Month: March 2013

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a 2011 Idaho law that banned most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, ruling that the measure is unconstitutional. Idaho is one of at least eight states that have enacted late-term abortion prohibitions in recent years based on controversial medical research suggesting that a fetus feels pain starting at 20 weeks of gestation. Arkansas became the latest to enact such a measure on February 28 when the state Senate voted to join its lower house of the legislature in overriding a gubernatorial veto of it. …

DENVER (Reuters) – Prosecutors in the case against accused Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes urged a judge to reject a defense motion to declare the state's insanity defense law unconstitutional, court filings released on Wednesday show. Last week, attorneys for Holmes asked Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester to declare Colorado's insanity defense law unconstitutional because it compels defendants who enter insanity pleas to cooperate with court-appointed psychiatrists. …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Legislation easily passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday to avert another partisan budget battle and a possible government shutdown, and a dinner meeting between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans offered signs of a thaw in relations. By a vote of 267-151, the House passed a measure to fund government programs until the end of the fiscal year on September 30. The Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to pass a similar bill next week. Without such legislation, federal agencies would run out of money on March 27. …

CARACAS (Reuters) – Sobbing and shouting, a throng of Hugo Chavez's supporters paraded his coffin through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday in an emotional outpouring that could help his deputy win an election to keep his socialist revolution alive. Hundreds of thousands of "Chavistas" marched behind a hearse carrying the body of the flamboyant and outspoken president, draped in Venezuela's blue, red and yellow national flag. Avenues resounded with chants honoring the former paratrooper as supporters showered flowers on his coffin and jostled to touch it. …

No criminal charges will be filed in connection with the death of an 87-year-old woman after she was denied CPR at her retirement home, Bakersfield, Calif., police said tonight.

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – A Republican senator introduced bipartisan gun background check legislation on Wednesday that would make it harder for mentally ill people who are considered to be dangerous to buy a firearm. The legislation proposed by Lindsey Graham would require reporting of certain mental illness treatments and legal proceedings to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the clearinghouse for all new gun purchases. …