Abortion opponents lose bigly at the Supreme Court, Missouri set to expand I-70, and more

The Heartland POD

Mifepristone remains legal after major Supreme Court ruling | Trump lackey running for Michigan’s state supreme court | Nebraska’s competing abortion petitions | Kansas Farmers Faced With Major Water Shortage | South Carolina Ripe For Full Abortion Ban | Missouri begins major project to improve Interstate 70 | Indiana musician hitting the scene in a big way

SHOW NOTES

1. Mifepristone remains legal after major Supreme Court ruling
   1. https://missouriindependent.com/2024/06/13/breaking-u-s-supreme-court-rejects-attempt-to-limit-access-to-abortion-pill/

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion in the united ruling from the Supreme Court, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing a concurring opinion.

“Plaintiffs are pro-life, oppose elective abortion, and have sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to mifepristone being prescribed and used by others,” Kavanaugh wrote.

The four anti-abortion medical organizations and four anti-abortion doctors who originally brought the lawsuit against mifepristone have protections in place to guard against being forced to participate in abortions against their moral objections, he noted.

“Not only as a matter of law but also as a matter of fact, the federal conscience laws have protected pro-life doctors ever since FDA approved mifepristone in 2000,” Kavanaugh wrote. “The plaintiffs have not identified any instances where a doctor was required, notwithstanding conscience objections, to perform an abortion or to provide other abortion-related treatment that violated the doctor’s conscience.”

“Nor is there any evidence in the record here of hospitals overriding or failing to accommodate doctors’ conscience objections,” he added.

1. Trump lackey running for Michigan’s state supreme court
   1. https://michiganadvance.com/briefs/deperno-announces-michigan-supreme-court-run-amid-election-related-criminal-charges/

Matt DePerno, a Republican lawyer who ran for Michigan Attorney General in 2022 with the support of former President Donald Trump, is running for the state’s supreme court while facing charges for reportedly tampering with voting machines after the 2020 presidential election.

Michigan’s 4-3 Democratic majority state supreme court is falling short of doing its duty, Deperno said in an emailed statement to Michigan Advance.

“After watching the abuse of our legal system both here in Michigan, as well as across the country, it is clear that the Michigan Supreme Court needs members that are committed to following the constitution and rule of law,” DePerno said. “Activist judges, prosecutors, and attorney generals are using their power to prosecute their political enemies. This has to stop. And that is why I am running for Supreme Court.”

1. Nebraska’s competing abortion petitions
   1. https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/06/13/sorting-through-nebraskas-abortion-ballot-initiatives/

Nebraska voters who want to weigh in this November on the future of abortion in the state have three petitions to consider signing.

One group that is circulating petitions wants to make abortion a state constitutional right. Two other groups circulating petitions both oppose abortion. But their petitions approach the path to further restrictions differently.

Organizers of all three petition initiatives have until July 3 to turn in signatures from 10% of Nebraska registered voters, or about 123,000 people, to the Secretary of State’s Office. Of those, signatures are required from at least 5% of registered voters in at least 38 counties.

1. Kansas Farmers Faced With Major Water Shortage
   1. https://kansasreflector.com/2024/06/13/time-for-a-reckoning-kansas-farmers-brace-for-water-cuts-to-save-ogallala-aquifer/

After 50 years of studies, discussions and hand-wringing about the aquifer’s decline, the state is demanding that local groundwater managers finally enforce conservation. But in this region where water is everything, they’ll have to overcome entrenched attitudes and practices that led to decades of overpumping.

“It scares the hell out of me,” farmer Hugh Brownlee said at a recent public meeting in the district on the changes to come.

Last year, Kansas lawmakers passed legislation squarely targeting the Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District, which spans a dozen counties. Unlike the two other Kansas districts that sit atop the crucial aquifer, this one has done little to enact formal conservation programs that could help prolong the life of the aquifer. The new law aims to force action.

1. South Carolina Ripe For Full Abortion Ban
   1. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/13/south-carolina-abortion-ban

The right to legal abortion in South Carolina is in a “dire” condition, said the state senator Penry Gustafson, who lost her seat on Tuesday to a primary challenger prepared to vote to ban abortion at conception.

Gustafson is one of five female lawmakers dubbed the “sister senators” who blocked legislation to outlaw abortion from the point of conception in the state. The three Republicans among them – Gustafson, Sandy Senn and Katrina Shealy – each drew male primary challengers who competed for conservative primary voters seeking more restrictive abortion access.

1. Missouri begins major project to improve Interstate 70
   1. https://www.missourinet.com/2024/06/13/shovels-come-out-to-break-ground-on-missouris-historic-i-70-expansion/

A groundbreaking ceremony was held today to celebrate the start of construction for the Improve I-70 project, which will widen the interstate to at least three lanes each in both directions from St. Louis to Kansas City.

Construction on the $2.8 billion Improve I-70 Program is set to begin in July. The first phase of the project begins in mid-Missouri, with the interchanges of U.S. Route 63 in Columbia and U.S. Route 54 in Kingdom City.

Gov. Mike Parson was on hand to commemorate the occasion. One of his top priorities throughout his tenure has been to improve Missouri’s infrastructure system.

“What we’re doing in infrastructure in this state is going to set us apart from many, many other states and it’s just, for the future of our state, I can’t even explain how much of an impact it’s going to have. But it’s fun. It’s exciting to finish up your term on a high note like this,” he told reporters.

1. Indiana musician hitting the scene in a big way
   1. https://www.stephenwilsonjr.com/

Stephen Wilson Jr. is a singer/songwriter from rural Southern Indiana. Self-described as “Death Cab For Country,” Stephen Wilson Jr. draws upon indie rock, grunge and country to create a distinct sound that is influenced by artists as diverse as The National, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Nirvana.

​Wilson was raised by a single father who was a boxer and had him boxing from age seven through adulthood as an Indiana State Golden Gloves finalist. The self-taught guitarist moved to Nashville to pursue a degree in Microbiology at MTSU, where he started indie rock band AutoVaughn after finishing his degree. After five years of touring the world as lead guitarist with AutoVaughn, Wilson turned his creative focus toward songwriting and singing. After the band, Wilson relied back on his education where he worked for several years as an R&D scientist at Mars until signing a publishing deal with BMG Nashville in 2016. His songs were soon recorded by acts like Caitlyn Smith, Brothers Osborne, Old Dominion, MacKenzie Porter, Sixpence None the Richer and Leigh Nash.

SOURCES: Missouri Independent, The Guardian, Michigan Advance, Nebraska Examiner, Kansas Reflector, Missourinet.com, Stephenwilsonjr.com

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