News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup

The Ohio Supreme Court has granted the mediator seeking to resolve that state's school funding suit a month's extension of the deadline for filing his final report.

The court ruled 4-3 for the extension, which gives mediator Howard S. Bellman until March 21 to find a way to end the lengthy and contentious finance dispute that dates back to 1991. Since then, the state's school funding system has been struck down twice by the court as unconstitutional.

Mr. Bellman was hired in December after the court ruled 4-3 on Nov. 16 to take the unusual step of seeking outside mediation to resolve the case. ( "Mediator Has Tough Job in Ohio Funding Case," ...