A Des Moines attorney is facing a possible suspension of her law license for repeatedly missing deadlines in her clients’ criminal case appeals. The Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board has accused Karmen R. Anderson of violating three of Iowa’s rules of professional conduct for attorneys by missing court-imposed deadlines, failing to expedite clients’ appeals and engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, Iowa Capital Dispatch reports . The alleged violations are tied to what the Grievance Commission of the Iowa Supreme Court calls “Anderson’s heavy appellate caseload, her unwillingness to ask for assistance with that caseload, and her lack of mechanisms in place to prevent missed deadlines.” Court records indicate Anderson missed 42 appellate deadlines, resulting in 24 default notices in more than 20 cases that she handled between December 2019 and October 2023 A year-round sports park east of the Ankeny Costco would feature space for hockey, lacrosse, baseball and softball. The Des Moines Register reports the project, known as I-35 Sports Park, would cost $85 million to $90 million and sit on 50 acres. It is being pursued by a collection of youth sports nonprofits in Ankeny and Ames. “There’s nothing like it from a lacrosse standpoint in the Midwest," developer David Lane, owner and programming director of Prairie Trail Sports Complex in Ankeny, told the newspaper. Researchers at iowa State University is showing the potential value of keeping inflammatory signaling pathways turned off in embryos used to produce blood stem cells. A new paper from a team led by two Iowa State researchers will benefit efforts to develop lab-grown, patient-derived blood stem cells, according to a news release . The promising but work-in-progress advancement in regenerative medicine could eliminate the need for bone marrow transplants to treat blood disorders such as leukemia, lymphoma and anemia with stem cell injections. The parents of an autistic boy have sued the Storm Lake Community School District and their son's special education teacher in federal court, saying her negligence resulted in the boy chewing and swallowing a portion of a battery. The Sioux City Journal reports that the parents said the teacher's treatment of their son and the school district's failure to respond to complaints about the teacher's actions violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and they are at fault for the boy needing emergency surgery after swallowing the battery. "The district intends to zealously defend against these claims against it," the school district's attorney, Zachary Clausen, told The Journal in a statement. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that a recently elected Dallas County official can keep more than $350,000 from a lawsuit alleging his former employe fired him. The Des Moines Register reported that the court found the Iowa Department of Revenue's Alcoholic Beverages Division fired the official after he blew the whistle on illegal practices. The Republican was elected Dallas County auditor and will take office in January. The whistleblower testified that the state charged an improper markup on alcohol it bought at a discount and then resold it to retailers. He was fired after testifying at a trial in 2022. The Cedar Rapids Community School District says a new charter school, open for about four months, is hurting its bottom line. KCRG reports that Empowering Excellence, the city's only charter school, is looking to expand. The public school district said the school has cost it about $855,000 in its fiscal year 2025 budget. Two new charter schools will open next year in Cedar Rapids, bringing the total across Iowa to 13. Charter schools are funded like public schools but aren't under the jurisdiction of local school boards. Des Moines Area Community College has expanded its partnerships in developing curriculum for education on artificial intelligence to better prepare students for a changing professional world. Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that the community college announced that it has been selected to join the National Applied AI Consortium Mentorship program, which will provide DMACC with support and resources from colleges and universities with their own established AI curriculum. “I think it’s important that our education system in general does take the lead on AI in the state of Iowa, so that we can help educate our industry partners, governmental agencies on AI and how they can use it effectively in their organizations,” said Anne Power, executive academic dean for business and information technology at DMACC. Two people were killed and one police officer sustained non-life-threatening injuries in high-speed chase through several counties that ended in a head-on collision, which began after reports of shots fired in Muscatine. The Muscatine Journal reports that a Muscatine police officer involved in the pursuit lost control of his vehicle and crashed near the Cedar River. An Oklahoma cleaning company that employed underage workers to clean equipment at Sioux City's Seaboard Triumph Foods pork plant has been ordered to pay more than $170,000 in civil penalties and refrain from hiring minors at other locations. A Waterloo nursing home recently acquired by a private equity firm has been fined $10,000 for the death of a 45-year-old resident who choked on a sandwich. Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that a long-time female resident of Waterloo’s Harmony House Health Care Center died on Oct. 21. The 45-year-old resident had a moderate intellectual disability and, according to state inspectors, had special dietary restrictions that limited her food intake to soft, bite-sized items. The state has imposed a $10,000 fine in the case. The Iowa state government will pay the City of Des Moines more than $40,000 following the death of a Des Moines Police Department K-9 officer. Iowa State University veterinarians caused the death of the 4-year-old German shepherd, the Des Moines Register reports . The dog joined the department in June 2020 and participated in felony arrests and helped find firearms and drugs. The Iowa Department of Management's State Appeal Board approved a tort claim filed by the city last month. Get local news delivered to your inbox!By CHRISTINE FERNANDO CHICAGO (AP) — As Donald Trump’s Cabinet begins to take shape, those on both sides of the abortion debate are watching closely for clues about how his picks might affect reproductive rights policy in the president-elect’s second term . Trump’s cabinet picks offer a preview of how his administration could handle abortion after he repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue on the campaign trail. He attempted to distance himself from anti-abortion allies by deferring to states on abortion policy, even while boasting about nominating three Supreme Court justices who helped strike down the constitutional protections for abortion that had stood for half a century. In an NBC News interview that aired Sunday, Trump said he doesn’t plan to restrict medication abortion but also seemed to leave the door open, saying “things change.” “Things do change, but I don’t think it’s going to change at all,” he said. The early lineup of his new administration , including nominations to lead health agencies, the Justice Department and event the Department of Veterans Affairs, has garnered mixed — but generally positive — reactions from anti-abortion groups. Abortion law experts said Trump’s decision to include fewer candidates with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement could indicate that abortion will not be a priority for Trump’s administration. “It almost seems to suggest that President Trump might be focusing his administration in other directions,” said Greer Donley, an associate law professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Karen Stone, vice president of public policy at Planned Parenthood Action Fund , said while many of the nominees have “extensive records against reproductive health care,” some do not. She cautioned against making assumptions based on Trump’s initial cabinet selections. Still, many abortion rights groups are wary, in part because many of the nominees hold strong anti-abortion views even if they do not have direct ties to anti-abortion activists. They’re concerned that an administration filled with top-level officials who are personally opposed to abortion could take steps to restrict access to the procedure and funding. After Trump’s ambiguity about abortion during his campaign, “there’s still a lot we don’t know about what policy is going to look like,” said Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law. That approach may be revealed as the staffs within key departments are announced. Trump announced he would nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department, which anti-abortion forces have long targeted as central to curtailing abortion rights nationwide. Yet Kennedy shifted on the issue during his own presidential campaign. In campaign videos, Kennedy said he supports abortion access until viability , which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks, although there is no defined timeframe. But he also said “every abortion is a tragedy” and argued for a national ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a stance he quickly walked back. The head of Health and Human Services oversees Title X funding for a host of family planning services and has sweeping authority over agencies that directly affect abortion access, including the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The role is especially vital amid legal battles over a federal law known as EMTALA, which President Joe Biden’s administration has argued requires emergency abortion access nationwide, and FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Mini Timmaraju, president of the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All, called Kennedy an “unfit, unqualified extremist who cannot be trusted to protect the health, safety and reproductive freedom of American families.” His potential nomination also has caused waves in the anti-abortion movement. Former Vice President Mike Pence , a staunch abortion opponent, urged the Senate to reject Kennedy’s nomination. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the group had its own concerns about Kennedy. “There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary,” she said. Fox News correspondent Marty Makary is Trump’s pick to lead the FDA, which plays a critical role in access to medication abortion and contraception. Abortion rights groups have accused him of sharing misinformation about abortion on air. Russell Vought , a staunch anti-abortion conservative, has been nominated for director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought was a key architect of Project 2025 , a right-wing blueprint for running the federal government. Among other actions to limit reproductive rights, it calls for eliminating access to medication abortion nationwide, cutting Medicaid funding for abortion and restricting access to contraceptive care, especially long-acting reversible contraceptives such as IUD’s. Despite distancing himself from the conservative manifesto on the campaign trail, Trump is stocking his administration with people who played central roles in developing Project 2025. Trump acknowledged that drafters of the report would be part of his incoming administration during the Sunday interview with NBC News, saying “Many of those things I happen to agree with.” “These cabinet appointments all confirm that Project 2025 was in fact the blueprint all along, and the alarm we saw about it was warranted,” said Amy Williams Navarro, director of government relations for Reproductive Freedom for All. Dr. Mehmet Oz , Trump’s choice to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is a former television talk show host who has been accused of hawking dubious medical treatments and products. He voiced contradictory abortion views during his failed Senate run in 2022. Oz has described himself as “strongly pro-life, praised the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade , claimed “life starts at conception” and referred to abortion as “murder.” But he also has echoed Trump’s states-rights approach, arguing the federal government should not be involved in abortion decisions. “I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves,” he said during a Senate debate two years ago. An array of reproductive rights groups opposed his Senate run. As CMS administrator, Oz would be in a key position to determine Medicaid coverage for family planning services and investigate potential EMTALA violations. Related Articles National Politics | In promising to shake up Washington, Trump is in a class of his own National Politics | Election Day has long passed. In some states, legislatures are working to undermine the results National Politics | Trump taps his attorney Alina Habba to serve as counselor to the president National Politics | With Trump on the way, advocates look to states to pick up medical debt fight National Politics | Trump taps forceful ally of hard-line immigration policies to head Customs and Border Protection As Florida’s attorney general, Pam Bondi defended abortion restrictions, including a 24-hour waiting period. Now she’s Trump’s choice for attorney general . Her nomination is being celebrated by abortion opponents but denounced by abortion rights groups concerned she may revive the Comstock Act , an anti-vice law passed by Congress in 1873 that, among other things, bans mailing of medication or instruments used in abortion. An anti-abortion and anti-vaccine former Florida congressman, David Weldon, has been chosen to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which collects and monitors abortion data across the country. Former Republican congressman Doug Collins is Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs amid a political battle over abortion access and funding for troops and veterans. Collins voted consistently to restrict funding and access to abortion and celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “This is a team that the pro-life movement can work with,” said Kristin Hawkins, president of the national anti-abortion organization Students for Life.
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Murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO ignites online fury over health insurance industrySafeSport Center changes targeted in new bill aimed at sex abuse in sportsFull House Resorts counsel Elaine Guidroz sells $41,606 in stockEXCLUSIVE Rachel Reeves: We can't boost the UK's defence spending without making cuts elsewhere By JASON GROVES Published: 22:01 GMT, 6 December 2024 | Updated: 22:06 GMT, 6 December 2024 e-mail 63 View comments Raising defence spending will mean squeezing other parts of government, Rachel Reeves has warned. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail yesterday, the Chancellor also revealed she will launch the biggest audit of government spending in almost two decades in a drive to slash waste and drive up efficiency. The review, which will not be completed until June, will involve a ‘line-by-line’ examination of every item of Whitehall spending, with whole projects set to be axed to focus cash on Labour ’s priorities. It will also set out a timetable for achieving the party’s ambition of raising defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, which could cost an extra £20 billion a year by 2030. But Ms Reeves warned that any extra cash for the military would have to come out of the same ‘spending envelope’ as other priorities, such as schools, hospitals and the police. She declined to say whether the defence target, which is viewed by military experts as the bare minimum required to keep Britain safe, would even be hit by the end of this decade. The Chancellor did, however, tell the Ministry of Defence it had to ‘get a proper grip’ of its existing budget – and acknowledged that its record on major procurement projects was ‘a disaster zone’. Asked whether defence spending would get special treatment because of the fragile global situation, she said: ‘There is not some magic pot for any area of government spending – it has to come out of this (spending) envelope. Rachel Reeves has said that any increase in defence spending would have to come out of the same 'spending envelope' as other priorities The Chancellor presenting her tax rising Budget in October, which also outlined £70 billion in extra public spending ‘We’re doing the defence review at the moment, being led by George Robertson, former head of Nato, and that will be reporting next year. And then we’ll set out the trajectory for defence spending alongside that.’ Ms Reeves declined to say whether the 2.5 per cent target will be hit by 2030, adding: ‘It’s not just about money. It’s also about making sure we’re getting value from what’s spent and those projects are properly delivered.’ The Mail’s Don’t Leave Britain Defenceless campaign has called for significant increases in Armed Forces investment, to meet the growing threat. The Chancellor defended her record on the military, saying she raised defence spending by £3 billion in the Budget and found an extra £2.3 billion for Ukraine by using profits from frozen Russian assets. Read More Keir Starmer says there COULD be more tax rises to come after Budget mega-raid But she warned that other areas of government would have to be squeezed to fund the commitment, saying: ‘If you spend money on one thing, you can’t spend it elsewhere. There’s not a magic money tree.’ Her comments suggest Defence Secretary John Healey faces a major Whitehall battle to hold Labour to its pre-election spending commitment. At the Budget, Ms Reeves set a one-year spending review to cover departmental funding next year. The new review will cover three years, effectively nailing down Labour’s priorities for the rest of the parliament. It will be the first ‘zero-based’ exercise since 2007 – starting from scratch with every expense to be justified. It is a gap Ms Reeves described as ‘shocking’. ‘It’s a good process, because we’ll go through line by line, every spending item of every department, and then we will also use outside people to challenge that and look at that,’ she said. Ms Reeves with Daily Mail political editor Jason Groves. She warned that there is no 'magic money tree', with spending in one department potentially costing another The Chancellor's comments suggest Defence Secretary John Healey faces a major battle to hold Labour to its pre-election spending commitment Ms Reeves signed off an eye-watering £70 billion in extra public spending at the Budget, but much of this is front- loaded for the next two years . Economic think-tanks have warned she will have to raise taxes again in the second half of the parliament to avoid spending cuts. She denied this, saying departments have to learn to ‘live within their means’. A 2 per cent efficiency target imposed on the NHS by the last government will be extended to all government departments. Public sector unions have also been warned that they cannot expect another round of inflation-busting pay rises unless they sign up to productivity reforms designed to save money. ‘This spending review is going to be tough,’ she said. ‘We’ve set the spending envelope, it is tight. I’ve said that we’re not going to be coming back with more borrowing or more taxes, and obviously there’s not going to be another Budget before the spending review. We’re going to have to be ruthlessly prioritising and targeted.’ NATO Rachel Reeves Ukraine Labour Share or comment on this article: Rachel Reeves: We can't boost the UK's defence spending without making cuts elsewhere e-mail Add comment
Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault chargeDANBURY — Although each athlete had already officially completed the paperwork, Danbury celebrated its trio of seniors heading to collegiate programs. With Wednesday’s signing ceremony more of a formality, Aidan Fiala will continue his baseball career at nearby Alvin Community College for the next two seasons. Meanwhile, Blinn Junior College landed softball player Lexi Fief, and teammate Jessica Spillars signed with Oklahoma Wesleyan inside Danbury High School’s cafeteria with coaches, teammates, friends and family in attendance. FIALA The Alvin Community College signee arrived at Danbury ahead of his sophomore season on the diamond. In his first performance during a preseason scrimmage, Danbury head baseball coach Rusty Sample said Fiala got beat up on the mound. Fiala reversed his fortunes the next time he toed the rubber and since has been one of the most reliable arms for Sample. As a junior, Fiala threw 81 1/3 innings, winning 10 games to just one loss, recording a 1.63 ERA with 136 strikeouts and only six walks. Fiala finished in the top five in the state in strikeouts last season. Danbury won District 24-3A and reached the area round, where it fell to Central Heights. “I want to make an all-state (team) and appearance in the state championship,” Fiala said of his senior-year aspirations. Fiala came onto Alvin’s radar in recent months. Josh Jones, Fiala’s coach with the Texas Bluechips, messaged Alvin’s head coach, Jason Schreiber, earning Fiala a private workout. “I felt good,” Fiala said. “They said I topped 89 or 90 (mph) and struck five out in two innings.” Fiala later attended a camp on campus, where Alvin officially offered him a position on the team as a pitcher. Alvin Community College is 15 miles away from Danbury High School. The Dolphins finished 18-34 last season. Schreiber has been at the school since 2000, and hundreds of players have gone to the Division 1 level during his tenure. Fiala hopes to be one of the next. “I plan to transfer out after two years to a D1, hopefully, a Power 5 school,” he said. Fiala will study criminology during his two years at Alvin. FIEF Fief had had signed with Blinn Junior College for the last two months, but Wednesday, she got the opportunity to thank her friends, family and coaches. In her speech, she spent extra time thanking her dad and mom. “She pushed me a lot through the process,” Fief said. “Having feedback from college coaches and coach (Jack) Brown helped.” Fief handled her recruiting by emailing Blinn’s softball coach, Rich Church, in the summer. Discussions of Fief attending the school began to pick up, materializing into a signing during the fall. “They want me to hopefully be their leadoff hitter for slapping and then run bases and play defense,” Fief said. Blinn finished last season 28-22 overall, earning a trip to the Region 14 tournament. The Buccaneers aim to return to the National Junior College Athletic Association championships, where they have yet to be since 2015. Blinn has multiple locations, but Fief will attend the one in Brenham, which is about two hours away from Danbury. “It’s close to home, so I can come home on the weekends. The environment is really good there,” Fief said. “It’s kind of a small school, and they have all the medical programs I need.” Fief will study anesthesiology in her two years at Blinn. The school beat out three other Fief options: Alvin Community College, Hilbert College in New York and East Texas Baptist University. SPILLARS Spillars’ journey to Oklahoma Wesleyan started more than two years ago when she visited the campus. She took another visit in October when she decided to commit. Spillars chose Oklahoma Wesleyan over nearby schools including the University of St. Thomas. “I was thinking about St. Thomas, and other schools are closer, but I just liked the campus a lot,” Spillars said. Oklahoma Wesleyan is a private university of the Wesleyan Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The university is a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics member. The Eagles have competed in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference since the 2015-16 season. Last season, Oklahoma Wesleyan finished 33-18. University representatives first connected with Spillars at a tournament, which had an area for players to meet with coaches. “They’re nice, and I’m looking forward to it,” Spillars said. Spillars plays multiple positions for the Lady Panthers, but she’ll primarily settle on one at Oklahoma Wesleyan. “They want me at second base, but they’ll also use me at different places if they need it,” Spillars said. Spillars wants to be an accountant, and she will study business or finance. In his speech about both players, Danbury head softball coach Jack Brown made it clear that his two future collegiate players will help the Lady Panthers chase a district title before transitioning to the next level.
Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault chargeCrypto poised for uptick through 2025
GREELEY, Colo. , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ALLO Fiber is pleased to announce its fiber broadband network build of the City of Boulder, CO. ALLO anticipates construction to begin in the spring of 2025 in city rights-of-way and easements. This fiber connection will enable world-class internet, broadband, cybersecurity, managed services, telephone, and video services for residents and businesses. City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde said, "We are thrilled to work with ALLO to bring affordable and reliable high-speed internet to every corner of Boulder. This partnership will provide significant benefits to our community. From empowering students and small businesses, to supporting remote work and ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age." ALLO was founded in 2003, and over the last 21 years has expanded its fiber footprint to reach over one million in population, with a goal to end the digital divide. ALLO maintains a commitment to offering local, hassle-free products and services to the 48 communities it serves. ALLO Colorado General Manager Bob Beiersdorf stated, "We are extremely pleased to be building a world-class fiber to the premises (FTTP) network in Boulder . The opportunity to offer multi-gig, symmetrical speeds to residents, businesses, government, and the education community with consistent network reliability opens the door to immense possibilities for the city. Partnering with the City of Boulder is paramount in providing equitable services to its residents and that spirit of partnership has been exceptional to date." The fiber network will feature up to 10 Gigabit speeds for residents and up to 100 Gigabit speeds for businesses, providing equal upload and download speeds optimized by ALLO's world-class Wi-Fi 7 routers. Boulder residents, businesses of all sizes, and governmental entities will be supported by ALLO's fiber-rich network, which delivers active and passive solutions without installation fees or restrictive contracts. Internet, data transport, cloud connectivity, video, voice, next-generation firewalls, cybersecurity, and phone systems are included in ALLO's comprehensive communications, entertainment, and business products and services. Boulder is ALLO's eleventh market in Colorado . ALLO currently has customers in Breckenridge , Brighton , Brush , Eaton , Erie , Evans , Fort Morgan , Greeley , Hudson , and Kersey . Visit AlloFiber.com/ Boulder and AlloFiber.com/careers for more information. About ALLO Communications ALLO Communications, a leader in providing fiber-optic services, has been dedicated to delivering world-class communications and entertainment services since 2003. With a commitment to building Gigabit communities, ALLO serves over 50 communities across Nebraska , Colorado , Arizona , Missouri , Iowa , and Kansas . ALLO is known for reliable fiber networks and customized technology solutions that support businesses of all sizes. For more information, visit AlloFiber.com . Tanna Hanna Vice President of Marketing Tanna.Hanna@allofiber.com 308-633-7815 View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-power-of-allos-all-fiber-network-coming-to-boulder-colorado-302338556.html SOURCE ALLO CommunicationsCOLUMBIA, South Carolina — Victims’ families and others affected by crimes that resulted in federal death row convictions shared a range of emotions on Monday, from relief to anger, after President Joe Biden commuted dozens of the sentences. Biden converted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The inmates include people who were convicted in the slayings of police, military officers and federal prisoners and guards. Others were involved in deadly robberies and drug deals. Three inmates will remain on federal death row: Dylann Roof, convicted of the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; the 2013 Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. Opponents of the death penalty lauded Biden for a decision they’d long sought. Supporters of Donald Trump, a vocal advocate of expanding capital punishment, criticized the move as an assault to common decency just weeks before the president-elect takes office. Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by an inmate whose death sentence was commuted, said the execution of “the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace.” “The president has done what is right here,” Oliverio said in a statement also issued by the White House, “and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.” Heather Turner, whose mother, Donna Major, was killed in a bank robbery in South Carolina in 2017, called Biden’s commutation of the killer’s sentence a “clear gross abuse of power” in a Facebook post, adding that the weeks she spent in court with the hope of justice were now “just a waste of time.” “At no point did the president consider the victims,” Turner wrote. “He, and his supporters, have blood on their hands.” There has always been a broad range of opinions on what punishment Roof should face from the families of the nine people killed and the survivors of the massacre at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. Many forgave him, but some say they can’t forget and their forgiveness doesn’t mean they don’t want to see him put to death for what he did. Felicia Sanders survived the shooting shielding her granddaughter while watching Roof kill her son, Tywanza, and her aunt, Susie Jackson. Sanders brought her bullet-torn bloodstained Bible to his sentencing and said then she can’t even close her eyes to pray because Roof started firing during the closing prayer of Bible study that night. In a text message to her lawyer, Andy Savage, Sanders called Biden’s decision to not spare Roof’s life a wonderful Christmas gift. Michael Graham, whose sister, Cynthia Hurd, was killed, told The Associated Press that Roof’s lack of remorse and simmering white nationalism in the country means he is the kind of dangerous and evil person the death penalty is intended for. “This was a crime against a race of people,” Graham said. “It didn’t matter who was there, only that they were Black.” But the Rev. Sharon Richer, who was Tywanza Sanders’ cousin and whose mother, Ethel Lance, was killed, criticized Biden for not sparing Roof and clearing out all of death row. She said every time Roof’s case comes up through numerous appeals it is like reliving the massacre all over again. “I need the President to understand that when you put a killer on death row, you also put their victims’ families in limbo with the false promise that we must wait until there is an execution before we can begin to heal,” Richer said in a statement. Richer, a board member of Death Penalty Action, which seeks to abolish capital punishment, was driven to tears by conflicting emotions during a Zoom news conference Monday. “The families are left to be hostages for the years and years of appeals that are to come,” Richer said. “I’ve got to stay away from the news today. I’ve got to turn the TV off - because whose face am I going to see?” Biden is giving more attention to the three inmates he chose not to spare, something they all wanted as a part of what drove them to kill, said Abraham Bonowitz, Death Penalty Action’s executive director. “These three racists and terrorists who have been left on death row came to their crimes from political motivations. When Donald Trump gets to execute them what will really be happening is they will be given a global platform for their agenda of hatred,” Bonowitz said. Biden had faced pressure from advocacy organizations to commute federal death sentences, and several praised him for taking action in his final month in office. Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement that Biden “has shown our country - and the rest of the world - that the brutal and inhumane policies of our past do not belong in our future.” Republicans, including Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, on the other hand, criticized the move - and argued its moral ground was shaky given the three exceptions. “Once again, Democrats side with depraved criminals over their victims, public order, and common decency,” Cotton wrote on X. “Democrats can’t even defend Biden’s outrageous decision as some kind of principled, across-the-board opposition to the death penalty since he didn’t commute the three most politically toxic cases.” Liz Murrill, Louisiana’s Republican attorney general, criticized the commuted sentence of Len Davis, a former New Orleans policeman convicted of orchestrating the killing of a woman who had filed a complaint against him. “We can’t trust the Feds to get justice for victims of heinous crimes, so it’s long past time for the state to get it done,” the tough-on-crime Republican said in a written statement to the AP. Two men whose sentences were commuted were Norris Holder and Billie Jerome Allen, on death row for opening fire with assault rifles during a 1997 bank robbery in St. Louis, killing a guard, 46-year-old Richard Heflin. Holder’s attorney, Madeline Cohen, said in an email that Holder, who is Black, was sentenced to death by an all-white jury. She said his case “reflects many of the system’s flaws,” and thanked Biden for commuting his sentence. “Norris’ case exemplifies the racial bias and arbitrariness that led the President to commute federal death sentences,” Cohen said. “Norris has always been deeply remorseful for the pain his actions caused, and we hope this decision brings some measure of closure to Richard Heflin’s family.” Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC.'I’ve had people hug me before... I feel like I'm doing a good thing for people'
