combined briefs package

Lawmakers OK sex discrimination bill

Legislators in Puerto Rico on Friday approved a heavily debated bill that outlaws employment discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. Opponents of the bill prayed on the steps of the Capitol building as lawmakers voted on a simplified version of the measure. Legislators on Friday also approved a separate bill that extends a domestic violence law to gay couples. Both bills will go back to the Senate, which is expected to approve them. The governor has said he would sign both measures.

GUATEMALA

Former president extradited to U.S.

Ex-Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was extradited Friday to the United States to face charges of laundering $70 million in Guatemalan funds through U.S. bank accounts. Portillo was taken from a military hospital where he was recovering from liver surgery and a heart condition and put on a plane, said his lawyer Mauricio Berreondo. An appeal concerning Portillo’s health had been filed, Berreondo said.

CALIFORNIA

Drug cartel leader pleads guilty

The last of the brothers accused of creating an infamous Mexican drug cartel pleaded guilty Friday to helping send hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from the United States, marking one of the final milestones in an investigation that began nearly two decades ago. Eduardo Arellano Felix, 56, reached an agreement with prosecutors that will send him to federal prison for 15 years for conspiracy to launder money and invest funds gained from violating drug laws. He will be deported to Mexico when he completes his sentence. Prosecutors dismissed charges including racketeering and conspiracy to traffic drugs.

ILLINOIS

Judge charged with heroin, gun possession

A southwestern Illinois judge already under scrutiny after a colleague died of a cocaine overdose at his family’s hunting lodge was charged Friday with possession of heroin and guns. Wearing cutoff shorts and a T-shirt with the slogan “Bad is my middle name,” St. Clair County Circuit Judge Michael Cook pleaded not guilty to federal counts of possessing heroin and having a firearm while being an illegal user of controlled substances. Earlier Friday, the county coroner said toxicology tests showed that Cook’s colleague, St. Clair County Circuit Judge Joe Christ, overdosed on cocaine while staying with Cook in March at the Cook family’s cabin.

GEORGIA

Shuttle crashes near Atlanta airport

Eighteen people were taken to the hospital, including at least two in serious condition, after a crash Friday between a hotel shuttle bus and a tractor-trailer near Atlanta’s airport. Police said the accident happened Friday morning on a road that loops around the world’s busiest airport. None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, and the driver had been released from the hospital by Friday evening.

CANADA

Mayor denies he smokes crack

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied Friday that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict after a video purported to show him using the drug. The mayor of Canada’s largest city did not say whether he has ever used crack. Ford did not take questions from reporters at a news conference at City Hall held after a week of silence and after close allies released a letter urging him to address the video.

UTAH

Suspect in officer’s slaying found dead

An Army veteran was found hanging dead Friday in his jail cell as he awaited trial on charges of killing a police officer and wounding five others during a raid that netted 13 pot plants and sparked a fierce debate about what happened that night. Authorities strongly refuted the claims of Matthew David Stewart that he didn’t know who was breaking into his home. Stewart’s father, Michael Stewart, has insisted his son was only defending himself from what he thought was a robbery. Matthew David Stewart, 39, was found hanging from a bed sheet during a routine cell check just before 1 a.m. Friday, Weber County Attorney Dee Smith said.