A man accused of firing shots at the White House in an alleged assassination attempt of President Barack Obama is due in court.

A hearing in federal court in Washington on Friday will focus on the mental health of Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, who's accused of using an assault rifle to shoot at the White House last month. The president was out of town at the time.

Acquaintances have said Ortega was acting strangely in recent months, and law enforcement officials have said he had become obsessed with Obama.

A preliminary psychiatric screening found him competent to stand trial, but federal prosecutors are asking for more extensive tests to make certain that they can proceed with the case.

Texas' March primary will likely be delayed after the Supreme Court on Friday blocked the use of state legislative and congressional district maps that were drawn by federal judges.

The court issued a brief order late Friday that applies to electoral maps drawn by federal judges in San Antonio for the Texas Legislature and Congress that would have ensured minorities made up the majority in three additional Texas congressional districts. The justices said they will hear arguments on Jan. 9.

The judges issued the new maps for the 2012 election in Texas after a lawsuit was filed in San Antonio over redistricting maps drawn by the GOP-led Legislature. The maps were to remain in place until the lawsuit was resolved.

The Supreme Court's order brings to a halt filing for legislative and congressional primary elections that began Nov. 28. The primaries had been scheduled to take place in March, but the Supreme Court's decision means those elections almost certainly will be delayed, possibly until May.

A political aide to former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich was convicted Tuesday of conspiring to use election-day robocalls in an effort to suppress black voter turnout during the 2010 gubernatorial election.

Paul Schurick was found guilty of all four counts he faced, including conspiracy to influence or attempt to influence a voter's decision whether to go to the polls through the use of fraud and conspiracy to publish campaign material without an authority line. A stoic Schurick comforted his wife in the courtroom after the Baltimore jury's verdict was read, but declined to comment.

His attorney, A. Dwight Pettit, said they will appeal.

Prosecutors argued the calls that went out on the evening of Election Day to about 110,000 voters in Baltimore city and Prince George's County — two jurisdictions with high percentages of black voters — were an effort by the Republican campaign to reduce the number of black Democrats voting in heavily Democratic Maryland.

A suspect in a deadly Craigslist robbery plot was wheeled into court in an unrelated case Thursday, his head bobbing rhythmically, and he later ignored questions about the mounting body count and his relationship with a teen murder suspect.

Richard Beasley, unshaved and dressed in a white and gray striped jail outfit, didn't speak and kept his head down as Summit County Common Pleas Judge Tammy O'Brien revoked his bond on a drug-trafficking charge.

The legal problems faced by Beasley, a self-styled chaplain and youth mentor, are mounting: His attorney said a prostitution case involving the 52-year-old Beasley and a 17-year-old boy would be upgraded with a racketeering charge Friday.

The drug and prostitution cases in Akron are unrelated to a widening Craigslist homicide investigation.

Investigators say someone trying to lure robbery victims posted a bogus ad on Craigslist touting a cattle farm job in southeast Ohio.

Authorities have linked two bodies and the shooting of a man who survived to the scheme, which targeted single, out-of-work men in their late 40s or early 50s. The investigators heading up the Craigslist inquiry also found a third body but have yet to link it to the case.

A 16-year-old boy, Brogan Rafferty of nearby Stow, faces juvenile charges of aggravated murder, complicity to aggravated murder, attempted murder and complicity to attempted murder in the death of one man and the shooting of another.

Scott+Scott LLP filed a class action complaint against Human Genome Sciences, Inc., certain of the Company's senior officers and directors and GlaxoSmithKline plc in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. The action for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is brought on behalf of those purchasing the common stock of HGSI between July 20, 2009 and November 11, 2010, inclusive (the "Class Period"), including all persons who acquired the common stock of HGSI in the Company's July 28, 2009 public offering at $14 per share and in its December 2, 2009 public offering of common stock at $26.75.

If you purchased the common stock of HGSI during the Class Period and wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in the action, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. Any member of the investor class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of its choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. If you wish to discuss this action or have questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Scott+Scott (scottlaw@scott-scott.com), (800) 404-7770, (860) 537-5537 or visit the Scott+Scott HGSI Pharmaceutical website for more information: www.scott-scott.com/cases/hgs.html. There is no cost or fee to you.

The complaint filed in the action alleges that, during the Class Period, HGSI issued false and misleading statements concerning Benlysta(R) (belimumab) ("Benlysta"), the Company's potential new drug for the treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, a chronic, life-threatening autoimmune disease. Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants failed to disclose that Benlysta was associated with suicide in clinical drug trials conducted by the Company.

The complaint alleges that when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted its analysis of Benlysta on the Internet on November 12, 2010, investors learned for the first time of the association between Benlysta and suicide in clinical trials of the drug, causing HGSI's common stock price to decline precipitously. Meanwhile, the complaint alleges, during the Class Period, HGSI sold to investors more than 44 million shares of its common stock in public offerings at artificially inflated prices, receiving $850 million in net proceeds.

Scott+Scott has significant experience in prosecuting major securities, antitrust and employee retirement plan actions throughout the United States. The firm represents pension funds, foundations, individuals and other entities worldwide.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against a doctor and her Ottawa clinic over what health officials have described as lax infection-prevention practices.

Dr. Christiane Farazli's now-closed clinic, which conducted endoscopy procedures, has been the subject of an investigation by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The investigation was made public recently when the Ottawa Public Health authority revealed it was sending a letter to about 6,800 patients who had been treated at the clinic over the past decade, warning them they may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV infection.

The suit has been launched by the Merchant Law Group LLP, a Saskatchewan-based firm that has been involved with numerous high-profile class-action lawsuits in this country.

The firm says its claim asserts that Farazli failed to consistently follow standard and statutory practices and procedures used to clean endoscopes and that patients have suffered worry, anxiety, and possible bodily injuries as a result.