National Roundup

Mississippi
Brett Favre’s deposition in welfare scandal is rescheduled for December
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The deposition in the civil lawsuit against retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre surrounding Mississippi’s welfare scandal has been pushed back at the request of the athlete’s attorneys, a court document shows.

Favre is set to answer questions under oath about misspending federal welfare money in Mississippi, where about $77 million in public funds intended to help some of the nation’s poorest people were used to fund pet projects Favre and other well-connected people are accused of supporting with the money. The Pro Football Hall of Famer is among more than three dozen defendants in a lawsuit the state Human Services director filed to recover some of the welfare money.

Favre has denied wrongdoing, sued the state auditor who investigated the misspending for defamation and said he paid back misspent welfare funds.

A notice of deposition filed in Hinds County Circuit Court by attorneys for Mississippi’s Department of Human Services said Favre was scheduled to give sworn testimony on Oct. 26 at a hotel in Hattiesburg. A subsequent court document filed Friday shows the hearing has been rescheduled for Dec. 11 based on a request by Favre’s lawyers.

Instead of going to needy families, about $5 million in welfare funds helped pay for a volleyball arena that Favre supported at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, investigators said. Favre’s daughter played volleyball at the school. Another $1.7 million went to develop a concussion treatment drug investigators have said Favre supported.

No criminal charges have been brought against Favre, although a former welfare department director and other people have pleaded guilty to their part in the misspending.

Florida
State settles lawsuit over COVID data, agrees to provide weekly statistics
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida will have to provide COVID-19 data to the public again after a former Democratic state representative settled a lawsuit with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration over the decision two years ago to stop posting information on the virus’ spread online.

Then-Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith sued after the Department of Health denied his public records request for COVID-19 data in 2021 and announced the settlement Monday. He was joined by the Florida Center for Government Accountability.

The settlement requires the department to provide COVID-19 data to the public for the next three years, including weekly statistics on cases, deaths and vaccinations by county, age group, gender and race, Smith said in a news release. The state must also pay more than $152,000 in legal fees to cover the plaintiffs’ legal costs.

“All Floridians have a constitutional right to public records and the right to receive critical public health data in a timely manner,” Smith said. “The Department lied about the existence of these public records in court and did everything to restrict information and downplay the threat of COVID.”

Florida stopped daily COVID-19 updates on its online dashboard in June 2021, citing a decrease in cases and an increase in vaccinations. Several states later did the same.

The Department of Health admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement and said it has always provided the data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Department spokes­man Jae Williams III criticized Smith and the Florida Center for Government Accountability in an email, saying the lawsuit was a political stunt.

“It is unfortunate that we have continued to waste government resources arguing over the formatting of data with armchair epidemiologists who have zero training or expertise,” Williams said.

Washington
Supreme Court rejects appeal from former coal company CEO Don Blankenship
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Tuesday from former coal executive Don Blankenship, who argued that major news outlets defamed him by calling him a “felon.”

The justices left in place an appellate ruling against Blanken­ship, the former CEO of Massey Energy. He served a year in prison on a misdemeanor charge after he was found guilty of conspiring to violate safety standards at a West Virginia mine before an explosion in 2010 that killed 29 men.

Justice Clarence Thomas, while agreeing with the court’s action Tuesday, repeated his call for the court to overturn its landmark 1964 libel ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s determination that CNN, Fox News and 14 other outlets sued by Blankenship did not act with “actual malice” amid coverage of his unsuccessful 2018 U.S. Senate campaign, even if they failed to meet journalistic standards.

The high court had previously turned away Blankenship’s appeal of his conviction.

Iowa
Misdemeanor charge is dropped against state senator arrested at yearly bike ride
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa prosecutor has dropped a misdemeanor charge against a state senator who was arrested in July and accused of refusing a police request to move off a roadway that was blocked during an annual bike ride across the state.

WHO-TV reported Monday that Sac County prosecutors were granted a motion to dismiss the charge against Republican Sen. Adrian Dickey of Jefferson County. He was originally charged with interference with official acts after allegedly refusing to move out of a roadway when asked by a police officer.

In a filing, Sac County Attorney Benjamin John Smith wrote that prosecutors now believe “there is not enough evidence to prove this matter beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Dickey agreed to pay court costs.

Dickey said in a statement that he was simply walking his bike on a gravel road trying to get back to the bike trail. His lawyer previously said that Dickey came upon hundreds of people blocking the road, but he was not part of that group. The arrest happened during RAGBRAI, an annual bike ride across Iowa.

“I appreciate the Sac County Attorney for correcting this and restoring my reputation,” Dickey said in the statement.