New Jersey
Authorities: Man freed from prison kills mom
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A convicted murderer beat his mother to death during an argument, just two days after he was released from prison, authorities said.
Gwendolyn Pratt, 64, was found dead around 6:30 a.m. Sunday at a home in Atlantic City, The Press of Atlantic City reported. An autopsy determined she died from massive blunt injuries to the head, Atlantic County prosecutor Jim McClain said in a statement.
Her 45-year-old son, Steven Pratt, was detained at the scene and charged with murder. He was being held on $1 million bail, and it was not known if he has retained an attorney.
A neighbor of the victim told the newspaper that the Pratt family had just thrown a welcome-home party for Steven. The neighbor, Ruan Tilghman-Pugh, said Steven had asked a cousin whether he could stay with him after having a disagreement with an aunt with whom he was staying over the weekend.
“It’s so devastating,” Tilghman-Pugh told the paper. “You just never know what people are going through.”
Pratt was 15 when he shot and killed his next-door neighbor, Michael Anderson, in 1984. He was tried as an adult and convicted of first-degree murder in 1986. He received a 30-year prison sentence and was freed on Friday.
According to court records, Pratt and Anderson argued after Pratt and some of his friends refused to leave an apartment hallway where they were noisily hanging out. Pratt returned to Anderson’s apartment with a lead pipe, but Anderson took the weapon away and bloodied Pratt’s face.
Pratt then returned with a borrowed handgun and shot Anderson.
Texas
Abortion clinics have more calls, longer waits
HOUSTON (AP) — The eight remaining abortion clinics in Texas are reporting a spike in the number of phone calls and longer waits for appointments after a federal court allowed enforcement of the last of Texas’ new abortion regulations.
The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday its analysis of data shows Texas now has 75 percent fewer abortion clinics than two years ago, among the fewest per capita anywhere in the nation and the smallest number of clinics open since the 1970s.
A dozen abortion facilities closed after a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 2 allowed the state to enforce tough clinic laws passed by the Texas Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry last year. The full 5th Circuit last week declined to reconsider the ruling and abortion rights supporters now have asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
A spokesman for the Austin Planned Parenthood facility told the newspaper it received seven times as many calls as normal last week, with many of the calls from far-away cities such as Midland and McAllen, where abortion access has disappeared.
In Texas, two clinics now are open in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Austin and Fort Worth each have one.
Ken Lambrecht, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Dallas, said he was anticipating a jump in calls but not from so many women hundreds of miles away.
He told the newspaper that when a mother seeking an abortion for her daughter was told the next available appointment wasn’t for another three weeks, she said: “We might as well go to Mexico.”
Then she hung up, Lambrecht said.
“It’s hard to explain because in a way, it’s exactly what we expected, but at the same time, it’s something completely different and something we didn’t plan for because we couldn’t,” Lambrecht said.
Planned Parenthood in Houston spokeswoman Rochelle Tafolla said calls have been up 170 percent in the week after the 5th Circuit panel’s ruling.
The Chronicle analysis of data shows about 750,000 Texas women of reproductive age now live more than 200 miles away from an abortion clinic.
Records show annual abortions in Texas have fallen gradually over the years even as the number of clinics, until recently, remained steady. Department of State Health Services records counted 68,298 procedures in 2012 at 43 clinics, down 12 percent from 2001 when there were 34 providers.
Lindsay Rodriguez, president of the Lillith Fund, which helps women pay for abortions, said the state-required clinic upgrades were leading to increases in costs of abortions and that longer waiting times meant later-term abortions, which are more complicated.
North Carolina
Former mayor faces sentencing on bribery charge
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon faces sentencing this week for his guilty plea to federal bribery charges.
Multiple media outlets reported Cannon is to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Charlotte on Tuesday.
The 47-year-old former mayor was arrested March 26 when he met with undercover agents for an illegal payoff. He pleaded guilty in June to accepting seven bribes totaling about $50,000 in from January 2013 to February 2014.
In exchange for Cannon’s guilty plea, prosecutors have promised not to ask for a prison sentence of more than four to five years, the recommendation under federal guidelines.
U.S. District Judge Frank Whitney is not bound by the plea agreement. The maximum sentence is 20 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins called Cannon a politician on retainer, saying he accepted a stream of cash and gifts. Government documents allege he also solicited $1.2 million in kickbacks from undercover agents.
Tennessee
Couple files lawsuit over child’s surname
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (AP) — A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union says a Middle Tennessee couple should be able to give their child a surname of their choosing.
The Tennessean reports Brentwood parents Carl Abramson and Kimberly Sarubbi kept their own last names after getting married and decided their child should have a combination of their names: Sabr.
Their first two children, born in Nevada and California, have that name. But when their third child was born in Tennessee, the state Department of Health denied their request for the name Sabr. Instead, they gave the child the surname of Abramson.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit last week in federal court on behalf of the parents.
The newspaper reports the Tennessee Health Department could not comment on litigation that is pending.
