Tough Oregon gun law faces legal challenge, could be delayed

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri K-12 teachers would be banned from talking about being gay with students without first getting parents' permission under a pending bill. LGBTQ rights activists asked lawmakers Tuesday not to pass the legislation during a public hearing at the Capitol, while supporters argued parents should be informed about those conversations. The proposal goes farther than a Florida law dubbed by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.” The Missouri measure would limit discussions on gender identity and LGBTQ issues unless school staff are licensed mental health care providers. Republican state Sen. Mike Moon’s bill is among several filed across the nation this year that are similar to Florida’s new law.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s Republican-controlled Senate has passed a bill requiring teachers to alert parents before calling their child by a different name or pronoun. While sponsors say the bill is needed to keep parents informed about what their children are being taught in public schools, critics say it would make schools unsafe spaces for LGBTQ and questioning children to explore their identities. The proposal, which passed the Senate 29-18 on Tuesday, would also prohibit instruction about gender identity and sexuality in K-4 classrooms. It now heads to the House, where Republicans are one seat shy of a supermajority and likely would need some Democratic support to push it through.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 36-year-old man remains in jail after authorities said he intentionally set a grass fire near the Kansas governor’s mansion that burned 6 acres. The Topeka Fire Department said police arrested the man while firefighters worked to put out the blaze Monday afternoon. Authorities said the man was seen lighting the fire. The fire department needed nearly two hours to put out the blaze, but a city spokesperson said it was contained quickly so that the fire never got closer to the mansion than between 200 yards and 300 yards. Gov. Laura Kelly was not there at the time of the fire.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Defense attorneys for actor Alec Baldwin are seeking to disqualify the special prosecutor in the case against him stemming from the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set. In a motion filed Tuesday in Santa Fe-based district court, Baldwin’s legal team argued Andrea Reeb’s position as a state lawmaker prohibits her under state law from holding any authority in a judicial capacity. Reeb, a Republican, was elected to the state House of Representatives in November. Prosecutors dismissed the motion as Baldwin's attorneys creating a distraction. Baldwin and the film-set weapons supervisor have both been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 shooting death of Halyna Hutchins.

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Prosecutors say a Massachusetts woman used exercise bands to strangle her three children in the family home in a well-planned assault while her husband was out for about 20 minutes picking up medicine at a pharmacy and a takeout dinner. Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of 32-year-old Lindsay Clancy to charges including murder, strangulation and assault and battery at her arraignment Tuesday. The judge did not set monetary bail. While the prosecution said the killings were planned, Clancy's defense attorney said his client was struggling with mental health issues and taking a variety of medications.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma death row inmate convicted of raping and killing a University of Oklahoma dance student in 1996 is seeking to have his convictions and sentences vacated. Anthony Sanchez alleges in a court filing last week that his late father, Thomas Glen Sanchez, is the actual killer. Attorneys for 44-year-old Anthony Sanchez are asking the Court of Criminal Appeals for an evidentiary hearing. The slaying of Juli Busken in 1996 went unsolved for years until DNA linked Anthony Sanchez to the crime. Former Cleveland County District Attorney Tim Kuykendall says there was other evidence implicating Anthony Sanchez and that he remains convinced of his guilt.

NEW YORK (AP) — At a time when community newspapers across the United States are dying at alarming rates, longtime activist Ralph Nader is giving birth to one. He's bankrolling the start of the Winsted Citizen, covering the New England mill town where he grew up and still lives in northwestern Connecticut. He grew up delivering a long-gone local daily, and Winsted hasn't had a newspaper devoted to it since a weekly shut down in 2017. Since 2005, the U.S. has lost an estimated 2,500 newspapers, the vast majority of them non-dailies covering small communities. Nader hopes to buck that trend and inspire others.