NATION/WORLD BRIEFING
Duckworth has baby; 1st US senator to give birth in office
CHICAGO – Sen. Tammy Duckworth has given birth to a girl, making her the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office. The Illinois Democrat announced she delivered her second daughter, Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, on Monday. Her office says Duckworth is recovering well and asked for privacy.
Duckworth, a 50-year-old veteran who lost her legs in the Iraq War, is one of only 10 lawmakers who have given birth while in Congress. Her first daughter, Abigail, was born in 2014.
She says she’s grateful to friends and family and “our wonderful medical teams for everything they’ve done to help us in our decadeslong journey to complete our family.”
Arizona governor sees off Guard troops going to border
PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s office says the deployment of 338 members of the state National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to support President Donald Trump’s effort to fight illegal immigration will be paid for by the U.S. government.
Ducey spoke Monday as he saw off Guard members at the Papago Park Military Reservation in Phoenix. His office says Guard members will provide air, reconnaissance, operational and logistical support to border patrol agents. They will also help with construction of border infrastructure to free up federal agents’ time so they can concentrate on border enforcement.
Arizona officials say guard personnel will be placed on initial 31-day orders and serve in the Tucson and Yuma Customs and Border Protection sectors.
Facebook begins notifying users on Cambridge Analytica misuse
NEW YORK – Facebook on Monday began alerting users whose private data may have been compromised in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
All 2.2 billion Facebook users will receive a notice on their feeds titled “Protecting Your Information.” It will have a link to information on which Facebook apps they use and what information they have shared with those apps. In addition, 87 million users whose data might have been shared with Cambridge Analytica will get a more detailed message informing them of that fact.
The political data-mining firm allegedly used ill-gotten Facebook user data in its efforts to sway elections. Cambridge Analytica says it only ever received data on 30 million users.
Sole clinic widens challenge of Mississippi abortion restrictions
JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi’s only abortion clinic is expanding its challenge of a state law that bans abortion after 15 weeks.
The clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, filed papers Monday asking a federal court to block state restrictions that have been the law for years, including a 24-hour waiting period that requires a woman to make two trips to the clinic — one for counseling and one to have the abortion.
The 15-week ban is the most restrictive abortion law in the United States, and the clinic sued the state hours after Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed it into law March19. A federal judge put it on hold the next day.
Filing claims woman in Greitens’ affair unsure of memory
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Attorneys defending Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens against a felony invasion-of-privacy charge have raised new doubts about a key allegation that he took a nonconsensual photo of a partially nude woman with whom he had an affair.
In a court filing dated Sunday, Greitens’ attorneys say the woman testified during a Friday deposition that she never saw Greitens with a camera or phone on the day he is accused of taking a partially nude photo of her while she was blindfolded and her hands bound. The court filing says the woman also testified that she doesn’t know whether her belief that he had a phone was the result of a dream.
A spokeswoman for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said Monday that Greitens’ attorneys had “cherry picked bits and pieces” of the woman’s nine-hour deposition “to attack her credibility.”