The United States Supreme Court today refused to halt the release of nearly 40-thousand tobacco industry documents. Tobacco companies fought to keep the papers private under attorney-client privilege, but now the state and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota can use them in their case seeking $1.77 billion from tobacco companies. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports... Tobacco companies handed over more than one-hundred boxes of formerly-secret memos this afternoon to the Minneapolis law firm representing the state and Blue Cross Blue Shield, and attorneys have started poring through them for use in the state's trial. The move ends three years of legal battles over