A Connecticut judge has rejected a prosecutor's request to close a hearing in the case of a newsman accused of trying to blackmail David Letterman.

Norwalk Superior Court Judge Bruce Hudok ruled Thursday that arguments over whether search warrants should remain under wraps will be handled in open court.

Prosecutor Suzanne Vieux (VEW) is asking Hudok to keep closed the search warrants for the home and car of CBS News producer Robert J. "Joe" Halderman.

Halderman has pleaded not guilty to trying to extort $2 million from the late-night TV host in return for keeping some of the comedian's sexual affairs quiet.

Vieux's motion says releasing the search warrants could subject witnesses to media scrutiny and hurt the prosecution. The judge says he will review certain sensitive information himself.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had cancer surgery earlier this year, was kept at a hospital overnight after she became drowsy and fell from her seat aboard an airplane. Court officials blamed a reaction to medicine.

Ginsburg was taken to Washington Hospital Center around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday by paramedics and released Thursday morning, court officials said.

Ginsburg, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia, was heading to London to take part in ceremonies marking the opening of Britain's new Supreme Court.

"Prior to the plane taking off, the justice experienced extreme drowsiness causing her to fall from her seat," a court statement said. "Paramedics were called and the justice was taken to the Washington Hospital Center as a precaution."

The statement said doctors attributed her symptoms to a reaction caused by the combination of a prescription sleeping aid and an over-the-counter cold medicine.

Ginsburg was still in Washington Thursday morning, court officials said. It was not clear whether she would still attempt to make the London trip.

Healthcare law firm Davis & Davis PC is changing its name to Davis Fuller Jackson Keene, after promoting three lawyers.

The 50-year-old Austin firm, located on N. Capital of Texas Highway, is making the changes immediately, it said in a press release.

The three new principals, who will be equal owners with firm founder and Senior Managing Shareholder Dean Davis, are Alexis Fuller, Brian Jackson and Mark Keene.

The company has about 17 employees, including eight lawyers.

A fugitive who avoided prosecution for more than four decades after hijacking a 1968 Pan American flight to Cuba pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges including kidnapping and aircraft piracy.

Luis Armando Pena Soltren, 66, appeared in Manhattan federal court on charges stemming from his involvement in the hijacking of the flight that left John F. Kennedy International Airport bound for Puerto Rico on Nov. 24, 1968.

Soltren said "not guilty," through a Spanish translator when asked by a federal magistrate judge how he pleaded to the 1968 indictment.

He will be held in jail pending a bail application and his lawyer, James Neuman, told the judge Soltren did not need medical attention.

Soltren, a U.S. citizen who lived in Cuba for 41 years, surrendered to authorities at JFK airport on Sunday, knowing he would be arrested, according to authorities.

Neuman told reporters outside the courtroom he could not yet explain why Soltren had voluntarily come back to the United States.

The Supreme Court seemed receptive Tuesday to reinstating the death sentence of a flamboyant neo-Nazi convicted of murdering three men in Ohio more than a quarter century ago.

Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray told justices during oral arguments that Frank Spisak had a fair trial and deserves death. Cordray urged the high court to reverse a federal appeals court ruling that found Spisak's trial lawyer was ineffective and that his jury received faulty sentencing instructions.

Spisak, 58, was convicted of three murders at Cleveland State University over a seven-month period in 1982 — crimes he said were motivated by his hatred of gays, blacks and Jews. At the same time, Spisak claimed his crimes were sparked by mental illness related to confusion about his sexual identity. He wants to have surgery to become a woman.

The 1983 trial became a public spectacle as Spisak celebrated his killings in court and openly discussed his hateful views. He even grew a Hitler-style mustache, carried a copy of Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf" during the proceedings and gave the Nazi salute to the jury.

The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that Spisak's trial attorney essentially gave up on his client in closing arguments by conceding that Spisak was "demented" and "undeserving of sympathy."

The plaintiffs’ product liability law firm of Greene Broillet & Wheeler has launched a Web site designed specifically to give consumers an overview of alleged tire defects and tire safety issues.

The Web site, tire-defect-law, includes sections on tire anatomy, tire tread separation, aged tires, valve stem defects, Load Range E tires, tire informational markings and tire recalls. It also includes a list of tire-related cases Greene Broillet & Wheeler either won in court or for which it negotiated settlements.

Greene Broillet & Wheeler claims to have conducted successful product liability litigations against most major tire makers. Christine D. Spagnoli, a partner in the firm, is plaintiffs’ liaison counsel for all product liability suits against Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in California, according to a press release.

“Unfortunately, tire manufacturers and sellers don’t provide adequate warning or instruction to protect consumers and warn them of tire-related dangers,” Ms. Spagnoli said, explaining why the firm decided to establish a tire defects Web site.

A Florida appellate court again has rebuffed the NCAA's effort to prevent public disclosure of documents on academic cheating at Florida State.

The documents, with students' names blacked out, could be released as early as Wednesday, said Carol Jean LoCicero, an attorney for The Associated Press and other news media.

LoCicero's clients sued the NCAA, Florida State and the university's outside law firm under the state's open-records "sunshine" laws.

The 1st District Court of Appeal late Monday denied the college athletics organization's motions for a rehearing or certification of the case to the Florida Supreme Court as a question of great public importance.

The NCAA still could ask the state high court to review the case and block release of the documents until the justices make a decision. That will be difficult, though, because of strong trial and appellate court rulings that found the documents to be public records.