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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is asking the U.S. Supreme Court for more time to decide whether to appeal a lower court's order saying citizens should be allowed to publicly carry concealed guns.

Madigan already got one extension - until June 24 - to challenge the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said a ban on concealed firearms is unconstitutional. Now she wants until July 24.

The request was filed late Friday, but The Associated Press obtained a copy Monday before it was posted electronically.

The appellate court ordered the ban be lifted by July 9. Lawmakers complied by sending Gov. Pat Quinn a plan on permitting concealed carry.

A spokeswoman says one reason Madigan's seeking another delay is because of uncertainty over Quinn's plans for the measure.

 

A Troy, Missouri man has his prized gun back thanks to an apparent change of heart by the thief, following an emotional appeal on Facebook.

KSDK-TV  reports that Chad Smith of Troy discovered Saturday that his Smith & Wesson pistol had been stolen. The gun had been handed down to him from his father.

Both Smith and his dad worked as pastors. Smith currently runs a ministry for troubled kids. He suspected one of them may have stolen the gun.

Smith posted a video offering forgiveness for the thief. Word spread through friends and strangers about the video.

On Sunday - Father's Day - the gun turned up on Smith's porch.

HOUSTON (AP) - A federal appeals court has refused an appeal from a Missouri man condemned for the slayings of a Texas Tech University dean and an 18-year-old Lubbock woman 12 years ago.

The ruling late Tuesday from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals moves 41-year-old Vaughn Ross a step closer to execution for the fatal shootings of 53-year-old Douglas Birdsall and Viola McVade.

Birdsall was associate dean of libraries at the Lubbock school.

Ross, a former Tech student from St. Louis, had been dating McVade's sister.

The victims were found shot in the head Jan. 31, 2001, inside Birdsall's car. DNA evidence tied their deaths to Ross.

Ross' unsuccessful appeal contended deficient legal help early in his appeals prevented him from pursing appeals that his trial attorneys also were deficient.