Wisconsin
Judge, expert spar during abortion trial
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An unusual courtroom discussion between three doctors in a federal trial dealing with Wisconsin’s law requiring abortion providers to get hospital admitting privileges is off to a rocky start.
U.S. District Judge William Conley sparred Thursday morning with Dr. John Thorp, a University of North Carolina obstetrician called by state attorneys to help defend the law. Conley is pressing Thorp to quantify the risks from abortion, but Thorp is resisting.
Thorp says there are no reliable U.S. studies on maternal deaths from abortion.
Conley quips the discussion reminds him of Mark Twain’s quote that there are lies, damn lies and statistics.
Thorp says he is “chilled” by the idea that a federal judge thinks he’s lying.
Conley says he doesn’t think Thorp is lying and didn’t mean to imply that.
Connecticut
Former official accused in Little League larceny
WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) — A former official with a youth baseball group whose team lost in the U.S. title game of the Little League World Series was arrested Wednesday in connection with $40,000 worth of missing equipment and funds.
Bridgeport resident Kevin Hlavac was charged with felony larceny for stealing from the Westport Little League, police said.
Authorities said an audit revealed the equipment and funds were missing.
Hlavac, a former league vice president, acknowledged falsifying invoices, billing the league for clinics never held and keeping money that was supposed to be used to reimburse parents for expenses, police said.
Hlavac posted $5,000 bail and is to appear June 5 in Norwalk Superior Court. He didn’t return a message left Wednesday seeking comment.
The Connecticut Post reported that Jeff White, board chairman of the Little League’s parent group, Westport Baseball & Softball, said in a statement it began investigating the allegations last fall, then turned the matter over to police. White said the accused person, whom he didn’t name, resigned. He said the organization now has stricter financial controls.
White said the financial loss wouldn’t hinder the organization’s “operations and commitment in any way” though it is monitoring expenses to cover maintenance obligations for its use of town-owned playing fields.
The Westport 12- and 13-year-olds’ Little League team lost the championship last year to a team from Chula Vista, California. Westport’s 11-and-under girls’ softball team won the Connecticut championship.
Tennessee
Lawyers fight effort to oust three justices
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Lawyers are fighting back against an effort by conservatives to oust three sitting justices on the state’s highest court.
Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey of Blountville has been circulating a document that takes aim at Supreme Court Justices Cornelia Clark, Gary Wade and Sharon Lee. All three were appointed by former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, and all three are up for election on Aug. 7.
The Tennessean reports that the Nashville Bar Association sent a resolution to members this week urging them to vote to keep the justices. In addition, the Tennessee Bar Association is asking members for the first time to rate the competency of the justices in a poll, and it plans to release the results in June.
Those efforts follow a May 14 event at which some prominent Nashville attorneys raised $100,000 for the three.
A group of attorneys, including former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Drowota, spoke to the newspaper about their efforts to retain the justices.
Drowota said Ramsey has unfairly criticized the justices in an effort to put partisan judges on the panel.
“To have politics come into the courts makes absolutely no sense,” Drowota said. “You don’t want a politicized court. You want a fair, impartial court.”
