Boston: Court gives Farrakhan right to exclude women

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan had no legal obligation to admit women into a leased theater for one of his speeches, the state’s highest court ruled Wednesday.

Marceline Donaldson and her husband, Robert Bennett, sued Farrakhan, a local mosque and others after Donaldson was denied admittance to a Farrakhan speech in 1994 because she was a woman.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state’s public accommodation laws did not compel Farrakhan to address women in a men’s mosque meeting. The local mosque had leased the Strand Theatre in Dorchester for the speech.

The trial judge granted a defense request to dismiss, but the couple appealed.

The Nation of Islam and the local mosque include separate weekly meetings for men and woman as part of their religious practice. The high court ruled that it is not up to the courts to question religious beliefs and practices.

Washington, D.C.: Gun background checks to include INS review

The Justice Department announced changes in how U.S. officials conduct background checks for gun purchases, efforts aimed mostly at preventing illegal immigrants from buying weapons.

Under the new system, the FBI will ask gun dealers whether prospective customers are U.S. citizens. For those who aren’t, the Immigration and Naturalization Service will check its computer records to ensure they live in the United States legally.

Washington, D.C.: Internet provider vows to uphold users’ privacy

Comcast Corp. promised amid criticism Wednesday to stop immediately recording the Web browsing activities of its 1 million high-speed Internet subscribers.

One congressman said collecting the data may have broken federal law.

Comcast said the decision to record visits to Web pages was part of a technology overhaul to save money and speed up the network and was not intended to infringe on customers’ privacy.

Florida: Bob Marley sons face marijuana charges

Get up, stand up, don’t give up your rights  to remain silent.

That may be good advice for two of the late reggae legend Bob Marley’s sons. They were arrested Wednesday in Gadsden County, Fla., after one admitted to a state trooper he’d been smoking pot.

Julian Marley, 26, and Stephen Marley, 29, were each charged with possessing less than 20 grams of marijuana, a misdemeanor. They were booked into the Gadsden County Jail, paid $500 bail each and were released.

“It’s no big deal,” said brother Rohan Marley, from the family’s home in Miami. “That’s how we live our lives.

“We smoke herb. It’s not like we sell drugs.”