New Hampshire
Republicans reject family planning contracts for 4th time
HENNIKER, N.H. (AP) — The abortion landscape has changed but the votes didn’t when New Hampshire Republicans rejected family planning contracts Wednesday for the fourth time in less than a year.
The Executive Council — which approves nominations and state contracts — voted 4-1 to deny funding to the Equality Health Center, Lovering Health Center and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. The contracts, which were supported by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, would have funded cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, contraception and other routine health care services for more than 16,000 low-income women.
The outcome was the same when the council voted in September, December and January. Wednesday was the first vote since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion.
“On the national landscape ... we know that women’s services as a whole are under assault. There is considerable discussion in Washington about limiting access to contraception, which is really what brings us to this discussion today,” said the council’s lone Democrat, Cinde Warmington.
“These services are more critical than ever in our state,” she said.
Republican councilors previously had raised concerns that public money would pay for abortions and continued to vote no even after audit reports confirmed that funds were not commingled.
Few councilors explained their opposition Wednesday. Councilor David Wheeler asked whether the clinics could refer patients for abortions and was told yes. Councilor Ted Gatsas asked whether the contracts would allow a 14-year-old girl to get an emergency contraceptive — the morning-after pill — at a pharmacy without parental consent.
That’s already allowed under state law regardless of whether a teen goes to a clinic, said Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette.
“That same 14-year-old can access SUD treatment in our state without parental consent, but we don’t stop approving those contracts,” she said, referring to substance use disorder.
Health clinic officials said they’ve seen a surge in demand for contraception since the June 24 Supreme Court ruling.
“It’s only been a month since Roe fell and already we’re seeing complete chaos in this country regarding sexual and reproductive health. We’re also seeing that here in New Hampshire,” said Kayla Montgomery, vice president of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. “That’s why this vote is so outrageous, because these four executive councilors continue to not listen to facts and facts and reason and science.”
Dalia Vidunas, executive director of the Equality Health Center, said she likely will have to eliminate her clinic’s sliding scale fees to make up the loss.
“I’m really disappointed that they don’t care enough about the residents of New Hampshire to make sure that we have reproductive health services,” she said.
Illinois
Man admits buying gun used to kill cop
CHICAGO (AP) — A northwestern Indiana man pleaded guilty Wednesday to making an illegal “straw” purchase of a handgun that was later used to kill a Chicago police officer during a traffic stop.
Jamel Danzy, 30, of Hammond, entered the plea to one count of federal firearm conspiracy during a videoconference before U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman.
Danzy could get up to a year and four months in prison when he’s sentenced on Oct. 28.
Officer Ella French was killed and her partner was critically wounded last August after they stopped an SUV with expired tags on Chicago’s South Side. Two brothers who were in the SUV, Eric and Emonte Morgan, are awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges.
Danzy bought the gun used in the shooting in March 2021 from a licensed dealer in Hammond, Indiana, records show. Danzy admitted to federal agents that he bought the weapon for someone who had a felony record and could not buy a gun for himself.
Authorities allege that the gun Danzy bought was for someone who wasn’t allowed to buy guns and was used in the shooting.
The same gun was found in a yard where Eric Morgan was arrested on the night of French’s killing, prosecutors said.
Kentucky
Judge tosses student’s lawsuits over DC encounter
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuits against five media companies brought by a Kentucky student involved in a 2019 widely viewed encounter with a Native American man at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
Nicholas Sandmann, then a 16-year-old student at Covington Catholic High School, sued several media companies, alleging they defamed him in their reporting of the incident. The lawsuits sought tens of millions of dollars in damages.
The actions of Sandmann and his classmates were intensely debated online after video and photographs emerged of them wearing “Make America Great Again” hats near a Native American man, Nathan Phillips, playing a drum.
Phillips accused Sandmann in media reports of blocking his way as Phillips moved through the crowd. Sandmann argued in the lawsuits that Phillips’ statement was defamatory.
But “Phillips’s statements that Sandmann “blocked” him and “wouldn’t allow (him) to retreat” are objectively unverifiable and thus unactionable opinions,” U.S. District Judge William O. Bertelsman wrote in a ruling filed Tuesday.
Sandmann’s attorney, Todd McMurtry, said Wednesday that he is disappointed in the ruling and plans to appeal.
Sandmann’s lawsuits against The New York Times, CBS News, ABC News, Gannett and Rolling Stone magazine were filed in March 2020. In the lawsuit against The New York Times, Sandmann sought $65 million in damages. He sought $60 million from CBS News.
Sandmann, who was standing with dozens of his classmates on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, argued in the lawsuit against the New York Times that the newspaper’s reporting conveyed “the false and defamatory gist that Nicholas was the face of an unruly hate mob ...”
Both Sandmann and Phillips have said they were trying to defuse tensions rising among various groups on a day when Washington hosted both the Indigenous Peoples March and the anti-abortion March for Life, which was attended by the Covington students. Video of the encounter showed Sandmann and Phillips standing close to each other, with Sandmann staring and at times smiling at Phillips as he sang and played a drum.
Sandmann reached undisclosed settlements with CNN and The Washington Post in 2020 and NBC News in 2021 over their coverage of the incident.
