ND high court asked to lift injunction against abortion ban

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Senate has suspended a Republican state senator in a rare move that stripped her of legislative power while keeping the allegations against her a secret. Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller told reporters earlier Thursday that she was being punished following an exchange she had with a legislative aide about vaccinations. The Republican-controlled Senate voted to form a committee to investigate Frye-Mueller’s conduct and suspend her from voting or holding other rights of an elected official. Republican Sen. Michael Rohl, who initiated the motion to suspend Frye-Mueller, said in a statement that it was based on “serious allegations” and the need to ensure a safe working environment for employees. Frye-Mueller has opposed vaccination requirements in schools.

Arizona television personality Kari Lake's first foray into politics failed in a spectacular manner, in large part because she alienated a substantial segment of voters in her own party who either flipped to her opponent or chose to skip voting for anyone for governor. That's according to a post-election analysis...

Donald Trump issued a potentially revealing statement on Truth Social as news broke Tuesday that authorities in Fulton County, Georgia, are nearing a decision on charges for multiple members of his inner circle — including potentially Mr Trump himself.The ex-president, out of nowhere, brought up his now-infamous 2 January 2021 call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he instructed the state elections chief to “find” more than 11,000 votes he would have needed to surpass Joe Biden’s total in the state.“My phone call to the Secretary of State of Georgia, and a second call which the...

For nearly three years, households have been receiving an additional $95 or more on top of their normal allotment. But that extra money is set to expire next month.

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A mid-Michigan man says he’s innocent of the charges brought against him in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot in Washington. Isaac Thomas of Genesee County appeared in U.S. District Court in Flint on Thursday. The 10 federal charges Thomas faces include entering or remaining in a restricted building; disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings; and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon. He was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Biden administration has moved to protect the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota from future mining. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland signed an order Thursday closing over 350 square miles of the Superior National Forest to mineral leasing for 20 years. Haaland says the decision is intended to protect the Boundary Waters for future generations and to boost the local recreation economy. But the move deals a potentially fatal blow to the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel project near Ely, which is suing in federal court to try to reclaim the mineral rights leases that the Biden administration canceled last year.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The leader of Missouri’s state Senate says Republican senators are unified against letting transgender girls play on girls’ sports teams. Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden’s comments to reporters Thursday signal that restrictions on transgender student athletes have a good chance of passing this year. He also says Senate Republicans want to ban minors from getting gender-affirming surgery. Efforts to outlaw public drag performances appear to be less likely to advance. Rowden says lawmakers have “more important stuff to talk about” than drag shows.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the Senate intelligence committee say they should have access to classified documents that were discovered in the homes of President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. The senators say Biden’s administration is stonewalling them over the matter. They reacted with swift, bipartisan anger Wednesday after a classified meeting with National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, insisting they need to see for themselves what documents the three men were holding. Members of Congress have sought access to the materials, or at least a risk assessment detailing what was within them.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signed off on a two-year extension of a program that protects Hong Kong residents in the U.S. from deportation. Biden first authorized the program in August 2021 for 18 months. It was set to expire on Feb. 5 and is now extended until January 2025. The initial decision to provide a temporary safe haven came after Hong Kong introduced a sweeping national security law and other measures that undercut the rights promised when the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997. The National Security Council said the extension reflects the administration’s “strong support for the people of Hong Kong in the face of increasing repression.”

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The federal government is reinstating restrictions on road-building and logging on the country’s largest national forest in southeast Alaska. It is the latest move in a long-running fight over the Tongass National Forest. The U.S. Department of Agriculture in late 2021 announced it was beginning the process of repealing a Trump administration-era decision that exempted the Tongass from the so-called roadless rule. The Tongass is a temperate forest roughly the size of West Virginia. Roadless areas account for about one-third of all U.S. national forest system lands. But Alaska political leaders have long sought an exemption to roadless protections for the Tongass.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House is showing its support for protesters in Iran. Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan resolution Wednesday expressing solidarity with people in Iran who have been risking imprisonment and even death to protest the country’s theocracy. The protests began in September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. Amini died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. At least 517 protesters in Iran have been killed and more than 19,200 people have been arrested, according to a group that has closely monitored the unrest.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — The U.S. State Department has banned former Panama President Ricardo Martinelli from ever traveling to the United States. The department said wednesday that it has designated Martinelli for participating in “significant corruption” in awarding government contracts. The ban also applies to two of the former president’s sons, who returned to Panama on Wednesday after completing prison sentences in the United States for laundering millions of dollars in bribes from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. An offiial says Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares and Ricardo Martinelli Linares arrived Wednesday evening.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s top prosecutor has ordered all suspects detained in the investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port blast released and filed charges against the judge leading the probe. The move Wednesday by chief prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat is another blow to the investigation, which has stalled for years. The probe has threatened to rattle Lebanon’s ruling elite — rife with corruption and mismanagement — that has helped push the country into an unprecedented economic meltdown. The decision came after Judge Tarek Bitar resumed the investigation into the devastating blast. It followed a 13-month halt over legal challenges raised by politicians accused in the probe, including the chief prosecutor.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Haiti says she heard “caution” from the United States and Canada about possibly leading an international armed force to help Haiti combat gangs but not “a definite `No.'” Helen La Lime expressed hope Wednesday that the U.N. Security Council will deal positively with the issue of the force requested by the Haitian government. She sid at a news conference that an international armed force would be a partner of the Haitian National Police “that would go against the gangs.” At a Security Council meeting Tuesday, the United States and Canada showed no interest in deploying security personnel. They are the two countries most often mentioned as possible leaders of an international armed force.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — The United States is sanctioning Paraguay’s former President Horacio Cartes Jara and current Vice President Hugo Velázquez Moreno, unveiling explosive accusations on Thursday that the two participated in widespread schemes of corruption and have ties to members of a terrorist organization. The Treasury Department says the two politicians have been involved “in systemic corruption that has undermined democratic institutions in Paraguay.” It also accuses them of having ties to members of Hezbollah, which the United States designates as a terrorist organization. U.S. Ambassador Marc Ostfield said the sanctions have blocked both men from using the United States financial system.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says a record 16.3 million people sought health insurance through the Affordable Care Act this year. That’s double the number covered when the marketplaces first launched nearly a decade ago. More than 3 million new members have joined the marketplace, which is also known as “Obamacare.” The Biden administration says it worked with nonprofit groups and invested in program specialists who helped sign up people in low-income, immigrant, Black and Latino communities. President Joe Biden and a Democratic-led Congress have also committed millions of dollars over the past two years into unlocking low-cost insurance plans for more people.

A dual citizen of France and Canada pleaded guilty on Wednesday to sending letters containing homemade ricin to then-President Donald Trump at the White House and eight Texas law enforcement officials. Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier sent threatening letters containing the poison in September 2020, according to the plea agreement filed...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Canadian woman has pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to mailing a threatening letter containing the poison ricin to then-President Donald Trump at the White House. The letter from Pascale Ferrier was intercepted at a mail sorting facility in September 2020 before it could reach the White House. The Quebec woman also pleaded guilty to sending similar threatening letters to Texas law enforcement officials. Authorities say she was arrested trying to enter a border crossing in Buffalo, New York, carrying a gun, a knife and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. She’s expected to be sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison under the terms of a plea deal with prosecutors.

The Louisiana department of corrections is keeping more than a quarter of inmates behind bars past their scheduled release date, the US Justice Department said in a report Wednesday. According to the Justice Department, between January and April 2022 alone, nearly 27% of those released from LDOC custody — nearly...