In brief: Court rejects stay of same-sex licenses

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected the state attorney general’s request for a stay of a judge’s ruling that overturned Arkansas’ constitutional ban on gay marriage.

The high court on Wednesday turned down the request from Attorney General Dustin McDaniel that would have halted the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses.

But the court also gave no direction to counties about what they should do, saying the circuit judge’s ruling had no effect on a state law barring clerks from issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Two counties had been issuing licenses despite that prohibition.

Boys tossed from bouncer in hospital

SOUTH GLENS FALLS, N.Y. – Two young boys who fell from an inflatable bounce house as it was swept skyward by gusty winds remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday, one in a medically induced coma with a head injury, according to police.

A girl, age 10, and the boys, ages 5 and 6, were playing in the 10-by-10-foot roofless nylon playhouse Monday when the 38-pound Little Tikes toy product broke loose from plastic anchoring stakes, local police said.

The girl fell out immediately and suffered minor scrapes, but the boys didn’t tumble out until the toy was 15 feet in the air. Police Chief Kevin Judd said one boy hit a parked car as he fell and suffered a serious head injury. The other has broken arms and several broken facial bones. They were airlifted to Albany Medical Center.