Court: Child neglect can apply to unborn
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Unborn children are included in the definition of a "child" for purposes of prosecuting child neglect cases, an Oklahoma appeals court ruled Thursday.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals overturned a lower-court ruling in a case involving Kearline Datara Anderson of Rogers County, who was charged with child neglect after state prosecutors alleged she used illegal drugs while she was pregnant.
"We think it's a victory for children," said Rogers County District Attorney Matt Ballard. "Even an unborn child has a right to be free from illegal drug abuse by a parent."
Ballard said Anderson was in her third trimester when she showed up at a hospital emergency room under the influence of drugs.
An attorney for Anderson declined to comment on the ruling.
A Rogers County judge had determined the state's child neglect law was not applicable when the victim of neglect was an unborn child.
The appeals court reversed that decision and returned the case to Rogers County for further proceedings consistent with its ruling.
Trump niece sues over family fortune
NEW YORK -- President Donald Trump's niece followed up her best-selling, tell-all book with a lawsuit Thursday, accusing him and two of his siblings of cheating her out of millions of dollars over several decades while squeezing her out of the family business.
Mary L. Trump seeks unspecified damages in the lawsuit, filed in a state court in New York City.
"Fraud was not just the family business -- it was a way of life," the suit alleges.
The lawsuit claims that the president, his brother Robert, and a sister, the former federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry, portrayed themselves as Mary Trump's protectors while secretly taking her share of minority interests in the family's extensive real estate holdings. Robert Trump died last month.
Messages seeking comment were sent to the Justice Department and lawyers for the president.
During a briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied any fraud was committed against Mary Trump.
Mary Trump and her brother, Fred Trump III, inherited various real estate business interests when her father, Fred Trump Jr., died in 1981 at 42 after a struggle with alcoholism.
According to the lawsuit, Donald Trump and his siblings devalued Mary Trump's interests, which included a share of hundreds of New York City apartments, by millions of dollars even before Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump Sr., died on June 25, 1999.
After the family patriarch's death, Mary Trump and her brother filed objections to the will and Donald Trump and his siblings "ratcheted up the pressure" to accept a settlement and relinquish all interests in the Trump businesses, the suit says.
HHS spokesman reportedly has cancer
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Michael Caputo, who is on a 60-day leave as spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after accusing government scientists of sedition, has metastatic cancer, a state lawmaker said Thursday.
Doctors have diagnosed cancer in the head and neck, David DiPietro, a Republican state assemblyman who said he was acting as a spokesperson for Caputo, told reporters.
The department announced Sept. 16 that Caputo decided to take 60 days "to focus on his health and the well-being of his family."
The loyalist of President Donald Trump was installed as assistant secretary for public affairs by the White House in April at a time of tense relations with Health Secretary Alex Azar.
Caputo, who was born in Buffalo, N.Y., has faced scrutiny in recent weeks over news reports that he tried to gain editorial control over a scientific weekly published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Caputo also hosted a video on his Facebook page in which he likened government scientists to a "resistance" against Trump and warned that shooting would break out if Trump won reelection in November and Democratic rival Joe Biden refused to concede.
Liability capped in Parkland massacre
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a school district can't be forced to pay more than $300,000 total to the victims or their families in the Parkland high school massacre that left 17 people dead and 17 wounded.
Justices unanimously sided with Broward County Public Schools, agreeing that the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was a single incident. The victims and their families had argued that each pull of the trigger was a separate occurrence for which the school district should be held liable.
State law caps government agencies' liability in civil lawsuits at $200,000 per individual and $300,000 per incident. Any jury award above that amount has to be approved by the Legislature and governor. Without that, each victim or family in the Parkland shooting would receive an average of less than $9,000.