National Roundup

Kansas
Nurses sue to overturn midwife law
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Two nurse midwives are trying to overturn a Kansas law prohibiting them from practicing without physician oversight after they lost the ability to deliver babies at a hospital.

The Kansas City Star reports that Kara Winkler and Julie Gorenc have filed a federal lawsuit that says requiring nurse practitioners to practice under a physician is unfair because it allows doctors to control the health care market. Winkler and Gorenc are part of Midwife Partners in Women’s Wellness in Lenexa.

The women allege they lost 25 clients who were planning to give birth at Shawnee Mission Medical Center after Dr. Janetta Proverbs ended her collaborative practice agreement with them. No other Shawnee Mission physicians would take them on.

Proverbs calls the allegations “unfounded.”

Kansas is one of 19 states requiring nurse midwives to sign such agreements with physicians.

Georgia
Former top Atlanta official pleads guilty in bribery probe
ATLANTA (AP) — A top aide to former Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed has become the latest person to plead guilty as part of an ongoing federal corruption investigation.

Katrina Taylor-Parks pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to accept bribes while she was Reed’s deputy chief of staff.

Federal prosecutors say Parks conspired from 2011 to February 2014 to accept bribes from a city vendor. They say she accepted thousands of dollars and the vendor received tens of thousands of dollars for city contract work in return.

Prosecutors say Parks also falsely stated in financial disclosure statements that she wasn’t self-employed or employed by anyone other than the city.

Five other people have been charged in the investigation. Four have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison.

Virginia
Watchdog probes military burning of ammunition, explosives
RADFORD, Va. (AP) — The inspector general for the U.S. Department of Defense has launched an investigation into the open burning of ammunition and explosives at military sites across the country, including at a sprawling Army ammunition plant in Virginia.

The inquiry announced last week was prompted by a congressional request and comes about a year after a lengthy investigation by ProPublica into the military’s practice of open burning.

The inspector general’s office said in a memo that the inquiry will evaluate Defense Department compliance with “relevant environmental and related laws, inter-agency and municipal agreements, and policy.” The investigation will also evaluate oversight of contractors performing open burning.

The Radford Army Ammunition Plant is located on thousands of acres in southwest Virginia and is the main propellant-manufacturing facility for the Department of Defense. It regularly uses open burns to dispose of hazardous waste. The practice is legally permitted but has raised concerns about impacts on the environment and human health.

U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, a Democrat from New Hampshire, told ProPublica she requested the investigation and said it was spurred in part by the news organization’s reporting.
Justine Barati, director of public and congressional affairs for the Army’s Joint Munitions Command, said Wednesday that the plant had been contacted by the inspector general’s office and asked for a copy of its permit and open burning ground standard operating procedures.

Officials are working to schedule a teleconference and possible site visit, she said.

New Jersey
Court: Face ­tattoos unfairly identified ­robbery suspect
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey appellate court has overturned a man’s robbery conviction, finding that a witness’ identification of him that was based on his face tattoos wasn’t reliable evidence.

A detective investigating a 2015 grocery store robbery in Trenton initially showed the witness a set of photos including one of Donnell Perry. But the witness didn’t pick Perry out of that grouping.

The detective then showed the witness another set of photos including Perry, but Perry’s photo was the only one showing someone with facial tattoos. The witness later testified at a hearing that he didn’t pick Perry’s photo in the first set because that photo showed him without tattoos.

The appellate court ruled Monday that the photo issues made the witness’s identification unreliable, so it should have been suppressed.

New Mexico
Murder ­convictions in 2 killings in same-day home invasions
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court has upheld a man’s murder convictions stemming from two killings that occurred in separate Albuquerque home invasions the same day.

The justices’ rulings Monday upheld Jesus Suarez’s murder convictions in the Feb. 25, 2013 killings of Robert Kinter early that morning and Michael Garris that evening.

Suarez’s appeals argued that he received ineffective trial representation because his trial defense lawyer didn’t try to have one jury hear both cases together so he could claim that he was framed by a gang for both killings.

The justices’ two unanimous rulings on the two cases said it wasn’t evident Suarez had ineffective assistance of counsel and that there was no indication the outcomes would have been different if the cases had been joined for trial.

Louisiana
Man wins state Supreme Court seat after sole rival banned
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man has been re-elected to the Louisiana Supreme Court after his only challenger was disqualified for not filing tax returns.

NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reported Tuesday that Associate Justice Greg Guidry has won a second 10-year term that begins in January. Court records say former challenger Richard Ducote didn’t file state income tax returns for the past three years.

Ducote and Guidry registered for the election last month, and a lawyer soon filed a lawsuit alleging Ducote hadn’t filed returns. Court records say Docote admitted he hadn’t, saying he lived in Pennsylvania but was paid for work in Louisiana. He was booted from the ballet Aug. 1.

The White House is considering nominating Guidry to a New Orleans U.S. District Court judge seat to succeed Kurt Engelhardt.