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WILLIAMS — A bus driver with a string of motor vehicle offenses and a history of substance abuse was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Monday, hours after his casino-bound charter bus ran into a ditch, killing eight people.

Investigators also said the bus had an invalid license plate, and they were looking into whether the driver had proper permits to operate the vehicle. The bus ran off the road Sunday while taking passengers to a Northern California casino. About 30 people were injured.

Records show 52-year-old Quintin Watts of Stockton had been cited for speeding and other violations that resulted in loss of his license for nearly two years. He regained his driving privileges last January.

Watts was arrested as he lay critically injured in his hospital bed.

LONG BEACH — A mother who drove her teenage son and his friends to a fatal fight with a rival gang in Southern California has been convicted of second-degree murder.

The jury convicted 31-year-old Eva Daley on Monday. The jury also found that Daley and her co-defendant committed the crime for the benefit of a criminal gang.

Heriberto Garcia also was convicted of second-degree murder. He was accused of stabbing 13-year-old Jose Cano in June 2007 near a Long Beach skate park.

Daley's son and four other youths pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced as juveniles.

MIAMI — The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Marco has maintained its strength off Mexico's Gulf Coast with maximum sustained winds near 65 mph.

A hurricane watch is in effect for Mexico's Gulf Coast from Cabo Rojo south to Veracruz, and a tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast from Cabo Rojo south to Punta El Lagarto.

At 8 p.m. EDT Monday, the storm was centered about 80 miles east of Veracruz and moving to the west-northwest at near 7 mph. Forecasters say the storm is expected to strengthen and will likely come ashore sometime today.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Norbert was nearing hurricane strength with top winds near 70 mph.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court picked up Monday where it left off last term, signaling support for efforts to block lawsuits against tobacco companies over deceptive marketing of "light" cigarettes.

The first day of the court's new term included denials of hundreds of appeals. Chief Justice John Roberts opened the new session in a crowded courtroom that included retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The Supreme Court refused Monday to hear cases in which:

● Anti-abortion activists were trying to undo a multimillion-dollar verdict for their use of "wanted" posters to identify abortion clinic doctors.

● A convicted murderer sought a requirement that jury verdicts be unanimous in all criminal cases.

● Former Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, once accused of being a top Palestinian terrorist, says the government is ignoring his plea agreement in trying to force him to testify to a grand jury.

Last term, the justices handed down several opinions that limited state regulation of business in favor of federal power. Several justices posed skeptical questions in this term's first case, whether federal law prevents smokers from using consumer protection laws to go after tobacco companies for their marketing of "light" and "low-tar" cigarettes.

The companies are facing dozens of such lawsuits across the country.

The federal cigarette-labeling law bars states from regulating any aspect of cigarette advertising that involves smoking and health.

See Arizona license-plate issue / B3

SMITHS GROVE — A sheriff's deputy accused of killing his ex-girlfriend in Kentucky taunted state police in an e-mail exchange Monday, threatening a county jailer and telling police he was going to "make them earn their money" in their search for him.

Simpson County Sheriff's Deputy Randall Creek, 41, is sought in the slaying of his ex-girlfriend, Debbie R. Rediess, 46, authorities said. Rediess was shot to death outside her home Sunday morning in Smiths Grove, which is about 85 miles south of Louisville.

In an e-mail that was sent to a newspaper, Kentucky State Police and about 30 other recipients, Creek confesses to the killing, Trooper Todd Holder said.

"I am not running to get away, but I am going to make the KSP earn their money on this one," Creek said in the e-mail, which was posted on the Daily News of Bowling Green's Web site.

Authorities said they believed Creek to be armed with at least a handgun and said they had evidence that he had been in the Louisville area.