The Full Belmonte, 5/18/2023
Appeals court appears likely to restrict access to key abortion pill
Judges aggressively question lawyers for Justice Dept. and drug company about the FDA’s regulation of mifepristone
“NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court on Wednesday seemed prepared to limit access to a key abortion medication first approved more than two decades ago, expressing deep skepticism that the government followed the proper process when it loosened regulations to make the pill more readily available.
A panel of three judges, all of whom have previously supported other types of abortion restrictions, peppered lawyers for the government and the drug manufacturer with questions about why the Food and Drug Administration has allowed mifepristone to be prescribed by a medical professional other than a doctor and sent directly to patients by mail.
The judges also appeared to embrace the suggestion that restoring prior restrictions on mifepristone would mean fewer women would need emergency care after using medication to terminate a pregnancy. Serious side effects occur in less than 1 percent of such abortions….” Read more at Washington Post
Documents leak suspect had been warned about handling of classified information, prosecutors say
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
FILE - This artist depiction shows Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, right, appearing in U.S. District Court in Boston, April 14, 2023. Prosecutors say that superiors of Teixeira, charged with leaking highly classified military documents, had raised concerns internally on multiple occasions about his handling or viewing of classified information. (Margaret Small via AP, File)
“BOSTON (AP) — Superiors of the Massachusetts Air National Guard member charged with leaking highly classified military documents had raised concerns internally on multiple occasions about his handling or viewing of classified information, according to a court filing Wednesday.
Justice Department lawyers made the disclosure in a court papers urging a magistrate judge to keep Jack Teixeira behind bars while he awaits trial in the case stemming from the most consequential intelligence leak in years. The judge is expected to hear more arguments Friday on prosecutors’ detention request and issue a ruling.
Teixeira is accused of sharing highly classified documents about top national security issues in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers. He has not yet entered a plea.
Prosecutors told the judge in their filing that Teixeira continued leaking documents even after he was admonished by superiors on two separate occasions last year over ‘concerning actions’ he took related to classified information.
A September memo from the Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing that prosecutors filed in court says Teixeira had been observed taking notes on classified intelligence information and putting the notes in his pocket. Teixeira was instructed at the time to no longer take notes in any form on classified intelligence information, the memo says….” Read more at AP News
DeSantis plans to officially enter presidential race next week
The second-term governor, widely considered at present to be the most viable GOP challenger to former president Donald Trump, has been laying the groundwork for a campaign for months
“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to officially enter the 2024 presidential race next week, as the Republican gathers top fundraisers in Miami, according to two people familiar with the plans.
The second-term governor, widely considered at present to be the most viable GOP challenger to former president Donald Trump, has been laying the groundwork for a campaign for months. In speeches around the country, he has touted his landslide reelection win last year and his sweeping legislative agenda in Florida — passed this spring by GOP supermajorities — and also implicitly pitched himself as a better bet than Trump in the general election.
Representatives for DeSantis’s political team declined to comment.
DeSantis is also expected to hold an event launching his candidacy in Dunedin, Fla., his hometown, according to one of the people familiar with the plans and another familiar with the kickoff gathering. That event is expected to take place after Memorial Day, according to the first person….” Read more at Washington Post
Prince Harry and Meghan Say They Were Chased by Paparazzi in New York
The initial description of the episode in Midtown Manhattan recalled the chase that killed Harry’s mother, but the fuller picture was more complicated.
“The statement was alarming, unmistakably evocative of the car chase that killed Princess Diana 26 years ago: Prince Harry and his wife Meghan had been ‘involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi,’ according to an unnamed spokesperson for the couple.
That story, of a chaotic and dangerous pursuit through Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday night, ricocheted all over the world on Wednesday morning, making headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. CNN, which like SKY News and outlets all over the world provided minute-by-minute updates, reported that a member of the couple’s security team said the episode ‘could have been fatal.’
But as more details emerged on Wednesday from the accounts of the police and a taxi driver who was briefly involved, the picture became more complicated.
It illustrated any number of issues surrounding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex: their incandescent fame and the news media’s endless appetite for stories about them; their frosty relationship with the Crown and their fight for a royal security detail; and their determination to avoid the paparazzi’s lenses, surely informed by the tragic death of Diana, Harry’s mother, as she rode in a car speeding away from them in Paris in 1997….” Read more at New York Times
Drug Overdose Deaths Topped 100,000 Again in 2022
CDC’s provisional count suggests fentanyl-fueled crisis is leveling off at record levels
Fentanyl-related deaths surged for two years during the Covid-19 pandemic. PHOTO: THOMAS SIMONETTI/BLOOMBERG NEWS
“Overdose deaths in the U.S. edged higher in 2022, a federal estimate showed, marking only the second time drugs killed more than 100,000 people in a year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday released a provisional count of overdose deaths last year that indicated the toll of the fentanyl crisis leveling off after two years of surges during the Covid-19 pandemic. The CDC counted 109,680 overdose deaths in 2022 compared with 109,179 deaths from a similar 2021 projection. For overdose deaths to hover at such a high level demonstrates how fentanyl’s ubiquity and potency continue to threaten the lives of illicit drug users….
The plateau follows a 16% increase in overdose deaths in 2021 and a 30% surge in 2020. The U.S. has only recorded two years in which drug fatalities declined in the past several decades, 1990 and 2018.
Authorities have been trying to crack down on the flow of fentanyl through the U.S. border, where Mexican cartels that make the synthetic opioid commonly send it hidden in vehicles through border crossings. There are also efforts to expand harm-reduction methods including supervised drug-use sites and wider distribution of overdose-reversal drugs meant to lower the odds of dying.
Those efforts have been overpowered in recent years as illicit forms of fentanyl spread through the U.S. and the Covid-19 pandemic increased stress and isolation. Fentanyl is more potent and riskier than heroin, has spread broadly throughout the U.S. and infiltrated every corner of the drug market, including an explosive number of fake fentanyl-laced pills. U.S. authorities are trying to slow the spread of xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that can cause severe wounds and is increasingly mixed into the fentanyl supply….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
South Carolina moves closer to abortion ban, a Southern trend that puts pressure on Virginia
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI, SARAH RANKIN and DENISE LAVOIE
“RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — South Carolina became the latest state to move toward a near total abortion ban Wednesday with legislation that if enacted would leave Virginia an outlier in the South as a place where women have unrestricted access to abortions amid a rapid rise in restrictions in the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
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 the bill that now must pass the state Senate, which previously rejected a proposal to nearly outlaw abortions but could give final passage to the new legislation 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 much of the South, including bans throughout pregnancy in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. In Georgia, it’s allowed only in the first six weeks….” Read more at AP News
F.B.I. Revokes Security Clearances of 3 Agents Over Jan. 6 Issues
At least two of the three agents are scheduled to testify on Thursday to a House panel investigating what Republicans contend is the “weaponization” of federal agencies against conservatives.
Establishing a House Judiciary subcommittee to investigate the so-called weaponization of the federal government was a top priority of far-right House Republicans. Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times
By Alan Feuer
May 17, 2023
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation has revoked the security clearances of three agents who either took part in the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, or later expressed views about it that placed into question their ‘allegiance to the United States,’ the bureau said on Wednesday in a letter to congressional investigators.
The letter, written by a top official at the F.B.I., came one day before at least two of the agents — Marcus Allen and Stephen Friend — were set to testify in front of a House Judiciary subcommittee investigating what Republicans contend is the ‘weaponization’ of the federal government against conservatives.
For several months, Republican lawmakers have been courting F.B.I. agents who they believe support their contentions that the bureau and other federal agencies have been turned against former President Donald J. Trump and his supporters both before and after the Capitol attack.
Some of the agents have come forward as self-described whistle-blowers and taken steps like writing a letter to the leaders of the F.B.I. complaining about ways in which the bureau has discriminated against conservatives….” Read more at New York Times
Montana says 1st-in-nation TikTok ban protects people. TikTok says it violates their rights
By AMY BETH HANSON and HALELUYA HADERO
Adam Botkin, a football TikTok influencer, uses his phone after recording a video for a post at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Mont., on Monday, May 1, 2023. Botkin, a former walk-on place kicker and punter for the Montana Grizzlies, gained notoriety on the social media platform after videos of him performing kicking tricks went viral. (AP Photo/Tommy Martino)
“HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana became the first state in the U.S. to enact a complete ban on TikTok on Wednesday when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a measure that’s more sweeping than any other state’s attempts to curtail the social media app, which is owned by a Chinese tech company.
The measure, scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, is expected to be challenged legally and will serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America that many national lawmakers have envisioned. Cybersecurity experts say it could be difficult to enforce the ban.
‘Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,’ Gianforte said in a statement.
TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter argued that the law infringes on people’s First Amendment rights and is unlawful. She declined to say whether the company will file a lawsuit….” Read more at AP News
Supreme Court lets Illinois keep ban on sale of some semiautomatic guns for now
FILE - The setting sun illuminates the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 10, 2023. The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether South Carolina’s congressional districts need to be redrawn because they discriminate against Black voters. The justices said Monday they would review a lower-court ruling that found a coastal district running from Charleston to Hilton Head was intentionally redrawn to reduce the number of Black Democratic-leaning voters to make it more likely Republican candidates would win. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday that Illinois can, for now, keep in place a new law that bars the sale of certain semiautomatic guns and large-capacity magazines.
The high court denied an emergency request from people challenging the law, which bans so-called assault weapons. The law’s opponents had asked the court to put the law on hold while a court challenge continues. The court did not comment and no justice publicly dissented.
The high court’s action comes at a time when gun violence has been heavily in the news. Since the beginning of the year, 115 people have died in 22 mass killings — an average of one mass killing a week, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in a partnership with Northeastern University. The database counts killings involving four or more fatalities, not including the perpetrator. Just recently, on May 6, a man armed with an AR-15 style rifle and other firearms fatally shot eight people, including three children, at a Dallas-area mall….” Read more at AP News
Key Trump attorney says he’s departing legal team as Mar-a-Lago probe intensifies
By ERIC TUCKER
FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in Palm Beach, Fla. Timothy Parlatore, a key lawyer for former President Donald Trump says he's leaving the legal team, a move that comes as a special counsel investigation into the retention of classified documents shows signs of being in its final stages. Timothy Parlatore told The Associated Press that his departure had nothing to do with Trump and was not a reflection on his view of the Justice Department’s investigation, which he has long called misguided and overly aggressive, or on the strength of the government’s evidence. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — A key lawyer for former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was leaving the legal team, a move that comes as a special counsel investigation into the retention of classified documents shows signs of being in its final stages.
Timothy Parlatore told The Associated Press that his departure had nothing to do with Trump and was not a reflection on his view of the Justice Department’s investigation, which he has long called misguided and overly aggressive, or on the strength of the government’s evidence. He said he believed he had served Trump well.
Other lawyers, including former Justice Department prosecutor James Trusty, are continuing to represent Trump in Washington investigations….” Read more at AP News
Effort to expel Santos falters as Republicans vote to send measure to Ethics Committee
By KEVIN FREKING
U.S. Rep. George Santos speaks to reporters as he leaves the federal courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. A 13-count federal indictment unsealed in New York accuses Santos of embezzling money from his campaign, falsely receiving unemployment funds and lying to Congress about his finances. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — A resolution to expel Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., from Congress was referred to the House Ethics Committee on Wednesday as Republicans successfully sidestepped an effort to force them into a vote that could have narrowed their already slim four-seat majority.
The House voted along party lines, 221-204, to refer the matter to the ethics panel, with Santos himself joining his GOP colleagues in voting to do so.
The freshman congressman has been charged with embezzling money from his campaign, falsely receiving unemployment funds and lying to Congress about his finances. He has denied the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., introduced a resolution in February to expel Santos, something the House has only done twice in recent decades. He sought to force a vote on that resolution under a process that left three options for Republicans: a vote on the resolution, a move to table, or a referral to committee….” Read more at AP News
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey Withdraws Emergency Limits on Transgender Healthcare
Restrictions had been blocked in court, while the state legislature has been crafting its own measures
By Mariah Timms
Healthcare providers and transgender Missouri residents sued over Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s restrictions on transgender healthcare. PHOTO: DAVID A. LIEB/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey terminated a set of restrictions late Tuesday that could have ended most, if not all, transgender-related healthcare in the state for minors and adults.
The rules hadn’t been in effect because a state judge recently issued a temporary restraining order against them, after healthcare providers and a group of transgender Missouri residents sued. They argued Bailey, a Republican, didn’t have the authority to go around the state legislature in issuing the restrictions, leaving doctors and residents at a loss on how to proceed with necessary medical care.
Missouri legislators passed a bill last week imposing strict limits on access to gender-transition care and other treatments for children and teenagers, but not adults. Republican Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign it.
Bailey’s regulations required that patients undergo months of extensive mental-health assessments and that doctors meet a host of prerequisites before providing transgender healthcare. The rules also required doctors to present patients with nearly two dozen statements indicating that such care was experimental and risky.
The Missouri secretary of state posted a written notice of the termination of the restrictions, which the attorney general had said were needed to protect public safety. Bailey’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal. The ACLU called Bailey’s rules a ‘hasty attempt to usurp other branches of government.’
‘Today’s actions are a victory for Missourians’ right to bodily autonomy, but the fight is not over,’ the ACLU said.
More Republican-led states have been adopting restrictions on transgender-related healthcare, but Bailey’s restrictions were among the most sweeping in the nation. Restrictions in other states are also facing legal challenges.
Opponents say the measures deprive transgender minors of necessary healthcare and interfere with medical decisions that should be made by patients and their families.” [Wall Street Journal]
Texas Legislature Bans Transgender Medical Care for Children
By David Montgomery and J. David Goodman
“Over the opposition of Democrats and the loud protests at the Capitol this month, the Texas Legislature voted on Wednesday to approve a bill banning hormone and puberty blocking treatments, as well as surgeries for transgender children. The state is poised to become the largest state to ban transition medical care for minors.
The final version of the bill included a limited exemption for those transgender children who were already receiving medical treatment before the bill’s passage, though it also required those patients to ‘wean’ themselves off the medications over an unspecified period of time.
The bill would prohibit a doctor from performing mastectomies or surgeries that would sterilize a child or remove otherwise healthy tissue or body parts, or from prescribing drugs that would induce transient or permanent infertility. It now heads to the governor’s desk.
The legislation was one of several proposals aimed at regulating the lives of transgender people being considered this year by the Republican-dominated Legislature: On Wednesday, the State House voted to advance a measure requiring athletes in public colleges to compete based on the sex inscribed on their birth certificate at the time of their birth….” Read more at New York Times
Penguin Random House Sues Florida School District Over Book Bans
District is accused of targeting library books that discuss racism and LGBT identity
A February public forum on banning ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ in the Escambia County School District. PHOTO: GREGG PACHKOWSKI/PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL/USA TODAY NETWORK
“Book publisher Penguin Random House and advocacy group PEN America sued a Florida school district Wednesday, alleging restrictions on library books about LGBT identity and issues of race and racism violate the constitution.
The lawsuit alleges leaders at Escambia County School District in Pensacola, Fla., set out to exclude such topics from school libraries by removing or restricting 10 books from their shelves.
PEN America and Penguin Random House, along with authors and parents, allege these actions constitute viewpoint discrimination and violate the right to receive information under the First Amendment, according to their lawsuit.
The lawsuit says the school district and school board are also violating the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause by singling out books written by LGBT and nonwhite authors and those that address race or gender identity….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
A voter casts a ballot during Kentucky Primary Elections at Deer Park Baptist Church in Louisville. | Jon Cherry/Getty Images
“FRAUD FAIL — Many of the most prominent 2020 election deniers and conspiracists crashed and burned in the 2022 midterm elections, when voters rejected their bids to win office. Now, as Donald Trump launches his bid to return to the White House, comes more evidence that the electorate has limited tolerance for baseless claims of election fraud and allegations that the 2020 race was rigged.
In Republican primaries in Kentucky and Pennsylvania last night, GOP candidates who made election denial a centerpiece of their campaign had a rough time. Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a first-term incumbent Republican who vigorously rejected election fraud narratives and attempted to expand voting access in Kentucky, easily dispatched Stephen Knipper, who embarked on a tour of the state to ‘Restore Election Integrity.’
Knipper, who claimed fraud in elections happened largely through hacked voting machines, won a little over a quarter of the vote — a sign that there is a residual base of support for election deniers in a GOP primary, but not nearly enough to win even in a conservative state.
‘Kentucky Republicans rejected those who malign our county clerks and poll workers with conspiratorial nonsense,’ Adams said in a statement after his victory.
In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Republicans who rejected election denialism turned back candidates who supported Trump’s claims in three important contests.
State appeals court Judge Patricia McCullough, who voted to halt the state’s certification of its 2020 presidential election results (before later being overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court), lost a primary for a seat on the state Supreme Court to Carolyn Carluccio, a Montgomery County judge who was endorsed by the state party. National Republicans also got in on the fight, with the national Republican State Leadership Committee spending $500,000 on advertisements supporting Carluccio’s campaign in addition to $250,000 spent by Carluccio’s campaign in the final filing period. McCullough’s campaign spent less than $1,000 in the filing period before the election. The backing from state and national Republicans suggests that they were intent on keeping McCullough out of the general election; for her part, Carluccio has ducked questions on whether election results in 2020 and 2022 in Pennsylvania were fair.
McCullough made her record as the ‘only judge in 2020 in the presidential election in the entire country’ to order a certification halt a central part of her appeal to voters.
Republicans in Montgomery County — a suburban Philadelphia Democratic stronghold and the third-most populous county in the state — also jettisoned County Commissioner Joe Gale, who objected to the county’s approval of presidential election results in 2020. Gale finished in third place in the Republican primary, behind two challengers who were both endorsed by the Montgomery County Republican Committee.
Even in Trump-friendly Washington County in western Pennsylvania, a leading election denier came up short in her bid for county commissioner. Ashley Duff, who used public comment sessions during county commission meetings to air conspiracy theories and won the support of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — one of the nation’s most famous election denialists — came in third place in the Republican primary with only 16 percent of the vote. That weak performance came in a county where Trump won by a landslide in 2020.
‘Conspiratorial nonsense,’ as Adams, the Kentucky secretary of state called it, has some really devoted fans. But, judging from Tuesday’s primary election results, it’s not a majority — not even in Republican primaries.” [POLITICO]
Trust in Supreme Court fell to lowest point in 50 years after abortion decision, poll shows
By MARK SHERMAN and EMILY SWANSON
FILE - Abortion-rights and anti-abortion demonstrators gather outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. Confidence in the Supreme Court sank to its lowest point in at least 50 years in 2022, in the wake of the Dobbs decision that led to state bans and other restrictions on abortion. That's according to the General Social Survey, a long-running and widely respected survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago that has been measuring confidence in the court since 1973, the same year that Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide.(AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Confidence in the Supreme Court sank to its lowest point in at least 50 years in 2022 in the wake of the Dobbs decision that led to state bans and other restrictions on abortion, a major trends survey shows.
The divide between Democrats and Republicans over support for abortion rights also was the largest ever in 2022, according to the General Social Survey. The long-running and widely respected survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago has been measuring confidence in the court since 1973, the same year that Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide.
In the 2022 survey, just 18% of Americans said they have a great deal of confidence in the court, down from 26% in 2021, and 36% said they had hardly any, up from 21%. Another 46% said they have ‘only some’ confidence in the most recent survey.
The drastic change was concentrated among women, Democrats and those who say a woman should be able to get an abortion if she wants one ‘for any reason,’ the survey shows….” Read more at AP News
Heat Will Likely Soar to Record Levels in Next 5 Years, New Analysis Says
“Global temperatures are likely to soar to record highs over the next five years, driven by human-caused warming and a climate pattern known as El Niño, forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday.
The record for Earth’s hottest year was set in 2016. There is a 98 percent chance that at least one of the next five years will exceed that, the forecasters said, while the average from 2023 to ’27 will almost certainly be the warmest for a five-year period ever recorded….’ Read more at New York Times
Judge Rules for Tiger Woods in Secrecy Battle With Former Girlfriend
The dispute in a Florida court focused on whether Erica Herman’s claims against the golf star could be heard publicly or only through arbitration.
By Alan Blinder
“A dispute between the golf star Tiger Woods and a former girlfriend about her right to live in his home must be resolved through arbitration under a nondisclosure agreement between them, a Florida judge ruled on Wednesday.
The ruling put the spectacle on a path to be handled in private — a victory for Woods, whose lawyers had contended that his nondisclosure agreement with Erica Herman, his former companion, broadly required disputes to be addressed privately through arbitration, not the court system.
Lawyers for Herman had cast doubt on the validity of the agreement, in part because they believed that some of Woods’s conduct was sexual harassment. Under a relatively new federal law, a nondisclosure agreement connected to sexual harassment can be declared void, allowing the matter to be heard in a court.
But in a decision on Wednesday, Judge Elizabeth A. Metzger of the Circuit Court in Martin County, Fla., granted Woods’s requests to stay Herman’s claims and compel arbitration, saying the claims had been ‘implausibly pled.’…” Read more at New York Times
Limo service manager convicted of manslaughter in New York crash that killed 20
By MAYSOON KHAN
Nauman Hussain, right, sitting with his attorney Lee Kindlon, reacts as the verdict is read in his trial, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at Schoharie County Court in Schoharie, N.Y. Hussain, a limousine service manager, was convicted of manslaughter Wednesday in a crash that killed 20 people in rural New York, one of the deadliest U.S. road wrecks in two decades. (Jim Franco/The Albany Times Union via AP)
“ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A limousine service manager was convicted of manslaughter Wednesday 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 when he is sentenced May 31.
The guilty verdict brought a torrent of emotions from relatives who waited years for someone to be held accountable. Shouts and cries could be heard as the verdict was read….
Packed with birthday revelers, the stretch-style SUV went off the road in 2018 after the vehicle’s brakes failed. The 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.
Prosecutors said Hussain intentionally failed to conduct required, routine state inspections on the 2001 Ford Excursion, and that the checks would have revealed brake defects and prevented the wreck.” Read more at AP News
Grand jury indicts man in 4 University of Idaho stabbing deaths, eliminating need for hearing
By REBECCA BOONE
FILE - Bryan Kohberger, left, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County District Court, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. A grand jury has indicted Kohberger on the charges in the University of Idaho slayings case. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool, File)
“BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A grand jury has indicted a man who was already charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, allowing prosecutors to skip a planned week-long preliminary hearing that was set for late June.
Bryan Kohberger was arrested late last year and charged with burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Nov. 13, 2022, killings of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near the University of Idaho campus. At the time, Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at nearby Washington State University, and the killings left the close-knit communities of Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Washington, reeling.
A preliminary hearing — where prosecutors must show a judge that there is enough evidence to justify moving forward with felony charges — had been scheduled to begin June 26. But on Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Kohberger on the same criminal charges, effectively rerouting the case directly to the state’s felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process….” Read more at AP News
Couples Can Soon Put Over $10,000 a Year Into Health Savings Accounts
IRS announces higher HSA contribution limits for 2024
Americans spend nearly $400 billion a year in posttax out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. PHOTO: MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO/GETTY IMAGES
“The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday announced the largest ever increase to the amount Americans can set aside in health-savings accounts each year.
For 2024, the maximum HSA contribution will be $8,300 for a family and $4,150 for an individual. That is up from $7,750 for a family and $3,850 for an individual for 2023.
Participants age 55 and older can contribute an extra $1,000, which means an older married couple could sock away $10,300 a year, up from $9,750 this year. In the last 10 years leading up to retirement, a couple could accumulate more than $100,000 in these accounts.
HSAs are both misunderstood and underused by many Americans, according to the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute. To be eligible to contribute, a participant must have an HSA-qualified high-deductible health plan and not be enrolled in Medicare….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Russia fires 30 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets; Ukraine says 29 were shot down
By SUSIE BLANN
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Police Press Office, fragments of a Russian rocket which was shot down by Ukraine's air defence system are seen after the night rocket attack in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, May 18, 2023. (Ukrainian Police Press Office via AP)
“KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired 30 cruise missiles against different parts of Ukraine early Thursday in the latest nighttime test of Ukrainian air defenses, which shot down 29 of them, officials said.
One person died and two were wounded by a Russian missile that got through and struck an industrial building in the southern region of Odesa, according to Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the region’s military administration.
Loud explosions were heard in Kyiv as the Kremlin’s forces targeted the capital for the ninth time this month in a clear escalation after weeks of lull and ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive using newly supplied advanced Western weapons.
Debris fell on two Kyiv districts, starting a fire at a garage complex. There was no immediate word about any victims, Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv Military Administration, said in a Telegram post.
Ukraine also shot down two Russian exploding drones and two reconnaissance drones, according to authorities.
The missiles were launched from Russian sea, air and ground bases, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Ukrainian commander in chief, wrote on Telegram.
Several waves of missiles were aimed at areas of Ukraine between 9 p.m. Wednesday and 5.30 a.m. Thursday, he said.
Russian forces used strategic bombers from the Caspian region and apparently fired X-101 and X-55-type missiles developed during Soviet times, Kyiv authorities said. Russia then deployed reconnaissance drones over the capital.
In the last major air attack on Kyiv, on Tuesday, Ukrainian air defenses bolstered by sophisticated Western-supplied systems shot down all the incoming missiles, officials said.
That attack used hypersonic missiles, which repeatedly have been touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin as providing a key strategic advantage. The missiles, which are among the most advanced weapons in Russia’s arsenal, are difficult to detect and intercept because of their hypersonic speed and maneuverability.
But sophisticated Western air defense systems, including American-made Patriot missiles, have helped spare Kyiv from the kind of destruction witnessed along the main front line in the country’s east and south.
While the ground fighting is largely deadlocked along that front line, both sides are targeting each other’s territory with long-range weapons.
Meanwhile, Kremlin-installed authorities in occupied Crimea reported the derailment of eight train cars Thursday due to an explosion.
Russian state media reported the train was carrying grain.
Quoting a source within the emergency services, state news agency RIA Novosti said that the incident occurred not far from the city of Simferopol. The Crimean Railway reported that the derailment was caused by ‘the interference of unauthorized persons’ and that there were no casualties.
The Russia-installed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said that train services on the affected section of the line were suspended.
Also, two people were wounded in a drone attack in Russia’s southern Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, the regional governor reported Thursday.
In a Telegram post, Roman Starovoit claimed Ukrainian forces dropped an explosive device from a drone on a sports and recreation complex.” [AP News]
Ecuador's president escapes impeachment
“Wednesday, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly as lawmakers prepared to impeach him.” [Vox / Ellen Ioanes]
“Conservative Lasso said the decree is the best way to end Ecuador’s political crisis and return power to the voters. He will govern without lawmakers’ input until elections can be held.” [Vox] [Guardian / Tom Phillips and Dan Collyns]
“Opposition lawmakers and Ecuador’s powerful Indigenous federation criticized Lasso’s move. However, police and military said it was constitutional and vowed to uphold it.” [Vox] [Reuters / Alexandra Valencia]
“The opposition-led Assembly was set to impeach Lasso for failing to stop a corrupt contract between a state-run oil business and a private tanker company that cost Ecuador millions. Lasso denied any wrongdoing.” [Vox] [Associated Press / Regina Garcia Cano and Gonzalo Solano]
In December, a similar crisis unfolded in the region after Peru impeached and arrested its former president for attempting to dissolve Congress.” [Vox][NYT / Julie Turkewitz and Genevieve Glatsky]
Deutsche Bank to Pay $75 Million to Settle Jeffrey Epstein Accusers’ Suit
A civil complaint alleged the financial institution facilitated the disgraced financier’s sex-trafficking ring
Deutsche Bank didn’t admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, according to people familiar with the matter. PHOTO: ALEX KRAUS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
“Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit charging that the financial institution facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, said lawyers who sued the bank on behalf of alleged victims.
A woman who is listed anonymously as Jane Doe in court papers filed the suit last year in New York on behalf of herself and other accusers of the disgraced financier. She alleged Deutsche Bank did business with Epstein for five years while knowing that he was using money in his bank accounts to further his sex-trafficking activity.
The Doe plaintiff alleged she was sexually abused by Epstein and trafficked to his friends from about 2003 until about 2018 and was also paid in cash for sex acts. The lawsuit alleged Deutsche Bank ignored red flags including payments to numerous young women. The settlement is expected to compensate dozens of accusers.
Epstein died by suicide in a federal jail in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Dylan Riddle, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank, declined to comment on the settlement but said the bank has invested more than 4 billion euros, the equivalent of $4.34 billion, to bolster controls, training and operational processes, and has increased the size of its workforce dedicated to fighting financial crime. ‘In recent years Deutsche Bank has made considerable progress in remedying a number of past issues,’ he said.
The bank didn’t admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, according to people familiar with the matter.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers, from the law firms Boies Schiller Flexner and Edwards Pottinger, said on Wednesday they believed the $75 million was the largest sex-trafficking settlement involving a banking institution….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
CNN Promotes Kaitlan Collins to Prime Time Slot Following Trump Town Hall
Moderator to host key 9 p.m. show beginning in June, CNN boss Chris Licht tells staff
“Kaitlan Collins, the CNN anchor who moderated the network’s recent town hallwith former President Donald Trump, will take over as host of its 9 p.m. hour starting in June, network boss Chris Licht said in an email to staff Wednesday.
Collins’s new program, which will officially launch this summer, will include reporting and perspective on major news stories, Licht said in the email.
The 31-year-old Collins has emerged as a rising star at CNN. Her appointment is Licht’s latest attempt to reshape the network’s programming since he became the network’s chief executive a little over a year ago. During the past three years, Collins has served as the network’s chief White House correspondent, morning show anchor and now prime-time host….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
At Cannes Film Festival, Johnny Depp says he has no ‘further need for Hollywood’
By JAKE COYLE
“CANNES, France (AP) — Appearing at the Cannes Film Festival the day after premiering his first film in three years, Johnny Depp said Wednesday that he has ‘no further need’ for Hollywood.
Depp made a rare public appearance to face questions from the press following the opening-night premiere of “Jeanne du Barry,” in which Depp plays King Louis XV. The French film, directed by and starring Maïwenn and featuring a French-speaking Depp, is the actor’s first film since a jury last year largely sided with him in his legal battle with his ex-wife, Amber Heard.
Part of Depp’s argument in that 2022 defamation trial was that he had lost work due to Heard’s allegations. Heard was ordered to pay Depp $10 million in damages, vindicating his allegations that Heard lied about Depp abusing her before and during their brief marriage. Heard was also awarded $2 million.
‘Did I feel boycotted by Hollywood? You’d have to not have a pulse to feel like, ‘No. None of this is happening. It’s a weird joke,’ Depp told reporters. ‘When you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing because of something that is merely a function of vowels and consonants floating in the air, yes, you feel boycotted.’….” Read more at AP News
Pale Male, red-tailed hawk who nested above NYC’s Fifth Avenue for 30 years, dies at 33
By KAREN MATTHEWS
FILE - Pale Male, a red tailed hawk, leaves his nest with a rat he just caught hanging from his beak, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005, in New York. Pale Male, who brought a touch of the wild to swanky Manhattan as he nested above Fifth Avenue with a succession of mates for more than 30 years, died late Tuesday, May 16, 2023, after being found ill and grounded in Central Park, wildlife rehabilitator Bobby Horvath posted on Facebook. The hawk was believed to be 33 years old. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
“NEW YORK (AP) — Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk who brought a touch of the wild to swanky Manhattan as he nested above Fifth Avenue for three decades, has died.
Pale Male died late Tuesday after being found ill and grounded in Central Park, wildlife rehabilitator Bobby Horvath posted on Facebook. The hawk was believed to be 33 years old.
Horvath posted that he picked Pale Male up and took him to his rehab group’s veterinarian, who did bloodwork and X-rays. The hawk later ate a small meal but remained weak and lethargic, Horvath said. ‘We hoped for any improvement, but sadly it was not meant to be,’ he said.
Pale Male, so named because of his whitish plumage, was first spotted in Central Park as a juvenile in 1991 and began nesting on Fifth Avenue across from the park in 1993.
Bird lovers crowded inside the park to watch as Pale Male and his succession of mates hatched and raised their young each spring….” Read more at AP News
Butler scores 35, Heat rally to beat Celtics 123-116 in East finals opener
By KYLE HIGHTOWER
Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) drives to the basket against Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon (13) in the first half of Game 1 of the NBA basketball Eastern Conference finals playoff series in Boston, Wednesday, May 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
“BOSTON (AP) — The Miami Heat were in need of a calming presence following a sluggish start to their latest conference finals showdown with the Boston Celtics.
Jimmy Butler provided that and a lot more.
Butler scored 35 points, including 20 after halftime, and the Heat rallied in the second half to beat the Celtics 123-116 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night….
Miami trailed by nine at the half before turning it around with a franchise playoff-record 46 points in the third and outscoring Boston 66-50 over the final two quarters. It was Butler’s fifth game with 30 or more points this postseason and he added seven assists, six steals and five rebounds….” Read more at AP News
The Codex Sassoon dates from the late ninth or early 10th century.Eric Helgas for The New York Times
An ancient treasure
“An ancient book known as the Codex Sassoon — the oldest known near-complete Hebrew Bible — sold for $38 million yesterday. Even in its own time, the book was an expensive object, requiring the skins of more than 100 animals to create its parchment leaves. Experts thought it might become the most expensive book over sold, but it fell short of the record set two years ago by the sale of a first printing of the U.S. Constitution.” [New York Times]
“Lives Lived: Marlene Bauer Hagge emerged on the national golf scene at 13 and went on to win 26 pro tournaments, including the 1956 L.P.G.A. Championship — an event she had helped create. She died at 89.” [New York Times]