Appeals court upholds hold on Arkansas abortion laws

LITTLE ROCK, Ark — A federal appeals court on Tuesday kept on hold an Arkansas law banning abortions 18 weeks into a woman's pregnancy and another banning the procedure from being performed because the fetus has Down syndrome.

The 8th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge's 2019 ruling temporarily blocking Arkansas from enforcing the measures.

"As the district court recognized, the law governing the constitutionality of two of the three statutes at issue — Act 493 and Act 619 — though obviously subject to change in the future, is well established in this Circuit today," the three-judge panel said in Tuesday's ruling.

U.S. District Court Judge Kristine Baker in 2019 ruled that both measures unconstitutionally restrict abortion before a fetus is viable, or able to survive outside the womb.

Read more: https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2021/jan/06/appeals-court-upholds-hold-arkansas-abortion-laws/855252/

Black Atlantans say response to D.C. rioters shows double standard

As Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, many Black Atlantans were dismayed as they watched the events unfold.

The reaction to the mostly white rioters was a far cry from the reaction to largely Black crowds that took to the streets last year in protest of social and racial injustice, they said.

“You can never imagine 10,000 Black people storming the White House and no shots being fired,” said Roderick Sellers, 50, a disabled Navy veteran from DeKalb County. “I am from the military myself so I have a deep respect for the military and government as a whole,” but “It was the same standard as usual.”

Lloyd Pierce, the Atlanta Hawks coach who has been a voice on matters of racial injustice and reform, said the first step in changing the double standard in policing is by acknowledging there is a difference.

Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/black-atlantans-say-response-to-dc-rioters-shows-double-standard/RXEMIP6EGVFE7I3FGLXSC3PJBM/

Banish SC Confederate license tags -- and take these away with them

The Democratic leader of the S.C. House is absolutely right: The Department of Motor Vehicles shouldn’t be allowed to issue license tags emblazoned with the Sons of Confederate Veterans seal.

But Rep. Todd Rutherford’s H.3091 doesn’t go far enough.

The DMV also shouldn’t be allowed to issue license tags with the logo of the H.L. Hunley or Bob Jones University or SC Equality or any other politically controversial organization.

It also shouldn’t be allowed to issue license plates bearing the logo of the S.C. Junior Golf Foundation. Or the University of South Carolina — or Clemson University, or any other college. Or high school. Or the Penn Center, or the Prince Hall Masons, or the S.C. Aviation Hall of Fame, or the S.C. Cattlemen’s Association, or the S.C. Troopers Association or the Surfrider Foundation or the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity or the Boy Scouts of America or the Boykin Spaniel Foundation.

Ditto tags with illustrations that aren’t logos but that advertise recycling and the square dance and our troops and trees and utility workers and fishing and … well, you get the picture.

Read more: https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-banish-sc-confederate-license-tags-and-take-these-away-with-them/article_ba907750-4eb6-11eb-946b-93d638ece97e.html

North Carolina Republicans continue to defy governor's orders by holding large party without masks

Raleigh -- North Carolina’s Republicans continued in December to defy the governor’s order as well as public health recommendations by gathering without masks at a large holiday party featuring new Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn.

The N.C. Federation of Young Republicans held a Christmas party on Dec. 18 in Carthage, according to 171 photographs posted on Facebook on Dec. 24.

Like the GOP’s other gatherings in December, including one on Dec. 5, the people in attendance did not wear masks, shared microphones, shook hands and posed for photos with their arms around one another. Those are practices health officials discourage as the coronavirus pandemic surges to new highs.

After The News & Observer published this article, the N.C. Federation of Young Republicans released a statement saying the organization conducted temperature checks at the door and advised members to stay home if they were sick. The organization also said they told attendees to wear a mask when they weren’t seated or actively eating or drinking.

Read more: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article248203420.html
(Raleigh News & Observer)

Virginia Democrats claim victory in special elections, holding two seats in House of Delegates

Virginia Democrats on Tuesday night claimed victory in two special elections for the House of Delegates, holding onto the seats of former Dels. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William and Joe Lindsey, D-Norfolk.

Democrat Candi King edged Republican Heather Mitchell by about 3 percentage points as Democrats held the seat vacated by Carroll Foy, who stepped down last month to focus full time on her campaign for governor.

King is a former state legislative aide who now works in Washington as a program assistant for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Mitchell has been an aide to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors and previously was a legislative aide.

In Norfolk, Democrat Angelia Williams Graves, a member of the City Council since 2011, easily defeated Republican Sylvia Marie Bryant, an office manager at a construction firm, to win the seat vacated by Lindsey, who became a general district court judge. Graves led by 27 percentage points in unofficial returns with all precincts reporting.

Read more: https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/virginia-democrats-claim-victory-in-special-elections-holding-two-seats-in-house-of-delegates/article_eb278b9b-693b-5002-ab1e-7fb3c0c9977d.html

Democrats decry "farce" as Senate descends into chaos over swearing-in

What was supposed to be a routine and ceremonial meeting of the Pennsylvania state Senate devolved into chaos on Tuesday, as Republican lawmakers moved to block one Democrat from being sworn in to his seat, and ousted another from his position as their presiding officer.

The floor of the Senate chamber was engulfed in shouting for minutes on end Tuesday after Republican lawmakers motioned to delay the inauguration of incumbent Sen. James Brewster, D-Allegheny, whose 69-vote victory in the Nov. 3 General Election is being challenged by his Republican opponent Nicole Ziccarelli.

Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State has already certified Brewster as the winner in the race for the 45th Senate District, which includes parts of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

The state Supreme Court last month rejected Ziccarelli’s request to toss hundreds of mail-in ballots on technical grounds. Ziccarelli has now brought that argument to federal court, and to the Senate itself in a petition contesting the election results and asking Senators to consider her the victor.

Read more: https://www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/democrats-decry-farce-as-senate-descends-into-chaos-over-swearing-in/

Lt. Gov. Fetterman got involved. Details at the link.

Chesapeake Bay receives another D+ on health report, due largely to struggling rockfish population

For the second time in a row, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation scored the bay’s health a D+ in its biennial report card released Tuesday.

The poor grade for 2020 was “largely due to ineffective management of striped bass,” also known as rockfish, said William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, in the “State of the Bay” report. The foundation’s score in that category plummeted 17 points — “the largest decline in any indicator in more than a decade,” the foundation said.

Last year, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates fisheries along the East Coast, required Maryland and other states to reduce their rockfish harvests by 18%. The commission also voted to reduce the catch of menhaden — a key food for rockfish — by 10% along the Atlantic coast (but not in the Chesapeake Bay).

Maryland opted to close down the rockfish harvest for two weeks in late August to respond to the requirement. But scientists with the bay foundation said that period should occur earlier in the summer, and last longer.

Read more: https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/environment/bs-md-state-of-the-bay-2020-rockfish-20210105-dcxbljul2fd4jcqreke6ecwdvi-story.html

Guilty Plea In Bomb Threat Against DC Private School

GEORGETOWN, DC — Sonia Tabizada, 36, of San Jacinto, California pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to intentionally obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by threatening to bomb Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, according to a U.S. Justice Department release.

School officials announced in May 2019 that they would begin publishing same-sex wedding announcements in its alumni magazine as a way to advance the teaching that "we are all children of God ... worthy of respect and love." When Tabizada learned of this, she made multiple calls to the school, threatening violence, according to her plea agreement.

Tabizada also admitted that she left a message threatening to burn and bomb the church, and that she was going to kill school officials and students. She left an additional voicemail message stating that she would blow up the school and warned she wanted to commit "terrorism," according to the release.

"The defendant made violent threats against high school students, religious leaders, and school officials based solely on her disagreement with a private school's application of religious doctrine," said Eric Drieband, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, in the release. "Tolerance and religious freedom are cornerstone values in our society and the Department of Justice will continue to vigorously prosecute violent threats motivated by bias."

Read more: https://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/s/hdg00/guilty-plea-bomb-threat-against-dc-private-school-report

So about the Working Families Party...

Delaware health officials say COVID under control at poultry plants

As sites of COVID-19 outbreaks in the spring, some of Delaware's poultry processing plants struggled to implement new safety practices. Cases consequently soared.

But both the plants and government health officials have both learned a lot since, and are well-prepared for the winter surge, officials said.

The Delaware Division of Public Health has moved to a more hands-off relationship with poultry processing plants, now that implementation of best practices is mostly complete.

"At this point, the communication with those plants is not as regular, just because (practices) are in place and have been running for quite a while," said Dr. Rick Pescatore, DPH's chief physician. "But we do get outreach from the plants now and then if they're going to make a change or if they want to revise something that they're doing, just to get our feedback."

Read more: https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/delaware/2021/01/04/poultry-plants-good-shape-winter-covid-surge-officials/3867368001/