The state attorney general and sponsors of the ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California urged its Supreme Court to hear a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn the ban, saying the matter is too urgent to be unsettled.

"The petitions raise issues of statewide importance, implicating not only California's marriage laws but also the initiative process and the Constitution itself," Attorney General Jerry Brown argued in his filing.

"This court can provide certainty and finality in this matter," he said.

Proposition 8, which passed with 52 percent of the vote earlier this month, overturned the high court's May decision legalizing gay marriage in California. The measure inserts language into the constitution limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

Gay and civil rights groups, the city of San Francisco and other plaintiffs have asked the court to void the measure on the grounds that voters did not have the authority to make, what they say, is a fundamental constitutional change.

There is no deadline for the justices to decide whether they'll take the cases.

The litigation has made unwitting allies of supporters of the same-sex marriage ban and the attorney general, who voted against the proposition. Over the summer, anti-gay marriage groups sued Brown after his office changed the measure's wording to reflect that it would take away a right that same-sex couples then had.

Brown has since said that in his role as California's top public lawyer, he will fight to uphold Proposition 8 as an expression of public sentiment on same-sex marriage. The preliminary documents he filed Monday did not address that issue.

Andrew Pugno, a lawyer for the Yes on 8 campaign, said the measure's supporters are so confident the Supreme Court would uphold the initiative they want the court to take the cases and resolve the question quickly.

"There is no question Proposition 8 is exactly the type of amendment the framers of the Constitution envisioned for the people to be able to enact," Pugno said.

The Protect Marriage coalition is less confident about Brown's sincere interest in defending the gay marriage ban in court, according to Pugno. That's why the coalition asked the court for permission to intervene in the cases Monday.

"Everyone knows the AG opposed Proposition 8, did everything he could to undermine it and it still passed anyway," he said. "There is little hope he would make much effort at all to defend Prop. 8."

Both the attorney general and Protect Marriage asked the court to reject a request from gay marriage supporters for a stay that would allow same-sex couples to resume marrying in California until the broader legal issues are addressed.

Meanwhile, the interfaith California Council of Churches and the Episcopal bishops of Northern California and Los Angeles added their petition Monday to those asking the high court to invalidate Proposition 8. They argue that if voters are permitted to take away rights from a group based on sexual orientation, the same could happen to religious minorities.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will round up fewer wild horses and try to shuffle funds within the agency to hold off for now on killing large numbers of the animals in an effort to control herds and spiraling costs, an official said Monday.

Deputy Director Henri Bisson said maintaining the wild horse and burro program for another year will give horse advocates, the BLM, Congress, ranchers and wildlife advocates time to explore possible solutions and let "cooler heads prevail."

"Let's focus on doing something positive before we have to look at last resort tools," Bisson said. "We're not making any decisions today. We're not making any decisions next week."

About 33,000 wild horses roam the open range in 10 Western states, half of those in Nevada. The horses and burros are managed by the BLM and protected under a 1971 law enacted by Congress.

The agency, which set a target "appropriate management level" of 27,000 horses in the wild to protect the herd, the range and other foraging animals, rounds up excess horses and offers them for adoption. Those too old or considered unadoptable are sent to long-term holding facilities.

In all, the agency is caring for about the same number of horses in holding pens as there are on the range.

The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board is considering ways to help spur adoptions that have slowed in recent years and to curb population growth as a way to reduce long-term holding costs.

Bisson told the same group in June that the agency faces a crisis because of the skyrocketing costs of caring for the horses in long-term facilities where the animals live out their days - some for as long as 20 years.

A report released last week by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said the BLM this year will spend about $27 million - about three-fourths of its budget - caring for the animals. Continuing current practices would require a budget of $58 million next year, escalating to $77 million in 2012, BLM estimated.

The report also noted that the BLM has authority to kill or sell excess horses without restriction from slaughter.

Some advocates who oppose euthanizing horses say herd sizes are a result of years of agency mismanagement. They also say horses are given short shrift on public lands because they compete with livestock for forage.

Bisson projected the agency needs to find $15 million to $20 million elsewhere in its budget to sustain the wild horse program through the year.

Government roundups will be limited to about 5,000 horses and mostly involve animals facing severe hardship because of conditions such as drought.

Nebraska lawmakers are proposing an age limit of 30 days for children who may be legally abandoned under the state's safe haven law.

The proposal, advanced Monday by a legislative committee, is designed to stop a rash of drop-offs of older children, including teens, at hospitals in the state.

It will be debated by the full Legislature on Tuesday.

Nebraska is the only state with a safe haven law that doesn't set an age limit.

Approximately 120 people jammed into a Capitol hearing room Monday as legislators considered changing the open-ended safe haven law. Many said an age cap was secondary to what the law has illustrated: A ragged safety net for troubled children that needs to be mended soon.

"We're trying to decide which hole to put a finger in, meanwhile the whole dike's falling down around us," said Topher Hansen, president of the Nebraska Behavioral Health Coalition.

State officials disagreed with child welfare experts and others who criticized what they said was a lack of access to mental health and other services. They added that some parents are unnecessarily abandoning their children at hospitals.

Todd Landry, who oversees the state's children and family services, said there are resources available to parents.

"It is not the role of government to intervene in a family's life" when children are not in danger, Landry said.

Since September, 34 children have been dropped off. Five of them have been from out-of-state, leaving 29 in the state's care.

Lavennia Coover lashed out at suggestions she and other parents dropped their children off unnecessarily.

Coover told senators she dropped her 11-year-old son off in September after what she described as repeated and sometimes violent outbursts.

"I am tired of being labeled a bad parent by people in power who have no idea what my life is like in my home," Coover told the Legislature's Judiciary Committee. She said her son is bipolar.

Lawmakers are in a special session called by Gov. Dave Heineman, who had proposed allowing parents and guardians to drop off only infants no older than 3 days at hospitals without fear of prosecution for the abandonment.

The governor said Monday that he's flexible on an age limit and is willing to work with the Legislature.

All states have a safe haven law, and 13 states have a 30-day limit.

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Associated Press Writer Anna Jo Bratton contributed to this report.