National Roundup

Georgia Prosecutor to expunge MLK's 1960 Atlanta arrest ATLANTA (AP) - A county prosecutor in Georgia said he will expunge Martin Luther King Jr.'s record for his trespassing arrest during a 1960 sit-in protesting the segregated dining rooms at an Atlanta department store. Fulton County Solicitor General Keith Gammage told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he is also interested in erasing the records of all other civil rights workers who were arrested in Atlanta. "I always had in my mind, what effect would it have if we expunged the record for arrests of Martin Luther King Jr and the other civil rights protesters and called those arrests what they were - unconstitutional and biased arrests?" said Gammage, 48, who also serves on the board of trustees at King's Ebenezer Baptist Church. "There is a gap between social justice-related protests and activism, and a true criminal offense," Gammage said. But some civil rights advocates said they wouldn't want their civil disobedience records expunged. "That is part of my history as a civil rights worker," Bernard LaFayette, who was arrested 30 times, told the paper. King biographer Clayborne Carson also was arrested for his work as a civil rights activist. He told the Journal-Constitution it is a "badge of honor, and it doesn't change the historical reality that you were arrested." Gammage said he's had positive conversations with the King family about his plan and wouldn't do it without their support. Gammage's office is responsible for prosecuting misdemeanors and code violations, such as shoplifting and trespassing. Since 2017, he's cleared the records of more than 3,000 people whose non-violent and low-level charges were keeping them from getting jobs or obtaining housing, the Journal-Constitution reported. King joined the Atlanta Student Movement 's campaign of boycotts and sit-ins on Oct. 19, 1960, and was arrested after asking to be served in a whites-only dining room at Rich's Department Store. The trespassing charges were swiftly dropped and all the protesters were let go except for King. In neighboring DeKalb County, a judge ruled that King's arrest violated his probation for a misdemeanor traffic citation, and sentenced him to four months hard labor. He was finally released after John and Robert Kennedy intervened, days before the presidential election. During his life, King was arrested more than two dozen times. Gammage's decision will have no effect on King's arrests outside Fulton County, but the solicitor general said he would encourage other jurisdictions to start similar discussions. Florida Settlement reached in dispute over college voting TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Voter rights advocates declared victory Friday after Florida officials agreed to allow early voting sites back on college campuses. A settlement announced Friday prompted the groups to withdraw legal challenges filed last year accusing the Secretary of State's Office of attempting to stifle turnout among young voters. Under the settlement, local elections officials are again allowed to consider college campuses as early voting sites. The agreement also loosens restrictions of parking requirements - a sticking point among state officials who had previously suggested that restrictive parking restrictions on college campuses made them unsuitable as polling places. The League of Women Voters of Florida joined the Priorities USA Foundation and the Andrew Goodman Foundation in filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of eight young Florida voters. "We are gratified that once again the constitutional rights of our young voters have superseded partisan politics," Patricia Brigham, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said in a statement. Utah Porn warning labels bill becomes law amid controversy SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Pornography will have to come with a warning label in Utah after Gov. Gary Herbert allowed the measure to become law over protest from the adult-entertainment industry. If producers don't include a one-sentence warning label on obscene materials about potential harm to minors, they could face a $2,500 penalty per violation. Herbert allowed the measure to become law without his signature on Wednesday. The measure is aimed at helping people worried about the widespread availability of porn online, Republican sponsor Rep. Brady Brammer has said. After criticism that the measure could be unconstitutional, it was aimed at porn deemed to be legally obscene. Most porn doesn't qualify, but hardcore material declared obscene doesn't have constitutional protections. The Free Speech Coalition, an adult-entertainment trade group, has said the law could still unfairly force porn producers to defend themselves in court because it allows private citizens as well as the state to file complaints. A judge would have to decide if the porn qualifies as obscene. Producers could avoid the penalty by showing that they have included the label most of the time. Utah also declared it a public-health crisis in 2016. More than a dozen states have advanced similar resolutions since then. New Jersey Judge dismisses latest challenge to state's right-to-die law TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A lawsuit challenging the right to dielaw in New Jersey was dismissed. The "aid in dying" law enacted a year ago that allows terminally ill patients to seek life-ending drugs survived its latest court challenge, NJ.com reported last week. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy had signed the Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act into law in April 2019. The law allows only patients who are terminally ill and have a prognosis of six months or less to live to acquire medication to end their lives. It also allows doctors and pharmacists to refuse to cooperate with a terminally ill patient's request to die. But medical professionals who exercise that right are under an obligation to relinquish the patient's file so another physician can be found, according to the ruling issued Tuesday by state Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy. Rabbi and geriatrician Yosef Glassman of Bergen County had argued the law "legalizes murder." But the state Attorney General's Office asked the court to dismiss the case because neither Glassman or a pharmacist who joined the lawsuit had the proper legal standing to challenge the law that did not affect them. The "plaintiffs suffer no harm. Nothing in the act requires (the) plaintiffs to participate as patients, physicians or pharmacists," according to the decision. "Their deeply felt religious, ethical or professional objections to the act do not suffice to establish standing." Glassman's attorney could not be reached for comment. The law has been in effect in the state since Aug. 27. Published: Mon, Apr 06, 2020