Gov. Chris Christie is warning that if the state Supreme Court rules the way it usually does on a long-running school funding case, it could doom other state services. The build-up about the immediate consequences gives the chapter of the court case known as Abbott v. Burke even more significance than many of the 20 other decisions in the case dating back to the 1980s.

The question now before the court is whether the state's cuts in aid to schools for the current academic year were so deep that New Jersey didn't live up to its constitutional requirement of providing a "thorough and efficient education" to all students.It's not clear when it might be decided.

But lawyers for the state and for children in the poorest school districts filed legal papers last week laying out their sides. Oral arguments are scheduled for April 20. Over the long history of the case, the state Supreme Court has consistently ruled that New Jersey should provide more money to the state's poorest school districts.

The rulings have led to free preschools for 3- and 4-year-olds in those cities. Those programs are often cited as national models and given credit for improving test scores of grade-school students. The infusion of money has also brought replacements and repairs for many of their decrepit school buildings, extra help for teaching key areas such as reading.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has ordered Health Net Inc., a major health maintenance organization, to cover more than $180 million in claims by consumers, health care providers and creditors in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon told The Advocate that Louisiana will get the smallest portion of the payout.

"We have about $12 million coming to us to policyholders, providers and general creditors, meaning companies who sold them supplies or that rented them space," Donelon said.

Donelon said the unanimous ruling, issued Friday, will reimburse all of AmCare Louisiana HMO's members, providers, and creditors for any losses caused by Health Net's conduct.

Health Net sold health plans in the three states to AmCareco Inc. in 1999. In 2002, the troubled health plans were placed under state supervision. Each of the state's insurance departments sued AmCareco and Health Net, alleging fraud, negligence, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty.

In 2005, a state district court jury awarded the Texas plaintiffs around $100 million in damages. In 2005, a state judge in Baton Rouge issued similar verdicts against Health Net and awarded $30 million to the Louisiana and Oklahoma plaintiffs.

A law firm spokeswoman says former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who worked for peace in Bosnia and the Mideast in the Clinton administration, has died in Los Angeles.

Spokeswoman Sonja Steptoe from law firm O'Melveny & Myers where Christopher was a senior partner says he died at his home Friday night of complications from bladder and kidney cancer. He was 85.

As he prepared to step down in as secretary of state in 1996, he said his proudest accomplishments included helping promote a ban on nuclear weapons tests.

He also tried to foster peace in the Middle East, without much success. He was more successful in the negotiations that produced a settlement in 1995 for Bosnia.

The Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the state's price-gouging law.

The justices Thursday unanimously overturned a Winston County judge's ruling that the law was unconstitutionally vague.

Chancellor J. Max Kilpatrick's ruling came in 2008 as he rejected Attorney General Jim Hood's lawsuit accusing a Mississippi oil company of charging too much for fuel after Hurricane Katrina. Kilpatrick has since retired from the bench.

The Supreme Court sent the case back to Winston County to determine if Fair Oil Co. in Louisville violated the law.

Fair Oil was one of two companies Hood sued in 2007. The lawsuit, which represents only one side of a legal argument, accused the company of gouging consumers after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

Thursday's admission in a Provo courtroom means that Keith Brown, 55, will go to prison for at least 10 years.

None of the sisters were in court, but a statement issued to The Associated Press by group spokesman Kimball Thomson said they were satisfied with the plea agreement.

"While clearly the current events surrounding the family are painful, the sisters were well prepared for this day, and are relieved and grateful to close this chapter in their lives," Kimball said.

Brown's three daughters and two sons are part of the classical piano group The 5 Browns, whose albums have topped the classical music charts and who have appeared on "Oprah" and other shows. The group also has been profiled by "60 Minutes."

Brown appeared in Fourth District Count with scratches and bruises on his face but with few other signs of the horrific crash three days earlier in which his Porsche plunged 300 feet into a canyon, also injuring his wife.

The publisher of The Wall Street Journal went to court Tuesday seeking to overturn a 31-year ban on the release of records about how much Medicare money individual doctors receive.

Dow Jones & Company Inc. filed papers in federal court in Orlando in an effort to end a prohibition that was implemented in 1979 following a successful lawsuit in Florida by the American Medical Association.

Dow Jones called the ban outdated and said it had limited the data reporters for The Wall Street Journal were able to obtain last year for a series of stories that examined abuses in the Medicare system.

"There is no legally supportable justification for maintaining a sweeping and obsolete injunction that for over thirty years has prevented the American public from knowing the true extent of Medicare waste, abuse and fraud," Dow Jones said in its filing.

The president of the American Medical Association said that members of the public could draw misleading conclusions from the data if it is released, given its complexity and "significant limitations."

"Physicians who provide care to Medicare patients are already subject to widespread governmental oversight," Dr. Cecil Wilson of Winter Park, Fla., said in a statement. "These federal agencies and contractors have access to the full range of Medicare data and are aggressively ferreting out improper claims."

The Supreme Court won't overturn the convictions of a suburban New York City couple convicted of enslaving two Indonesian housekeepers.

The high court on Tuesday refused to hear appeals from Mahender and Varsha Sabhnani that sought to overturn their forced-labor convictions.

The couple was convicted of enslaving two domestic servants the couple brought from Indonesia by keeping their travel documents and having them perform forced labor on their behalf.

Prosecutors said Varsha Sabhnani was primarily responsible for inflicting years of abuse on the poorly educated servants. They said her husband let the abuse take place and benefited from the work the women performed in their $2 million Long Island home.

Varsha Sabhnani says pre-trial publicity prevented her from getting a fair trial, while her husband argues that he shouldn't have been convicted for aiding and abetting because he didn't stop his wife.