Free Republic

SANTA FE – Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed an emergency petition Monday challenging a series of anti-abortion ordinances passed by communities in eastern New Mexico in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision. In a 27-page filing, Torrez asked the state Supreme Court to strike down the ordinances, arguing they violate civil rights guaranteed by the state Constitution. The city- and county-level measures also infringe on the state’s authority to regulate health care, Torrez said, and they attempt to create a series of local abortion bans. “It is simply inappropriate, unlawful and unconstitutional for local governments to use their...

Thomas Lane, one of the former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's killing, has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, according to the Minnesota attorney general. State Attorney General Keith Ellison said the plea agreement reached with Lane represents an "important step toward healing the wounds of the Floyd family, our community, and the nation." Lane, 38, had been scheduled to go to trial next month in state court along with his former Minneapolis police colleagues J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao. All three defendants were convicted in February by a federal jury on charges of violating George Floyd's civil...

The owner of a wine and beer bar who openly flouted Gov. Tim Walz's executive orders to shut down last winter during the COVID-19 pandemic was found guilty of six criminal misdemeanor counts Thursday by a Freeborn County jury. A jury of three women and three men took only an hour of deliberation to convict Lisa Hanson, the 57-year-old bar owner, after a three-day trial punctuated by Hanson's repeated attempts to argue that Walz's orders were unconstitutional. Judge Joseph Bueltel followed the reading of the verdict with a scathing denunciation of Hanson's behavior, explaining why the governor's orders were legal....

The Oregon State Police announced on Thursday that it was pulling out its roughly 100 state troopers from protecting the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in downtown Portland after the city’s district attorney announced that he is not pursuing charges against the rioters who have been arrested. The Oregon State Police had committed to helping local law enforcement officials deal with the violent riots for a period of two weeks, which has now expired. “We’re in a county that’s not going to prosecute this criminal behavior,” said spokesman Capt. Timothy R. Fox. Fox also said: “The Oregon State Police...