Florida: Lawyers for Noelle Bush seek closed hearings

Noelle Bush’s attorneys have asked a judge to bar the public from court hearings on their client’s drug treatment, saying media attention violates her right to privacy, according to court records.

Peter Antonacci, one of three lawyers representing Gov. Jeb Bush’s only daughter, cited a judge’s ruling this week that drug treatment workers do not have to testify about a piece of crack cocaine allegedly found in her shoe.

“This harsh glare of the public scrutiny is the exact evil that both Congress and the Florida Legislature sought to remedy by enacting broad confidentiality provisions to protect substance abuse patients,” Antonacci said in court documents filed Friday.

Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead, who supervises the county’s drug court, may decide to schedule a hearing next week on Antonacci’s motion, courts spokeswoman Karen Leavey told the Orlando Sentinel on Saturday.

Washington: Court agrees marijuana vote could be blocked

Congress had the right to block District of Columbia residents from voting on whether to legalize marijuana for medical use, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

Reversing a lower court ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the Constitution gave Congress exclusive power to define the district’s legislative authority.

Also, a congressional act barring D.C. residents from putting the legalization of marijuana on the ballot does not violate their First Amendment right to free speech.

Voters had passed a referendum legalizing marijuana in 1998, but Congress, which appropriates money for district elections, blocked the effort through legislation. The Marijuana Policy Project then challenged the constitutionality of the act by suing the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics.

Haiti: Four deaths reported; Lili toll now at 12

The death toll in the Caribbean from Hurricane Lili grew to 12 after Haitian authorities reported that four people were killed when the storm hit the island more than a week ago.

Two people died in mudslides and the other two drowned when Lili’s outer rainbands dumped torrential rain on Haiti’s south coast on Sept. 27, the National Civil Defense Bureau reported. At the time, Lili was a tropical storm.

Seven people were killed when Lili hit Jamaica and St. Vincent, and another person died when Lili passed over Cuba as a hurricane on its way to Louisiana’s coast, where it weakened significantly Friday.

The storm destroyed 240 homes in Haiti and damaged 1,160, said defense bureau spokeswoman Alta Jean-Baptiste.

Connecticut: Court denies bail for Kennedy cousin

The Connecticut Supreme Court has denied Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s request for bail while the appeal of his murder conviction is pending.

The state’s high court issued the ruling Friday without comment.

Skakel, a nephew of the late Robert F. Kennedy, was convicted in June of beating Martha Moxley to death with a golf club in Greenwich when they were 15-year-old neighbors in 1975.

He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in August, more than 2 1/2 years after his arrest.