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Center for Reproductive Rights/TNS/TNS

Texas doctors 'really scared' amid vague abortion laws. Will state board clarify exceptions? <em> </em>

Current News / News & Features /

FORT WORTH, Texas — Confusion around Texas’ abortion law has scared doctors, who worry they could be prosecuted, fined or lose their medical license for performing an abortion procedure when a patient’s life or health is at risk.

The Texas Medical Board could offer some clarity, but some Texas OB-GYNs are warning about the difficulties of...Read more

News briefs

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Supreme Court sounds reluctant to curb US social media outreach

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared ready Monday to allow Biden administration officials to communicate with social media companies, as multiple justices sounded skeptical that the government violated free speech rights when it encouraged the removal of posts with ...Read more

JIM WATSON/Getty Images North America/TNS

Alaska lawmakers fail to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy's education bill veto

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska lawmakers were one vote short Monday of overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of $200 million in education funding.

Dunleavy vetoed the bill Thursday night, two weeks after lawmakers passed it with 56 out 60 lawmakers voting in favor of the package, which was broadly seen as a compromise.

The bill included $175 ...Read more

Alec Tabak/New York Daily News/TNS

Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen can testify at Trump hush money trial, judge rules

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NEW YORK — Michael Cohen, porn star Stormy Daniels, Playboy model Karen McDougal and a Trump Tower doorman — all of whom prosecutors allege Donald Trump paid to stay silent about a series of sex scandals to win the presidency — may all take the stand at his Manhattan criminal trial, a judge ordered Tuesday.

In a set of rulings ensuring ...Read more

Ted S. Warren/Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS

Lead attorney for Bryan Kohberger advocates against expansion of Idaho's death penalty

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BOISE, Idaho — The lead attorney for Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with murdering four University of Idaho students, urged state lawmakers to oppose a bill that proposed expanding the defendants who would qualify for the death penalty.

Anne Taylor, chief of the Kootenai County Public Defender’s Office, appeared before an Idaho Senate ...Read more

Todd McInturf/The Detroit News/TNS

Pro-Trump lawyer Stefanie Lambert arrested on bench warrant in Washington, D.C.

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DETROIT — Stefanie Lambert, a Michigan lawyer who has championed dubious claims of election fraud, was arrested in Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon because of a bench warrant, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service.

The arrest ended an 11-day saga of uncertainty that played out after Oakland County Circuit Court Judge ...Read more

Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group/TNS

San Jose exorcism death: Detective testimony about child ritual opens preliminary hearing

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SAN JOSE, Calif. — Three people facing charges of killing a 3-year-old girl during an alleged exorcism at a San Jose church had believed she was “possessed by a demon,” so they engaged in a ritual to “liberate” the child, a police lieutenant testified Monday.

One reason the girl could have been possessed, the lead police investigator ...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Historic $45 million Chicago police misconduct settlement moves forward

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CHICAGO — Chicago aldermen advanced a plan Monday to award a $45 million settlement to a 15-year-old boy left unable to talk and walk after he was injured in a police chase car crash.

The settlement — set to become one of the largest in Chicago’s history if it passes the full City Council Wednesday — will help pay for the medical care ...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

4 things to know about California Senate Democrats' plan to fix the budget deficit

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SACRAMENTO, California — California Senate Democrats last week unveiled their plan to take early action to address the state’s towering budget deficit.

The caucus is calling the “Shrink the Shortfall” plan the first step of an ongoing process to address a budget which is between $38 billion and $73 billion in the hole.

“The quicker ...Read more

JIM WATSON/Getty Images North America/TNS

Lawmakers to vote on Alaska governor's veto of $200 million education bill

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska lawmakers are set to convene in a joint session Monday afternoon to vote on overriding the governor's veto of a $200 million education funding package.

Last Thursday, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bipartisan funding package that included some Republican priorities alongside a $175 million increase to the ...Read more

Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump can't come up with full $454 million bond owed NY attorney general while he appeals fraud ruling

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NEW YORK — Donald Trump can’t come up with almost half a billion dollars he owes the New York attorney general for committing large-scale fraud, his lawyers told an appeals court Monday.

With one week to go before the former president’s deadline to put down at least $454 million to appeal the mammoth judgment without its consequences ...Read more

Lawn posters showing Israeli hostages are vandalized at Massachusetts home; police investigating 'hate crime'

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BOSTON — A display of posters with the faces of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas terrorists has been vandalized outside a Newton home, as police investigate the “hate crime” and ask neighbors for surveillance footage.

The lawn signs with the names and faces of those held hostage for more than five months were defaced with black spray paint ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Unsupervised child in wheelchair broke both legs at Colorado school after sliding down ramp, lawsuit alleges

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DENVER — An Adams County mother filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging her disabled 12-year-old son was left unattended at his Westminster elementary school, slid down a ramp in his wheelchair and crashed into a wall, breaking both of his legs.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, alleges Adams 12 Five Star Schools violated ...Read more

Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Mosby legal-defense fund donor list to remain secret following circuit court ruling

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BALTIMORE — A list of more than 130 donors to a legal-defense fund created to benefit Baltimore officials Nick and Marilyn Mosby will remain hidden from the public under a recent ruling by the Baltimore City Circuit Court.

The fund, which was the subject of an ethics investigation that ultimately found Council President Nick Mosby was in ...Read more

Jenny Evans/Getty Images North America/TNS

EPA finalizes ban on all remaining uses and importation of asbestos

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The EPA on Monday finalized a rule banning the importation and all remaining uses of chrysotile asbestos, an action officials said has been necessary for decades due to the health effects associated with the toxic mineral.

The mineral has been long linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma, and while its use has waned, EPA Administrator Michael S....Read more

CLARENS SIFFROY/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Armed gangs attack Haiti's wealthiest enclaves, leaving bodies on the streets

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The violence engulfing Haiti’s capital that has led to daily gun battles between police and gangs extended into the hills on Monday, as Haitians in some of Port-au-Prince’s wealthiest enclaves woke up to bursts of heavy gunfire and bodies riddled with bullets on their streets.

Scores of heavily armed men were spotted in the neighborhoods of...Read more

Idaho Department of Correction/Idaho Department of Correction/TNS

Unknown costs, legal challenges: Idaho bill to expand death penalty dies after testimony

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BOISE, Idaho — An effort to expand capital punishment in Idaho died when a bill that sought to make lewd acts with children under age 12 qualify for the death penalty failed to earn enough support for a Senate floor vote. The bill’s sponsors pledged to try again next year.

House Bill 515 aimed to make Idaho at least the second state to ...Read more

Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

USF students begin hunger strike, confront trustees over Israel-Hamas war

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A group of 18 University of South Florida students started their promised hunger strike on Monday, saying they don’t plan to give up until USF severs financial ties with companies supporting Israel.

The students also demanded that USF President Rhea Law state that genocide is occurring in Gaza, where more than 30,000 people have died from ...Read more

Missouri GOP lawmaker was married at 15. She now wants to ban all child marriages

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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Ending child marriage in Missouri is personal for Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, who was married at age 15 to her 21-year-old boyfriend in 1984.

A year earlier, her sister, at age 16, married her 39-year-old drug dealer, said Thompson Rehder, a Sikeston Republican.

“These are the things that are happening in the communities ...Read more

Two attorneys injured in California courtroom stabbing frenzy during murder trial

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MARTINEZ, Calif. — Two attorneys were treated for injuries after an Oakland man allegedly used a pen to stab his own defense lawyer before turning his rage onto the prosecutor in a Martinez courtroom, multiple law enforcement sources confirmed.

Ramello Randle, 28, allegedly broke or cut through a restraint device keeping him in a courtroom ...Read more