New law removes locks on cellphones

WASHINGTON – It just got a little easier to swap cellphone providers.

President Barack Obama signed a bill into law on Friday making it legal once again to unlock a cellphone without permission from your wireless provider, so long as the service contract has expired.

“Our laws should not prohibit consumers from carrying their cellphones to a new network, and we should promote and protect competition in the wireless marketplace,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Judicairy Committee and co-sponsor of the bill.

Wireless providers have said digital locks on cellphones protect their business model: phones are often sold at a steep discount in exchange for long-term service contracts.

Democrats leaders courting black voters

BOSTON – Democrats are pushing hard to encourage black and Hispanic voters to show up for the midterm elections in November.

Officials like Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz hope a heavier than normal turnout will blunt Republican hopes of taking over the Senate.

She told the National Association of Black Journalists in Boston on Friday that congressional races all around the country are going to turn on whether Democrats can get their base voters to the polls.

Virginia seeks stay of gay-marriage ruling

RICHMOND, Va. – A county court clerk in northern Virginia is seeking to delay a federal appeals court ruling striking down the state’s same-sex marriage ban.

A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond ruled Monday that Virginia’s gay marriage ban approved by voters in 2006 is unconstitutional.

In a filing Friday, Prince William County Circuit Court Clerk Michele B. McQuigg asked the court to stay the decision while she appeals to the Supreme Court.

Associated Press