Raleigh orders halt to hyperbaric wellness treatments
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Raleigh Fire Department has ordered a wellness company to stop offering an oxygen-rich hyperbaric therapy treatment because of the fire risk. Officials with Restore Hyper Wellness tell the Raleigh News and Observer they are working with city and state fire marshals to bring back the service, called mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The city shut the service down after a fire inspector visited the clinic and said there was no fire suppression system. The business disputes that one is needed. The newspaper reports that regulators across the country have taken varied stances on the therapy, which is increasing in popularity. The treatment halted in Raleigh involves increased oxygen and air pressure, which can increase the risk of severe fire.
SUPREME COURT-ABORTION-THE LATEST
Live updates | Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade
WASHINGTON (AP) — Police fired tear gas from the windows of the Arizona Capitol building to disperse hundreds of people demonstrating outside Friday night, as lawmakers briefly huddled in a basement. The lawmakers were working to complete their 2022 session as thousands of protesters gathered on the Capitol grounds in Phoenix. They were divided into groups condemning and supporting the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. KPHO-TV reported the officers opened fire when several anti-abortion protesters started banging on glass doors of the building. It wasn’t immediately known if there were injuries or arrests.
DEPUTY-SHOOTING-MAN SENTENCED
Felon who shot at NC deputy gets 10 years in prison
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal prosecutor says a man who shot at a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to 10 years prison on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley Jr. says Rodriguez Crudup pleaded guilty to the charge in March and he was sentenced on Wednesday. Court documents and other information showed a deputy with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office responded to a domestic disturbance call in Warrenton in December. Crudup took a gun into the woods and fired a shot, which the deputy said he heard pass over his head. Crudup was apprehended and the gun was found in the woods where he had been.
ABORTION-NORTH CAROLINA
NC legislators want 20-week abortion ban to be restored
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican legislative leaders want Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein to ask a federal court to restore a state law banning nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore wrote to Stein on Friday following the U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier in the day overturning abortion protections. A federal judge struck down the 20-week limit in 2019 and extended the abortion right to the point of fetal viability, which is generally between 24 and 28 weeks. Moore and Berger say they are ready to take action to get the injunction lifted if Stein is not.
FRAUD SCHEME-DOCTOR INDICTED
NC doctor indicted in medical equipment scheme
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A U.S. attorney says a North Carolina doctor has been indicted in connection with a scheme that defrauded federal programs of more than $11 million. Dena J. King, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, said in a news release that Sudipta Mazumder of Charlotte is charged with six counts of making false statements relating to health care matters and a single count of health care fraud. The indictment says that during 2019 and 2020, Mazumder was a doctor in Charlotte and allegedly signed fraudulent orders for knee braces, leading to the filing of thousands of fraudulent reimbursement claims to Medicare and TRICARE.
AP-US-REL-HOMELESS-SOLUTIONS-CHURCH-TINY-HOMES
A roof over their head: Churches use tiny homes for homeless
Churches across the U.S. are tackling the big question of how to address homelessness in their communities with a small solution: tiny homes. Congregations are building everything from fixed and fully contained micro homes to moveable cabins. Church leaders are not just trying to be more neighborly. The drive to provide shelter is rooted in their belief in the need to care for the vulnerable. One advocate sees tiny homes as a great emergency option, but says homeless people deserve standard-size abodes like everyone else. An expert says the tiny home movement is too small to fix the whole problem, but it can help some.
FIREARMS CHARGES-GANG MEMBERS
NC woman gets nearly 6 years for supplying guns to gang
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal prosecutor says a North Carolina woman has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for trying to buy firearms on behalf of gang members who she helped sell drugs. U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley Jr. says Vernisha Suggs of Rocky Mount, who pleaded guilty to multiple charges in February, was sentenced Thursday to 71 months in prison. Authorities say Suggs engaged in a conspiracy from 2018 through 2020 to purchase numerous firearms on behalf of Bloods gang members from federally licensed firearms dealers in Rocky Mount. Though she filled out paperwork saying she was buying the guns for herself, she gave the guns to local Bloods gang members.
BC-CLIMATE-CHANGE-HEAT-WAVE
Summer swelter: Persistent heat wave breaks records, spirits
A heat wave that’s already lasted more than a week keeps on baking the US, Asia and even the Arctic. At least nine US states Thursday hit 100 degrees, that’s after 12 did that on Wednesday. Records keep falling. A city in the Russian Arctic hit nearly 90 degrees. This early summer heat wave looks and feels more like August. Scientists say it has all the hallmarks of climate change. In Macon, Georgia, the temperature ramped from 64 to 105 degrees on Wednesday and then hit 104, a further record, on Thursday.
