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New Mexico Supreme Court blocks local abortion ordinances

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court blocked local anti-abortion ordinances Friday pending the outcome of a case centered on constitutional rights to equal protection and due process.The ruling granted a request by Democratic state Attorney General Raúl Torrez and follows the state’s recent adoption of a new abortion rights bill signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham just weeks ago that overrides any local ordinances aimed at limiting access to abortion procedures and medications. The state already had one of the country’s most liberal abortion access laws, but two counties and three cities in eastern New Mexico recently adopted restrictions that reflect deep-seated opposition to offering the procedure. Torrez’s petition and the legislation that was passed during the recent 60-day aim to override those ordinances and prevent other counties from adopting abortion restrictions.The goal is for New Mexico to remain a safe haven for women seeking ab...

Stocks rally to cap a winning month, quarter for Wall Street

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rallied Friday to close out a winning March and first quarter of the year, feats that looked questionable just a couple weeks ago when Wall Street was tumbling in turmoil. The S&P 500 rose 1.4% to cap a 3.5% gain for the month. It also locked in a second winning quarter in a row after falling sharply most of last year on worries about high interest rates meant to get inflation under control. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 415 points, or 1.3%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.7%. For the Nasdaq, big leaps for technology stocks drove a gain of 16.8% for the quarter, its best since the surge out of the coronavirus-caused crash in the spring of 2020. Friday’s gains came after a report showed inflation across the United States slowed in February, though it was still high relative to history. A continued slowdown could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to take it easier on interest rates after jacking them higher at a furious pace over the last yea...

New this week: Brooke Shields, ‘Grease’ prequel and NF album

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music and video game platforms this week.MOVIES— “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” a two-part documentary debuting Monday on Hulu, reconsiders how Shields was sexualized throughout pop culture as a child model and as the 12-year-old star of Louis Malle’s controversial 1978 film “Pretty Baby.” Shields, now 57, intimately discusses how the early labeling of her a sex symbol affected her personally and shaped her career. Director Lana Wilson’s film, which debuted in January at the Sundance Film Festival, revisits plenty of infamous episodes from Shields’ life — her friendship with Michael Jackson, her relationship with Andre Agassi, her odd run-in with Tom Cruise — as well as new revelations, including that she was sexually assaulted by someone she knew professionally. — A new series on the Criterion Channel revisits sex and film from a much different...

Romania: Andrew Tate’s detention replaced with house arrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Andrew Tate, the divisive internet personality who has spent months in a Romanian jail on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, has won an appeal to replace his detention with house arrest, an official said Friday.The Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Tate’s appeal, which challenged a judge’s decision last week to extend his arrest a fourth time for 30 days, said Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT.Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 5.4 million Twitter followers, was initially detained in late December in Romania’s capital Bucharest, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women.All four won an appeal Friday, and will remain under house arrest until Apr. 29, Bolla said. None of the four has yet been formally indicted. The court ruled in favor of their immediate release. Prosecutors cannot challenge the appeal court’s decision, which was final, Bolla added.Tate, a professional k...

Trump indictment not expected to affect Wisconsin court race

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The indictment of former President Donald Trump will likely have little impact on the high stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court race to be decided next week, as Democrats try to flip majority control of the court with the fate of abortion access in the state on the line, those closely watching the contest said Friday.Trump has not been directly involved in the race, did not endorse anyone, and the Republican-backed candidate has tried to distance his connections with the former president and the GOP. Additionally, Trump’s support among Republicans appears to be waning in the battleground state that he barely won in 2016 and then lost by a similar margin in 2020.“While this (indictment) may get the juice flowing with some of his supporters, some may have a head shake and shoulder shrug,” said longtime Republican strategist and former state GOP party leader Brandon Scholz. “This indictment thing isn’t really tied into this race. It is a Trump issue.”Ch...

Historic Trump indictment could open door to future political prosecutions: expert

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

WASHINGTON — The United States found itself in uncharted territory Friday, confronting the as-yet-unknown political, judicial and social repercussions of having an ex-president face criminal charges for the first time in its history.The indictment of Donald Trump was generating far more questions than answers, thanks to the fact that it will remain sealed until the former commander-in-chief is arraigned next week in New York City.But whatever happens, the complex executive-branch relationship between America’s elected leaders and its prosecutors may never be the same. “It is potentially terrifying,” said Neama Rahmani, a former assistant U.S. attorney who now operates a personal injury practice in California. Rahmani served in the second Bush administration under attorney general Alberto Gonzales, whose decision to abruptly fire seven U.S. attorneys in 2006 prompted charges of political interference, which Gonzales denied. Allegations began to fly that the firings ...

Alex Murdugh to be kept in protective custody in prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina prison officials have decided to keep former attorney and convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh in a special protective unit as he begins serving his life sentence for killing his wife and son.Mental health and prison experts determined that Murdaugh should be kept in protective custody after they reviewed his case, including the enormous amount of publicity it garnered and psychiatric and other tests, the state Department of Corrections said in a news release Friday.The protective unit houses 28 prisoners who each have their own cells and enjoy the same privileges as other inmates. Prison officials said they weren’t disclosing the unit’s location due to security concerns.Murdaugh was convicted of murdering his wife and younger son in June 2021 at the family’s home in Colleton County. Investigators said that after shooting them, Murdaugh cleaned up, ditched the weapons and visited his ailing mother before returning home and calling 911 to ...

Court: 2018 Musk tweet unlawfully threatened UAW efforts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 2018 Twitter post by Tesla CEO Elon Musk unlawfully threatened Tesla employees with the loss of stock options if they decided to be represented by a union, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a March 2021 order by the National Labor Relations Board, which ordered that the tweet be deleted. The case arose from United Auto Workers’ organizing efforts at a Tesla facility in Fremont, California.Also upheld was the board’s order that Tesla reinstate and provide back pay to an employee who was fired for union-organizing activity.Musk tweeted on May 20, 2018: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.”The ruling said that “because stock options are part of Tesl...

Freeland says drop in foreign-aid spending is not a cut, Ukraine fight is pivotal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland insists the government’s projected $1.3-billion drop in foreign aid spending does not amount to a cut.The Liberal budget released this week projects that Ottawa will spend nearly $6.9 billion for international development in the coming fiscal year, which is a 16 per cent drop from last year’s allocation.That’s despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tasking International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan to increase aid spending every year.The Liberals had delivered a historic boost in aid in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Asked about criticism from the aid sector about the cut, Freeland said she “wouldn’t characterize it that way.”She stressed that Canada is allocating $2.4 billion in direct financial aid to Ukraine, and called that country’s fight the world’s most important struggle. The Liberals have also allocated funding for infrastructure projects in developing...

Judge: Dominion defamation case against Fox will go to trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:26 GMT

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A voting machine company’s defamation case against Fox News over its airing of false allegations about the 2020 presidential election will go to trial after a Delaware judge on Friday allowed a jury to decide whether the conservative network aired the claims with actual malice, the standard for proving libel.Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that neither Fox nor Dominion Voting Systems had presented a convincing argument to prevail on whether Fox acted with malice without the case going to a jury. But he also ruled that the statements Dominion had challenged constitute defamation “per se” under New York law. That means Dominion did not have to prove damages to establish liability by Fox.“The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that (it) is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true,” Davis wrote in his summary judgment ruling.The decision paves the way for a trial start in mid-April...