Ind. abortion clinics get ready to reopen after judge blocks ban
INDIANAPOLIS — After an Indiana judge on Thursday blocked the state’s abortion ban from being enforced, phones started ringing across Indiana abortion clinics, which are preparing to resume the procedure a week after the ban had gone into effect.
“People are getting the word that abortion is now legal again, and people are ready to get their health care that they deserve and that they desire,” said Dr. Katie McHugh, an abortion provider at Women’s Med in Indianapolis.
Owen County Judge Kelsey Hanlon issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, putting the new law on hold as abortion clinic operators argue in a lawsuit that it violates the state constitution.
Indiana’s seven abortion clinics were to lose their state licenses under the ban — which only permits abortions within its narrow exceptions to take place in hospitals or outpatient surgical centers. The ban was approved by the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature on Aug. 5 and signed by GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb. That made Indiana the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal abortion protections in June.
The judge wrote “there is reasonable likelihood that this significant restriction of personal autonomy offends the liberty guarantees of the Indiana Constitution” and that the clinics will prevail in the lawsuit. The order prevents the state from enforcing the ban pending a trial on the merits of the lawsuit.
Republican state Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement: “We plan to appeal and continue to make the case for life in Indiana.”
With Indiana on hold, bans on abortion at any point in pregnancy are in place in 12 Republican-led states.
‘Fat Leonard’ caught: A
Malaysian defense contractor nicknamed “Fat Leonard,” who orchestrated one of the largest bribery scandals in U.S. military history, has been arrested in Venezuela after fleeing before his sentencing, authorities said Wednesday.
The manhunt for Leonard Glenn Francis ended with his arrest Tuesday at the Caracas airport as he was about to board an airplane for another country, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Francis had traveled to Venezuela from Mexico with a stopover in Cuba, Interpol Venezuela Director General Carlos Garate Rondon said in a statement on Instagram. Francis was headed to Russia, the agency said.
The arrest came on the eve of his scheduled sentencing in a federal court in California for a bribery scheme that lasted more than a decade and involved dozens of U.S. Navy officers.
Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering prostitution services, luxury hotels, cigars, gourmet meals and over $500,000 in bribes to Navy officials and others to help his Singapore-based ship servicing company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. or GDMA.
Prosecutors said the company overcharged the Navy by at least $35 million for servicing ships, many of which were routed to ports he controlled in the Pacific.
Miss. welfare fraud: A former director of Mississippi’s welfare agency pleaded guilty Thursday to federal and state charges in a conspiracy to misspend tens of millions of dollars intended to help needy families in one of the poorest states in the U.S.
Appearing in federal court, John Davis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of theft from programs receiving federal funds. In state court, he pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy and 13 counts of fraud against the government.
Davis, 54, was an influential figure in a scandal that has produced criminal charges against several people, including pro wrestler Ted DiBiase. The scandal also has raised questions about retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre and former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant.
As leader of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, Davis had direct control of federal funds that were channeled to pet projects such as a new volleyball arena at the university where Favre’s daughter played the sport.
In state court, Judge Adrienne Wooten gave Davis a 90-year sentence with 58 of those suspended. She put Davis on house arrest until his federal sentencing, set for Feb. 2.
Davis faces up to 15 years on the federal charges.