April 30, 2022

Connecticut passes bill expanding abortion related protections. Gov pledges to sign it

With a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling months away, the state Senate debated emotionally Friday night before approving a key abortion bill that would be the most far-reaching in Connecticut in the past 32 years.

The bipartisan bill would increase the number of medical professionals allowed to perform abortions in Connecticut and expand abortion-related protections regarding lawsuits.


After three hours of debate, the Senate voted 25-9 with two Republicans absent shortly before midnight.

The often-emotional, personal and passionate debate included opposition by some members of the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, who said they were inspired by a freshman legislator, Rep. Trenee McGee of West Haven, who spoke passionately recently before voting against the bill.

The state House of Representatives had voted 87-60 recently for the measure, and Gov. Ned Lamont has pledged to sign it into law.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/connecticut-senate-passes-abortion-bill-after-emotional-debate-gov-lamont-pledges-signature/ar-AAWLwKp

April 30, 2022

Connecticut passes bill expanding abortion related protections. Gov pledges to sign it

With a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling months away, the state Senate debated emotionally Friday night before approving a key abortion bill that would be the most far-reaching in Connecticut in the past 32 years.

The bipartisan bill would increase the number of medical professionals allowed to perform abortions in Connecticut and expand abortion-related protections regarding lawsuits.


After three hours of debate, the Senate voted 25-9 with two Republicans absent shortly before midnight.

The often-emotional, personal and passionate debate included opposition by some members of the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, who said they were inspired by a freshman legislator, Rep. Trenee McGee of West Haven, who spoke passionately recently before voting against the bill.

The state House of Representatives had voted 87-60 recently for the measure, and Gov. Ned Lamont has pledged to sign it into law.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/connecticut-senate-passes-abortion-bill-after-emotional-debate-gov-lamont-pledges-signature/ar-AAWLwKp

April 30, 2022

LA agrees to pay $300K to man whose testicle was shot off at BLM protest

During a 2020 protest over the murder of George Floyd, the Los Angeles police had fired projectiles at the crowd and one of the shots caused a man to lose part of his testicle.

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He originally asked for $2 million in damages and claimed that he has "permanent disfigurement" after being shot by the projectile.

His case went to mediation and the $300,000 settlement was agreed upon in January, according to an internal city document, that was reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

Dale Galipo, Bond's attorney, said on Wednesday that the settlement "could have been worth more money," but Bond is happy to be done with it.
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Bond was involved in the protest on May 29, 2020 near City Hall in Los Angeles. His lawsuit stated that he, "never threatened anyone, made no aggressive movements toward anyone, made no furtive gestures, and no physical movements that would reasonably suggest to the [police] that [he] was attempting, willing, or intending to inflict harm to anyone."

He used a tennis racket and salad bowl to protect himself against the projectiles, according to the city's lawyers.

"Mr. Bond is observed shouting and being argumentative toward officers, and refusing to follow the officers' orders to leave the area, but his noncompliance did not justify the use of less lethal munitions being fired at him," according to the city attorneys.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/la-agrees-to-pay-300k-to-man-whose-testicle-was-shot-off-at-blm-protest/ar-AAWKGQ4

April 30, 2022

Lyft vows to pay legal fees for drivers who might be sued under expected Oklahoma abortion law

Lyft Inc. said Friday that it will pay for legal fees for its drivers if they are sued under an anti-abortion bill that was approved by Oklahoma’s legislature this week and which the state’s governor is expected to sign


The announcement follows a previous commitment by the ride-hailing company to do the same in Texas, where a law banning abortions after six weeks went into effect after the Supreme Court refused to block it last September. Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill, SB 1503, would allow any person to sue individuals who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion.”


“This law is incompatible with people’s basic rights to privacy, our community guidelines, the spirit of rideshare, and our values as a company,” the company said in a blog post Friday.

A company spokeswoman said Friday that Lyft is not aware of any cases against its drivers in Texas so far.

The San Francisco-based company’s blog post said it would cover 100% of drivers’ legal fees in both Oklahoma and Texas. It also said that for women from those states seeking out-of-state abortion care, the company is working with healthcare partners “to create a ‘safe state’ program to cover costs of transportation to airports and clinics. In addition, the company said it would cover travel costs for Lyft employees who have healthcare coverage with the company and who need to find abortion care outside Texas and Oklahoma.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/lyft-vows-to-pay-legal-fees-for-drivers-who-might-be-sued-under-expected-oklahoma-abortion-law/ar-AAWL8RI

April 30, 2022

Good Samaritans Help CHP Officer Shot by Driver and hold onto perp

The officer, identified as Antonio Pacheco, a seven-year CHP veteran, was laying on the ground with a gunshot wound to his right thigh. Three other good Samaritans were with him trying to control the bleeding.

“Oh my gosh, just to see him on the floor, bleeding,” said Lilia. “I saw so much blood and I could see his face. He was calm but at the same time I knew he was debating for his life.”

Meanwhile, Floriberto another man armed with a knife had the shooter pinned to the center divider.

“He was out of control,” said Floriberto. “I don't know if he was on drugs or not but he was strong and he was trying to escape.”

But he didn't get a chance to escape. The shooter, identified as 25-year-old UCSD graduate student Yuhao Du, was arrested shortly after. Pacheco was taken to the hospital and had surgery. He's expected to survive.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/he-was-out-of-control-good-samaritans-help-chp-officer-shot-by-driver-on-freeway/ar-AAWIKOw

April 30, 2022

LAPD officers were told a man had a gun, and immediately shot him. He had a cellphone

** He survived. LAPD still tried to charge the man with assault with a deadly weapon although he had none. **


In the video from Barrera's shooting that the department posted to YouTube on Thursday, a 911 caller tells a dispatcher in Spanish that a man with a gun is pointing it at people along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The dispatcher asks the man if it is a small gun, and he then says he doesn't know exactly what the man is holding. The call went out over the police radio as a man pointing an "unknown type handgun at passersby."

Later, as responding officers Tatiana Bohorquez and Manuel Rios are driving toward the scene, another officer can be heard on the radio stating, "He does have a handgun, and he's firing at a house right now."

"Oh, s—," Bohorquez, who is driving, can be heard saying.

Rios, in the passenger seat, then opens the passenger side door of the patrol vehicle as it is still moving and holds his handgun at the ready in his right hand.

"You might have to shoot. You might have to shoot," Bohorquez says as they pull up near Barrera.

Rios then immediately opens fire, seeming to fire four rounds down the street at Barrera.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/lapd-officers-were-told-a-man-had-a-gun-and-immediately-shot-him-he-had-a-cellphone/ar-AAWKSUH

April 30, 2022

Boston police officer pleads guilty to not reporting winnings to IRS

The Boston Police officer who agreed earlier this month to plead guilty to his failure to report gambling winnings on his tax returns has done so.

Dana Lamb, 57, of Roslindale pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false document with the Internal Revenue Service.

Lamb won $10,000 on a Massachusetts lottery scratch ticket in May 2020, as the Herald previously reported. He then sold the ticket for $7,500 in cash to a convenience store owner who in turn sold it to an unnamed person who redeemed it with the state. Lamb didn’t report the $10,000 in winnings and owes $1,800 in back taxes.

Lamb was placed on administrative leave for the crime, the department told the Herald earlier this month. Lamb is scheduled for sentencing on June 30, where he could see up to a year in prison, a year of supervised release and a fine of $10,000.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/boston-police-officer-pleads-guilty-to-not-reporting-winnings-to-irs/ar-AAWLvR5

April 30, 2022

Extremists Are Using Lies to Undermine America's Public Schools: We Need to Take a Stand

Rufo and other dark money-funded extremists follow a consistent playbook for attacking public schools.

First, they concoct lies, smears and distortions that stoke fear and anger, such as that eight-year-old white students are being taught to hate themselves because they are responsible for slavery, and that kindergarten teachers are grooming five-year-olds.

Next, these falsehoods are spread on social media and by Fox News and the click-driven, controversy-obsessed mainstream media.

Finally, extremist state politicians champion cookie-cutter bills provided by those same national voucher backers to “solve” the manufactured “outrage,” often under the banner of “parents’ rights.”

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But parents and the public strongly support public schools, and there is encouraging opposition to this drive to undermine public education.

Last month, in Indiana, a sweeping bill to censor teachers, limit access to mental health services, and impose costly bureaucratic requirements on teachers and school districts failed because of a tsunami of opposition from parents, teachers, students, and faith leaders and private pushback from business leaders.

In New Hampshire, in March school board elections, all 33 pro-public education school board candidates in 14 school districts who were endorsed by state civic groups and the two state teachers’ associations, won election against anti-public education candidates funded by an extreme national group.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/extremists-are-using-lies-to-undermine-america-s-public-schools-we-need-to-take-a-stand/ar-AAWKIdc

April 30, 2022

Ex-Republican Lawmaker Guilty of Raping Teenage Intern

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ex-republican-lawmaker-guilty-of-raping-teenage-intern/ar-AAWKVu2

After 11 hours of deliberation, an Idaho jury has found disgraced ex-Idaho GOP state lawmaker Aaron von Ehlinger guilty of raping a 19-year-old intern last year after a dinner date.

The decision followed a lurid three-day trial during which von Ehlinger vehemently disputed the allegations, insisting the encounter had been consensual. But even though his accuser, who testified under the pseudonym Jane Doe, fled the courtroom part way through her emotional testimony, the jury was able to hear powerful testimony from Doe’s mother, as well as a hospital nurse who examined Doe in the aftermath of the attack.

April 29, 2022

Trump's border wall causing major fall injuries and millions in unreimbursed medical expenses for

San diego hospitals.

SAN DIEGO - In the trauma wards of this city's major hospitals, patients from the border have arrived every day with gruesome injuries: skull fractures, broken vertebrae and shattered limbs, their lower extremities twisted into deranged angles.

What's different is that the border wall is a man-made obstacle that poses a lethal danger and public health challenge where one did not exist previously.

Dr. Jay Doucet, chief of the trauma division at UC San Diego Health, said injuries along the border wall occurred before its increase in height, but the older, shorter version of the barrier, ranging from nine to 17 feet, was not lethal.

"Once you go over 20 feet, and up to 30 feet, the chance of severe injury and death are higher," he said. "We're seeing injuries we didn't see before: pelvic fractures, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and a lot of open fractures when the bone comes through the skin."

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"I never expected we would have to climb the wall," said Hector Almeida, a 33-year-old dentist from Cuba, recovering this week in the trauma ward at UC San Diego Health. He fractured his left leg in a fall Monday. Smugglers led his group to the wall with a ladder and told them to climb up and slide down the other side, said Almeida, who said he saw one woman fall and break both legs, and an older man with a severe head injury.

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https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/The-border-wall-Trump-called-unclimbable-is-17136711.php