Oklahoma City: Terry Nichols denied stay in state hearing

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied bombing conspirator Terry Nichols’ request to postpone a preliminary hearing, a day after a lower-court judge ruled against putting off the hearing for the eighth time.

Nichols’ attorney, Brian Hermanson, had argued that uncertainty over if and when Nichols’ legal team would be paid warranted a delay in the preliminary hearing, set to begin May 5.

But Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Sandy Rinehart said any delays were the result of Nichols’ attorneys not providing enough detail about his legal costs to justify payment by the Oklahoma County Court Fund.

The preliminary hearing will determine whether Nichols, 48, will be bound over for trial on 160 counts of first-degree murder in the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Arkansas: Harry Potter books ordered back onto school shelves

A federal judge ordered Harry Potter books back onto an Arkansas school district’s library shelves Tuesday, rejecting a school board’s claim that tales of wizards and spells could harm school children.

Ruling in favor of a fourth-grader’s parents, U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren ordered the Cedarville school district to put the four books in J.K. Rowling’s popular series back in general circulation.

The district’s board drew wrath from national free-speech groups for its June decision to require students to obtain parental permission to check out the books.

San Francisco: Quake probability lowered

A federal study released Tuesday slightly reduced the chance that the San Francisco Bay area will be hit by a major earthquake in the next 30 years, but still put the probability at better than 50 percent.

The study, commissioned by the U.S. Geological Survey, set the probability of such a quake at 62 percent. The last time the survey was conducted, in 1999, the estimate was 70 percent. A major quake has a magnitude of 6.7 or greater.

The Bay Area’s last major quake, with a magnitude of 6.9, was in 1989.