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Spread of abortion restrictions in South puts pressure on Virginia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — As more Southern states pass new restrictions on abortion, Virginia is poised to become an outlier in the region for its relatively permissive laws, setting up the state as a destination for women seeking abortions and raising questions about providers’ capacity to meet demand.South Carolina is among the last bastions in the region for those seeking legal abortions, but that status could end soon. Access would be almost entirely banned after about six weeks of pregnancy — often before women know they’re pregnant — under a bill expected to come up for a vote in the House on Wednesday. The state Senate, which previously rejected a proposal to nearly outlaw abortions, could give final passage next week.And most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will be banned in North Carolina beginning July 1 after the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday.Abortion is banned or severely restricted in m...

Jury begins deliberations in Danny Masterson rape retrial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors in Danny Masterson’s rape retrial began deliberations Wednesday morning in the case against the former “That ’70s Show” star. The jury of seven men and five women got the case when prosecutors finally finished their rebuttal after all-day closing arguments a day earlier. Late last year, a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case against Masterson involving rape allegations by three women, and Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo declared a mistrial. Prosecutors said in their closing argument Tuesday that Masterson drugged the women in order to assault them, then relied on his status as a prominent member in the Church of Scientology to avoid consequences for decades.“You don’t want to have sex? You don’t have a choice,” Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson told the jury. “The defendant makes that choice for these victims. And he does it over and over and over again.”After closing arguments, Masterson’s attorney Philip Cohen made a moti...

State Department offers Republican lawmaker a chance to view Afghanistan dissent cable

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department offered Wednesday to allow the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to view a classified cable from U.S. diplomats in Kabul sent shortly before the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas had threatened earlier this week to make an unprecedented push to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress if he did not turn over the so-called dissent cable. It was not immediately clear whether the State Department’s offer would appease the Republican lawmaker, who also wanted to see Blinken’s response to the cable.State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters Wednesday that McCaul, as well as Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the committee, would be invited to the department to view the cable “with appropriate personal information redacted.”“Chairman McCaul himself has said that this is what he is interested in,” Patel said. “And so it i...

Elizabeth Holmes will start 11-year prison sentence on May 30 after losing her bid to remain free

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will remain free through the Memorial Day weekend before surrendering to authorities on May 30 to begin her more than 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors in a blood-testing scam.U.S. District Judge Edward Davila set Holmes’ revised prison-reporting date after her lawyers proposed it in a Wednesday filing. It came after a federal appeals court late Tuesday rejected Holmes’ bid to remain out of prison while she attempts to overturn her January 2022 conviction on four felony counts of fraud and conspiracy. The punishment also includes a $452 million restitution bill that Davila ordered Holmes to pay in a separate ruling issued late Tuesday.Holmes’ lawyers asked Davila to approve the May 30 prison reporting time to her two weeks to sort out several issues, including child care for her 1-year-old son William and 3-month-old daughter Invicta. Holmes had originally been ordered to begin her prison s...

Illinois Democrats say abortion-access protections are a promise: ‘You’re safe here’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Access to abortion is essentially locked down in Illinois. But Democrats are looking for ways to further protect the practice and its availability, including to outsiders who potentially face home-state penalties for seeking treatment here. Legislation approved by both houses of the General Assembly include requiring Illinois insurers to cover abortion-inducing drugs, penalizing crisis pregnancy centers if they distribute inaccurate information and requiring colleges to offer reduced-price emergency contraception on campus. Reaching beyond the borders is a high-tech House-approved measure that would require that interstate agreements over license-plate reading technology include a promise they not be used to track people traveling to Illinois for an abortion. It has its sights set on statutes such as the recent “abortion-trafficking” law signed in Idaho. Lawmakers say they are not circling the wagons amid an increasingly hostile landscape since the U.S. Supr...

Limo service manager convicted of manslaughter in rural New York crash that killed 20 people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A limousine service manager was convicted Wednesday of manslaughter in a crash that killed 20 people in rural New York, one of the deadliest U.S. road wrecks in two decades. Jurors reached their verdict during their second day of deliberations in the trial of Nauman Hussain, who ran Prestige Limousine. He faces the possibility of up to 15 years in prison at his May 31 sentencing. Hussain looked disappointed on hearing the verdict. He was taken into custody. A message seeking comment was sent to his attorney.Applause could be heard in the audience as the jury was discharged. Packed with birthday revelers, the stretch-style SUV went off the road in 2018 after the vehicle’s brakes failed. The heavy limo hit a parked car and trees before coming to rest in a streambed in Schoharie, a village west of Albany. Seventeen passengers, the driver and two bystanders were killed.___Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News...

Saskatchewan running coal power later than 2030 would be illegal: Guilbeault

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

OTTAWA — Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says it would be against the law for Saskatchewan to run its coal-fired power plants after 2030, unless the emissions from those plants are captured.Canada’s five-year-old regulations on coal power require all power plants that rely on coal to be closed, converted to natural gas or equipped with carbon-capture systems by the end of 2029.He says those regulations exist under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and as such, violating them would be an offence under Canada’s Criminal Code.But Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says that to maintain reliable and affordable electricity supplies, his province is looking at running its three coal plants until the end of their planned lifespans, which all go well beyond 2030.Saskatchewan also expects to run its natural gas power plants to the end of their lives, which Moe says would mean the province couldn’t have a net-zero electricity grid until 2050.Canada’s current...

Boy, 13, missing out of Englewood may be in need of medical attention

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

CHICAGO — A 13-year-old boy from the South Side is missing and may require medical attention, Chicago police said Wednesday.Takai Williams was last seen Tuesday in the 6400 block of S. Sangamon in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood.According to police, Wiliams stands 5-foot-7-inches and weighs 138 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesAnyone with information is asked to contact police at (312) 747-8380 or call 911.

Glendale Heights man facing 8 child pornography charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

GLENDALE HEIGHTS, Ill. — A suburban man was arrested Tuesday following a search warrant related to a child pornography investigation.Felix Alejandro, 61, is facing eight counts of possession of child pornography. On Tuesday, officers executed a search warrant at his Glendale Heights home, located in the 000 block of Shorewood Drive.Alejandro's bond was set at $250,000.

More than 1M tax returns flagged for potential identity fraud: IRS

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:58 GMT

(The Hill) -- More than 1 million tax returns have been flagged for potential identity fraud with more than $6 billion in refunds requiring additional review, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). An interim report on the 2023 tax filing season that the IRS composed last week and publicly released on Tuesday states that the agency identified almost 1.1 million returns that need to have additional review because of identity theft filters, as of March 2. The IRS confirmed 12,617 returns to be fraudulent, preventing $105.3 million in refunds from being distributed. The total confirmed to be fraudulent is up about 3,000 from the 9,626 that were confirmed to be fraudulent as of the same time last year.  IRS will launch test run of free online tax-filing system The report states that the agency is using 236 filters to identify possible fraud in returns during the 2023 season, up from 168 filters used last year. It states that the filters include criteria base...