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LOS ANGELES (AP) — An appellate court on Monday upheld a $19 million judgment against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis in a slander case filed over his claims that casino mogul Steve Wynn had threatened to kill him.

The California 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles found no basis to overturn the judgment or order a new trial, and the justices also left in place an injunction barring Francis from repeating the claims.

After a 2012 trial, a jury found that Francis' statements about threats were defamatory, and a judge ordered him not to repeat the statements. Francis and Wynn testified during the trial.

Francis said he was told Wynn had threatened to hit him in the head with a shovel and have him buried in the desert. Wynn denied making such threats and claimed the statements by Francis damaged his reputation and put his casino license at risk.

A jury initially ordered Francis to pay Wynn $40 million, but a judge later cut the amount by $21 million.

Francis appealed the verdict, arguing that he initially made the comments in a court proceeding over a gambling debt owed to Wynn and should not be held liable.

He argued that his comments to "Good Morning America" and to a TMZ reporter merely confirmed his description of the threats, but a three-justice panel of the appellate court disagreed.

Mitchell Langberg, an attorney for Wynn, applauded the ruling in a statement.

"We will continue to assist Mr. Wynn and Wynn Las Vegas as they vigorously pursue Francis to collect all of his debts to them, including this $19 million judgment," Langberg wrote.

Francis called the ruling ridiculous.

"We fully expect this to be overturned by the California Supreme Court expeditiously," Francis said.

If the ruling is allowed to stand, it should give pause to others who describe threats during court proceedings, he said.

Francis created the "Girls Gone Wild" video series but said he has had no affiliation with the company for two years.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

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Charles Rangel, who has represented an upper Manhattan district that includes Harlem for 44 years, faces off against three opponents in the New York Democratic primary Tuesday. The most serious challenge comes from the Dominican-American, state senator Adriano Espaillat.

Rangel was first elected in 1970, defeating the legendary Adam Clayton Powell Jr. — the first African American elected to Congress from New York.

Rangel has held the seat ever since, rising to power in Washington and at one time serving as head of the powerful Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives.

This weekend, at a campaign stop outside a hamburger joint called the Harlem Shake, supporters for Rep. Charles Rangel filled the sidewalk along Lenox Avenue — a busy street that runs through the heart of central Harlem.

Rangel was once called the "Lion of Lenox Avenue," but now, some think he is too old for another term. Still, in his stump speech at the rally, he focused on his track record of 22 straight election wins.

"If you had a good old horse that kept winning the races, why in the world would you want to bring in a colt that doesn't even know where the track is," Rangel said.

What he failed to mention is that his record also reflects recent ethics violations, which have contributed to his diminished influence.

His odds at the ballot box have not been helped by changes in district borders and demographics. Once a black stronghold, the 13th congressional district is now majority Latino.

Those shifts seem to favor Rangel's challenger Adriano Espaillat, a longtime state senator. The 59-year-old is a Dominican American who lost to Rangel two years ago by just 1,100 votes.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Monday that the United States should join the rest of the industrialized world and offer paid leave for mothers of newborns.

"Many women can't even get a paid day off to give birth — now that's a pretty low bar," Obama said at the White House Summit on Working Families. "That, we should be able to take care of."

The president is touting paid maternity in the midst of a midterm election campaign focused on women voters, without describing the details of how he would fund such a system. "If France can figure this out, we can figure this out," Obama said.

While some companies offer paid family leave to attract workers, the 1993 Family Medical Leave Act only requires that employers provide unpaid leave for medical and family reasons.

Obama praised California, Rhode Island and New Jersey for creating a state benefit. But he has not endorsed legislation that would create a similar national system funded by a payroll tax, and he pledged in his 2008 presidential campaign not to raise taxes on families making under $250,000 a year.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., has introduced legislation that would provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave through a fund in the Social Security Administration, paid for by contributions from employees and employers of 0.2 percent of wages. She said she has personally encouraged the president to back it, despite his tax pledge.

"We're talking about 2 cents of every $10," she said in an interview at the summit. She said without such a fund, eight out of 10 workers can't take advantage of their right for family leave because they can't afford it.

Obama instituted six weeks of paid leave for White House staff when they have a child, get sick or injured or need to care for an ailing family member, using his authority to set his staff's compensation under the personnel code. He does not have the power to award paid leave to other federal workers without congressional action since they are covered under a different section of law. The White House has supported the goal of legislation introduced by lawmakers to change that, but it has stalled in Congress.

"There is only one developed country in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave, and that is us," Obama said. "And that is not the list you want to be on — on your lonesome. It's time to change that."

Obama took four working parents out to lunch at Chipotle before his speech and after met with business leaders with family-friendly policies. He encouraged other employers to have more flexible work schedules and directed federal agencies to expand flexible work arrangements where possible. He also urged Congress to pass legislation requiring employers to accommodate pregnant employees so they can continue to perform their jobs.

The president personalized the issues by talking about the struggles of his single mother and the challenges that he and his wife, Michelle, had when their children were young, even though they were fortunate to have benefits many workers don't enjoy.

The president acknowledged he left his wife to carry the heaviest child care burdens while he worked and campaigned. He said he's now lucky to "live above the store, so to speak," so he can have dinner with his family most nights, and he points out his daughters were older when he became president. "I never had to meet a world leader with Cheerios stuck to my pants," he joked.

The summit has been months in the making, with several regional events leading up to it featuring administration officials and a packed ballroom of political activists. The White House devoted all its star power to the event — and even a surprise appearance by a celebrity to echo Obama's criticism of "Mad Men" policies in today's workplace. Christina Hendricks, who plays single mom Joan on the AMC dramatization of a 1960s ad firm, said, "In the 21st century the only place for a story like Joan's should be on TV."

Mrs. Obama closed the summit by encouraging young women not to short-change themselves in career negotiations. And she said she hopes to see a woman in the country's top job as president soon.

"That should happen as soon as possible," she said. "We have some options, don't we?"

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Associated Press writer Stacy A. Anderson contributed to this report.

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Follow Nedra Pickler at http://twitter.com/nedrapickler