LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a Los Angeles County ordinance requiring that actors in pornographic films use condoms.

Monday’s ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by porn industry leaders that the requirement inhibits the industry’s First Amendment free-speech rights.

The ordinance adopted by voters in 2012 was championed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and other advocates as a means of reducing sexually transmitted diseases.

The porn industry says its past experience with condoms has taught it that viewers don’t want to watch films in which they are used.

The industry also says its own safety efforts, including regular testing of performers for sexually transmitted diseases, eliminate the need for condoms.

NEW YORK (AP) — Merriam-Webster’s has picked its 2014 word of the year.

The word is “culture.”

The selection was based on significant increases in lookups this year over last year on Merriam-Webster.com, along with spikes of concentrated interest.

Oxford Dictionaries’ chose “vape,” which comes from the electronic cigarettes.

And Dictionary.com picked “exposure,” during a time of tragedy and fear due to Ebola.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Florida state troopers say one person is dead after a crash involving two cars and a bus near a Walt Disney World resort.

Sgt. Kim Montes of the Florida Highway Patrol says a car ran a red light early Monday and drove into the path of a Disney bus carrying about 20 passengers. The impact spun the car into another car alongside the bus.

The 29-year-old driver of the first car died at a hospital. She was identified as a woman from nearby Windermere. Her name was not released, pending notification of her family.

Montes says no one from the bus or second car was injured.

The crash occurred near Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort.

A message left early Monday for a Disney public information officer was not immediately returned.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Authorities say a wounded security guard shot back and killed a public transit passenger who opened fire when he was kicked off a bus on the Las Vegas Strip.

Police say the shooting happened a little before 2 a.m. Monday in the heart of the tourist district. Part of the Strip has been closed to traffic.

Investigators say a security officer contracted by the Regional Transportation Commission told a passenger to get off the bus because of a disturbance.

Police say the man then pulled a handgun and shot the security officer multiple times.

The officer fired back, fatally wounding the suspect.

The guard was taken to a hospital. Lt. Dennis O’Brien says the guard is in stable condition with injuries that are not life-threatening.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The time and date aligned for a baby girl born in Montana, and the infant’s weight came close to making the event even more unique.

Quincy Kessler was born at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings at 10:11 a.m. on 12/13/14.

Even more remarkable, her birth weight, at 7.84 pounds, almost aligned with the other numbers. A fraction of an ounce more, and she would have weighed 7.89 pounds.

The baby is the second daughter born to Trenton and Melida Kessler.

Melida Kessler said nurses in the hospital room noted around 10:05 a.m. that the 10:11 time might work out.

At that point, she says she started to push and Quincy came out at 10:11.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Long depicted as the rootin’-tootin’ capital of American gun culture, Texas is one of the few states with an outright ban on the open carry of handguns.

That could change next year, with an expected push for expanding gun rights from the Republican-dominated Legislature.

At least six bills have already been filed for the session that starts in January. Gov.-elect Greg Abbott has already pledged to sign one into law if sent to his desk.

Texas allows concealed handguns and public display of long guns, such as rifles and shotguns. But it still insists handguns be kept out of sight.

There are no guarantees open carry will pass. Bills to allow concealed handguns on college campus were filed in recent years but were derailed by universities and law enforcement.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The governor of Connecticut is calling for flags to fly at half-staff to mark the second anniversary of the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office says flags are to be lowered Sunday from sunrise until sunset in honor of the 20 first-graders and six educators killed at the school Dec. 14, 2012.

The gunman killed his mother inside their home in Newtown before driving to the school and shooting to death 26 people with a semi-automatic rifle. He committed suicide as police closed in.

The town of Newtown is not holding any public commemorations Sunday. Local officials say the day will be marked through personal reflection and remembrance.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — California is battling the worst whooping cough epidemic recorded in the state in seven decades.

A total of 9,935 whooping cough cases were reported to the California Department of Public Health from Jan. 1 to Nov. 26. That’s the highest number in 70 years. The cases include one infant who died.

California officials partly blame the limitations of a vaccine introduced in the 1990s.

Doctors emphasize that the inoculation has led to fewer deaths than in the past, and in instances where people do get sick, their illnesses aren’t as severe.

But research has concluded the new vaccine doesn’t last as long as the old one.

The disease — also called pertussis — peaks every three to five years as immunity from the vaccine or the disease wanes.

 

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department says Indian tribes can grow and sell marijuana on their lands, even in states that haven’t legalized pot.

Oregon U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall was co-chair of a group that developed the policy announced Thursday.

Marshall says the policy was developed after a handful of tribes asked how legalization of pot in states like Oregon and Washington would apply to them.

Marshall insists that federal prosecution priorities that exist for individual states also apply to tribes. That means no sales outside reservations.

The Justice Department has said it will tolerate state legalization as long as a series of conditions are followed — including banning access to minors and the export of pot outside state boundaries.

COURTLAND, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi authorities have launched a homicide investigation into the death of a 19-year-old woman who was doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire.

Panola County Coroner Gracie Gulledge says the cause of death was thermal injuries. Authorities say initial autopsy results reveal Jessica Chambers died from burns that covered 98 percent of her body.

District Attorney John Champion says investigators were questioning several possible witnesses and reviewing Chambers’ cellphone data.

A passerby called firefighters who found Chambers’ body Saturday near her burning car near Courtland.

Darby says detectives were working to learn who the woman may have been with before her death.