Nurse faces charges in fiery LA crash that killed 5
LOS ANGELES — A 40-year-old nurse has been arrested and is being booked on vehicular manslaughter charges in the fiery Windsor Hills crash that killed five people, including a pregnant woman, law enforcement sources confirmed to the Los Angeles Times on Friday.
The woman, who is in the hospital, was identified as the driver of the Mercedes-Benz that hurtled down La Brea Avenue toward Slauson Avenue between 80 and 100 miles per hour at the time of the crash Thursday afternoon, sources said. Investigators are checking her bloodwork to determine if she was under the influence, and she is cooperating with California Highway Patrol investigators, according to two sources.
She is to be formally charged by the Los Angeles County district attorney on Monday.
The arrest comes as the coroner identified the pregnant woman who died in the high-speed crash.
Asherey Ryan, 23, was the pregnant woman killed in the crash, sources confirmed. It was not immediately known which car she was in or how she was involved in the crash.
The names of the four others who died have not been released.
Eight people were also injured in the crash. The L.A. County Fire Department responded to the crash just after 1:40 p.m. Pacific time.
—Los Angeles Times
Appeals court calls for end of federal oversight of Illinois hiring
CHICAGO — A U.S. appeals court in Chicago on Friday called for an end to federal court oversight of state hiring, freeing Gov. J.B. Pritzker and future governors from scrutiny that has endured through eight administrations over a half-century.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling ordering the U.S. District Court in Chicago to vacate the Shakman consent decree as it applies to the governor’s office, an agreement that had its roots in the patronage hiring practices that have long plagued city, county and state government.
“In no way are we saying that the risk of unlawful political patronage no longer exists within Illinois,” a two-judge panel wrote in its ruling. “Of course it does: nobody is naive to the state’s embarrassing history.”
But the court found that reforms instituted under Pritzker and his predecessor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, have satisfied the requirements of the consent decree and that continuing to enforce it “is no longer warranted or tolerable.”
Friday’s ruling overturns a lower court decision denying Pritzker’s motion to vacate the consent decree.
—Chicago Tribune
DC mayor’s aide request for influx of migrants sent by Texas is denied
WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense denied D.C. Mayor Murial Bowser’s request for the National Guard to assist in the influx of migrants sent by charter buses from Texas, a day after Gov. Greg Abbott criticized the mayor at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Abbott opened CPAC in Dallas on Thursday and focused his remarks heavily on problems at the U.S.-Mexico border. He said the state has bused over 6,500 migrants from the border to Washington.
“They cannot handle that one single challenge. We deal with that number every single day,” Abbott said about Washington leaders. “I have one thing to say to you and to them: There are more buses on the way as we gather at this convention.”
The Republican governor followed that up with an announcement Friday that the first bus of migrants sent to New York City had arrived, and that migrants picked up in Texas will now be sent to both cities. New York has a right to housing law, meaning the city is required to provide emergency shelter for any unhoused person.
—The Dallas Morning News
Mayor wins Tennessee GOP primary in redrawn 5th District
Andy Ogles, the mayor of Maury County, won the Republican primary Thursday in Tennessee’s 5th District, which was redrawn this year to make the GOP nominee heavily favored to flip the seat in November.
Ogles, a business owner, got 37 percent of the vote in the nine-candidate field. Running second with 26 percent was Beth Harwell, a former speaker of the state House of Representatives, followed by 22 percent for Kurt Winstead, a retired brigadier general in the Tennessee Army National Guard who put $1.1 million of his own money into the race. The Associated Press called the race at 11:34 p.m.
Ogles will face state Sen. Heidi Campbell, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. The November race is rated Likely Republican by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.
Incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper opted not to seek reelection after the district was redrawn. Cooper’s current Nashville-area 5th District voted in 2020 for Joe Biden over Donald Trump, 60 percent to 37 percent, according to Daily Kos Elections. Under the new lines, the district would have backed Trump over Biden, 55 percent to 43 percent, according to Dave’s Redistricting.
—CQ-Roll Call
