In brief: Uber sued for alleged attack by driver

DALLAS – A woman who says she was sexually assaulted by an Uber driver in Dallas is suing the ride-hailing company and the suspect.

The Dallas Morning News reported she filed the lawsuit Tuesday seeking more than$1 million for medical expenses and damages.

The woman alleges Talal Ali Chammout attacked her July 25. The Plano man has been charged with sexual assault. He is free on bond.

Clerk told to issue marriage licenses

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A federal judge ordered a county clerk in Kentucky to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, saying the clerk must follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was one of a handful of local elected officials across the country who stopped issuing marriage licenses after the court’s ruling in June.

She said issuing a marriage license to a gay couple would violate her Christian beliefs and argued the U.S. Constitution protected her religious freedoms.

Two gay couples and two straight couples in Rowan County sued her.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning said the couples should not be forced to travel to another county to get marriage licenses.

“Davis is certainly free to disagree with the court’s opinion, as many Americans likely do, but that does not excuse her from complying with it,” Bunning wrote. “To hold otherwise would set a dangerous precedent.”

Lawsuit challenges gay adoption ban

JACKSON, Miss. – Four lesbian couples are challenging Mississippi’s ban on allowing gay couples to adopt or take children into foster care.

In a suit filed Wednesday in Jackson federal court, the four couples, backed by the Campaign for Southern Equality and the Family Equality Council, say the ban is unconstitutional after recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions legalizing gay marriage and benefits for gay couples.

Mississippi lawmakers banned adoptions by gay couples in 2000. Then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove signed the ban but now says he regrets doing so.

The couples say the ban discriminates and doesn’t put child welfare first.

Uggie, canine star in ‘The Artist,’ dies

LOS ANGELES – Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier who became a canine star for his scene-stealing role in the Oscar-winning movie “The Artist,” has died.

Uggie was euthanized Friday after a bout with prostate cancer, his owner, Los Angeles animal trainer Omar Von Muller, said Wednesday. The dog was 13.

In “The Artist,” Uggie played the canine companion to Jean Dujardin’s fading silent-film star. The movie won Academy Awards for Best Picture, lead actor and director in 2011.

Uggie shared scenes in the film with his brother Dash and another Jack Russell named Dude. Uggie’s other credits included the movies “Water for Elephants” and “Mr. Fix It.”

He retired in 2012 in a ceremony at the famous Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where he became the first dog to leave his paw prints in concrete alongside the prints of human stars.

Beauty queen faked cancer, charges say

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – A Pennsylvania beauty queen has been jailed on charges she faked having leukemia to benefit from fundraisers, and will be stripped of her title.

Online court records show 23-year-old Brandi Lee Weaver-Gates, of State College, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property.

State police say an April bingo benefit raised $14,000 for the Miss Pennsylvania U.S. International pageant winner.

Troopers are asking the public to come forward if they have donated money to Weaver-Gates.