The high court agreed to hear an Obama administration appeal seeking to reinstate a 2006 law providing for the continued detention of "sexually dangerous" convicted federal inmates who have served their prison terms.

A U.S. appeals court based in Virginia struck down the law for exceeding the limits of congressional authority and intruding on police powers Constitution reserves for the states, many of which have similar laws.

The law had been challenged by five inmates who had been kept in custody at a federal prison hospital in North Carolina after their sentences ended.

The U.S. Justice Department said a total of 95 inmates have been identified as possible candidates for post-sentence detention under the law.

In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled the states could confine dangerous sex offenders to mental institutions after they serve their sentences.

Many state laws provide for the commitment under civil law of mentally ill sex offenders who pose a risk of committing more crimes involving children if released into the community.

The federal law defined "sexually dangerous" as someone who suffers from a serious mental illness, abnormality or disorder and would have difficulty in refraining from sexually violent conduct or child molestation, if released.

Penelope Jordan pleaded guilty Monday to theft of government property.

The 61-year-old woman was arrested in March after police found her mother's decaying body barricaded in a bedroom in Sebastian, about an hour north of West Palm Beach.

Jordan told officials her mother had actually died in early 2003.

Prosecutors say Jordan was collecting Social Security benefits, as well a military pension from her mother's late husband.

Jordan's plea deal calls for her to pay $237,876 in restitution. Her sentencing was scheduled for Sept. 21.

Tony Slone, 43, entered the plea in Superior Court in Victorville, said Susan Mickey, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County district attorney's office.

Slone was charged with sexually abusing his now 13- and 16-year old stepdaughters over the last four years. His wife was charged with child abuse for allegedly letting her elder daughter continue to have contact with Slone after he fathered her 13-month-old child.

Tony Slone was arrested June 4 in Chester, N.Y., where he had traveled for work, and was extradited to California on Sunday. He is a registered sex offender and previously served an eight year-prison sentence for lewd acts with a child.

Prosecutors say they learned of the abuse when a high school student reported reading sexual text messages on her friend's cell phone from her friend's stepfather.

Mickey said an attorney from the conflict panel was appointed for Slone. No one at the panel's offices was immediately available to comment. Slone's next court date is June 30.

Anita Slone, 47, reached a plea deal with prosecutors last week. She pleaded guilty in exchange for no more than 180 days in county jail and five years probation, said Kathleen DiDonato, a deputy district attorney.

DiDonato said the probation would help protect the daughters until they are adults. Anita Slone is scheduled to be sentenced in July.

The 8-1 ruling by the US Supreme Court Monday on the Voting Rights Act has been greeted with a mixture of relief and praise from many civil rights groups and liberal commentators. “It’s fair to say this case was brought to tear the heart out of the Voting Rights Act, and today that effort failed,” said Debo Adegbile, lead attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

But a closer examination of the decision and the political context in which it was made reveals that the court has opened the door to gutting the most fundamental US civil rights law, whose passage in 1965 marked a watershed in the struggle against institutionalized racial discrimination.

In Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder, a local utility district in Austin, Texas sued the federal government over the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires that certain state and local government units apply to the US Department of Justice for “preclearance” before they make any changes in their election rules, including changes in voter registration procedures and electoral district boundaries.

The 1965 law specified nine states and parts of several others, including most of the former Confederacy: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and most of Virginia. Alaska, Arizona and portions of Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Dakota and New York City are also affected, most of the latter because of discrimination against Hispanic and Native American voters. Including all their counties, cities, school districts, utility districts and other governmental entities, a total of some 17,000 jurisdictions are subject to preclearance.

The court refused on Monday to hear an appeal from Capital One Bank and Geoffrey, Inc., a subsidiary of Toys R Us that licenses the company's giraffe logo and other trademarks.

Massachusetts tax officials say both companies make money in-state, and therefore should pay state taxes. The companies say that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution prohibits state officials from taxing out-of-state companies that do not have a physical presence in that state.

States normally are not allowed to tax out-of-state corporations who do not have a physical presence in those states. Massachusetts's top court ruled, however, that it could tax out-of-state corporations if they have a "substantial nexus" in a state.

CapitalOne banks are based out of Virginia, but offers credit cards that are used by people in Massachusetts and uses collection agencies in that state to go after delinquent accounts. Geoffrey, Inc., licenses the use of Toys R Us trademarks for its stores in Massachusetts.

The cases are Geoffrey, Inc., v. Commissioner of Revenue, 08-1207 and CapitalOne Bank v. Commissioner of Revenue, 08-1169.

Under the rules rejected by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty, companies that own fuel-saving cabs would have been allowed to charge drivers slightly higher rental rates; companies with gas-hungry vehicles would see their rates decrease over a two-year period.

In October, Crotty rejected for the same reason other rules the city had devised to try to force the fleet of yellow cabs to go green by 2012. Those rules would have required new cabs to be fuel efficient.

The judge praised the city's intent but said efforts to encourage the purchase of hybrid vehicles must be careful not to interfere with Congress' exclusive jurisdiction over laws related to mileage or emission standards.

"The court's purpose is not to interfere with government officials taking actions in the public interest," he wrote. "Increasing the number of hybrid taxicabs is an appropriate and important governmental priority."

The judge noted there were no legal challenges to decisions by the city to issue new taxi medallions only to hybrid vehicles or to allow hybrid cabs to stay in service longer.

Michael A. Cardozo, head of the city's law department, said the city was disappointed.

"We do not believe that Congress intended to prohibit local governments from implementing incentive programs ... that encourage the purchase of environmentally friendly taxis. We are exploring our legal options," he said in a statement.