Nation & World Glance
ASSOCIATED PRESS Ruling clears way for Purdue Pharma to settle opioid claims
A federal court ruling has cleared the way for Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma to settle thousands of legal claims over the toll of opioids.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s 2021 ruling that found bankruptcy courts did not have the authority to protect members of the Sackler family who own the company and who have not filed for bankruptcy protection from lawsuits.
The concept is at the heart of Purdue’s plan to settle thousands of lawsuits in a deal that would include $5.5 billion to $6 billion from Sackler family members.
Holmes enters Texas prison to begin 11-year sentence for notorious blood-testing hoax
BRYAN, Texas — Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is in custody at the Texas prison where she will spend the next 11 years serving her sentence for overseeing an infamous blood-testing hoax.
Holmes could be seen Tuesday from outside the prison’s gates walking into the a federal women’s prison camp located in Bryan, Texas. She wore jeans, a brown sweater and was smiling as she spoke with two prison employees accompanying her.
Her arrival comes more than a year after a jury convicted Holmes on four felony counts of fraud and conspiracy in January 2022. She was sentenced to prison time in November.
Manhattan prosecutors fight to keep Trump’s historic criminal case in state court
NEW YORK – Ten months before Donald Trump is scheduled to stand trial in his historic New York City criminal case, Manhattan prosecutors are in a tug of war with the former president’s legal team over precisely where he will be tried.
Trump’s lawyers are angling to have the hush-money case moved to federal court while the Manhattan district attorney’s office, in court papers Tuesday, says it should remain in the state court where it originated.
Trump, a Republican, has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in state court last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and is slated to go on trial in state court starting on March 25, 2024, in the heat of next year’s presidential primaries.
Ultimately, it’ll be Alvin Hellerstein, a federal judge in Manhattan, who decides whether to seize control of the Trump case or keep it in state court – likely after Manhattan prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers duke it out at a hearing on the issue scheduled for June 27.
Such transfer requests are rarely granted, although Trump’s request is unprecedented because he’s the first former president ever charged with a crime. While the jurisdictional fight plays out, the case will proceed in state court and all pretrial deadlines will remain in effect.
Woman who threatened Pelosi with hanging at Capitol riot gets 2 years in prison
A Pennsylvania restaurant owner who screamed death threats directed at then-house Speaker Nancy Pelosi while storming the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to more than two years in prison.
Pauline Bauer was near Pelosi’s office suite on Jan. 6, 2021, when she yelled at police officers to bring out the California Democrat so the mob of Donald Trump supporters could hang her.
In January, U.S. District Judge Trevor Mcfadden convicted Bauer of riot-related charges after hearing trial testimony without a jury. The judge sentenced her to two years and three months of imprisonment, giving her credit for the several months she already has served in jail, court records show.
Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of six years and six months for Bauer, 55, of Kane, Pennsylvania.
Bauer was part of the mob that forced police officers on the East Plaza to retreat. After forcing her way into the Capitol, she accosted officers who were trying to secure the Rotunda, shoving one of them, and yelled at police to “bring them out or we’re coming in,” according to federal prosecutors.
North Korea says its attempt to launch 1st spy satellite ends in failure
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said its attempt to put the country’s first spy satellite into orbit failed Wednesday, an apparent embarrassment to leader Kim Jong Un over his push to boost his military capability in the protracted security tensions with the United States and South Korea.
The statement published in state media said the rocket carrying the satellite crashed into waters off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast after it lost thrust following the separation of its first and second stages. It said scientists were examining the cause of the failure. The rocket was launched about 6:30 a.m. from the northwestern Tongchang-ri area, where North Korea’s main space launch center is located, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
Fla. police search for 3 gunmen who wounded 9 at beach on Memorial Day
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Police launched a search Tuesday for three suspects they believe to be the gunmen who opened fire along a crowded Florida beachside promenade on Memorial Day, wounding a 1-year-old and eight others while sending people frantically running for cover.
Hollywood police sought the public’s help in identifying the gunmen, who ran from the scene during the chaos of hundreds of people fleeing for their lives and diving for cover as shots hit bystanders.
Two people involved in the altercation that led to the shooting – Morgan Deslouches and Keshawn Stewart, both 18 – have been arrested on firearms charges, police said. Five handguns have been recovered, with one of them reported stolen in the Miami area and another in Texas, they said.
Police and witnesses said the shooting began as a group of people fought in front of a busy stretch of shops on the Hollywood Oceanfront Broadwalk about 7 p.m. Monday.
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia, The Carter Center says
ATLANTA — Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia, her family announced Tuesday.
Carter, now 95, remains at home with former President Jimmy Carter, who has been at home receiving hospice care.
The Carter family said in a statement sent by couple’s global humanitarian organization that Rosalynn Carter “continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones.”
Married nearly 77 years, the Carters are the longest-married first couple in U.S. history.
The Carter Center statement said Rosalynn Carter has spent her long public life advocating for individuals and families affected by mental illness and for those in caregiving relationships with loved ones.
Manson follower Leslie Van Houten should be paroled, California appeals court rules
LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court says Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten should be released from prison on parole.
The Tuesday ruling goes against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to reject Van Houten’s request for parole. Newsom’s administration did not respond to questions on Wednesday about whether it plans to ask the state Supreme Court to intervene.
Van Houten was 19 when she participated in two killings alongside Manson and other Manson followers in 1969.
She has been in prison for more than five decades. Parole boards have recommended five times that she be released, but governors including Newson have rejected each one of those recommendations.