The nation in brief

Friday, March 28, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We will be changing rather dramatically how we conduct testing and training going forward.”

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, after the force announced that it fired nine

commanders and allowed one to retire over an exam cheating scandal at a nuclear-missile base Article, 1A

Texas prisons told to share drug source

AUSTIN, Texas - A judge ordered Texas prison officials Thursday to disclose the supplier of a new batch of lethal-injection drugs to attorneys for two inmates set to be executed next month, but she stopped short of revealing the identity of the manufacturer to the public.

The ruling by state District Judge Suzanne Covington came after the Texas Department of Criminal Justice argued that threats against execution suppliers are escalating.

The agency recently obtained a threat assessment from law enforcement officers, and pictures on the Internet suggest physical harm against pharmacists making the drugs, Assistant Attorney General Nicole Bunker-Henderson said.

State prison officials have lost previous attempts to keep information about its execution drug supplier confidential.

Texas prisons spokesman Jason Clark said the agency was “disappointed” in the ruling and would appeal.

4th injured in Austin festival crash dies

AUSTIN, Texas - A fourth person has died of injuries suffered earlier this month when a suspected drunken driver drove into a crowd at the South By Southwest festival, police said Thursday.

Austin police tweeted that DeAndre Tatum, 18, died of injuries suffered March 13. Police spokesman Veneza Bremner confirmed the accuracy of the tweet, but she said the department would have no further updates.

Tatum of Fort Worth was in a crowd outside an Austin club when the driver smashed his car through a street barricade and into the festival goers.

Austin resident Jamie West, 27, and Dutchman Steven Craenmehr, 35, were killed at the scene. Sandy Le, 26, died March 17.

Police have identified the driver of the vehicle as Rashad Owens, 21. He is charged with capital murder and aggravated assault with a motor vehicle, and prosecutors are expected to seek additional charges against him from a grand jury. He’s accused of driving while drunk and fleeing from police, then intentionally driving into the festival crowd.

Program to train police in transgender aid

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department started a program Thursday to train local police departments to better respond to transgender individuals, a population authorities say is disproportionately harmed by violence.

The new initiative is aimed at helping police identify hate crimes and build trust with a community that law enforcement officials say is too often reluctant to report crimes.

“It’s clear that such a training is as necessary as it is overdue,” Associate Attorney General Tony West said at a ceremony unveiling the program. “Because too often, in too many places, we know that transgender victims are discouraged from reporting hate crimes and hate violence due to their past negative interactions with and perceptions of law enforcement.”Texas rule for abortions OK, judge says

Texas can require abortion doctors to affiliate with local hospitals, although it can’t enforce the ban while doctors apply for those rights, an appeals court said, overturning a federal judge’s finding that the measure places an unconstitutional burden on women seeking to end pregnancies.

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin struck down the provision in October, finding it “does not bear a rational relationship to the legitimate right of the state in preserving and promoting fetal life or a woman’s health.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans in November delayed enforcement of Yeakel’s judgment pending an appeal and reversed his decision Thursday.

“It is not the courts’ duty to second guess legislative fact-finding, ‘improve’ on, or ‘cleanse’ the legislative process by allowing relitigation of the facts that led to the passage of a law,” U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones wrote in a 34-page opinion stating the lower-court judge used the wrong legal standard in evaluating the restrictions.

“Courts must presume that the law in question is valid” as long as it serves a “legitimate” state goal.

Abortion-rights advocates, who contended the law restricted the rights of women seeking to end pregnancies, had asked the appeals court to uphold the lower court and immediately overturn the hospital affiliation mandate.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 03/28/2014