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US Supreme Court’s abortion pill order spares safe havens

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

Before the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in Friday, access to an abortion pill was in line to become more cumbersome in California, New York and some other states that have positioned themselves as safe havens for those seeking to end their pregnancies.The order keeps in place federal rules for use of mifepristone, one of the two drugs usually used in combination in medication abortions. The legal saga isn’t over: The Supreme Court suggested it will decide the issue by Wednesday.The high court’s position at least pauses a ruling issued last Wednesday by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that would have allowed mifepristone sales to continue, but under rules adopted by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, before a series of changes that relaxed access.The 5th Circuit ruling, which overturned another recent federal court order halting mifepristone sales nationwide, was set to take effect Saturday. It would have required the drug to be taken in the pres...

Telford says national security limits what she can say on foreign interference

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

OTTAWA — The prime minister’s chief of staff offered up few details to a House of Commons committee studying foreign interference in the last two elections, frustrating Conservatives and New Democrats who say her lack of answers Friday will erode trust.Katie Telford said she should not be at the procedure and House affairs committee answering questions about national security, but she agreed to appear “because I want Parliament to work.”As a senior adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Telford has top-secret security clearance.“In my years in this job, I have seen a huge range of intelligence from all parts of the world. Some of it has been wrong … some of it, right,” Telford said.“Some we may never know or only with time will we learn if it’s true.”Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser, Jody Thomas, also provided MPs with a document Friday that contained the official record of dates the prime minister had been...

Son gets life in drive-thru hit that killed mob-linked dad

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York man will spend the rest of his life in prison after hiring a hitman to kill his father, a reputed Mafia associate gunned down at a McDonald’s drive-thru in what prosecutors called a scheme to control a real estate empire built from mob money.Anthony Zottola Sr. blotted away tears at sentencing Friday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. Audible sobs filled the courtroom as his sister and brother addressed him, the culmination of a wrenching family drama that the judge said was difficult to fathom.Welling with emotion, his sister Deborah Ann Zottola, spoke lovingly of her brother even as she talked of the pain of losing their father.A jury last fall found Zottola and an accomplice, Himen Ross, guilty in a murder-for-hire plot that prosecutors said went wrong several times before it finally led to the death of the victim, Sylvester Zottola, 71.The first attack occurred in September of 2017, when a stranger floored the then-70-year-old with a punch to th...

Wet winter gives way to colorful ‘Superbloom’ in US West

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

The tiny rain-fed wildflowers, no bigger than a few inches, are so vivid and abundant across California this year that their hues of purple and yellow look like paint swatches from space.From the mist-shrouded San Francisco Bay area to the deserts of Arizona near the Mexican border, there are flashes of color popping up after an unusually wet winter helped produce a so-called “ Superbloom.”A series of powerful storms dumped record amounts of rain and snow across California, replenishing reservoirs, bringing an end — mostly — to the state’s three-year drought, and setting prime conditions for millions of dormant seeds to sprout. Botanists say wildflowers are expected to be blooming well into May, with some areas just starting.“One of the things unique about this year is how incredibly widespread it is,” said Naomi Fraga, director of conservation programs at the California Botanic Garden. “It’s pretty spectacular.”Superblooms often follow wet winters, according to experts....

Ontario court judge facing two assault charges

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

An Ontario court judge is facing a pair of assault charges.In a notice posted Friday, the Ontario Court of Justice says Justice Paul Currie of the Central West Region has been charged with assault and assault causing bodily harm.No further details were provided as to when the charges were laid or the circumstances surrounding them. “Regional Senior Justice Paul Currie will not be assigned any judicial or administrative duties until further notice,” the provincial court statement said. “No further information or comment about this matter will be provided at this time.”Justice Anthony Leitch will be acting as Regional Senior Justice for the Central West Region until further notice.Justice Currie was appointed to the regional position by the Ford government in April 2019. He was called to the bar in 1984 and began his legal career as an assistant Crown attorney before moving into private practice. In 2004, Justice Currie was appointed a judge of the Ontario Cour...

Alberta Premier Smith, with election looming, announces new limits on media questions

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, four days after announcing she won’t answer questions on her ethics investigation, now says she will limit questions on all other topics.Smith told reporters in Calgary that given an election is looming, she will now only allow reporters to ask a single question at news conferences and not allow them the traditional followup query.Smith says the change is because her United Conservative Party wants to get in questions from more reporters during the election campaign, which is set to begin May 1 with voting day on May 29.Political scientists say Smith is making the change to avoid accountability, particularly over her phone call with the accused in an active criminal case which is now the subject of an investigation by Alberta’s ethics commissioner.They say followup questions to politicians are crucial as they are typically used to clarify or, if necessary, challenge the content of the first answer.Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley s...

Brazil judge orders police to question Bolsonaro on uprising

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered the federal police Friday to take testimony from former President Jair Bolsonaro as part of the investigation itno the Jan. 8 attacks on government buildings in the capital.Justice Alexandre de Moraes gave the federal police 10 days to question the former president, acting on a request from the Prosecutor General’s Office.Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters trashed the presidential palace, the Supreme Court and Congress one week into President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s third term in office.The leftist Lula narrowly beat the far-right Bolsonaro in an October runoff election. Bolsonaro never explicitly conceded he lost the election and sought to sow doubt about Brazil’s electronic voting system.Bolsonaro was in Florida during the attacks, but prosecutors want to know whether he encouraged his supporters to wreak havoc. Hundreds are in jail awaiting trial, but hundreds of others have been released.The former president’s legal t...

Friend of slain kids’ mom describes ‘zombie’ claims to jury

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A mom accused of killing her two youngest children and a romantic rival described some people as possessed or “zombies,” four of whom were later killed or shot at, the woman’s former friend told jurors. Melanie Gibb testified Thursday in the Idaho trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, telling jurors that the two became friends at a church event in 2018 but that Vallow Daybell’s spiritual beliefs soon veered away from what they had been taught at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Prosecutors say Vallow Daybell and her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, used those religious beliefs to justify the deaths of anyone who stood in the way of their romantic relationship. Both are charged with murder, conspiracy and grand theft charges in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, who was last seen a few days before her 17th birthday. They face the same charges in connection with the death of Daybell’s late wife, Tammy Daybell. Both hav...

Man shot, killed in broad daylight shooting on South Side

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

CHICAGO -- Chicago police are investigating a homicide that left one man dead on the city's south side Friday afternoon.According to the Chicago Police Department, officers responded to the 7400 block of South Dorchester Ave in the Grand Crossing neighborhood just after 1 p.m. Friday on reports of a shooting. Driver dies after falling out of Jeep, being struck by 2 vehicles on Dan Ryan Expressway CPD said a 22-year-old male was inside a vehicle when he was shot in the armpit area. The victim was transported to the University of Chicago Medical where he was later pronounced dead.No arrests have been made at this time. The investigation is ongoing.Stay with WGN as this story develops.

Air National Guardsman suspected of Pentagon leak faces espionage charges

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:11:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) -- The 21-year-old Air National Guardsman accused of stealing and leaking Pentagon documents appeared in court Friday.According to court documents, authorities were able to track down the suspect through billing records of the social media platform he was using.Jack Teixeira, 21, faces charges under the Espionage Act.“There are very serious penalties associated with that,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said.Authorities say Teixeira was the leader of the private chat group where the military documents were first leaked in December. The Justice Department says it will seek the most serious consequences.“We intend to send that message, how important it is to our national security,” Garland furthered.Court documents reveal that before his arrest, Teixeira tried to find out if authorities were on to him by searching the word "leak" in a classified system.“This individual and any of his accomplices need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They b...