×

High court upholds robocall ban

WASHINGTON– The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a 1991 law that bars robocalls to cellphones. The case, argued by telephone in May because of the coronavirus pandemic, only arose after Congress in 2015 created an exception in the law that allowed the automated calls for collection of government debt. Political consultants and pollsters were among those who asked the Supreme Court to strike down the entire 1991 law that bars them from making robocalls to cellphones as a violation of their free speech rights under the Constitution. The issue was whether, by allowing one kind of speech but not others, the exception made the whole law unconstitutional. Six justices agreed that by allowing debt collection calls to cellphones Congress “impermissibly favored debt-collection speech over political and other speech, in violation of the First Amendment,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote. And seven justices agreed that the 2015 exception should be stricken from the law. “Americans passionately disagree about many things. But they are largely united in their disdain for robocalls,” Kavanaugh noted at the outset of his opinion. During arguments in the case in May, Justice Stephen Breyer got cut off when someone tried calling him. Breyer said after he rejoined the court’s arguments: “The telephone started to ring, and it cut me off the call and I don’t think it was a robocall.”

Depp blasts ex-wife’s claim

LONDON — Johnny Depp said Tuesday that ex-wife Amber Heard had made “sick” claims of abuse and falsely branded him a monster, as the actor testified in a U.K. libel case that hinges on who was the aggressor in the celebrity couple’s violent, toxic relationship Depp is suing British tabloid The Sun over an April 2018 story headlined “Potty – How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?” The newspaper’s lawyers plan to use Heard’s allegations of abuse by Depp to defend the “wife beater” claim. Depp entered the witness box of the wood-paneled courtroom wearing a dark suit and tie, and began by taking the court oath and giving his full name: John Christopher Depp II. He told the court that Heard had “said to the world that she was in fear of her life from me, and I had been this horrible monster, if you will. Which was not the case.” Depp, 57, and Heard, 34, met on the set of the 2011 comedy “The Rum Diary” and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. They divorced in 2017, and now bitterly accuse one another of abuse. The Sun’s defense relies on Heard’s allegations of 14 incidents of violence by Depp between 2013 and 2016, in locations including Los Angeles, Australia, Japan, the Bahamas and a chartered jet. He denies them all and says Heard, an actress and model, attacked him with items including a drink can and a cigarette. He also claims that on one occasion Heard or one of her friends defecated on his bed.

Protective gear runs low again

The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs. A national nursing union is concerned that gear has to be reused. A doctors association warns that physicians’ offices are closed because they cannot get masks and other supplies. And Democratic members of Congress are pushing the Trump administration to devise a national strategy to acquire and distribute gear in anticipation of the crisis worsening into the fall. In other virus-related developments, the Trump administration formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization. The move makes good on President Donald Trump’s vow to terminate U.S. participation in the WHO, which he has criticized for its response to the pandemic and accused of bowing to Chinese influence. The pullout will not take effect until next year, meaning it could be rescinded under a new administration or if circumstances change. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the nation’s schools must reopen this fall and be “fully operational” even as cases of COVID-19 continue to surge around the country. She said anything short of a full reopening would fail students and taxpayers. DeVos made the comments during a call with governors. Audio of the call was obtained by The Associated Press. Speaking about protective equipment on the call, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday that it’s important for gear to be reused and repurposed as a way to stretch the stocks and avoid shortages.

Twins joined at head separated

ROME — Doctors at the Vatican’s pediatric hospital said Tuesday they have successfully separated conjoined twins whose skulls were fused back-to-back, an exceedingly rare surgery for an equally rare congenital defect. The twins, Ervina and Prefina Bangalo, were born June 29, 2018 in Mbaiki, Central African Republic with their heads attached and sharing critical blood vessels around their brains. Such cases of conjoined twins occur once in every 2 million births or so. The Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital, which is Vatican-owned but operates within the Italian public health system, brought the twins and their mother to Italy soon after their birth. The hospital said the toddlers are recovering well a month after their third and definitive separation surgery on June 5. Video released by the hospital showed the girls waving along to music from their beds, clapping and holding markers, as well as celebrating their second birthday in their mother’s arms as hospital staff sang “Happy Birthday” to them in Italian.

Child street performer attacked

Authorities are looking for a Missouri man who is accused of punching a 12-year-old street performer in the head in an attack that was captured on Facebook Live and has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. Cedric Charles Moore Jr., 27, of Cape Girardeau, was charged Monday with first-degree child endangerment and second-degree assault. The arrest warrant sets cash-only bond at $50,000. Police said in a Facebook post that the Friday night attack in the city’s downtown was “completely unprovoked.” The post said officers have been to the suspect’s home and other places he frequents but that his friends and family aren’t cooperating. Video footage, captured by Fingerprint Urban Dance Studio instructor Micheal “Crank” Curry, shows a dark-colored sport utility vehicle coming to a stop as the dancers take turns performing near a downtown intersection. A man then exits the vehicle, approaches the 12-year-old dancer from behind and punches the juvenile in the head before running off. “It was horrible,” Curry said Tuesday. “I was stunned.” Curry said he initially wanted to go after his student’s attacker but backed off when he saw two others in the vehicle with the man. Bouncers at a nearby bar rushed out to help while Curry focused on his student. The boy was diagnosed with a concussion but has since been released from the hospital.

Scathing portrayal of president

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s niece offers a scathing portrayal of her uncle in a new book obtained by The Associated Press Tuesday that credits a “perfect storm of catastrophes” for exposing the president at his worst. Mary L. Trump, a psychologist, writes that the coronavirus pandemic, the possibility of an economic depression and deepening social divides have brought out the “worst effects” of Donald Trump’s pathologies, which were less evident when the country had a stable economy and the lack of serious crises. Those factors, along with “Donald’s penchant for division, and uncertainty about our country’s future have created a perfect storm of catastrophes that no one is less equipped than my uncle to manage,” she writes in “Too Much and Never Enough, How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man.” Mary Trump is the daughter of Trump’s older brother, Fred Jr., who died after a struggle with alcoholism at 42. In the book, Mary Trump makes several revelations, including alleging that the president paid a friend to take the SATs — a standardized test widely used for college admissions — in his place. She writes that his sister, Maryanne had been doing his homework for him, but she couldn’t take his tests. Donald Trump worried that his grade point average, which put him far from the top of the class, would “scuttle his efforts to get accepted” into the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, which he transferred to after two years at Fordham University in the Bronx. And she writes, in awe, of Trump’s ability to gain the support of prominent Christians and White Evangelicals, saying, “The only time Donald went to church was when the cameras were there. It’s mind boggling. He has no principles. None!”

Charged with treason in Russia

MOSCOW — A former journalist who worked as an adviser to the director of Russia’s state space corporation was arrested and jailed Tuesday on charges of passing military secrets to a Western nation, accusations that many of his colleagues dismissed as absurd. Ivan Safronov, who had written about military and security issues for a decade before becoming an adviser to Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin, was detained outside his apartment in Moscow by agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the main KGB successor agency. He pleaded innocent to the charges during a court hearing where a judge considered — and ultimately granted — the FSB’s request to authorize his arrest. The judge ordered Safronov jailed for two months as the investigation continues The FSB said that Safronov is accused of relaying sensitive data to a spy agency of an unspecified NATO member. It said in a statement that the information he provided referred to “military-technical cooperation, defense and security of the Russian Federation.” The agency released video footage of plainclothes agents stopping Safronov outside his apartment building, searching him and putting him inside a minivan in handcuffs. Safronov could face up to 20 years in prison.

Breach at plutonium facility

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Officials at one of the nation’s premier nuclear labs are investigating the potential exposure of employees to plutonium. Los Alamos National Laboratory confirmed Monday that 15 workers were being evaluated after a breach involving a gloved box that was being used to handle the material. The incident happened in June. The area inside the plutonium facility was secured and there was no risk to public health or safety, lab officials said in a statement. “Laboratory employees responded promptly and appropriately and cleared the room in a safe manner,” the lab said.

Mayor says no need for troops

ATLANTA — The mayor of Atlanta said Tuesday that she doesn’t agree with the Georgia governor’s order to mobilize the National Guard in her city as a surge in violence became a political talking point. Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Monday and authorized the activation of up to 1,000 Guard troops after a weekend of gun violence in Atlanta left five people dead, including an 8-year-old girl. Kemp’s office said troops will provide support at sites such as the Capitol, governor’s mansion and the state Department of Public Safety Headquarters — which was damaged by a group early Sunday — freeing up state law enforcement resources to patrol other areas of the city. Some National Guard troops guarded those sites Monday night, but there was no visible presence of them by mid-morning Tuesday. Kemp’s order says the Guard troops “shall have the same powers of arrest and apprehension as do law enforcement officers to be exercised with caution and only if the circumstances demand the exercise of such powers to protect the safety of persons or property. Peaceful protests were hijacked by criminals with a dangerous, destructive agenda. Now, innocent Georgians are being targeted, shot, and left for dead.” But Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Kemp issued his order without asking if the city needed extra help. The city had already been coordinating with the Georgia State Patrol, and “at no time was it mentioned that anyone felt there was a need for the National Guard to come in,” she said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Fewer will attend summer camps

FAYETTE, Maine — Camp Winnebago was founded during the Spanish Flu and weathered all manner of health scares from polio to the swine flu over a century. It wasn’t about to let the coronavirus stop the fun. But things will be different this summer at this camp and others that buck the trend and welcome children. The vast majority of overnight camps are closed due to the pandemic. Campers were tested five days before arriving and will be tested again five days later. The camp installed additional hand-washing stations on the 150-acre property. Each cabin has hand sanitizer that must be used when entering and leaving, and before and after group activities. Face coverings are required in larger groups. “We believe that we can run a program safely and with the health of the campers at the top of our minds. We’re not doing this cavalierly. We’re taking this extremely seriously,” Camp Winnebago owner Andy Lilienthal said. Nationwide, the summer camp picture is coming into sharper focus with many of the 15,000-plus summer camps opting to close because of health concerns surrounding the pandemic, or because of delays in receiving rules or guidelines from licensing officials. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Oregon have banned overnight camps, and more than 20 states still haven’t issued guidance for overnight camp directors during what would normally be the start of the busy summer season, according to the American Camp Association. All told, an estimated 19.5 million youths will miss out on either day camp or overnight camp this summer, said Tom Rosenberg, from the American Camp Association. It’s not just a loss for kids who will miss out on seeing friends, becoming independent, and developing outdoor skills. It’s a devastating financial loss for camps, some of which won’t recover. Camps are estimated to lose $16 billion in revenue, with more than $4.4 billion in lost wages and over 900,000 lost jobs this summer, Rosenberg said.

Man avoids prison for threat

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A Maryland man who worked for a Defense Department contractor was sentenced on Tuesday to six months of home detention for threatening to kill a member of Congress who supported vaccination requirements for public school students. Darryl Albert Varnum, 43, of Westminster, Md., told U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett that he was drunk when he called in the death threat last year and is ashamed by his impulsive actions. Varnum had been upset when he read a post on social media that misrepresented a pro-vaccine bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat, said defense attorney Brendan Hurson. “Mr. Varnum is not a disgruntled adherent to some extremist belief who acted in accordance with those beliefs,” Hurson said. “He is a man who is a very good man who had a very real illness and was quite frankly too drunk to control himself on the day he made that call.” Bennett also sentenced Varnum to two years of court supervision. Sentencing guidelines called for a sentence ranging from no prison time to six months in prison. Varnum said he has listened a recording of his threatening phone call and heard a side of himself that he never knew existed. “I made the worst mistake of my life,” he said.

French women’s groups protest

PARIS — One of French President Emmanuel Macron’s new government ministers has been accused of rape. Another is a lawyer who ridiculed the #MeToo movement and defended a top official accused of rape. Women’s rights groups are angry and confused, and on Tuesday staged two protests in Paris over the appointments they see as burying Macron’s promises to make equality between women and men the “Great Cause” of his five-year term. “It’s a slap in the face,” said Pauline Baron of feminist group NousToutes, which campaigns against sexual violence. “We are once again celebrating people who are accused of rape or say things that negate the voice of victims. It stifles victims and feeds sexual violence and rape culture.” The French government said it remains committed to equality and defended the new ministers, stressing the presumption of innocence.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today