National Roundup

North Carolina
Judge: Federal prison must treat inmate’s cancer

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — A judge has ordered the federal prison system to make sure a North Carolina woman gets timely treatment for breast cancer while she is incarcerated in Alabama.

The News & Record of Greensboro reports that a judge admonished federal officials for what she called a “longstanding failure” to make sure 47-year-old Angela Beck gets the cancer treatments she needs.

The Monday order would require prison officials to coordinate with medical providers to get tests and treatment for Beck, who is serving almost 14 years for drug and firearms offenses.

Beck filed a federal lawsuit, saying her prison in Alabama waited over eight months to get a biopsy after she found a lump in her breast in August 2017, then another two months to schedule surgery.

Wisconsin
State high court weighs lame duck challenges

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has reinstated almost all of Republican legislators’ lame-duck laws limiting Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul’s powers, but the legal fight isn’t over.

The justices Tuesday evening lifted a Dane County judge’s injunction blocking the laws. Perhaps the most significant law back in effect is a requirement that Kaul get permission from GOP lawmakers before settling lawsuits.

The ruling comes in a lawsuit a group of unions filed arguing the lame-duck laws violate the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches. The decision doesn’t mean the laws are permanently reinstated, though. The justices still have to rule on the merits.

The high court also is weighing another lawsuit contending Republicans passed the lame-duck measures during an illegal floor session.

Missouri
Judge: Jails can’t hold inmates who can’t pay

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal judge says St. Louis jails must stop holding inmates simply because they can’t pay bail.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig issued her decision Tuesday. Her ruling gives officials a week to hold new detention hearings for current inmates and says new arrestees must have a hearing within 48 hours.

At issue is the lawsuit’s assertion that defendants typically don’t get a hearing on release conditions until obtaining counsel. Appointment of a public defender can take a month or more, so the lawsuit says those too poor to hire an attorney often linger behind bars.

The ruling still allows inmates to be held if they pose a danger to the community or there’s no other way to ensure they show up for court.

Iowa
Lawyer’s son arrested during break in trial

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The son of an Iowa civil rights attorney in the midst of a high profile civil trial against a former governor has been arrested in the courtroom where his mother’s trial is taking place.

Polk County Sheriff records say 50-year-old James Barton Conlin, of West Des Moines, was arrested during a break in the proceedings Monday and charged with interference with official acts. He was booked into the county jail and released within an hour.

The charge is a simple misdemeanor.

Conlin told courthouse officials he was testing the air after his mother complained it was making her ill.

Roxanne Conlin blames construction in the courthouse. Court officials refused her earlier request to move the trial.

She’s representing former Iowa Worker’s Compensation Commissioner Chris Godfrey in his discrimination lawsuit against former Gov. Terry Branstad and the state.

Louisiana
Court rejects bid to move trial over Confederate monument

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An appeals court has rejected a request by a Louisiana defendant to have his trial moved from a courthouse with a Confederate monument out front.

In a 2-1 decision the court denied a request Tuesday by Ronnie Anderson to have the trial moved from the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse in Clinton. The one-page ruling gave no reasoning for the decision.

Anderson faces a weapons charge after a 2017 traffic stop. A district court judge in November rejected his request to move the trial because of the 30-foot (9-meter) statue of a Confederate soldier on top of a pedestal that stands in front of the courthouse.

Anderson’s attorney, Niles Haymer, had argued that the “Confederate symbolism in the entryway of the district court to be offensive, intimidating and racially insensitive.”

California
Badly-made fake license plate leads to arrest

MOORPARK, Calif. (AP) — A big-rig truck driver has been arrested after authorities spotted a phony license plate on his rig.

How could they tell?

Well, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department says the 1960s-style yellow-on-black plate had wobbly letters and numbers. Also, instead of “CALIFORNIA,” it read “CALIFAS.”

The department said Monday that a motorcycle officer spotted the plate and pulled the driver over in the city of Moorpark, northwest of Los Angeles.

The driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs, possessing methamphetamine, being an unlicensed driver and having an active arrest warrant.

The tractor-trailer was towed away because authorities say it was unsafe.

Louisiana
City to end ‘Saggy pants’ law that mostly affects black men

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — The city of Shreveport, Louisiana, has moved to abolish a 2007 ordinance banning people from wearing pants below their waistline.

The Shreveport Times reports the City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday to abolish the law. Police data show it resulted in the arrests of a total of 699 black men and 12 white men.

The law has been questioned since 31-year-old Anthony Childs died in February after an officer tried to stop him for sagging pants. Police say Officer Traveion Brooks chased and shot Childs three times. A coroner’s report says Childs was ultimately killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The ordinance said arrests and searches couldn’t solely be based on violating the ordinance. Police Chief Ben Raymond says it’s unclear if anybody was arrested for the violation alone.