A convicted Virginia serial killer’s legal efforts to avoid execution on Thursday were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court and a federal appeals court. Alfredo Prieto, a 49-year-old native of El Salvador, had been scheduled to be executed at 9 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center. Prieto was convicted in two 1988 Virginia murders and had been on death row in California.
By Tim Ghianni NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) – Tennessee abortion clinics will have to be licensed as surgical centers and women will be required to wait 48 hours after counseling before undergoing an abortion under bills approved by state lawmakers on Tuesday. Republican Governor Bill Haslam is expected to sign both measures into law when they get to him, a spokesman said. Tennessee would join 22 states that require abortion providers to meet ambulatory surgical center standards and 26 states that have waiting periods, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports access to abortion. The measures follow a Tennessee amendment approved by voters in November that allows the state General Assembly to change abortion policies for the first time since the state Supreme Court struck down abortion restrictions in 2000.
By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Five Republican state governors say they will not rescue a crucial part of Obamacare if it is struck down by the Supreme Court, underlining the prospect for a chaotic aftermath to a ruling that could force millions of Americans to pay much more for coverage or lose their health insurance. The Supreme Court is due to hear opening arguments in the case known as King v. Burwell on March 4, marking the second major challenge to President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) after the justices ruled in 2012 against a claim that it was unconstitutional. In response to Reuters' queries, spokespeople for the Republican governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina and Wisconsin said the states were not willing to create a local exchange to keep subsidies flowing. Republicans argue that Obamacare is unacceptable government intervention that raises costs for consumers and businesses.
MONROVIA (Reuters) – Liberia's Supreme Court on Saturday ruled that Senate elections in the West African nation should go ahead, rejecting a petition to suspend the vote until an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus is brought under control. The country's highest court suspended campaigning for the planned Dec. 16 vote last month while it considered the petition from a group that included some former government officials and political party representatives. The group had warned that electioneering risks spreading the highly infectious viral hemorrhagic fever. …
MONROVIA (Reuters) – Liberia's Supreme Court on Saturday ruled that Senate elections in the West African nation should go ahead, rejecting a petition to suspend the vote until an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus is brought under control. The country's highest court suspended campaigning for the planned Dec. 16 vote last month while it considered the petition from a group that included some former government officials and political party representatives. The group had warned that electioneering risks spreading the highly infectious viral hemorrhagic fever. …
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