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Putin adds martial law in Ukraine regions, limits in Russia
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin doubled down Wednesday on his faltering invasion of Ukraine with a declaration of martial law in four illegally annexed regions and preparations within Russia for draconian new restrictions and crackdowns.
Putin’s drastic efforts to tighten his grip on Ukrainians and Russians follow a series of embarrassing setbacks: stinging battlefield defeats, sabotage and troubles with his troop mobilization.
The martial law order belies the Kremlin’s attempts to portray life in the annexed regions as returning to normal. The reality is that a military administration has replaced civilian leaders in the southern city of Kherson and a mass evacuation from the city is underway as a Ukrainian counteroffensive grinds on.
The battle for Kherson, a city of more than 250,000 people with key industries and a major port, is a pivotal moment for Ukraine and Russia heading into winter, when front lines could largely freeze for months. It’s the largest city Russia has held during the war, which began Feb. 24.
A trickle of evacuations from the city in recent days has become a flood. Local officials said Wednesday that 5,000 had left out of an expected 60,000. Russian state television showed residents crowding on the banks of the Dnieper River, many with small children, to cross by boats to the east — and, from there, deeper into Russian-controlled territory.
First Native American woman in space awed by Mother Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first Native American woman in space said Wednesday she is overwhelmed by the beauty and delicacy of Mother Earth, and is channeling “positive energy” as her five-month mission gets underway.
NASA astronaut Nicole Mann said from the International Space Station that she’s received lots of prayers and blessings from her family and tribal community. She is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in Northern California.
Mann showed off the dream catcher she took up with her, a childhood gift from her mother that she’s always held dear. The small traditional webbed hoop with feathers is used to offer protection, and she said it’s given her strength during challenging times. Years before joining NASA in 2013, she flew combat in Iraq for the Marines.
“It’s the strength to know that I have the support of my family and community back home and that when things are difficult or things are getting hard or I’m getting burned-out or frustrated, that strength is something that I will draw on to continue toward a successful mission,” Mann told The Associated Press, which gathered questions from members and tribal news outlets across the country.
Mann said she’s always heeded her mother’s advice on the importance of positive energy, especially on launch day.
COVID-19 linked to increase in US pregnancy-related deaths
WASHINGTON (AP) — COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims, according to a government report released Wednesday.
The report lays out grim trends across the country for expectant mothers and their newborn babies.
It finds that pregnancy-related deaths have spiked nearly 80% since 2018, with COVID-19 being a factor in a quarter of the 1,178 deaths reported last year. The percentage of preterm and low birthweight babies also went up last year, after holding steady for years. And more pregnant or postpartum women are reporting symptoms of depression.
“We were already in the middle of a crisis with maternal mortality in our country,” said Karen Tabb Dina, a maternal health researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “This really shows that COVID-19 has exacerbated that crisis to rates that we, as a country, are not able to handle.”
The nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office, which authored the report, analyzed pregnancy-related deaths after Congress mandated that it review maternal health outcomes in the 2020 coronavirus relief bill.
Judge: Trump knew vote fraud claims in legal docs were false
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump signed legal documents challenging the results of the 2020 election that included voter fraud claims he knew to be false, a federal judge said in a ruling Wednesday.
U.S. District Court Judge David Carter in an 18-page opinion ordered the release of those emails between Trump and attorney John Eastman to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. He said those communications cannot be withheld because they include evidence of potential crimes.
“The emails show that President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public,” Carter wrote.
Though the judge’s conclusion has no practical bearing on a separate Justice Department investigation into efforts to overturn the election, any evidence that Trump signed documents he knew to be false could at minimum be a notable data point for criminal prosecutors trying to sort out culpability for far-ranging efforts to undo the results.
The judge specifically cited claims from Trump’s attorneys that Fulton County in Georgia had improperly counted more than 10,000 votes of dead people, felons and unregistered voters. Those false allegations were part of a filing that Trump’s legal team made in Georgia state court on Dec. 4, 2021.
Arizona refuses US demand to remove containers along border
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona has refused the federal government’s demand to take down double-stacked shipping containers it placed to fill gaps in the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying it won’t do so until the U.S. moves to construct a permanent barrier instead.
The Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs dug in its heels in an Oct. 18 letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, saying “the containers will remain in place until specific details regarding construction are provided.” It was signed by Allen Clark, the department’s director.
A regional spokeswoman for the Bureau of Reclamation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Arizona’s refusal in the most recent flap between the Biden administration and Republican-led border states over immigration policies.
The federal agency told Arizona officials in a letter last week that the containers were unauthorized and violated U.S. law. The bureau also demanded that no new containers be placed, saying it wanted to prevent conflicts with two federal contracts already awarded and two more still pending to fill border wall gaps near the Morelos Dam in the Yuma, Arizona, area.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey ordered installation of more than 100 double-stacked containers that were placed over the summer, saying he couldn’t wait for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to award the contracts it had announced for the work.
LA Councilman de Leon says he will not resign amid uproar
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Embattled Los Angeles Councilman Kevin de Leon said Wednesday he will not resign amid an uproar over a leaked tape that revealed him participating in a meeting in which Latino officials made crude, racist remarks and plotted to expand their political power.
The scandal already has led to the resignation of former City Council President Nury Martinez and calls from President Joe Biden for those involved to step down.
De Leon told the Univision Spanish-language station that he is “so sorry,” and wants to continue working on homelessness and other problems in his district.
The councilman also told KCBS-TV in Los Angeles that he would refuse to resign. “I failed in my leadership,” he said.
His statement was immediately criticized by other Council members pushing for his resignation.
3 murder verdicts vacated in case investigated by killer cop
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Three men imprisoned since the 1990s for a fatal New Orleans drive-by shooting were ordered freed on Wednesday, their convictions vacated by a judge after prosecutors cited the involvement of two notorioulsy corrupt police officers in their case.
Kunta Gable and Leroy Nelson were 17 when they were arrested shortly after the Aug. 22, 1994, shooting death of Rondell Santinac at the Desire housing development in the south Louisiana city. Also arrested with them was Bernell Juluke, then 18.
The men were ordered released on Wednesday by a state judge who vacated their convictions, acting upon a joint motion by defense lawyers and District Attorney Jason Williams’ Civil Rights Division.
The motion described numerous problems with the original case. Among them, it said, the state failed to disclose evidence undermining the case against the men.
The motion also said the jury didn’t know that officers Len Davis and Sammie Williams — the first officers on the scene — were known to cover up the identity of perpetrators and manipulate evidence at murder scenes at the housing project to cover up for drug dealers they protected.
In a #MeToo moment, Hollywood figures face season of trials
NEW YORK (AP) — The #MeToo movement is having another moment in the spotlight as high-profile sexual assault trials play out in courtrooms from coast to coast.
Five years after allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein triggered a wave of sexual misconduct claims in Hollywood and beyond, he and “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson are fighting criminal rape charges at trials down the hall from each other in Los Angeles.
In New York, trials are underway in sexual assault lawsuits against actor Kevin Spacey and screenwriter-director Paul Haggis, both Oscar winners. Spacey’s d...
