// a href = ./ // St Louis News, Weather, Sports, The Big 550 AM, St Louis Traffic, Breaking News in St Louis

Colin Jeffery

Colin Jeffery

Man charged for role in fatal crash

Sunday, 17 March 2013 10:07 Published in Local News
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A St. Louis man faces criminal charges in a crash that killed a 53-year-old man and seriously injured two others.

Forty-one-year-old Robert A. White was charged Friday with first-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault and three counts of armed criminal action.

Police said White was driving a sport utility vehicle that T-boned another vehicle Thursday. Marcus Dorsey was killed and two passengers were hospitalized.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that White was treated for minor injuries and arrested.

Officials said White had fled the scene of an earlier accident with a St. Louis City License Collector's vehicle. Police said the driver of the city vehicle called 911 and followed the SUV.

The second crash was one or two miles away from the first.

Obama: US SHOULD FUND RESEARCH FOR CLEANER CARS

Saturday, 16 March 2013 11:06 Published in National News
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the U.S. must shift cars and trucks off oil for good so the public can avoid spikes in gasoline prices.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama promotes a plan to direct $200 million a year into an energy security trust to fund research for alternatives like electric car batteries and biofuels. He says the trust would use revenues from federal leases on offshore drilling without adding to the deficit.

Obama says investing in clean energy will help create jobs. He's envisioning cars that can one day go coast to coast without using any oil.

In the Republican address, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin says Republicans have a plan to balance the federal budget in 10 years by cutting spending.

NORTH DAKOTA HAS FUNDS TO FIGHT OVER ABORTION

Saturday, 16 March 2013 11:05 Published in National News
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- As oil-rich North Dakota moves toward outlawing most abortions, it's in a better position than most states for what could be a long and costly court battle over its restrictions.

Lawmakers on Friday sent the Republican governor two anti-abortion bills, one banning the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy and another prohibiting women from having the procedure because a fetus has a genetic defect, such as Down syndrome. They would be the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S

Abortion-rights activists have promised a legal battle over the measures if they become law. But supporters of the bills say their goal is to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks

Unlike other states, North Dakota isn't looking at budget cuts. The state actually has a budget surplus nearing $2 billion, thanks to new-found oil wealth. Record oil production has made North Dakota the nation's No. 2 oil producer behind Texas.

But that oil wealth has come at a price: increased crime, shortages of housing, greater costs for road repairs and other infrastructure improvements. Democratic Sen. Mac Schneider, an attorney from Grand Forks, said the Legislature should focus on those needs instead of "expensive and potentially protracted abortion litigation."

"There hasn't been near enough attention given to the costs as we've debated these issues. We need to be honest with taxpayer funds and that is: We will be spending money on attorneys," Schneider said.

But Rep. Bette Grande, a Republican from Fargo who introduced the measures, said the budget surplus wasn't part of the equation for her.

"I don't look at it from the financial side of things," Grande told The Associated Press on Friday. "I look at it from the life side of things."

Grande told lawmakers earlier in the week that fears about a legal challenge shouldn't prevent them from strengthening North Dakota's already strict abortion laws.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple hasn't said anything to indicate he would veto the measures, and the bills have enough support in each chamber for the Republican-controlled Legislature to override him. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the bills Friday, and the House passed them last month. The votes were largely on party lines, with Republicans supporting the measures and Democrats opposing them.

The state's only abortion clinic is in Fargo, and abortion-rights advocates say the measures are meant to shut it down. They urged Dalrymple to veto the bills.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the measures "extreme" and noted that many women don't realize they are pregnant until after six weeks.

"In America, no woman, no matter where she lives, should be denied the ability to make this deeply personal decision," ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said in a statement.

Outside of Fargo, the nearest abortion clinics are four hours to the south in Sioux Falls, S.D., and four hours to the southeast in Minneapolis. North Dakota is one of several states with Republican-controlled Legislatures and GOP governors that is looking at abortion restrictions. Arkansas passed a 12-week ban earlier this month that prohibits most abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected using an abdominal ultrasound. That ban is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the Arkansas Legislature adjourns. A fetal heartbeat can generally be detected earlier in a pregnancy using a vaginal ultrasound, but Arkansas lawmakers balked at requiring women seeking abortions to have the more invasive imaging technique. North Dakota's measure doesn't specify how a fetal heartbeat would be detected. Doctors performing an abortion after a heartbeat is detected could face a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Women having an abortion would not face charges. The genetic abnormalities bill also bans abortion based on gender selection. Pennsylvania, Arizona and Oklahoma already have such laws, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion restrictions across the U.S. North Dakota would be the first state to ban abortions based on a genetic defect, according to the institute. Sen. Margaret Sitte, a Republican from Bismarck, said the bill is meant to ban the destruction of life based on "an arbitrary society standard of being good enough." Some test results pointing to abnormalities are incorrect, she said, and doctors can perform surgeries even before a baby is born to correct some genetic conditions.

Latest News

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Prev Next
18 mayors ban use of food stamps to buy sugary drinks

18 mayors ban use of food stamps to buy sugary drinks

NEW YORK (AP) - The mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and 15 other cities are reviving a push against letting government food vouchers be used to buy soda and other sugary d...

Teen charged in fatal hot-and-run accident

Teen charged in fatal hot-and-run accident

Charges are filed against 17-year-old Charles Guice in the hit-and-run that killed a 2-year-old boy. He faces one count of Leaving the Scene of an Accident. On Sunday night, offic...

Bomb threat called in to Afton business

Bomb threat called in to Afton business

A bomb threat has forced the evacuation of an Afton business this afternoon. Fox 2 reports that all employees at Kerry Ingredients were ordered out of the building around 1:30. Th...

Drivers will need to feed meters in downtown St. Louis on Saturdays

Drivers will need to feed meters in downtown St. Louis …

Drivers will soon need to the feed the parking meters in Downtown St. Louis on Saturdays. The Parking Division announced that they will start enforcing expired meters on Saturday ...

Unique part-time jobs available at upcoming job fairs

Unique part-time jobs available at upcoming job fairs

A couple of job fairs coming up that offer unique part-time job opportunities. Peabody Opera House and the Scottrade Center are looking to hire for the upcoming seasons. Positions...

Four shot in north St. Louis county

Four shot in north St. Louis county

Four victims after a shooting in North County today. The incident started at an apartment building just south of 70 in Berkeley. Police say there was an argument between two group...

Local leaders kick off Cool Down St. Louis program

Local leaders kick off Cool Down St. Louis program

Local leaders have put out the call to those in need and to those who can help. Cool Down St. Louis and Ameren kicked off their annual summer program to keep St. Louisans safe fro...

Two suspects sought after shooting at Metrolink station

Two suspects sought after shooting at Metrolink station

Two suspects are on the loose after shooting a man at the Metrolink station in Pagedale. Police say the shooting happened just after noon near St. Charles Rock Road. The suspects ...

© 2013 KTRS All Rights Reserved

St Louis Web Design