrastructure deal signed last year by President Joe Biden, a Democrat who had touted the project while the legislation was under consideration.

The companion bridge ”will be one of the bill’s crowning accomplishments," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a statement Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court handed down a one-page, 5-4 decision extending the life of a Trump-era border policy known as Title 42, which expels numerous immigrants seeking to enter the United States using an expedited process.

That decision came in Arizona v. Mayorkas, and is typical behavior from the Supreme Court — or, at least, is reflective of this Court’s behavior since a Democrat moved into the White House at the beginning of 2021. It’s the latest example of the Court dragging its feet after a GOP-appointed lower court judge overrides the Biden administration’s policy judgments, often letting that one judge decide the nation’s policy for nearly an entire year.

The Title 42 program, which the Biden administration determined must be terminated last May, will now likely remain in effect for several more months due to the Court’s decision. Indeed, even if the Court ultimately decides that the administration should prevail in this case, the Court is unlikely to lift its order extending this Trump-era program until June. And that delay may be the best-case scenario for the Biden administration — and for the general principle that unelected judges aren’t supposed to decide the nation’s border policy.

Moreover, the current situation differs sharply when Republican President Donald Trump was in office, and the Court frequently raced to reinstate Trump’s policies within mere days.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s largest county won a legal victory Wednesday in its effort to stave off a rare federal takeover of its jail, where a judge has found “ongoing unconstitutional conditions” for prisoners.

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed a lower court’s order putting the Raymond Detention Center into receivership until it rules on the county’s motion for reconsideration. The court will also look at whether the lower court's injunction complies with the Prison Litigation Reform Act, a 1996 federal law that places restrictions on lawsuits brought by prisoners.

Hinds County officials applauded the move to delay work by the receiver, who attorneys for the county said would be “utterly unaccountable” to voters and taxpayers.

“We are still facing the day-to-day challenges at the jail, but we are thankful for the opportunity for another court to look at the situation and see that the Hinds County Sheriff and Hinds County Board of Supervisors have been doing something right in this situation,” Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones told WLBT-TV.

On July 29, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves put the jail into receivership after citing poor conditions at the facility. The judge said deficiencies in supervision and staffing lead to “a stunning array of assaults, as well as deaths.” Seven people died last year while detained at the jail, he said.

An amendment to the Washington state constitution to protect abortion rights has been pre-filed and could soon be voted on by legislators during the upcoming 2023 session.

Under the proposed amendment, a person’s right to choose abortion as well as obtain contraceptives would be protected in Washington state.

Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue, and Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, filed the proposal on Dec. 21 at the request of Gov. Jay Inslee.

“For 50 years, the right to reproductive freedom has been the settled law of the land,” Keiser said in a press release Tuesday. “After the U.S. Supreme Court’s radical decision to repeal that right, our state has a responsibility to step up and guarantee that every Washingtonian retains the fundamental right to choose when and whether to have children. The Court’s recent actions setting aside state laws is a signal that state statutes need the backing of clear and specific constitutional rights.”

The proposal follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision earlier this year, which overturned Roe v Wade. Roe had previously guaranteed a constitutional right to abortions in all states.

Florida’s top business regulators are investigating complaints against “A Drag Queen Christmas” annual event in Fort Lauderdale that, according to the organizer, required attendees who were minors to be accompanied by a parent and warned about “adult themes and content.”

It is the second time this year in which Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is scrutinizing a drag queen performance for allegedly exposing children to a “sexually explicit performance.” Both politically tinged investigations stemmed from complaints that were amplified by conservative activists on social media.

The investigations come as Republicans across the country increasingly criticize drag performances, which often involve entertainers dressing in provocative costumes and enacting choreographed impersonations of famous people of another gender.

DeSantis, who is widely believed to be considering a run for president in 2024, has vowed to hold accountable businesses that expose children to “sexualized content,” and his office has hinted at potential criminal charges, though none have been filed.

“Exposing children to sexually explicit activity is a crime in Florida, and such action violates the Department’s licensing standards for operating a business and holding a liquor license,” DeSantis spokesperson Bryan Griffin wrote in a statement posted to Twitter Tuesday. The statement was first shared with the conservative blog The Floridian.

Florida’s top business regulators are investigating complaints against “A Drag Queen Christmas” annual event in Fort Lauderdale that, according to the organizer, required attendees who were minors to be accompanied by a parent and warned about “adult themes and content.”

It is the second time this year in which Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is scrutinizing a drag queen performance for allegedly exposing children to a “sexually explicit performance.” Both politically tinged investigations stemmed from complaints that were amplified by conservative activists on social media.

The investigations come as Republicans across the country increasingly criticize drag performances, which often involve entertainers dressing in provocative costumes and enacting choreographed impersonations of famous people of another gender.

DeSantis, who is widely believed to be considering a run for president in 2024, has vowed to hold accountable businesses that expose children to “sexualized content,” and his office has hinted at potential criminal charges, though none have been filed.

“Exposing children to sexually explicit activity is a crime in Florida, and such action violates the Department’s licensing standards for operating a business and holding a liquor license,” DeSantis spokesperson Bryan Griffin wrote in a statement posted to Twitter Tuesday. The statement was first shared with the conservative blog The Floridian.