Texas
University gets collection from lawyer who argued ‘Roe’ case
DENTON, Texas (AP) — Papers, pictures and other artifacts belonging to Sarah Weddington, a Texas lawyer who at the age of 26 successfully argued the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court, will become part of Texas Woman’s University’s permanent collection.
The university in Denton said Tuesday that before Weddington died at 76 in December, she donated her papers to TWU’s Jane Nelson Institute for Women’s Leadership.
“This collection provides a trove of interesting artifacts that will give researchers a veritable front-row seat to historical events affecting women’s issues,” said Mary Anne Alhadeff, the institute’s executive director and chief officer.
A couple of years after graduating from law school at the University of Texas at Austin, Weddington and a former classmate, Linda Coffee, brought a lawsuit challenging a state law that largely banned abortions. Roe v. Wade eventually advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Weddington was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1972 and served three terms as a state lawmaker before becoming general counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and later working as an adviser on women’s issues to President Jimmy Carter.
Weddington later gave lectures and taught courses at TWU and the University of Texas at Austin.
California
Border authorities find 52 reptiles hidden in man’s clothing
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A man who tried to slither past U.S. border agents in California had 52 lizards and snakes hidden in his clothing, authorities said Tuesday.
The man was driving a truck when he arrived at the San Ysidro border crossing with Mexico on Feb. 25 and was pulled out for additional inspection, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement.
Agents found 52 live reptiles tied up in small bags “which were concealed in the man’s jacket, pants pockets, and groin area,” the statement said.
Nine snakes and 43 horned lizards were seized. Some of the species are considered endangered, authorities said.
“Smugglers will try every possible way to try and get their product, or in this case live reptiles, across the border,” said Sidney Aki, Customs and Border Protection director of field operations in San Diego. “In this occasion, the smuggler attempted to deceive CBP officers in order to bring these animals into the US, without taking care for the health and safety of the animals.”
The man, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested.
Washington
Federal regulators accuse 2 siblings in $124M crypto scam
WASHINGTON (AP) — In their latest case targeting alleged fraud in cryptocurrency, federal regulators have accused two siblings of defrauding thousands of ordinary investors out of some $124 million in unregistered securities offerings involving a digital token.
The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday that John and JonAtina Barksdale used in-person roadshows around the world and social media including YouTube videos to sell fraudulent investments related to the so-called Ormeus Coin. The SEC said they falsely claimed that the digital coin was supported by one of the largest crypto mining operations in the world — after making less than $3 million in mining revenue and abandoning their mining operations in 2019.
The SEC suit filed in federal court in Manhattan accuses the siblings of violating federal securities laws and seeks unspecified civil penalties and restitution.
In addition, federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced Tuesday that John Barksdale has been arrested and charged with criminal securities fraud.
John and JonAtina Barksdale couldn’t be located for comment; the SEC said it wasn’t known whether they were represented by attorneys.
The SEC has warned investors to be wary of potential investment scams involving cryptocurrencies and of investing based on social media.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said last year that investors need more protection in the cryptocurrency market, which he called “rife with fraud, scams and abuse.”
Digital currencies such as bitcoin have been left largely unregulated by major governments. The SEC has brought and won dozens of fraud cases against cryptocurrency promoters, but Gensler said the agency needs greater authority from Congress, and more resources, to regulate the crypto markets.
The Biden administration has asked Congress for legislation to expand government regulation of stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency that is pegged to a specific value, usually the dollar or another currency, or gold.
Kansas
Prosecutor: High school shooter used ‘ghost gun’
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — The 18-year-old suspect in a shooting at a Kansas high school that left two adults and the student wounded used a “ghost gun” that is untraceable, a prosecutor said.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said the gun used by Jaylon Desean Elmore during the shooting Friday at Olathe East High School was obtained either through a kit found on the internet or constructed with various parts. Such guns do not have serial numbers and are untraceable, The Kansas City Star reported.
Elmore, who is charged with attempted capital murder, remained hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday.
Police allege he exchanged gunfire in the school’s office area, wounding an administrator and school resource officer before he was shot. The two adults were released from the hospital on Friday.
School resource officer Erik Clark also fired his gun during the confrontation, and crime lab technicians are working to determine which shots from the two weapons wounded the men, Howe said.
Howe said law enforcement authorities across the country are seeing more incidents involving ghost guns, which offer a way to avoid current firearms laws and provide weapons to those who would not be able to purchase them.
The Olathe East shooting came six days after a ghost gun was used in a double murder-suicide in nearby Lenexa, according to court records.
Howe, a Republican, said it’s time for political leaders from both parties to consider putting restrictions on the purchase of ghost guns.
“I don’t think this is a Republican-Democrat issue, it’s not a pro-Second Amendment, anti-Second Amendment issue,” Howe said. “It’s something we can all agree on for public safety reasons, so I’m hopeful we can get the attention of Congress, then maybe we can get something passed to stop this and shut these companies down that are basically selling things that are causing death and destruction.”
