LOS ANGELES (AP) – A judge has ordered a man to pay $12.5 million for infecting his ex-wife with HIV.

Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu issued the tentative ruling Nov. 21, finding the man acted with fraud and malice. The ruling followed a non-jury trial in October in which the woman claimed her ex-husband gave her HIV on their honeymoon.

The award includes $7.5 million in general damages and $5 million for past and future lost earnings

The former couple is in their early 40s and were identified in court papers only as Bridget B. and John B. They married in 2000 and divorced in 2003. Both were diagnosed with HIV in October 2000.

Bridget B. sued for negligence, fraud and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress in April 2002.

The state Supreme Court ruled in July 2006 that she could sue her former partner for giving her the virus that causes AIDS if he had reason to know that he was infected. But the high court also set limits on how much information she could get about his past sexual partners.

Bridget B.’s court papers contend that John B.’s e-mails show that he had a “rampant, high-risk secret (homo)sexual lifestyle” that resulted in his being infected.

One of her attorneys, Kathleen Grassini, said the judge’s finding of fraud and malice means John B. can’t declare bankruptcy and get out of paying the award.

“But there’s no money left, so let them try and collect,” John B., who acted as his own lawyer, said outside the courtroom after the trial.

The husband had argued his ex-wife infected him with HIV, but then testified that he could have brought the HIV virus into the relationship.

Grassini said she and her client were pleased with the award.

“She’s got some money and she’s got some vindication,” she said. “It’s been seven years now. She testified on the most personal matters and the judge believed her.”

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – A new report says same-sex marriages could pump $3 million to $13 million into Connecticut’s economy over the next three years.

The Williams Institute at UCLA Law School says Connecticut’s recent Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage could draw same-sex couples from throughout the country.

Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only states in which same-sex couples can legally wed.

California allowed same-sex marriage until voters approved a ballot question this month defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Several Connecticut wedding planners and florists say they expect a boost in business from out-of-state same-sex couples.

Connecticut’s same-sex wedding ceremonies started Nov. 12.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) – A 44-year-old St. Charles man with the virus that causes AIDS was sentenced to eight years in prison for having unprotected sex with his girlfriend.

Michael Bergman pleaded guilty in September and was sentenced Nov. 24 on one count of recklessly risking another person with HIV infection.

Bergman was arrested in February, and authorities initially said at least five men and women were potentially exposed to HIV. But prosecutors say no other victims have come forward. Bergman’s ex-girlfriend has not contracted HIV.

Bergman and the woman met on the Internet and began a relationship in December. He told authorities and testified in court that he was addicted to sex, drugs and alcohol.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – A 20-year-old Syracuse man is being held without bail after a shooting police are investigating as a possible hate crime.

Dwight DeLee was arraigned Nov. 24 on a single count of second-degree murder in the Nov. 21 killing of 20-year-old Moses Cannon, also of Syracuse.

Police say it appeared Cannon was targeted because he was gay and dressed as a woman.

They say DeLee shot Cannon with a .22-caliber rifle while Cannon was sitting with his 18-year-old brother in a car in front of a Syracuse home where they’d been invited to a party the night of Nov. 21. The bullet grazed Mark Cannon’s arm before hitting his older brother in the chest.

Officials did not return calls for information about whether DeLee has a lawyer.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) – Officials in an upstate New York county have decided not to challenge a court ruling that a lesbian couple’s marriage in Canada should be recognized in New York.

Monroe County says it will abide by an appeals court decision in February that said Monroe Community College should extend health benefits to an employee’s lesbian partner.

Patricia Martinez, a word processing supervisor, sued the school in 2005, arguing that it granted benefits to heterosexual married couples but denied them to Martinez and her partner, Lisa Ann Golden. The couple formalized their relationship in a civil union ceremony in Vermont in 2001 and were married in Canada in 2004.

DURHAM, N.H. (AP) – The University of New Hampshire plans to cut off benefits to same-sex partners of employees if they don’t get a civil union.

University employees whose same-sex partners are receiving health-care coverage will have to enter into a civil union by July or risk losing benefits, though some exceptions may be made.

The policy change is becoming more common among businesses and organizations in states where same-sex partnerships have been legalized. The state of New Hampshire already has made a similar policy shift.

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – A federally funded program that helps people with HIV and AIDS in Wyoming says it has enrolled nearly three times as many people this year as it has in past years.

Laurie Johnson, clinical director at Early Intervention Services, said the program has enrolled 24 people since April. That’s up from six to 10 in a typical year.

Several others are waiting for confirmation of test results.

“Over the past four months, we have seen a lot of absolute new cases, with clients who have told us this is their first test,” Johnson said.

Dr. Mark Dowell, who helps oversee Early Intervention Services, attributes the increase to greater access to improved testing methods. Dowell says a new rapid HIV test can be administered with just a finger prick, and results are available in 15 to 20 minutes.

“There are multiple places to get testing,” he said.

Results from a conventional blood test can take two weeks.

As of Dec. 31, 2007, 166 people were living in Wyoming with HIV/AIDS, according to the state health department’s HIV/AIDS surveillance report.

Rob Johnston, HIV prevention program manager for the Wyoming Department of Health, said that while rapid testing has helped identify more people, he has seen more people become infected. They include a group of young gay men who became infected in Laramie County this year – men who never thought of themselves at risk.

Over the past year, Johnston’s program has followed up on positive tests more thoroughly and increased efforts to contact sexual partners who might have been exposed.

He said they include men in heterosexual relationships who also have sex with men.

“Their girlfriends, their wives have no idea,” he said. “Talk about a hard group to reach out to.”

Laurie Johnson said some people seem to have forgotten the disease exists.

“It’s not a hot topic anymore,” Johnson said. “They don’t think about it so they don’t use protection.”

Dowell said not many people are acquiring the disease in Wyoming. They are leaving the state, engaging in risk factors and then returning.

“It’s not like a new reservoir of HIV infection living in the state,” Dowell said.