City appeals U.S. estimate showing dip in population.
Byline: Nick Kotsopoulos WORCESTER - The city is challenging a U.S. Census Bureau estimate that it lost 316 residents last year, putting its population at fewer than 174,000. City Manager Michael V. O'Brien has filed an appeal with the Census Bureau in which he outlined...

Business briefs.
COLUMN: Business briefs Telegram & Gazette Bloomberg Index Central Massachusetts -8.59 139.56 Volume: 83,501,271 Up: 4 Down: 20 Unchanged: 5 Gainer: Caliper Life Sciences Inc. $2.41 +$.30 (volume of...

EWEB, employees settle lawsuits.
Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard The Eugene Water & Electric Board will pay more than $3 million in retirement benefits to hundreds of current and former employees under a settlement of two lawsuits approved Tuesday by Lane Circuit Court Judge Charles Carlson. Six EWEB retirees...

Cross is not secular symbol, AU tells appeals court.
The cross is a Christian symbol and Utah state government should not try to use it as a secular memorial marker, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told a federal appeals court. Americans United and allied religious leaders and organizations filed a friend-of-the-court brief...

Federal Court of Appeals Reverses District Court Ruling Dismissing VIOXX Securities Class Action.
HEALTH AND BEAUTY CLOSE-UP-13 September 2008-Federal Court of Appeals Reverses District Court Ruling Dismissing VIOXX Securities Class Action(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com Merck & Co. said that it is considering asking either the full court of appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court to review a divided decision...

State Appeals Court rules T&G carriers as employees.
Byline: Jacqueline Reis Allowing a newspaper carrier to decide whether to wrap newspapers in plastic or rubber bands when a company dictates nearly every other aspect of their job is not enough leeway to make someone an independent contractor, the state Appeals Court ruled yesterday. ...

A Christian college in Colorado that requires students to attend chapel and staff to affirm that the Bible is "infallible" should be allowed to receive state scholarship funds, the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has ruled.
* A Christian college in Colorado that requires students to attend chapel and staff to affirm that the Bible is "infallible" should be allowed to receive state scholarship funds, the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has ruled. The decision overturned a 2007 lower-court ruling that found...

State appeals court: not all private conversations with pastors privileged.
A conversation with a religious leader is not protected from being revealed in court unless it occurred in private and the leader was acting as a spiritual adviser, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled. A unanimous three-judge panel of the New Jersey Appellate Division ruled on...

The threat of the Human Rights Commissions.
I. Christian Horizons appeals Ontario HRC ruling Toronto -- An evangelical Christian ministry that is the largest provider of community living services in Ontario, serving 1,400 developmentally disabled individuals in over 180 residential homes, is appealing part of a controversial Ontario Human Rights Commission ruling against it....

Colorado must fund sectarian colleges, court rules.
A Colorado law prohibiting state-funded scholarships for "pervasively sectarian" colleges is discriminatory and unconstitutional, a federal appeals court has ruled. Prior to the July 23 decision, scholarships were available at public and private colleges, including religiously affiliated schools. But no funds were allowed for colleges where religion...