Utah lawmakers advance abortion clinic ban over protests

SALT LAKE CITY – Lawmakers advanced a measure to limit where people can get abortions in Utah, banning abortion clinics and effectively requiring they only be provided in hospitals. After passing through the state Senate on a party-line vote Thursday, it will return to the state House of Representatives for voting on minor amendments and then head to the desk of Gov. Spencer Cox, an anti-abortion Republican who expressed support last month.

“When we passed the trigger ban a couple years ago, I did not anticipate we would be here so soon,” Republican state Sen. Dan Mccay said.

The measure is one of several that members of Utah’s Republican-supermajority statehouse has passed this year while abortion restrictions approved in years past are on hold due to a state court injunction. It has faced fierce opposition from business, civil liberties and abortion rights groups including Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, which operates three of the four abortion clinics in the state.

Republican lawmakers’ push to shutter abortion clinics comes as red states throughout the country work to implement restrictions less than a year after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that enshrined a constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years. After the court gave states the power to regulate abortion, many attempted to implement “trigger laws” designed to take effect upon a Supreme Court ruling, while others took action to reinstitute pre-roe bans on the books.

Two Kansas men arrested on charges of selling tech to Russia

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department on Thursday arrested two Kansas men on allegations that the pair illegally exported aviation-related technology to Russia and provided repair services for the equipment.

Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky and Douglas Robertson are charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods in violation of U.S. law.

The charges come as the U.S. has ramped up sanctions and financial penalties on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022. Along with thousands of sanctions on people and firms, export controls on the Kremlin are meant to limit access to computer chips and other products needed to equip a modern military.

The Justice Department says Buyanovsky and Robertson owned and operated Kanrus Trading Co., which allegedly supplied aircraft electronics to Russian companies and provided repair services for equipment used in Russianmanufactured aircraft.

They face up to 35 years in prison if convicted. Lawyers for Buyanovsky and Robertson couldn’t be identified from the provided documents, and the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for their information.