Arkansas justices let gay ruling stand
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Supreme Court refused Wednesday to put on hold a ruling that overturned the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage, but the short-lived ability for same-sex couples to wed in the state still came to a halt amid confusion about what comes next.
The justices in their decision offered no direction on that point to the state’s county clerks, some of whom had pointed to another ban against gay marriage that is written into an aspect of state law and questioned if it remained in effect.
Last Friday, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza threw out a 10-year-old ban that voters placed in the state constitution and a separate state law barring same-sex marriages. But he didn’t rule on a third law that regulates the conduct of county clerks, which threatens fines if they issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Clerks in five counties responded to Piazza’s decision by starting to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
Wildfires spread in near San Diego
CARLSBAD, Calif. – Flames engulfed suburban homes and shot up along canyon ridges in the worst of a half-dozen blazes that broke out Wednesday in Southern California during a second day of a sweltering heat wave.
Thick black smoke darkened blue skies over the Pacific coast city of Carlsbad, about 30 miles north of San Diego. The park was closed Wednesday because of a power outage caused by the fire.
Over the past two days, at least six wildfires scattered within about 10 to 20 miles of each other have broken out in northern San Diego County.
On the nearby Marine Corps base of Camp Pendleton, a separate 1,000-acre blaze led to residents in military housing also being asked to leave.
Associated Press
