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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is poised to deliver its verdict in a case that weighs the religious rights of employers and the right of women to the birth control of their choice.

The court meets for a final time Monday to release its two remaining decisions before the justices take off for the summer.

One case involves birth control coverage under President Barack Obama's health law. Employers must cover contraception for women at no extra charge among a range of preventive benefits in employee health plans. Dozens of companies, including arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby, claim religious objections to covering some or all contraceptives.

The other case before the court deals with fees paid to labor unions representing government employees by workers who object to being affiliated with a union.

RIDGELAND, Miss. (AP) — A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.

The body of attorney Mark Mayfield was found Friday morning in the garage of his two-story, brick home in a gated community outside Jackson. A gun was found nearby, Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston said. Houston says Mayfield had been shot, and a suicide note was found at the scene.

"Everything we see so far, this appears to be a suicide," Houston said.

Mayfield's death came just days after tea party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel was defeated by Cochran in the Republican Senate runoff. Mayfield had been a board member of the Central Mississippi Tea Party and had raised money for McDaniel's campaign.

Mayfield faced a conspiracy charge, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for a conviction, after allegations he and others conspired to take photos of 72-year-old Rose Cochran at the nursing where she has lived since 2001. The photos were later used in an anti-Cochran political video posted briefly online during the Republican primary.

An additional weight for Mayfield: Under Mississippi court rules he could have lost his law license if convicted and sentenced.

In a statement Friday, McDaniel, who has denied any connection to the photos, praised Mayfield.

"Regardless of recent allegations made against his character, Mark Mayfield was a fine Christian man who was always respectful and kind. He was one of the most polite and humble men I've ever met in politics. He was a loving husband, father, a pillar of his community, and he will be missed. We are saddened by his loss, and we send our thoughts and prayers to his wife, his family and friends," McDaniel said.

Janis Lane, president of the board of the Central Mississippi Tea Party, said she had not seen Mayfield since he was charged, but had been in contact with him by phone and through text messages. She said Mayfield's integrity was important to him, and he sounded like he was feeling pressured by the investigation.

"It was truly a challenging time for him," Lane said, wiping away tears.

Three other men also were arrested last month and face various charges of conspiring to photograph Rose Cochran in the home where she has lived since 2001 with dementia. The Cochran family said she has lost the ability to speak and is receiving hospice care. Police said conservative blogger Clayton Thomas Kelly of Pearl photographed her without permission on Easter Sunday.

In a statement, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant expressed sympathy to the Mayfield family.

"Deborah and I are saddened to hear of the loss of Mark Mayfield. He was a long-time friend, and he will be missed. Our prayers go out to his family in this tragic moment," wrote Bryant, a Republican.

The Cochran campaign also reacted.

"Obviously, this is a tragic and very sad situation. Mark was a good guy. The senator and all of our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends," said Austin Barbour, a strategist and spokesman for the campaign.

Other suspects in the photo plot are elementary school teacher Richard Sager of Laurel and John Mary of Hattiesburg, who took over hosting a conservative talk radio show formerly hosted by McDaniel. McDaniel left the radio job before his election to the Mississippi Senate in 2007.

Lane spoke Friday at the Hinds County Courthouse, where she and other McDaniel supporters were examining poll books to look for examples of crossover voting — people who had voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and in Tuesday's Republican runoff between McDaniel and Cochran.

"He was the finest man," Lane said. "He was an attorney of impeccable character."

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Wagster Pettus reported from Jackson, Mississippi.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under increasing political pressure to step aside as Sunni militants led by fighters from the al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant overrun much of northwestern Iraq. Al-Maliki, a Shiite who is looking to secure a third consecutive term after winning April elections, has proven himself to be a skilled politician and hard-nosed negotiator. But there are growing calls from all quarters — including fellow Shiite and senior clerics — for him to step aside. Here's a look at some of the names being mentioned to possibly replace him:

— Ibrahim al-Jaafari: From the Shiite holy city of Karbala, al-Jaafari heads the National Reform Trend, which is part of the broad Shiite coalition. He has played a prominent role in Iraqi politics since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, serving on the American-appointed governing council and later as vice president in the interim government. He then served as prime minister in 2005 after the Shiite coalition won Iraq's first elections after Saddam Hussein's ouster. Iraq ratified a new constitution under his watch in the fall of 2005, and held fresh parliamentary elections that December. Al-Jaafari secured Shiite backing to remain prime minister after that vote, but Kurds and Sunnis rejected his candidacy as the sectarian violence in the country surged in early 2006. The Shiite coalition agreed to drop al-Jaafari and picked a politician who was viewed at the time as a compromise candidate: Nouri al-Maliki.

— Bayan Jabr: Jabr, a civil engineer by training, served as interior minister under Jaafari in 2005 as sectarian bloodletting began to surge across Iraq. At the time, the ministry was accused of running death squads that targeted Sunnis, although Jabr denied any knowledge or involvement in such killings. He later served as finance minister during Maliki's first term in office, which ended in 2010. Since then he's served as a lawmaker in parliament from the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council led by Shiite cleric Ammar al-Hakim, one of the most powerful Shiite parties.

— Adel Abdul-Mahdi: Born in Baghdad and trained as an economist in France, Abdul-Mahdi has been often touted as a potential prime minister. Abdul-Mahdi, like Jabr, is a stalwart of the Supreme Council, and he twice came close to assuming the post but missed out in both cases to candidates from al-Maliki's Dawa Party. He served as vice president from 2006 to 2010, but his reputation was somewhat tarnished in 2009 when army officers seconded to his security detail were found to be involved in a deadly bank robbery.

— Ayad Allawi: Allawi, a secular Shiite and a surgeon by training, was chosen by the United States to lead Iraq as interim prime minister in 2004. He was trounced at the polls the following year, but has managed since to carve out a niche for himself as an alternative to religious-tinged politics by appealing to urban and educated Iraqis of all sects. A former member of Saddam's Baath party, he survived an assassination attempt believed to have been ordered by the then-ruler. He later established an opposition group aimed at overthrowing the dictator. In Iraq's post-Saddam order he has called for a greater say for the Sunni minority, and led a broad coalition focused on national identity rather than religious sect that won the most seats in Iraq's 2010 parliamentary election. But he was outmaneuvered by Maliki, who after months of political jockeying — and Iranian and American arm-twisting — secured enough support to stay on for a second term.

— Ahmad Chalabi: A one-time Washington favorite, Chalabi has never secured a mass following inside the country. His relations with the United States soured when the intelligence he provided the Americans on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction proved faulty. The U.S. also accused him in 2004 of spying for Iran. Chalabi is a secular Shiite who is widely disliked by the country's Sunni Arab minority for the zeal he has shown in rooting out Saddam's loyalists from jobs in the government, armed forces and security agencies. The Sunnis' antipathy for Chalabi would likely limit his chances of replacing al-Maliki as a unifying figure.

NEW YORK (AP) — Who can forget the time he put a paper bag on his head that read "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE"? Or when he was forced to apologize for plagiarizing parts of his short film? He then promised to retire from public life.

Now, he's been escorted from a Broadway theater in handcuffs for allegedly yelling obscenities during a performance of "Cabaret." The guy who insisted he's not famous was heard screaming, "Do you know who I am"?

Witnessing Shia LaBeouf's recent off-screen and offstage antics is getting to be like watching a slow-moving train wreck. Has he become the male equivalent of Amanda Bynes?

"Shia LaBeouf is certainly not alone in displaying unusual behavior and even immaturity," said Jason Maloni, senior vice president at Levick, a strategic communications firm that guides clients through challenging media situations. "This is just the latest incident that put him crossways with an actor's most important constituent — his fan base as well as his fellow professionals."

Maloni added: "Bad behavior in a public setting followed by an arrest doesn't make for a very effective visual. Frankly, he's been perp-walked out of Broadway, quite literally. So he's in some distress."

LaBeouf was watching Alan Cumming and Michele Williams in a "Cabaret" revival Thursday night, when his latest problems began. The inside of the theater, which used to be a notorious, coke-fueled disco in the 1970s, has been reworked to look like a decadent Berlin cabaret from the 1930s, with tiny nightclub tables and a working bar.

LaBeouf, who had paid for his ticket, was seen offering a strawberry to a woman and trying to light a cigarette. According to the criminal complaint, a security guard saw LaBeouf stand up in the middle of Act 1 and "yell loudly at the actors onstage." When LaBeouf was asked to leave, he refused, according to the complaint. "Do you know who the f—- I am? Do you know who I am?" the actor is said to have bellowed.

He was charged with five counts of disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and harassment. His next court date is July 24. After his court appearance, the 28-year-old actor, wearing a ripped blue T-shirt, walked several blocks to a hotel on West 54th Street. He declined to comment. His publicist did not return a request for comment, either.

The outburst happened only a few blocks from where LaBeouf had planned to make his Broadway debut last year in a revival of Lyle Kessler's play "Orphans," with Alec Baldwin. He pulled out over creative disagreements and then immediately posted private messages from the show's actors and creative team.

Now he's accused of disrupting fellow stage actors while they're performing. Perhaps worse, he's become an endless punchline. Cumming tweeted that the stage manager at "Cabaret" told the actors at the top of Act 2: "This is your places call and Shia LaBeouf has left the building in handcuffs."

LaBeouf's latest tantrum occurs just as the film franchise that made him a star gives birth to its fourth iteration — without him. He had been the star of the first three "Transformers" films, but a fresh start was decided best for "Age of Extinction."

LaBeouf, whose other big films include "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," has endeared himself as an artsy guy who can do action movies. He's also prone to refreshing bouts of honesty, as when he admitted that his "Indiana Jones" film was bad. "I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished," he said after it came out.

But his fan base may dissipate after more bizarre stunts that resemble the kinds of things once associated with fellow Disney alum Bynes, who has been accused of throwing a bong out of a Manhattan window, starting a fire in a driveway, reckless driving, and posting a number of disturbing tweets attacking celebrities like Rihanna and Christine Teigen.

Maloni, who has counselled artists and athletes in trouble, said he would advise LaBeouf to do the same as any of his clients: He needs a quiet period. "He needs to stop turning up on Page Six and instead he needs to turn up on the pages of the film and theater critics of the world."

There is always hope, Maloni said. "The wonderful benefit that a performer has is you have a tremendous ability to rebuild your reputation. One has to only look at Robert Downey Jr. ... I think Shia can do the same thing."

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AP writer Rachelle Blidner contributed to this report.

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