The Ohio Supreme Court will get a chance to determine the legality of the state's smoking ban after an appeals court ruled that state officials didn't overstep their bounds when they repeatedly cited a Victorian Village bar for violating Ohio's smoking ban.

Zeno's Victorian Village is fighting a two-pronged battle against the 2006 anti-smoking law, saying that it shouldn't apply to family-owned bars and that authorities are unfairly punishing bars for violating the ban rather than the smokers themselves.

On Tuesday, the Franklin  County Court of Appeals handed Zeno's a big setback. In a  3-0 ruling, judges overturned a trial court's decision that dismissed more than $30,000 in  fines against Zeno's. The trial  court concluded that authorities had singled out bars and  restaurants for penalties while  refusing to cite smokers who  violated the ban.

The February ruling by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David E. Cain never affected how state and local health departments enforce the no-smoking law. As of the end of August, more than 2,500 fines had been imposed totaling nearly $1.2 million, according to the Ohio Department of Health. State and local officials had collected about $400,000 of that amount.

Black farmers and American Indians who say the United States discriminated against them and took their money for decades are a step closer to winning long-awaited government settlements.

Under legislation passed by the Senate on Friday, black farmers who claim discrimination at the hands of the Agriculture Department would receive almost $1.2 billion. American Indians who say they were swindled out of royalties by the Interior Department would split $3.4 billion. Both cases have languished for more than a decade, and plaintiffs say beneficiaries are dying off.

"The Senate finally did the right thing," said John Boyd, head of the National Black Farmers Association. "They stepped up and told the world civil rights still matter in America."

The legislation was approved in the Senate by voice vote Friday and sent to the House. The money had been held up for months in the chamber as Democrats and Republicans squabbled over how to pay for it.

President Barack Obama praised the Senate for finally passing the bill and urged the House to move forward on it. He said his administration is also working to resolve separate lawsuits filed against the department by Hispanic and female farmers.

The only national tenants in Fort Collins' Old Town, according to Les Kaplan, are Pendleton, the Audubon Society and Starbucks.

Two of them are in buildings he owns at College and Mountain avenues, an intersection many call Main and Main.

Kaplan points with pride to the plethora of locally owned restaurants, retailers and offices that give Old Town its flair. Within weeks, his old bank building will bustle with a mix of offices and restaurant.

Greeley-based law firm Otis, Coan & Peters LLC recently signed the final lease in Kaplan's former City Drug building, bringing it to full occupancy.

Otis, Coan & Peters LLC, with offices on Caribou Drive in Fort Collins, plans to move in by Feb. 1 sharing the second floor - formerly the home of Bohemian Cos. - with Premier Employment Screening Services.

The Audubon Society moved in last month, sharing the street level with Ingredient, which plans to open in early December.
The building, which is undergoing extensive exterior and interior renovations to make way for Ingredient, is expected to be completed within a couple of weeks.

All that remains for exterior work, Kaplan said, is an awning on the façade facing College Avenue, a flagpole that will restore a flag to Old Town for the first time in about six decades and an outside railing.

More than 24,300 vehicles per day pass by the building and more than 9,000 people work within a mile of the intersection, which houses Austin's American Grill on the northwest corner, BeauJo's on the northeast and Cache Bank on the southeast.

"The fact that Audubon wants to be downtown means they're looking for unique exposure that they can only get in the most pedestrian area of Fort Collins, which is downtown.

"What they were seeking is a location that would have superior exposure to the public," Kaplan said. "They want people to walk by and walk in so they can explain their mission."

The building has been vacant for more than a year, when City Drug moved a few blocks north to 209 N. College Ave. and the Bohemian Cos. moved into its new headquarters at 262 E. Mountain Ave. in December.

The building generated dozens of showings of the retail and office space, said Nick Christensen of Chrisland Commercial Real Estate Inc., which listed the property.

"Compared to the market as a whole we saw very good interest in that building and location," he said.

Interest in Old Town has been higher than other listings throughout Northern Colorado, said Christensen, who has listings throughout the region.

"Old Town is just a very attractive, authentic location that everyone enjoys and that's driven that market and kept it strong even in a down economy."

The California Supreme  Court upheld a state law on Monday allowing illegal immigrants who attend high school in California for three years and graduate to pay lower in-state tuition rates at state colleges and universities.

The unanimous ruling reverses a lower-court decision siding with opponents of the law who said it unfairly favors illegal immigrants over U.S. citizens who live outside California and are charged much higher out-of-state tuition rates.

The measure, passed by the state legislature in 2001, was challenged in court on behalf of students who are U.S. citizens and claimed they were illegally denied the in-state tuition break carved out for undocumented students.

Nine other states have adopted similar tuition laws, and legal challenges are pending in two of them -- Nebraska and Texas, lawyers for both sides in the California case said.

Kris Kobach, attorney for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, which brought the California suit, said Monday's decision was "flawed in numerous ways" and vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kobach, whose group estimates more than 25,000 illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition each year under California's statute, said there was a good chance his side would prevail if the nation's high court agreed to hear the case.

India's Supreme Court ordered Vodafone to deposit 25 billion rupees ($554 million) within three weeks on its contested $2.5 billion tax bill, a company spokesman said Monday.

The British telecoms company said it also would arrange a guarantee with an Indian bank for the remaining 85 billion rupees ($1.9 billion) within eight weeks, as ordered by the court.

The Supreme Court has not yet delivered a verdict in the case, which is being closely watched by foreign companies fearful that it could set a precedent that might make them liable for retroactive changes under Indian tax law. The next hearing is set for Feb. 24.

The tax relates to Vodafone's acquisition of the Indian telecom assets of Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd.

Vodafone, whose joint venture with India's Essar group is one of India's largest mobile operators, maintains that it does not owe tax on the $11 billion transaction because it took place between two foreign entities.

In May 2007, Vodafone International Holdings BV — a Dutch subsidiary of the British telecom giant — acquired a 67 percent stake in CGP Investments Ltd., a Cayman Islands company which held the Indian telecom assets of Hutchison.

The Dutch government has stepped in to try to resolve the case out of court under the terms of a government-to-government tax treaty, Vodafone said, after earlier efforts by British officials to lobby New Delhi.