California to pay $2M church legal fees over virus closures

LOS ANGELES - The state of California has agreed not to impose greater coronavirus restrictions on church gatherings than it does on retail establishments in a pair of settlements that provide more than $2 million in fees to lawyers who challenged the rules as a violation of religious freedom.

A deal approved Tuesday by a federal judge comes after lawyers for a San Diego-area Pentecostal church took their challenge against the state to the U.S. Supreme Court three times and won.

The settlement includes a permanent injunction in line with Supreme Court rulings that found restrictions on houses...