WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that some corporations can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women.

The justices’ 5-4 decision is the first time that the high court has ruled that profit-seeking businesses can hold religious views under federal law. And it means the Obama administration must search for a different way of providing free contraception to women who are covered under objecting companies’ health insurance plans.

Contraception is among a range of preventive services that must be provided at no extra charge under the health care law that President Barack Obama signed in 2010 and the Supreme Court upheld two years later.

Two years ago, Chief Justice John Roberts cast the pivotal vote that saved the health care law in the midst of Obama’s campaign for re-election. On Monday, dealing with a small sliver of the law, Roberts sided with the four justices who would have struck down the law in its entirety.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion. The court’s four liberal justices dissented.

The court stressed that its ruling applies only to corporations…

The two laws, passed in 2013 by Colorado’s Democratic-controlled legislature with scant Republican support, banned ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds and required background checks for all private gun sales and transfers.

The bills were introduced in response to a shooting spree in 2012 that killed 12 people at a suburban Denver movie theater, and the slaying later that same year of 20 children and six adults at an elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

But they immediately met resistance from critics, including most of Colorado’s elected sheriffs, who said they severely restricted citizens’ constitutional right to own and bear arms.

Last year, voters recalled two key Democratic members of the legislature that approved the controversial measures.

After a two-week civil trial, U.S. District Chief Judge Marcia Krieger ruled the lawsuit lacked standing and said no evidence had been produced which showed limiting magazines to 15 rounds seriously diminished the ability to defend oneself.

“Of the many law enforcement officials called to testify, none were able to identify a single instance in which they were involved where a single civilian fired more than 15 shots in self defense,” she said in her ruling.

Responding to…

A lawsuit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court June 23 against Park Kitchen for allegedly underpaying its employees starting in 2011. The suit was filed by two former employees.

The lawsuit says that employees were paid below the statutory minimum wage for several years, that the restaurant improperly deducted the employer’s share of Oregon Workers’ Benefit Fund assessments and Social Security and Medicare taxes, and wrongfully pooled and divided tips among non-traditionally tipped employees.

Chef/owner Scott Dolich did not respond to several attempts for comment.

— Samantha Bakall  Follow @sambakall

The husband of a Lexington woman who died last year at Fillies Gentleman’s Club has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the club, its owners and the man accused of sexually assaulting her before her death.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month by Joseph Ollie Smiley, widower of Melissa Kline-Smiley, says the gentleman’s club owners — Manfred Jaschkowitz, Larry Windle Oliver and Kimberly Pulliam — allowed Kline-Smiley to be assaulted and they failed to stop the incident from happening.

Club owners did not respond to calls for comment. According to signs at Fillies, located on 987 Winchester Road, the gentleman’s club is under new management and its name has been changed to Diamonds.

Kline-Smiley, 37, and Clyde Wesley Sexton, 71, were painting on July 25, 2013 at Fillies Gentleman’s Club on Winchester Road when Kline-Smiley passed out. Police have said Sexton performed sexual acts on her rather than calling for help. The lawsuit says Sexton’s “wrongful” and “unlawful outrageous conduct lasted until he was sexually gratified.”

It took 20 to 30 minutes for Kline-Smiley, who was still unconscious, to receive assistance. She was placed on life support at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital and died July 29.

The lawsuit says the owners “were aware of the deceased’s condition that resulted in her passing out at certain times and required immediate medical attention to save her life.” The lawsuit continues that the owners “knew or…

MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Reesa Gentle of Scottsboro says she lies awake at night wondering if her son is safe.

Her son, Joshua Dunn, is a plaintiff in a lawsuit that alleges the Alabama Department of Corrections does such a poor job at providing medical care for state inmates that it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

“We just want them to be treated like humans. Don’t throw them away and try to hide them,” Gentle said at a Montgomery news conference to announce the lawsuit.

“If I could do the time for him, I would,” she said.

Dunn is one of 40 inmates named as plaintiffs in the 120-page complaint filed by lawyers from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program. The plaintiffs asked the court to make the case a class action lawsuit, so that they can represent all current and future prisoners.

The lawsuit claims the Department of Corrections fails to provide a constitutionally required level of medical and mental health care and violates federal laws requiring accommodations for disabled prisoners.

DOC Commissioner Kim Thomas issued a statement saying that DOC believes many…

Under the agreement, the three counties agree to open satellite voting locations on three reservations and pay plaintiffs’ attorney fees in the amount of $75,000. In a separate agreement, the state agrees to pay an additional $25,000 in attorney fees, according to Secretary of State Linda McCulloch.

“I pledged to help assist the tribes and the counties to make this all work,” McCulloch said.

Both sides hailed the agreement as a win.

Northern Cheyenne tribal member Mark Wandering Medicine, along with 11 other Indian plaintiffs, in February 2013 sued McCulloch and county elections officials in Blaine, Rosebud and Big Horn counties, alleging the defendants violated portions of the federal Voting Rights Act, which “prohibit voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership in one of the language minority groups.”

The plaintiffs argued their rights to equal access to voting were violated when McCulloch and county elections officials refused to set up satellite voting offices on remote Indian reservations in advance of the November 2012 presidential election.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the ACLU of Montana and the national ACLU Voting…