California

Court may nullify gay marriage licenses

The California Supreme Court is considering whether to nullify more than 4,000 marriage licenses that San Francisco granted to gay couples earlier this year.

In an order issued Wednesday, the state’s highest court asked lawyers for the city, the state and anti-gay marriage groups to present written arguments on whether the court should declare the marriages valid or void if it rules that San Francisco exceeded its authority in marrying same-sex couples.

The court is expected to decide within the next few months whether San Francisco flouted state law when it began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples Feb. 12. The city stopped granting the licenses March 11 in response to a court order.

Las Vegas

Hotel resort reopens after 3-day power outage

Most of the Bellagio resort reopened Wednesday, three days after a power outage forced a shutdown of the complex.

Guests checked into rooms and gamblers headed to the reopened casino after workers completed a day of testing electrical systems.

Authorities have not said what caused the 2 a.m. Sunday outage, although hotel and Nevada Power Co. officials agreed the problem was at the 3,000-room resort.

Business losses were likely to exceed $3 million, according to Alan Feldman, spokesman for MGM Mirage, the hotel’s parent company. He said authorities found no evidence of sabotage or a criminal act. No injuries or thefts were reported.

Phoenix

Sen. McCain’s wife recovering after stroke

Sen. John McCain’s wife was moved out of an intensive care unit Wednesday, two days after she had a stroke, and was expected to be released from the hospital in a few days.

Cindy McCain, 49, suffered minor bleeding in her brain when a blood vessel ruptured Monday, possibly because of a spike in blood pressure, said Robert Spetzler, director of the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

The bleeding stopped and her speech has improved after being mildly affected, McCain said Wednesday.

“Her prognosis is still excellent and I expect to have her home in a few days,” the Arizona Republican said.