States Rights: In defiance of a federal court decision, Alabama’s Chief Justice last night issued an order telling the state’s probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples today. Chief Justice Roy Moore wrote that “Effective immediately, no probate judge of the State of Alabama nor any agent or employee of any Alabama probate judge shall issue or recognize a marriage license.” Alabama’s ban on same sex marriage was ruled unconstitutional in a federal court just last month and licenses were expected to be issued beginning today. Judge Moore’s order sets up a conflict over the state’s right to make its own laws and it puts the probate judges on the spot. They are elected by popular vote.

No Comment: NBC anchor Brian Williams has cancelled his planned Thursday night appearance on CBS’s Late Show With David Letterman. After embarrassingly inflated claims about his experience in the Iraq War, Williams is taking a hiatus from delivering the news, and from appearing as a charming celebrity.

World: Speaking to his parliament yesterday, Greece’s new Prime Minister Alexis Tsiprias declared that his government will not try to extend the Euro Zone bailout of his bankrupt country and that he would gradually ease austerity that has kept spending in check. Of course, this puts him on a collision course with the Euro Zone, which has kept Greece from drowning. Tsiprias said it was an “irreversible” decision for his government to fulfill his campaign promises and that, “We only have one commitment: to serve the interests of our people, the good of society.” Among other steps, Tsiprias plans to increase the tax-free threshold for household income and restore the minimum wage to what it was before austerity.

>A riot outside a soccer stadium in Egypt yesterday turned into fighting with the police and a stampede, with at least 25 people killed. Because of previous soccer violence, authorities were allowing only a limited number of people inside to see the Egyptian Premier League match. Exactly what started the incident has not been explained, but there was pushing and shoving outside the one narrow entry gate before the whole thing erupted.

Space: Trouble with radar forced SpaceX and the Air Force to delay yesterday’s launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory Mission. They’re going to try again today, although there’s only a 40 percent chance of acceptable weather. The satellite is intended to orbit a million miles from earth to monitor solar storms. But it will also carry former Vice President Al Gore’s EPIC camera that will take pictures of earth 24 hours a day to spur environmental awareness.

Justice Files: The Maryland Court of Appeals has agreed to take another look at the case of Adnan Syed, the Maryland man convicted of murdering his former high school girlfriend in 1999 when he was just a teenager. The inconsistencies of memory and evidence as well as the frailties of lawyers in the Syed case were the subject of a 12-episode podcast called “Serial” last fall from the radio producers of “This American Life.” There were no eyewitnesses to the murder and the defense failed to interview a girl who said she saw and spoke to Syed at the time it was believed to have happened. The podcast series was enormously popular and brought international attention to Syed as well as one more chance to win his freedom.

Weather: Still another winter storm has settled into the East from Buffalo and Philadelphia all the way to Bangor. More than 12 inches of snow have already fallen on Boston’s Logan Airport. New York City is expected to have a mixture of freezing rain and snow.

The Obit Page: Dean Smith formerly of North Carolina, who with 879 victories was the 4^th most winning coach in college basketball history, has died in Chapel Hill at age 83. Michael Jordan, one of the greats of the game who played for Smith, called him a father figure. Smith was known for his values as much as for winning. He fought racial segregation, encouraged decency among his players … and studying. Ninety-seven percent of his players graduated.

Statuary: Sam Smith, whose song “Stay With Me” has been a huge hit, won the Grammy Award for best New Artist last night. Of course this comes less than two weeks after Smith agreed to give co-writing credit to Tom Petty for the song’s similarity to Petty’s timeless “I Won’t Back Down.” The Grammys give out 55 awards. So if you want to know who won for Best Album Notes, you’re going to have to go look it up.

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