National Roundup

South Carolina
Man charged; girlfriend shot, left in wheelchair outside hospital
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Authorities say a 23-year-old South Carolina man has been charged in the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, who was left in a wheelchair outside a hospital.

The Richland County Sherriff’s Office announced Monday that Albertus Lewis faces a charge of murder. Previously he was charged with obstruction of justice.

Authorities said 20-year-old Mayra Sanchez was found about 4:30 a.m. on July 5 at a hospital in Columbia, the state capital, and pronounced dead by doctors. Deputies say Lewis put Sanchez in a wheelchair and left.

The woman’s mother, Guadalupe Sanchez, tells WLTX that the family had a restraining order against Lewis.

Kentucky
Mixed martial arts fighter dies after losing match
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A mixed martial arts fighter has died after losing a match in Kentucky.

Gary Thomas of Hardrock MMA promotions, which put on the event, told The Courier-Journal that 37-year-old Donshay White of Radcliff, Kentucky, died Saturday after competing in a heavyweight match in Louisville against challenger Ricky Muse.

Thomas said White collapsed in the locker room after the fight and was taken to a hospital.

Thomas said officials called the match in Muse’s favor two minutes into the second round.

Media report the Kentucky Boxing and Wrestling Commission said in a statement that a licensed physician and first responders treated White immediately following the fight. The commission says it is reviewing details of the incident.

Arkansas
State appealing judge’s ruling on execution drug
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas is appealing a judge’s decision to allow a medical supply company’s attempt to prevent the state from using one of its execution drugs to move forward.

The state on Friday filed a notice that it is appealing Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray’s order denying the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit by McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc. McKesson is seeking an order preventing the state from using its supply of vecuronium bromide, one of three drugs used in Arkansas’ lethal injection process.

The state is already appealing an April order by Gray blocking the drug’s use. The state Supreme Court stayed that ruling, which allowed Arkansas to resume executions for the first time in nearly 12 years. Gray denied the state’s motion to dismiss last week.

Ohio
City ignores panhandling law after ruling in sign case
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s capital city has stopped enforcing its panhandling law after similar laws were challenged successfully using a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an Arizona case about church signs.

Assistant city attorney Joshua Cox tells The Columbus Dispatch that First Amendment case had “an unintended consequence” on panhandling enforcement.

The court struck down a law that set tougher restrictions for signs directing people to church services than for signs for political candidates and real estate agents. Lawyers challenging panhandling laws then drew parallels to people being prohibited from asking for money in spaces where they’re free to talk about other things.

Joe Mead, a volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, says cases brought in Ohio have led to repeals of panhandling laws in Akron, Dayton and Toledo.

Tennessee
Lawsuits allege hospitals engage in illegal billing practices
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Two lawsuits seeking class-action status allege several Tennessee hospitals routinely overcharge patients through illegal billing practices.

The Commercial Appeal reported Saturday that the lawsuits filed in Shelby County Chancery Court name hospitals in the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare system and Saint Francis Hospital as defendants. A U.S. District Court judge dismissed a parallel filing, ruling administrative resolutions hadn’t been exhausted. The litigation was refiled in federal court.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Jimmy Blount says the Memphis hospitals engaged in practices called “substitute billing” or “balance billing,” in which hospitals continued trying to collect money from patients after debts were legally extinguished through payments from private insurance companies, TennCare and other programs.

New York
Judge: Govt. asked Google for too much data in gender case
NEW YORK (AP) — An administrative law judge has ruled that Labor Department officials investigating gender pay bias had asked Google for data in a way that’s too broad and intrusive on employee privacy.

Google must still provide data, including contact information, on 8,000 employees — just not data on the more than 25,000 workers originally sought.

At issue is whether Google pays women less than men. The Labor Department said in April that it found “systemic compensation disparities.” But Google denied the charges, saying it conducts rigorous analysis to ensure that its pay practices are gender-blind.

The decision, issued on Friday, is preliminary. The Labor Department can file objections before it becomes final. The ruling doesn’t yet decide, either way, whether Google discriminated.

Illinois
Man gets 11 life terms in child sex assault case
GENEVA, Ill. (AP) — A northern Illinois man has been given 11 life sentences after he was convicted of sexually assaulting three children under age 13.

The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reports that 49-year-old Robert E. Craig of Hampshire was sentenced last week in Kane County. Judge John Barsanti ordered him to serve the life term concurrently along with six three-year terms. The former Carpentersville man was convicted in February of 11 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and six counts of criminal sexual abuse. He is not eligible for parole.

Prosecutors say the abuse happened multiple times in Carpentersville between 1999 and 2010.

Prosecutors say Illinois child welfare officials were alerted after one of the children told a school counselor in 2014 about the abuse.