Smoking with kids in car now illegal under West Virginia law
West Virginia, which has the highest rate of adult cigarette use in the nation, became the 12th state to ban smoking in vehicles with children present under a bill signed by Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Friday. But violators can only be fined up to $25 if they’re pulled over for another offense. Smoking with children present cannot be the main reason a driver is stopped. About 22% of West Virginia adults smoked in 2021, the latest year available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. WEST VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS PUSH TO BAN SMOKING IN CARS WITH CHILDREN Justice didn’t comment on the bill, which was among 15 he signed Friday. West Virginia’s 60-day legislation session ended on March 9. The bill originated in the Republican-dominated state Senate, whose majority leader, Tom Takubo, is a lung doctor. Takubo has said he made a promise long ago to a patient whose father was a heavy smoker that he would try to get such legislation passed. Takubo has made it almost an annual effort since 2017 to introduce the legislation. The biggest hurdle came in the House of Delegates finance committee, where it won narrow passage after Republican Del. John Hardy called it “just another big government bill.” “The next step is your home. The next step may be your business. Where are we moving this to?” Hardy said. “This is the most un-Republican bill that I’ve ever seen in my life.” Republican Del. Dana Ferrell said sometimes the government has to intervene for the safety and well-being of children. Ferrell said when he and his siblings were younger, his parents smoked in the car. He recalled the kids trying to hide in the back seat near the floor in an attempt to shield their faces. “It may seem trite to some, but I’ve been there. I’ve experienced that,” Ferrell said. “It’s a horrible situation I wouldn’t wish on any other child.” The GOP-led House later gave final passage to the legislation without debate.
NC Supreme Court declines challenge to Confederate monument’s removal
North Carolina’s highest court declined on Friday to revive a challenge to the decision by Asheville city leaders to remove in 2021 a downtown monument honoring a Civil War-era governor. The state Supreme Court agreed unanimously that it had been appropriate to dismiss legal claims filed by an historic preservation group that had helped raise money to restore the 75-foot tall Zebulon Vance obelisk in the 2010s. In the months after the start of 2020 demonstrations over racial justice and the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the Asheville City Council voted to dismantle the downtown monument out of public safety concerns. PHILADELPHIA OFFICER ACQUITTED OF ASSAULT NEARLY 4 YEARS AFTER USING BATON ON FLOYD PROTESTER The monument, initially dedicated in 1897, had been vandalized, and the city had received threats that people would topple it, according to the opinion. The Society for the Historical Preservation of the 26th North Carolina Troops opposed the removal and sued, but a trial judge dismissed the lawsuit. The obelisk was dismantled before the Court of Appeals told the city and Buncombe County to stop the demolition while appeals were heard, but the monument base has stayed in place. Friday’s decision is likely to allow the base to be removed. In 2022, the intermediate-level Court of Appeals upheld Superior Court Judge Alan Thornburg’s dismissal. The three-judge panel agreed unanimously that while the society had entered an agreement with the city for the restoration project and had raised over $138,000, the contract didn’t require the city to maintain the obelisk in perpetuity. Associate Justice Phil Berger Jr., writing Friday’s opinion, did take issue with the Court of Appeals ruling that the society’s breach of contract claim should be dismissed because the group lacked legal standing to initiate it. But because the society failed to argue the merits of its contract claim to the justices, the issue was considered abandoned, Berger added. “Therefore, plaintiff has failed to assert any ground for which it has standing to contest removal of the monument,” Berger wrote while affirming Thornburg’s dismissal of the society’s remaining claims. Vance, who was born in Buncombe County, served as governor from 1862 to 1865 and 1877 to 1879. He was also a Confederate military officer and U.S. senator. The city has said the monument was located on a site where enslaved people are believed to have been sold. The monument was one of many Confederate statues and memorials removed across the South in recent years, including one in Winston-Salem. Litigation over that monument’s removal by a Civil War-history group also reached the state Supreme Court and was featured in legal briefs in the Asheville case. Separately, a Court of Appeals panel this week affirmed the decision by Alamance County commissioners not to take down a Confederate monument outside the historic local courthouse there.
AOC decries ‘unfolding genocide’ in Gaza, urges halting weapons to Israel
Washington, DC – Describing the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as a genocide, progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called on the United States to suspend weapons transfers to Israel. In an impassioned speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez condemned the Israeli blockade on Gaza, which the United Nations says has put the territory on the verge of famine. “This is a mass starvation of people, engineered and orchestrated following the killing of another 30,000, 70 percent of whom were women and children killed. There is hardly a single hospital left. And this was all accomplished, much of this accomplished, with US resources and weapons,” Ocasio-Cortez, a US representative from New York, said. “If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks like, open your eyes. It looks like the forced famine of 1.1 million innocents. It looks like thousands of children eating grass as their bodies consume themselves, while trucks of food are slowed and halted just miles away. “It looks like good and decent people who do nothing, or too little, too late.” Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most recognised names in Congress and a rising star in President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party, had previously faced criticism from the left for failing to join many of her fellow progressive in accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. The Biden administration rejects allegations that Israel is systematically committing human rights violations in Gaza. Earlier this year, it called South Africa’s petition to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide unfounded. Ocasio-Cortez said on Friday that the US cannot continue to “facilitate” mass killings in Gaza in the name of honouring its alliance with Israel. “The time is now to force compliance with US law and the standards of humanity, and fulfill our obligations to the American people to suspend the transfer of US weapons to the Israeli government in order to stop and prevent further atrocity,” the congresswoman said. The US is Israel’s top weapons supplier. Washington provides at least $3.8bn in aid to Israel annually, and Biden is working with Congress to secure $14bn in additional aid to the US ally. Public opinion polls, however, show that the Biden administration’s steadfast support for Israel may cost the president votes as the election season gets under way, and Biden and key Democrats have in recent weeks been more forceful in their criticism of the Israeli government siege of Gaza. US officials have repeatedly warned Israel against invading Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than one million displaced Palestinians have taken shelter. But White House national security spokesperson John Kirby suggested on Friday that Washington will not halt its weapon transfers to Israel. US officials have said that they share Israel’s goals of eliminating Hamas in Gaza. Asked whether the US will use its “leverage” to dissuade Israel from launching a major ground operation in Rafah, Kirby said, “We’re going to continue to approach this with Israel as we have in the past, which is to make sure that they have the tools they need to defend themselves against a still-viable threat.” Kirby added that, at the same time, the US will use its ties with Israel and the relationship between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “urge them to minimise civilian casualties” and allow more humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Earlier on Friday, the UN Security Council failed to adopt a US-authored proposal around a ceasefire in Gaza. The measure backed the “imperative” for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire to protect civilians on all sides” but fell short of explicitly demanding an end to the war. Kirby said the draft resolution signals no change in the Biden administration’s position, which has been to push for a temporary cessation of hostilities as part of a deal that would see the release of Israeli captives in Gaza. “It is in line with our longstanding calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks as part of our hostage deal – nothing new there,” he said. The White House spokesperson added that progress is being made in the talks to reach a truce agreement. “Nothing is negotiated until it’s all negotiated. But we do believe that the gaps are narrowing and we are getting closer,” he told reporters. There is no world in which the forced famine of 1.1 million people cannot be considered genocide. And that is exactly what we are watching unfold in Gaza now. We must enforce U.S. laws and halt weapons transfers to the Israeli government to stop an atrocity in the making. pic.twitter.com/N40Jk3yKc7 — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) March 22, 2024 However, US progressives have long argued that a temporary halt in fighting is not sufficient, calling on Washington to revise its unconditional support for Israel. “This is not just about Israel or Gaza. This is about us. The world will never be the same,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Friday of the mounting death toll and hunger in the Palestinian territory. “Our story must be not that we were good men who did nothing, but that we were a committed democracy that did something.” Adblock test (Why?)
Israel seizes 800 hectares of Palestinian land in occupied West Bank
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s announcement comes despite international pressure against Israel’s building of illegal settlements. Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has declared 800 hectares (1,977 acres) in the occupied West Bank as state land, in a move that will facilitate the use of the ground for settlement building. The announcement on Friday came as United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Smotrich underlined the government’s determination to press ahead with settlement building in the West Bank, despite growing international opposition. “While there are those in Israel and in the world who seek to undermine our right to Judea and Samaria and the country in general, we promote settlement through hard work and in a strategic manner all over the country,” Smotrich said, using Biblical names for the area of the West Bank that are commonly employed in Israel. The denomination of the land in the Jordan Valley as state land follows a similar designation of 300 hectares (740 acres) in the Maale Adumim area of the West Bank, which the Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state. The US said last month that Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank was inconsistent with international law, signalling a return to longstanding US policy that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump. The change brought the US back into line with most of the world, which considers the settlements built on Palestinian territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war to be illegal. Israel itself disputes this view, citing the Jewish people’s historical and Biblical ties to the land. Earlier this month, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said, “The establishment and continuing expansion of settlements amount to … a war crime under international law.” ‘Complicity and cover’ Palestinian authorities condemned the land seizure and expansion of settlements. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the latest move a “crime” that is part of an “official policy racing against time to annex the West Bank and eliminate the possibility of creating a Palestinian state”. “There are no morals, values, principles or international resolutions that can stop the extremist right,” the ministry said in a statement. “The international failure to protect our people is complicity and cover for Israel’s ongoing evasion of punishment,” it added. Smotrich, the influential leader of one of the hard-right pro-settler parties in Netanyahu’s coalition, himself lives in a settlement and has consistently backed settlement building. Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said the announced seizure is the single largest since the 1993 Oslo Accords, and “2024 marks a peak in the extent of declarations of state land”. Peace Now called the timing of the announcement a “provocation” as it came during the visit by Blinken, who has been critical of settlement expansion by Netanyahu’s government. International pressure for a resumption of efforts to reach a two-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, has grown amid efforts to end the nearly six-month war in Gaza. Little progress has been made in achieving Palestinian statehood since the signing of the Oslo Accords. Among the obstacles impeding it are expanding Israeli settlements. Adblock test (Why?)
Peruvian democracy weakened as government consolidates control: Report
Peruvian democracy has continued to deteriorate more than a year after the removal of former President Pedro Castillo, according to a recent report from the Washington-based nonprofit Freedom House. The report — released this month — traced the lingering effects of a government crackdown on protesters, as well as efforts to interfere with judicial independence and other oversight bodies. The result was that Peru slumped from a rating of “free” in 2022 to “partly free” in 2023 and 2024, as Freedom House noted declining democratic protections for the freedom of assembly and eroding safeguards against corruption. “All these regulatory bodies and independent branches of government used to have the possibility of opposing decisions by Congress, and now that possibility is really attenuated,” said Will Freeman, the author of the report and a fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He added that Peru saw the fourth-largest drop in its Freedom House score of any country in the world. “It’s all producing a situation where it’s very possible that, by the next elections in 2026, there will be no institutions that are not under the thumb of Congress.” Harsh crackdown While issues such as corruption and government repression are not new to Peruvian politics, experts have said they worsened after former President Castillo was impeached and arrested in December 2022. A left-wing teacher from the country’s largely Indigenous countryside, Castillo had been facing his third impeachment proceeding at the time, led by an opposition-controlled Congress. Two prior impeachment attempts had been unsuccessful. But on the day he was expected to appear before Congress, Castillo instead issued a televised address, in which he announced plans to dissolve Congress and rule by decree — moves widely viewed as illegal. The announcement galvanised support for his impeachment, which was carried out the same day. His former vice president, Dina Boluarte, was quickly sworn in to run the government for the remainder of his term. But the political upheaval prompted confusion and protests across Peru. Castillo’s supporters argued that he had been targeted by a hostile legislature that launched multiple investigations to stymie his administration. Many took to the streets, blocking roadways to push for government reform and Castillo’s release. New elections became a key demand. In the immediate aftermath of Castillo’s arrest, public opinion polls suggested that more than 80 percent of Peruvians supported new elections, for both Congress and the executive branch. Boluarte initially said she would push Congress to fast-track a vote. But Congress, with an approval rating of less than 10 percent, rejected such efforts on at least five occasions. Boluarte has also reversed course, saying she would remain in office until the end of her term. “The conversation is over,” Boluarte said in June of last year. “We will continue until 2026.” A January poll found that she had an approval rating of just 8 percent, one of the lowest of any political leader in the world. Boluarte has also taken a hardline approach to the protesters, portraying them as “terrorists”. Government forces killed at least 49 civilians during confrontations with protesters, including bystanders, according to the Peruvian attorney general’s office. Human rights organisations like Amnesty International compared the deaths to extrajudicial killings and documented reports of human rights abuses. Rural and largely Indigenous parts of the country suffered a disproportionate share of the violence. Boluarte said that any abuses would be investigated, but advocates say there are few signs of accountability more than a year later. “There’s been no convictions,” said Freeman. “It doesn’t seem like the investigations have advanced much.” While antigovernment protests flared up again in July 2023, they have largely fallen off in the time since. The Freedom House report notes that, while some groups continue to hold smaller protests against the government, “the presence of heavily armed riot police at demonstrations since has exercised a chilling effect on civil society”. “What was new was the scale of this crackdown. It’s hard to say how much that’s contributing to the demobilisation of society, or if it’s a sense of apathy and belief that there’s no way to dislodge the status quo,” said Freeman. Diminishing transparency The flagging protest movement has coincided with congressional moves to diminish transparency and shore up the interests of legislators, Freeman said. In February, for instance, a body known as the Constitutional Tribunal, whose members are appointed by Congress, moved to weaken judicial oversight of the legislature’s actions. The Constitutional Tribunal also approved a resolution allowing Congress to put officials from Peru’s electoral court, the JNE, on trial before the legislature. In its latest report, Freedom House warned that the resolution would open the court up to greater political pressure. Right-wing lawmakers have long castigated the JNE, pushing unsubstantiated claims that the court perpetuated fraud during the 2021 election, which saw Castillo — a political outsider — voted into office. The election, however, was given a clean bill of health by international observers. Nevertheless, far-right actors have continued to threaten the JNE. For instance, in 2023, the Inter-American Human Rights Court granted protective measures to the JNE’s President Jorge Luis Salas Arenas, after he received a series of death threats. “The international missions recognized the results of the polls,” Miguel Jugo, deputy secretary of the National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDHH) in Peru, told Al Jazeera. “Dr Salas Arenas ruled against all of the requests by the fraudsters [making claims of fraud], and for this they have never forgiven him.” In December, Congress also passed legislation making it more difficult to form new parties and diluting the influence of regional movements. The Freedom House report also found that efforts to crack down on corruption have suffered under the current administration. In September and October, Attorney General Patricia Benavides removed lead prosecutors from one of the country’s largest anticorruption cases, involving the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. The Odebrecht scandal had already rocked governments throughout the region, with allegations against senior political figures in multiple countries. Benavides also fired prosecutors
Former Georgia GOP governor candidate pleads guilty in fraud case
A former Georgia insurance commissioner who made a failed Republican run for governor has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. John W. Oxendine of Johns Creek entered the guilty plea Friday in federal court in Atlanta. The 61-year-old had been indicted in May 2022 on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but Oxendine is likely to be sentenced to less. Federal sentencing guidelines discussed in the plea agreement suggest prosecutors will recommend Oxendine be imprisoned between 4 years, 3 months, and 5 years, 3 months, depending on what U.S. District Judge Steve Jones decides at a sentencing hearing set for July 12. Jones could also fine Oxendine and order him to serve supervised release. ALABAMA STATE LAWMAKER ROGERS TO PLEAD GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHARGES Oxendine also agreed to pay nearly $700,000 in restitution to health insurers who lost money in the scheme, the plea document states. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the money laundering charge as part of the plea. “John Oxendine, as the former statewide insurance commissioner, knew the importance of honest dealings between doctors and insurance companies,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement. “But for personal profit he willfully conspired with a physician to order hundreds of unnecessary lab tests, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Prosecutors say Oxendine conspired with Dr. Jeffrey Gallups to pressure other physicians who practiced with Gallups to order unnecessary medical tests from Next Health, a lab in Texas. Prosecutors said Oxendine pushed the plan in a September 2015 presentation to doctors who worked for Gallups’ practice. The lab company, Oxendine and Gallups agreed the company would pay Gallups a kickback of 50% of the profit on the tests, Oxendine’s indictment said. Next Health paid $260,000 in kickbacks through Oxendine’s insurance consulting company, prosecutors said. Oxendine paid a $150,000 charitable contribution and $70,000 in attorney’s fees on Gallups,’ behalf, prosecutors said, keeping $40,000 for himself. Some patients were also charged, getting bills of up to $18,000 for the tests, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Oxendine told Gallups to lie and say the payments from Oxendine were loans when a compliance officer at Gallups’ company asked about them. Oxendine told Gallups to repeat the same lie when questioned by federal agents, prosecutors said. And they said Oxendine falsely said he didn’t work with the lab company or get money from Next Health when interviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Gallups pleaded guilty in October 2021 to one count of healthcare fraud after waiving indictment. Gallups was sentenced to three years in prison in June 2022. He was also ordered to pay $700,000 in restitution, and was fined $25,000. In 2021, Gallups agreed to pay $3 million after a whistleblower filed a lawsuit saying Gallups defrauded the federal government through the Next Health scheme and a kickback scheme with a separate medical device company. That amount was raised to nearly $5.4 million in March because Gallups and his company, Milton Hall Surgical Associates, didn’t pay the original amount within a year. Next Health has faced other allegations of fraud. The company and associated people and entities were ordered to pay health insurer UnitedHealth $218 million in a Texas lawsuit in 2023. Oxendine served as the elected state insurance commissioner from 1995 to 2011. He ran for governor in 2010 but lost the Republican primary. The state ethics commission began investigating and prosecuting campaign finance cases against him in 2009, alleging Oxendine broke state law by using campaign funds to buy a house, lease luxury cars and join a private club. Oxendine settled that case with the Georgia Ethics Commission in 2022, agreeing to hand over the remaining $128,000 in his campaign fund while admitting no wrongdoing. He was also accused of accepting a $120,000 bundled contribution, 10 times the legal limit, from two Georgia insurance companies in 2008 when he was running for governor. A judge ruled state officials waited too long to pursue Oxendine on those charges.
Whistleblower claims CIA ‘stonewalled’ IRS interview with Hunter Biden ‘Sugar brother’ Kevin Morris: House GOP
A whistleblower claimed that the CIA “stonewalled” an IRS interview with Hunter Biden’s business associate Kevin Morris, the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees revealed. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a Thursday letter to CIA Director William Burns that their panels would investigate the allegations as part of the impeachment inquiry against President Biden. According to the whistleblower, in August 2021, when IRS investigators on the Hunter Biden federal investigation were preparing to interview Morris, the CIA “intervened to stop the interview.” ‘SUGAR BROTHER’ KEVIN MORRIS LOANED HUNTER BIDEN $6.5M FOR DEBTS AND BACK TAXES, MORE THAN PREVIOUS ESTIMATE The whistleblower alleged that the CIA summoned two Justice Department officials to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, for a briefing regarding Morris. The whistleblower claimed that Morris “could not be a witness in the investigation,” according to the House Republicans. Morris loaned Hunter Biden approximately $6.5 million — over $1 million more than originally estimated and discussed — his attorney revealed in a letter earlier this year. Morris, who was subpoenaed to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry, testified that he loaned Hunter Biden at least $5 million and began paying his tax liability. Morris and his attorney were estimating during the interview, a source told Fox News, and promised to follow-up with exact figures loaned to the first son. The attorney followed up to note an additional $1.6 million Morris had given Hunter Biden. KEVIN MORRIS GAVE ‘MASSIVE’ FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO HUNTER BIDEN, RAISING CAMPAIGN FINANCE CONCERNS: COMER “As part of the impeachment inquiry, the Committees are investigating, among other things, whether President Biden ‘abuse[d] his power as President to impede, obstruct, or otherwise hinder investigations or the prosecution of Hunter Biden.’ As background, for years, the IRS and DOJ had been investigating Hunter Biden for tax crimes,” Jordan and Comer wrote. “The Committees have documented how the DOJ deviated from its standard processes to afford preferential treatment to Hunter Biden.” Jordan and Comer were referring to whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler — investigators who served on the IRS team probing Hunter Biden. They testified that DOJ officials “deviated” from the normal process and provided preferential treatment to Hunter Biden. “Among other deviations, DOJ officials restricted what investigative steps the investigators could pursue, tipped off Hunter Biden’s attorneys about investigative steps, and even prevented investigators from conducting witness interviews,” the House Republicans wrote. “The whistleblowers’ testimony about the preferential treatment provided to Hunter Biden has been corroborated by testimony from other witnesses and documents the Committees have received.” Jordan and Comer said the new whistleblower claims “seem to corroborate our concerns about DOJ’s deviations from standard process to provide Hunter Biden with preferential treatment.” “It is unknown why or on what basis the CIA allegedly intervened to prevent investigators from interviewing Mr. Morris,” they wrote. “However, these allegations track with other evidence showing how the DOJ deviated from its standard investigative practices during the investigation of Hunter Biden.” Jordan and Comer are now demanding the CIA provide all documents and communications referring or relating to the DOJ and IRS’ investigation of Hunter Biden, and all records relating to Kevin Morris — “including but not limited to efforts to interview Mr. Morris as part of the investigation of Robert Hunter Biden.” HUNTER BIDEN LAWYER TESTIFIES THAT 1ST TRUMP IMPEACHMENT CREATED ‘EMERGENCY’ TO FILE UNPAID TAXES Morris, on Oct. 13, 2021, gave Hunter Biden a loan for approximately $1.4 million. According to the letter, Hunter Biden was to repay the loan, with $500,000 paid by Oct. 1, 2026 and the remaining $417,634 by Oct. 1, 2027, plus interest. A few days later, Morris loaned Hunter Biden $2.6 million, with directions to repay the loan by Oct. 1, 2029. That loan, according to Morris’ lawyer, “was used to pay, among other debts, Mr. Biden’s tax debt to the IRS.” On Oct. 17, 2022, Morris loaned Hunter Biden $640,355 to be repaid by Oct. 15, 2027. In December 2022, Morris loaned Hunter $685,813.99, to be repaid by Oct. 15, 2027. A year later, Dec. 29, 2023, Morris loaned Hunter approximately $1.2 million to be repaid by Oct. 15, 2028, with all interest paid by October 2029. Special Counsel David Weiss charged Hunter Biden with nine federal tax charges, which break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors for $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss charged Hunter in December, alleging a “four-year scheme” in which the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to all charges. Weiss also indicted the first son on federal gun charges in Delaware last year. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to those charges as well. His attorneys are attempting to have that case dismissed.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s securities fraud charges could be dropped under plea deal, according to report
Paxton has been fighting securities fraud felony charges for nearly nine years.
Supreme Court to rule on FDA approval of abortion drug mifepristone
Call it wishful thinking or strategic amnesia, but just two years removed from its controversial decision ending a constitutional right to abortion, the Supreme Court is poised to decide another high-stakes appeal over nationwide access to the procedure. At issue is the federal government’s approval process of the drug mifepristone, a medication used to terminate pregnancies. Oral arguments are scheduled for Tuesday with a ruling expected about three months later, with the race for the next president in full swing. MAJOR DRUG STORES START SELLING ABORTION PILL SOME SAY IS ‘DANGEROUS’ FOR WOMEN AHEAD OF LANDMARK SCOTUS CASE While the case hinges on complex federal regulatory procedures, reproductive rights will again be the key question. It’s an appeal with enormous legal, social and political implications, and a high-stakes case following the court’s landmark ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade. New data from the Guttmacher Institute research group indicates nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023 rely on mifepristone. Abortion rights groups say the drug has been proven safe and that the court’s decision could negatively impact 40 million women nationwide. Anti-abortion organizations counter that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for two decades has unlawfully promoted a nationwide regime of on-demand abortion, in defiance of several state health and safety laws. For now, the Supreme Court is allowing the FDA to continue regulating the drug while the appeals process plays out. That includes continued telemedicine prescriptions and retail pharmacy dispensing. FORMER SUPREME COURT JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER SOUNDS OFF ON DOBBS DECISION: ‘TOO MANY QUESTIONS’ “I think it probably was a little premature to say that the court was going to be getting out of the abortion business entirely,” Thomas Dupree, a former top official in the justice department of former President George W. Bush. “I think the justices are aware of the fact, obviously, that we’re in an election year, but I don’t think the fact that we’re in an election year is going to be driving the outcomes of any of these decisions.” The issues presented come nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide, constitutional right to abortion, giving states individual discretion to regulate the procedure. At the time, the court’s 5-4 conservative majority declared “unelected members of this Court” would not be intervening in the future to “override the democratic process” of legislators and mandate national abortion policy. But recent legal challenges from anti-abortion groups questioned the FDA’s original 2000 nationwide approval process – including recent revisions – for the drug used to terminate early pregnancies. Mifepristone is taken along with misoprostol, and the two-drug combination is known as medication abortion or the “abortion pill.” Lower courts concluded the federal agency did not fully consider the potential health risks to women when revising regulations for mifepristone beginning in 2016. Those revisions — last updated in 2023 — include reducing the recommended dose, allowing use of the drug up to 10 weeks of pregnancy (from seven weeks), approving a generic version and permitting it to be mailed (eliminating in-person doctor visits), among other measures. Major pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS announced this month they were certified to dispense the abortion drugs under the new rules. Thirty-six states allow some form of access to mifepristone — 21 states allow full access and 15 allow restricted access, according to Fox News research. Fourteen states ban abortion completely, including medication abortion, except for a few exceptions. Danco Laboratories, the drug’s manufacturer, had appealed to the Supreme Court seeking final review on the merits. Dozens of advocacy groups, members of Congress and coalitions of states on both sides of the issue have filed legal briefs in recent weeks. The plaintiffs are led by four national medical associations of anti-abortion doctors linked to the conservative advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom. They sued the FDA shortly after the Dobbs ruling, which ADF also spearheaded, hoping to build momentum on further abortion restrictions through litigation. “The FDA recklessly removed its original safeguards like in-person doctor visits, leaving women to suffer serious complications alone,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, who will argue the case before the court. “It’s appalling that the FDA would eliminate even the initial in-person visit to check for life-threatening conditions like ectopic pregnancy based on studies it said were not adequate. Women deserve better.” KEY STUDY IN FDA ABORTION PILL CASE AT THE SUPREME COURT WAS RETRACTED IN ‘PARTISAN ASSAULT’ AUTHORS SAY Lower courts agreed with anti-abortion groups, concluding the FDA did not fully consider the potential health risks to women when amending guidelines for mifepristone eight years ago. The Supreme Court will debate those questions and may revisit whether the original 24-year-old approval process for the drugs was similarly flawed under the federal Administrative Procedures Act. Another key issue is whether those challenging the FDA authority have “standing” or capacity to sue, since those doctors allegedly have never actually prescribed mifepristone. They’ll also weigh whether they would suffer actual “harm” from the drug’s use since those plaintiffs are doctors, not patients. “The stakes could not be higher for women across America,” said President Biden this month. “In the face of relentless attacks on reproductive freedom by Republican elected officials, Vice President Harris and I will continue to fight to ensure that women can get the health care they need, to defend the Food and Drug Administration’s independent and evidence-based approval and regulation of mifepristone and to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law.” The Biden administration and abortion rights groups say continued access to mifepristone is vital. And they say a ruling limiting the FDA’s authority could have sweeping health care implications. “If the logic of the lower court decision were allowed to stand, it would threaten to severely disrupt the pharmaceutical industry much more broadly, and it could prevent the FDA from doing the job that it’s supposed to be doing on behalf of the American people,” said Brianne Gorod, chief counsel at the progressive Constitutional Accountability Center. “It
White House blames Republicans, Texas Gov. Abbott, after migrants attack Guard members, storm border
The White House on Friday blamed Republicans and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott when asked about the reaction to the chaotic scene a day earlier, when more than 100 migrants were filmed bursting through razor wire along the southern border to get into Texas. “What does President Biden think should happen to adult men who are assaulting and overpowering U.S. National Guardsmen?” Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. She said the Biden administration was “grateful” that U.S. Border Patrol agents were able to get the situation under control in El Paso, Texas, before blaming Abbott for his hardline border policies. KANSAS SENATOR AIMS TO BLOCK AIRLINES FROM LETTING MIGRANTS FLY VIA CONTROVERSIAL APP AT DC AIRPORT “They were able to do their job even though Republicans, Gov. Abbott in particular, has made it difficult for them,” she said. “You have a governor, Gov. Abbott, who is politicizing it.” Fox News Digital has reached out to Abbott’s office. Jean-Pierre also blamed Senate Republicans for not supporting bipartisan border legislation to shore up more resources to combat the influx of illegal immigrants. Video footage published by the New York Post, shows dozens of adult males ripping away razor wire that had been set up by the state and charging past Texas National Guard members. They then ran toward a section of border wall, where they were blocked from entering further. HOUSE DEMOCRAT BLAMES REPUBLICANS IN WAKE OF VIRAL VIDEO OF MIGRANTS STORMING US BORDER IN TEXAS “This video does not show helpless women and children begging for a safe place to come in. It shows adult men landing haymakers on U.S. troops in uniform. If that was happening anywhere else in the world, wouldn’t President Biden send reinforcements?” asked Doocy. Jean-Pierre noted that everyone was apprehended by border agents but couldn’t say if they were deported. “The governor of Texas put the Texas National Guard there. We didn’t put them there. He put them there. What we need is actual real solutions,” she said. Abbott has taken an strong position on illegal immigrants in his state. Texas is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Biden administration over a state law that would make illegal immigration a state crime. Texas has also bused thousands of migrants to Democratic strongholds like New York and Chicago, and has tightened security on its border with Mexico. “The mental gymnastics from the Biden Administration are astonishing,” Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris told Fox News Digital in a statement. “[Thurday’s] surge in El Paso is the direct result of the unsustainable chaos President Biden has unleashed on the border. “Texas will continue to utilize every tool and strategy to deter and repel illegal crossings as President Biden’s dangerous open border policies encourage migrants from over 150 countries to make unsafe and illegal crossings between ports of entry.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that there were 189,922 migrant encounters at the southern border in February, the highest for the month ever recorded. The Border Patrol apprehended 140,644 illegal immigrants last month, the second-highest in February ever recorded for the agency, behind 159,170 in February of fiscal year 2022. Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report.