Missouri
State lawmaker resigns amid sexual harassment allegations
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri lawmaker has resigned after an investigation into a sexual harassment complaint found he engaged in "ethical misconduct" by pursuing an "amorous relationship" with an employee.
Democratic Rep. DaRon McGee, of Kansas City, submitted his resignation late Monday. It was printed in the House Journal, which was publicly available Tuesday, along with an investigatory report by the House Ethics Committee.
The committee said McGee made repeated communications over the course of at least 10 months while attempting to engage in an unwelcome relationship with an employee. The report said McGee then took actions which resulted in the employee's termination.
The committee recommended McGee resign or face potential expulsion if he didn't comply with other sanctions.
McGee's resignation letter said he had accepted a job in Kansas City.
Florida
Judge calls insurer 'barbaric' for denying cancer therapy
MIAMI (AP) - A federal judge in Miami recused himself from judging a lawsuit over an insurance company's denial of coverage for a prostate cancer treatment, calling it "immoral and barbaric."
The Miami Herald reports U.S. District Judge Robert Scola cited his personal experience with prostate cancer and said he can't be impartial in the case against UnitedHealthcare.
Richard Cole, a prominent Miami attorney, accuses United Healthcare of denying his request for proton beam therapy because it's more expensive than traditional radiation treatment.
UnitedHealthcare spokeswoman Maria Gordon Shydlo said coverage decisions are based on "prevailing published clinical and scientific evidence."
Another federal judge also withdrew from the case because he's friends with the 71-year-old lawyer.
Pennsylvania
Man accused of flushing grandparents' ashes down toilet
MCKEESPORT, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say a western Pennsylvania man flushed his grandparents' ashes down a toilet after his mother kicked him out of her home.
The Tribune-Review reports that Thomas Wells was arraigned Monday on two counts of abuse of a corpse and a criminal mischief charge.
McKeesport police say the 33-year-old Pittsburgh man had been staying with his mother for a brief time before she asked him to leave last September.
The mother told police in February that a relative told her Wells had flushed her parents' ashes before he left. The ashes were kept in a box in the mother's bedroom.
Authorities say Wells told his mother he had not flushed the ashes down a toilet.
But the mother says Wells later said he would flush her remains after she dies.
Louisiana
Defense attorneys asks for legal pause over lack of funding
LIVINGSTON, La. (AP) - Attorneys for a man accused of killing his girlfriend, her family and his parents in Louisiana this January have asked for a pause in the prosecution of the case until they can get funding.
The Advocate reports Dakota Theriot's attorneys said Monday that their team is completely unfunded, leaving them working for free and unable to hire needed investigators and experts.
Prosecutors have said they plan to pursue the death penalty against the 22-year-old Theriot, who records say has struggled with mental health issues. The attorneys filed court papers last month that said the public defender's office doesn't have funding for capital cases.
They say responsibility for those cases was handed to the state Public Defender Board, which they say doesn't have the funds to meet service demands.
Montana
State Supreme Court sides with nurses in abortion provider case
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The Montana Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that allows two advanced practice nurses to provide abortions in the early stages of pregnancy while they challenge a law saying only doctors and physician assistants can perform the procedures.
District Court Judge Mike Menahan a year ago blocked the Montana Abortion Control Act as it applied to nurse practitioner Helen Weems and an unidentified nurse midwife. The state appealed on several grounds, including arguing that the nurses did not have standing to challenge the law.
The Montana Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision Friday, upheld the lower court's ruling, saying medical providers have standing to challenge laws that affect their patients.
It cited a 1999 ruling in favor of a physician's assistant who sought to overturn a Montana law that said only doctors could provide abortions.
The state's highest court had ruled that the right to privacy in the Montana Constitution protects a woman's autonomy over her reproductive health and that the physician-only abortion law violated her ability to obtain a legal medical procedure from a health care provider of her choice.
The dissenting justices argued the lower court blocked a law that had not been challenged for a decade and that the Montana Board of Nursing has not determined advanced practice nurses can provide abortions.
"The court lacks both the authority and the proper medical training and knowledge to make such a determination," Justice Jim Rice wrote in his dissent.
Major medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Public Health Association and the World Health Organization say laws prohibiting advanced practice nurses from providing abortions in early stages of pregnancy are medically unfounded, the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana said.
Montana rules say advanced practice nurses may only practice in areas in which they have current national certification.
"There is simply no reason to prohibit qualified clinicians like our clients from providing abortion care," said Hillary Schneller, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. "This law only further restricts abortion access in a state where it is already limited."
The Center for Reproductive Rights and the ACLU of Montana will next ask the lower court for a permanent injunction allowing all advanced practice nurses to perform abortions in the early stages of pregnancy as the groups keep fighting the law, Schneller said Monday.
Weems has been providing abortion care at her clinic in Whitefish while the nurse midwife has not yet received such training, Schneller said.
Published: Wed, May 01, 2019
