A state appeals court on Thursday upheld a proposed route for California's high-speed rail line connecting the San Francisco Bay Area to the Central Valley.

The decision is a short-term win for Gov. Jerry Brown, who has prioritized the $68-billion project that has become bogged down by legal and regulatory challenges.

The Third District Court of Appeals in Sacramento heard an appeal from San Francisco Bay Area cities arguing that a planned path through Pachecho Pass hurts the environment.

The state argued the project was exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act because it is overseen by the federal Surface Transportation Board.

The court upheld the environmental review but also said the project must still abide by state environmental rules.

"Today's court ruling reaffirms our successful compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act," Lisa Marie Alley, a spokeswoman for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said in a written statement.

Plaintiffs' attorney Stuart Flashman says it's not clear if his clients will appeal to the California Supreme Court. He noted that the ruling preserved a valuable tool for future challenges.

A last-minute stay from a federal judge has put a Missouri inmate's execution temporarily on hold.

John Middleton was scheduled to die one minute after midnight Wednesday for killing three people in rural northern Missouri in 1995. With less than two hours to go before the execution, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry granted a stay, ruling there was enough evidence of mental illness that a new hearing should be held.

Courts have established that executing the mentally ill is unconstitutional.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but that court adjourned for the night without a ruling.

It was a confusing end to a day that saw a flurry of court actions. Perry first granted a stay early Tuesday, but that was overturned by the appeals court. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn the appeals court ruling and declined to halt the execution on several other grounds, including the contention by Middleton's attorneys that he was innocent of the crimes.

Middleton's attorneys then went back to Perry, who once again granted a stay.

However the appeals court eventually rules, the case is likely to end up again in the U.S. Supreme Court.

If the stay is lifted, the state could execute Middleton at any time Wednesday. The death warrant expires at midnight Thursday and if Middleton is not executed by then, the Missouri Supreme Court would have to set a new date. State witnesses and media were told to report back to the prison by 10:30 a.m.

Middleton, 54, would be the sixth man put to death in Missouri this year — only Florida and Texas have performed more executions in 2014 with seven each.

A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Michigan can't block the opening of an off-reservation American Indian casino because the state's legal challenge is barred by tribal sovereign immunity.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court said the state could not shutter the Bay Mills Indian Community's casino about 90 miles south of its Upper Peninsula reservation.

The ruling was a win for Indian tribes, which have increasingly looked to casinos as a source of revenue and have relied on immunity to shield them from government interference. But it's a disappointment for Michigan and more than a dozen others states that say the decision will interfere with their ability to crack down on unauthorized tribal casinos.

Michigan argued that the Bay Mills tribe opened the casino in 2010 without permission from the U.S. government and in violation of a state compact. The tribe had purchased land for the casino with earnings from a settlement with the federal government over allegations that it had not been adequately compensated for land ceded in 1800s treaties.

Writing for the majority, Justice Elena Kagan said that the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act only allows a state to bring lawsuits challenging casinos operating on Indian lands. But the Bay Mills casino was opened outside the tribe's reservation, Kagan said, placing it outside the law's coverage.

Since the casino does not fall under federal gaming laws, Kagan said it is subject to the ordinary tribal immunity that extends to off-reservation commercial activities. Kagan said it doesn't matter that the casino was authorized, licensed and operated from the tribe's reservation.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued an order late Tuesday suspending the planned execution of a Missouri inmate with a little more than an hour to spare before the inmate's scheduled lethal injection.

Alito, who handles emergency matters for Missouri and other states covered by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, didn't explain why he issued the order suspending Russell Bucklew's execution, which had been scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. But Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster issued a statement saying his office understands the full Supreme Court would consider Bucklew's requests on Wednesday.

Under Missouri law, the state has 24 hours to carry out a death warrant, meaning it could still execute Bucklew anytime on Wednesday if the high court rejects his appeals.

Alito's order came shortly after the full 8th Circuit court lifted a stay granted to Bucklew hours earlier by a three-judge panel of that court.

Bucklew, who was sentenced to death for killing a southeast Missouri man in 1996, suffers from a rare medical condition that his attorneys claim could cause him great pain during the execution process.

A federal appeals court on Monday refused to reconsider its previous ruling that businesses don't have to prove they were directly harmed by BP's 2010 Gulf Of Mexico oil spill to collect settlement payments.

The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans could be a step toward resuming a claims process that was suspended after a district court ruling in December. However, BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said in an emailed statement Monday night that the company is considering its legal options.

BP had asked the full 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to rehear the case after a three-judge panel's March ruling. The court voted 8-5 against a rehearing.

The action preserves U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier's (BAHR'-bee-ay) ruling that BP had agreed in a 2012 settlement to pay claims without requiring proof that losses were directly caused by the spill resulting from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which killed 11 workers.

Judge Leslie Southwick wrote in Monday's order that a 2012 policy statement, issued by the court-appointed claims administrator and developed with "input and assent from BP," spelled out the criteria for business claims.

Three gang members have been found guilty of killing two Southern California teens and injuring two others during a 2011 shooting near an apartment complex playground.

The San Bernardino County district attorney's office says a jury convicted the men of two counts each of murder and three each of attempted murder. The verdict was read Tuesday.

The defendants were accused of killing 18-year-old Andrew Jackson and 17-year-old Quinn McCaleb as they walked with a group of teenagers in Redlands. Two other teens were shot but survived their injuries.

Authorities say one of the gunmen was seeking revenge after he was jumped by several men, and attacked the victims in a case of mistaken identity. The victims had no gang ties or prior contact with the defendants' gang.