Tony P. Rosenstein, an employment lawyer with the Houston firm Baker Botts, will investigate complaints from Lufkin Industries employees and act to resolve them, according to an injunction issued Friday by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark of Beaumont.

The injunction is part of the resolution of a class-action lawsuit brought against the 107-year-old company by black workers 12 years ago.

Clark ruled last June that Lufkin Industries' more than 1,000 current and former black employees are due to divvy up back pay and interest of approximately $5.5 million. The judge awarded the damages as compensation for what he called the company's unlawful discrimination in awarding promotions.

Lufkin Industries, publicly traded since 1990, manufactures oil field equipment and industrial gearboxes. It employs about 1,200 in Lufkin, a city of 33,000 about 120 miles northeast of Houston, making it one of the area's largest employers.

State Auditor Crit Luallen said Thursday she forwarded the report to law enforcement "because of the nature and complexity of the exam's findings."

Those findings included high pay for executives of the quasi-governmental organization that is primarily funded by public money, conflicts of interest in spending, undocumented credit card expenses and gifts from vendors, including admission to a Las Vegas strip club for three League staff members.

The audit team of state financial experts found 19 positions in the organization paid more than $100,000 — some far more, thanks to raises over the past seven years.

Auditors noted that the executive director's salary had risen since 2002 from $170,000 to $331,000, and that the deputy executive director's pay rose over the same period from $141,00 to $255,000. They also noted a raise that took the chief insurance services officer salary from $124,000 to nearly $239,000.

Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe of Des Moines received their waiver by 9 a.m.

Same-sex couples in Iowa began applying for marriage license Monday after a state Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay unions took effect.

The high court issued an order early in the day confirming that the appeals process in the case has officially concluded.

The Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous and emphatic decision on April 3 made Iowa the third state to allow same-sex marriage, joining Massachusetts and Connecticut. Vermont has passed a law that will take effect in September.

U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder ruled the so-called widow penalty doesn't necessarily require that immigrants' permanent residency applications be denied when their American spouses die. Citing a 2006 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Snyder ruled this week that applicants don't lose their status as spouses of U.S. citizens if the death occurs before the government rules on their applications.

The decision, if made final, would be a victory for more than 200 people across the country who have been affected by the widow penalty, said attorney Brent Renison, who filed the class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles.

"This case is very significant because it's the first that follows the circuit court decision and gives guidance to the agency on what it can and cannot do in these situations," Renison told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has argued the law requires that residency applications be rejected for immigrants whose American spouses die within two years of being married.