Pharmacist who wouldn’t fill miscarriage drug is out

NY man accused of phoning death threats to senators

NEW YORK – A Long Island man was arrested Friday on charges he made phone threats to assault and kill two U.S. senators who supported the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Ronald DeRisi, 74, allegedly left expletive-filled phone messages to the senators, whose names were not released in a federal complaint that was unsealed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The senators do not represent New York, the filing said.

Mega Millions jackpot climbs to stratospheric $1 billion

The jackpot for Mega Millions soared to $1 billion for Friday night’s drawing.

It was the second-largest jackpot for any game played in the United States, behind the Jan. 13, 2016, Powerball of $1,586,400,000 split three ways in California, Tennessee and Melbourne Beach, Florida.

No one has hit the jackpot since July 24, when a group in California won $543 million. If the jackpot wasn’t won Friday night, the prize would climb to $1.6 billion for Tuesday’s drawing, tying the largest U.S. lottery prize.

Sentencing of Trump’s former campaign chief set for February

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal judge set a Feb. 8 sentencing date for a nowailing Paul Manafort Friday, even as the former Trump campaign chairman continued to cooperate with Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

Manafort appeared in federal court as defense attorney Kevin Downing urged an expedited sentencing date, saying that there were “significant issues” related to his client’s health. Downing did not elaborate, but a person familiar with the matter said Manafort is suffering from a diet-related inflammation.

Manafort was convicted on eight counts of financial fraud in an August trial where the jury deadlocked on 10 other counts.

PETOSKEY, Mich. – A Michigan pharmacist accused of refusing to fill a prescription to help a woman complete a miscarriage no longer works for the Meijer retail chain.

Meijer spokeswoman Christina Fecher says the pharmacist last worked in July. She didn’t say whether he was fired from the Petoskey store.

Rachel Peterson this week said the pharmacist refused to fill a prescription for misoprostol in July so she could accelerate a miscarriage and avoid infection. She says he cited his religious beliefs.

Meijer said the pharmacist should have allowed someone else to fill the prescription. Peterson later got the medication from a Meijer near her home in Ionia, hours away.

Train mows down crowd at India festival; at least 58 dead

NEW DELHI – A speeding train ran over a crowd watching fireworks during a religious festival in northern India on Friday, killing at least 58 people and injuring dozens more, police said.

The train failed to stop after the accident on the outskirts of Amritsar, said the state governing Congress party politician, Pratap Singh Bajwa.

Police Commissioner S. S. Srivastava said the police have found 58 bodies so far.

US and South Korea again call off a major military exercise

SINGAPORE – The United States and South Korea are scrapping another major military exercise this year, a Pentagon official said Friday, citing a push for diplomatic progress with North Korea.

The top Pentagon spokeswoman, Dana W. White, said Washington and Seoul are suspending an air exercise known as Vigilant Ace “to give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue.”

It was the latest move aimed at trying to nudge North Korea, which despises such U.S.-South Korean exercises, into negotiating about giving up its nuclear weapons.