National Roundup

 Oregon

Man convicted in Medford golf club beating death 
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — A 31-year-old man who beat an acquaintance to death with a golf club was convicted and sentenced Wednesday in Medford to at least 25 years in prison.
Travis Asbill killed 54-year-old Donald William Mack in 2012 as he slept.
Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Mejia called it a drug-fueled crime.
The Mail Tribune reports Asbill had been out of prison for a little more than a year after serving seven years for an attempted murder conviction.
 
Virginia
Transgender wo­man has name change on 2nd try 
LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — A 24-year-old transgender woman in Lynchburg has won a second bid to legally change her name after a judge rejected her initial request.
Joseph David Fialkowski had sought to have her name changed to Julianna Tourmaline Fialkowski. She told The News & Advance that she has been receiving hormone treatments for more than a year and is recognized as female on her driver’s license.
Lynchburg Circuit Court Judge F. Patrick Yeatts denied Fialkowski’s first application for a name change in January.
Fialkowski’s attorney, Katie Fletcher, told the newspaper on Wednesday that Yeatts has approved Fialkowski’s second application.
Fletcher says she received a letter from Yeatts stating that he determined Fialkowski complied with requirements of state law. She says the letter didn’t say why the initial application was denied.
 
New Hampshire
High court rules  on birth control clinic licensing 
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court has shut down efforts by a right-to-life organization to block Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s license to dispense prescription drugs.
The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that New Hampshire Right to Life has no legal jurisdiction to challenge the license because the organization and its members have suffered no harm due to the license renewal.
NHRTL in April 2012 filed a complaint with the state’s Board of Pharmacy saying that Planned Parenthood’s license to dispense drugs had expired June 30, 2011. In response, the board granted a temporary renewal and then voted to permanently renew the license for Planned Parenthood’s six clinics in September 2012. The board also rejected NHRTL’s challenge to the renewal.
The Supreme Court in its ruling Thursday upheld the board’s actions.
 
Washington
Hearing on theft in ch­a­mbers of judge to continue 
WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) — A hearing will resume next month over whether state police illegally took cocaine and other evidence from a western Pennsylvania judge’s chambers two years ago.
Former Washington County Judge Paul Pozonsky is charged with stealing drugs from evidence in cases before him. The drugs were seized when the county’s president judge ordered police to investigate whether any was missing from cases Pozonsky handled. He has since retired.
Pozonsky’s attorneys contend police needed a search warrant, but state prosecutors say the court order from President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca was legal since it dealt only with evidence, not Pozonsky’s personal property.
 
Illinois
Defrocked priest arrested for 2005 sex abuse of child  
CHICAGO (AP) — A defrocked Catholic priest and convicted child molester is heading to court after being arrested in Chicago for a sex crime that authorities say occurred in 2005.
Police say Daniel McCormack was arrested Wednesday on a warrant for aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child. He’s to appear in Cook County bond court Thursday. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer.
McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five children and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was removed from the priesthood.

Indiana
Ruling allows suit against vendor of beer at stadium
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana appeals court is allowing the family of a girl fatally struck by a drunken driver to go ahead with its lawsuit against the beer vendor at Indianapolis Colts games.
The court ruled that Lucas Oil Stadium vendor Centerplate can’t avoid the lawsuit by arguing that the beer was sold by an undetermined volunteer server.
The 3-0 ruling issued Wednesday reverses a Marion County judge’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit.
The family of 12-year-old Tierra Rae Pierson sued Centerplate, claiming it negligently served alcohol to the driver who hit her along a street on the south side of Indianapolis after a 2010 Colts game.
Centerplate’s attorney tells The Indianapolis Star the company is considering an appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court.
 
West Virginia
Guilty plea from po­lice chief in store lot assault 
FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. (AP) — Cedar Grove’s police chief has pleaded guilty to assaulting a man in a grocery store parking lot.
Media outlets report that Aaron Roop entered his plea to misdemeanor assault on Wednesday in Fayette County Magistrate Court. Magistrate Leonard Bickford ordered Roop to pay a fine and court costs.
Roop was accused of threatening to kill Derrick Haddix in a Kroger parking lot in Smithers in February. Witnesses told police that Roop was in uniform at the time.
Roop told police that Haddix had threatened his wife and infant son several days prior to the incident.
 
Texas
Ex-teacher still in custody in child pornography case 
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A federal judge has ordered a former North Texas high school journalism teacher to remain in custody in an investigation of alleged sexual exploitation of minors.
Gregory Bogomol of Fort Worth has been charged with possession of child pornography. A magistrate in Fort Worth on Wednesday declined to set bond for Bogomol, who resigned from Denton High School prior to being arrested last week.
Bogomol was charged after the parents of a 15-year-old Louisiana boy reported the youth received suggestive cellphone messages. Investigators say the boy was solicited to provide a nude photo and did, but refused to send more images. 
Prosecutors say a search of Bogomol’s home also turned up images of minors in sexually explicit conduct.