After a prosecution rebuttal to the defense insanity plea, both sides in the murder trial of abortion clinic gunman John Salvi rested Wednesday. Prosecution witness Dr. Joel Haycock testified that Salvi was capable of faking mental illness to avoid a mandatory life sentence if convicted. Chief of forensic services at Bridgewater State Hospital, Haycock indicated […]
The Justice Department released a 314-page report Wednesday (3-13) following an eight-month investigation of a gathering of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials in Tennessee. Finding evidence of racism, rampant drunkenness, performances by strippers and other misconduct at the “Good ‘Ol Boys Roundup,” the report described an atmosphere hostile to women, blacks and other […]
According to an article by Reuter Information Service, Republican women are unhappy with presidential candidate’s Bob Dole’s hardened stance on abortion and with the aggressive tone of the battle for nomination. Lapsed Republican Tanya Melich, author of the recent release, The Republican War Against Women, says the Republican party’s shift to the right alienates women […]
According to an organization of gay and lesbian Mormons, leaders in the Mormon church have urged members to secretly lobby the Utah state Legislature to outlaw same-sex marriages. On Sunday, the group gay group Affirmation released the text of a church letter distributed to members urging them to write their representatives to support the law […]
On Wednesday morning (3-13), longtime reproductive rights champion Lawrence Lader held a press conference in New York regarding the French abortion pill, RU 486. Lader, president of Abortion Rights Mobilization (ARM) announced that the pill will be tested at three prominent clinics. Lader’s press release stated: “Confronting the possibility of an attempted ban on RU […]
Attorneys involved in the sex discrimination lawsuit brought against Publix Supermarkets announced Wednesday that a federal judge in Tampa ordered the case to proceed as a class action. Twelve current and former women employees contend the grocery chain segregates its employees by gender and that managers do not post job openings for management and other […]
On Tuesday (3-12), top Navy officials asked the Senate Armed Services Committee to reverse itself and allow them to promote a pilot involved in the 1991 Tailhook sexual harassment scandal. The committee has not yet made a decision on the request to promote Commander Robert Stumpf, who Navy officials said was wrongly accused of witnessing […]
In the murder trial of abortion clinic gunman John Salvi, a state psychiatrist called by the prosecution testified that Salvi is sane and does not suffer from the delusions that are characteristic of paranoid schizophrenia. Dr. Joel Haycock, chief of forensic psychiatry at Bridgewater State hospital, interviewed Salvi seven or eight times before writing a […]
Two of the three U.S. servicemen convicted last week in the rape of an Okinawan girl have appealed their sentences. Marine Privates Rodrico Harp and Kendrick Ledet appealed their seven year and six and a half year sentences, respectively, to the Naha branch of the Fukouka High Court. Navy Seaman Marcus Gill, who was sentenced […]
A group of population organizations issued a study last week outlining the effects of a new law that “deeply cuts” U.S. aid for international family planning. The study showed that 7 million couples in developing countries who would have used modern contraceptives will no longer have access to them. This setback could result in 1.9 […]
On Tuesday (3-12), forty Kuwaiti women lawyers, scientists and academics participated in a rare public demonstration to demand the vote and the right to stand for parliament. Some of the women waving placards outside the only elected legislature in Gulf Arab states had been members of the civilian resistance during Iraq’s 1990-91 occupation. They accuses […]
In the murder trial of abortion clinic gunman John Salvi, the defense called its last witness Monday (3-11) and was expected to finish presenting evidence Tuesday. Before the case ends, prosecutors will likely call mental health experts to rebut the defense’s claim that Salvi was insane at the time of the killings. Dr. David Bear […]
Although hate crimes nationwide against gays and lesbians decreased nearly 8 percent last year nationwide, the number of hate crimes involving assaults dramatically increased in San Francisco where the overall crime number remained the same. The survey noted increases in hate crimes in five of the eleven cities surveyed, including Minneapolis, Phoenix, El Paso and […]
On Monday, the Senate discussed a spending bill designed to avoid a federal shutdown when dozens of Cabinet departments run out of money on March 15. According to USA Today, the bill contains Republican budget priorities that will likely not become law. President Clinton has criticized the measure and has called for increased funding for […]
In the last eight months, authorities in two Texas counties charged 32 people with illegal possession of Rohypnol, a powerful sedative that has been linked to several cases of rape. According to District Attorney Lynn Ellison, I plan to get our office to rethink the type of punishment we are seeking in these cases, now […]
As Californias become increasingly aware of the anti-affirmative action initiative on the November ballot and learn about its ramifications, support for the measure declines, according to a Field Poll released Monday (3-11). Knowledge of the existence of the self-titled “California Civil Rights Initiative” rose from 57 percent in December to 67 percent. Of those, support […]
On International Women’s Day (3-8), a traditionally important national holiday in Russia, Russian politicians wooed women’s votes for the upcoming presidential election. President Boris Yeltsin attended a gala concert honoring women and recorded a speech praising women as the keeper of home and family traditions. Communist rival Gennady Ayuganov invited only women reporters to a […]
A New York Times article Sunday (3-10) explored the discrepancy between the Republican party’s position against abortion and the positions of individual Republicans. While the platform has called for a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion since 1976, polls in several states this year showed majority opposition to such a ban in the partly platform. The […]
On Thursday, the House approved a bill to temporarily avoid federal default. Without extension, the government would have reached its debt ceiling on March 15. The House bill contains two abortion restrictions which would let states decide whether to provide Medicaid funds for low-income women seeking abortions and would force states to accredit hospitals that […]
According to defense witnesses, John Salvi was distant and robot-like in the days before he shot and killed two and wounded five others at two Brookline, Massachusetts abortion clinics. When an aunt said Salvi had acted withdrawn and listless, prosecutor Marianne Hinkle implied that Salvi may have been preoccupied with the attacks he was planning […]
