Federal appeals court upholds Texas abortion ruling
A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld a Texas law banning the most common form of second-trimester abortion, ruling that a lower court had erred in finding that the law imposed “an undue burden on a large fraction of women.”
At issue is a Texas law that was passed in 2017 but has not yet been in effect because of legal battles. The law, known as Senate Bill 8, prohibits a dilation-and-evacuation abortion method and requires doctors to use alternative abortion methods, according to Wednesday’s decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A U.S. District Court judge had found that the 2017 law “imposes an undue burden on a large fraction of women” because it “amounted to a ban on all D&E abortions.”
That interpretation is wrong, the appeals court said Wednesday.
Records show that “doctors can safely perform D&Es and comply with SB8 using methods that are already in widespread use,” according to Wednesday’s ruling.
Justice Department orders revamp of inmates’ deposit accounts
The Justice Department is directing the federal prison system to revamp how it monitors government-run prison deposit accounts that have at times been used by inmates to shield themselves from paying debts and for suspicious or illegal activity.
The directive, issued this week by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, instructs the Bureau of Prisons to overhaul its current policies on so-called inmate trust accounts to “strengthen appropriate monitoring and reporting.” The Associated Press obtained a copy of Monaco’s directive and a subsequent Bureau of Prisons memo providing new guidance to wardens.
On Thursday, the Bureau of Prisons issued new guidance requiring wardens at the government’s 122 federal prisons to report the amount of money inmates have in their accounts each month and identify inmates with balances over $2,500. The memorandum also directs officials to refer cases to other law enforcement agencies when a crime may have been committed.
Workers at Mexico GM plant end contract, oust union in vote
Workers at a General Motors Co. truck plant in Mexico voted to cancel their union contract after the U.S. initiated a dispute against conditions at the factory, a historic victory for the North American free trade agreement.
Employees at the huge GM plant in Silao, Guanajuato, voted 3,214 for, and 2,623 against, terminating their contract, allowing them to choose a new union. In Mexico, giant labor confederations have struck deals for decades with companies that have kept worker pay low, angering Mexico’s North American partners.
The vote emerged as a test case for new labor provisions under the revamped North America trade deal, which the U.S. cited to file its labor dispute. As one of the three GM plants that produce pickup trucks, the plant is critical to the company’s balance sheet.
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A small wildfire swept through a mobile home park, leaving dozens of homes in ashes, the latest in a series of explosive blazes propelled by gusts that have torn through Northern California mountains and forests.
The drought-parched region was expected to see red flag warnings for dangerously high winds and hot, dry weather through Thursday.
Those conditions have fed a dozen uncontrolled wildfires, including the month-old Dixie Fire and the nearby Caldor Fire in the northern Sierra Nevada that incinerated much of the small rural towns of Greenville and Grizzly Flats.
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