WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has struck down a 35-foot protest-free zone outside abortion clinics in Massachusetts.
The justices were unanimous Thursday that extending a buffer zone 35 feet from clinic entrances violates the First Amendment rights of protesters.
Chief Justice John Roberts says authorities have less intrusive ways to deal with problems outside the clinics.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says he has the proper permits for construction of a barn in rural Douglas County, though he isn’t sure what all the fuss is about.
Kobach told the Lawrence Journal-World he received the necessary residential permit on Wednesday for a farm building constructed on 160 acres between Topeka and Lawrence.
He was advised initially that an agricultural use permit would suffice because he didn’t intend to live in the barn, although other rooms were framed inside.
County officials say that Kobach’s permit would have been sufficient in most areas of Kansas but that Douglas County has stricter building codes that limit construction.
Kobach says news of the permit issue was overblown. He says he resolved it once he learned of the county’s requirements.
MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) —The Supreme Court on Wednesday limited the president’s power to fill high-level vacancies with temporary appointments, ruling in favor of Senate Republicans in their partisan clash with President Barack Obama.
The court’s first-ever case involving the Constitution’s recess appointments clause ended in a unanimous decision holding that Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in 2012 without Senate confirmation were illegal. Obama invoked the Constitution’s provision giving the president the power to make temporary appointments when the Senate is in recess.
Problem is, the court said, the Senate was not actually in a formal recess when Obama acted.
Obama had argued that the Senate was on an extended holiday break and that the brief sessions it held every three days were a sham that was intended to prevent him from filling seats on the NLRB.
The justices rejected that argument Wednesday.
The issue of recess appointments receded in importance after the Senate’s Democratic majority changed the rules to make it harder for Republicans to block confirmation of most Obama appointees.
But the ruling’s impact may be keenly felt by the White House next year if Republicans capture control of the Senate in the November election. The potential importance of the ruling lies in the Senate’s ability to block the confirmation of judges and the leaders of independent agencies like the NLRB. A federal law gives the president the power to appoint acting heads of Cabinet-level departments to keep the government running.
Still, the outcome was the least significant loss possible for the administration. The justices, by a 5-4 vote, rejected a sweeping lower court ruling against the administration that would have made it virtually impossible for any future president to make recess appointments.
The lower court held that the only recess recognized by the Constitution is the once-a-year break between sessions of Congress. It also said that only vacancies that arise in that recess could be filled. So the high court has left open the possibility that a president, with a compliant Congress, could make recess appointments in the future.
A recess appointment can last no more than two years. Recess appointees who subsequently won Senate confirmation include Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice William Brennan, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, two current NLRB members and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray. Former UN Ambassador John Bolton is among recess appointees who left office because they could not win a Senate vote.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The city of St. Louis has challenged the state of Missouri’s constitutional ban on gay marriage by issuing four same-sex marriage licenses in a City Hall ceremony.
Four gay couples were married Wednesday in the office of Mayor Francis Slay in a civil ceremony presided over by a municipal judge.
State voters approved the constitutional ban a decade ago, making Missouri the first such state to do so.
In February, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit seeking to force Missouri to recognize the out-of-state marriages of several same-sex couples.
World Cup fever reaches low-Earth orbit as astronauts watch the games from space. This video also shows how the astronauts play soccer in space.
SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Springfield police say a man who was spurned by a woman broke into her apartment and threw her small dog to its death from a third-story window.
Twenty-three-year-old William Rabourn was charged this week with felony burglary and felony stealing an animal. Prosecutors are seeking to add a misdemeanor animal abuse charge. In Missouri, animal abuse is a misdemeanor on a first offense, unless the animal is tortured or mutilated.
Police says the dog’s owner spurned Rabourn’s advances Saturday night while they were on a party bus.
A witness told police she saw Rabourn break into the woman’s apartment, and then throw the 8-month-old Maltese-poodle mix named Oliver out of a window.
The Springfield News-Leader reports Rabourn posted bond of $15,000 and was released from jail Tuesday.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is preparing to recall about 33,000 Chevrolet Cruze compact cars because the air bags might not inflate properly in a crash.
Spokesman Jim Cain says the cars were built with an incorrect part made by Japanese supplier Takata Corp. But he says the problem is different from another issue with Takata air bags that is affecting much of the auto industry.
The recall could come as early as Friday. It affects some 2013 and 2014 Cruzes.
GM on Wednesday told dealers to stop selling Cruzes until it figured out the problem. But Cain says the stop-sale order was lifted for most Cruzes later that day. He didn’t know if it cost GM any sales.
The Cruze is built in Lordstown, Ohio, and is GM’s top-selling car.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Orangutans at the Kansas City Zoo will soon enjoy grass and trees, thanks partly to a $1 million gift from the Hall Family Foundation.
Zoo officials announced Wednesday most of the gift will go toward creating a more natural exhibit for the zoo’s six orangutans. Other funds will be used to buy a tram and maintain current trams.
The Kansas City Star reports that the donation brings the zoo close to its goal of raising nearly $6 million for the orangutan exhibit. Construction is scheduled to begin next month and the opening is planned for next summer.
The animals currently live in a holding building and outdoor metal cage. The cage will be replaced with a grassy area and canopy of trees, surrounded by a moat.
United States Attorney’s Office
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Johnson County man pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to make false statements on a loan application while he was working as a senior vice president of a bank in Overland Park, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.
Michael W. Yancey, 55, Olathe, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make false statements on a loan application. In his plea, he admitted the crime took place while he was working as a senior vice president and commercial lender at Farmers Bank & Trust, N.A., in Overland Park. Farmers Bank is headquartered in Great Bend, Kan.
Yancey conspired with another person to obtain and maintain a business loan of $850,000 from Farmers Bank for two companies by falsely representing the terms of a real estate purchase in Basehor, Kan. He falsely represented to the bank that the property’s purchase price was $1.1 million when in fact it was $850,000. The false information made it appear the loan conformed to a maximum 75 percent loan-to-value ratio when in truth the loan was approximately 97 percent of the purchase price. He also falsely stated that the loan involved a seller carryback of $150,000 and a borrower equity injection of $125,000.
Sentencing will be set at a later time. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. Grissom commended SIG-TARP (Office of Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program), the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble for their work on the case.
ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A powerful House panel has gone against the wishes of GOP leaders and restored a longstanding congressional mandate requiring the Postal Service to deliver mail on Saturdays.
The bipartisan voice vote in the Appropriations Committee comes as House GOP leaders are pressing a plan to use savings from ending Saturday deliveries to pay for an infusion of cash into the government’s highway fund before it runs dry this summer.
The vote illustrates the sentiment on Capitol Hill to preserve six-day mail delivery, which is especially popular with older voters.
The provision has been carried for decades as part of a spending bill with jurisdiction over the Postal Service but was originally left out this year. The agency’s budget is kept separate from the rest of the government.
