Midwest

Wisconsin attorney argues 175-year-old abortion ban validity to state Supreme Court

Published

1 year ago

November 15, 2024

Wisconsin attorney argues 175-year-old abortion ban validity to state Supreme Court

An attorney for a Wisconsin prosecutor made the case to reinstate a 175-year-old abortion ban to the state’s Supreme Court on Monday.

His argument comes more than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which effectively ended recognition of a constitutional right to abortion and gave states the power to allow, limit or ban the practice altogether.

In December, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski appealed a Dane County judge’s ruling that said there is no state ban on abortions, invalidating the 175-year-old abortion ban.

While a ruling is not expected for weeks, abortion advocates are almost certain to win the case, since liberal justices control the court.

WI REPUBLICAN PROSECUTOR PLANS APPEAL IN STATE ABORTION CASE

Janet Protasiewicz, 60, is sworn in for her position as a State Supreme Court Justice at the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda in Madison, Wis. on August 1, 2023. (Sara Stathas for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Associated Press reported that one of the judges, Janet Protasiewicz, made remarks on the campaign trail that she supports abortion rights.

The hearing on Monday lasted about two hours, though no decision was made.

Rebecca Dallet, another liberal justice, told Matthew Thome, the attorney representing Urmanski, that the ban was passed in 1849 by white men who had all the power.

Liberal Justice Jill Karofsky pointed out to Thome that the 1849 law does not provide exceptions for rape or incest, and reactivating the ban could result in doctors not providing medical care.

WISCONSIN DISTRICT ATTORNEY APPEALS COURT DECISION ALLOWING ABORTIONS TO RESUME WITHIN STATE

Ultrasound image of a baby at 19 weeks gestation. (Fox News)

Thome told the court on Monday that he was not arguing about the implications of reinstating the ban on abortion. Instead, he maintained that the legal theory of new laws repealing old ones is shaky.

He also argued that the ban and newer restrictions on abortion can overlap.

Thome pleaded to the justices that a ruling that the 1985 law effectively repealed the ban would be “anti-democratic.”

“It’s a statute this Legislature has not repealed, and you’re saying, no, you actually repealed it,” he said.

Justice Dallet told Thome that disregarding laws passed over the last 40 years to go back to 1849 would be undemocratic.

The state’s ban on abortion from 1849 held up until 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the right to abortion nationwide in the landmark Roe v. Wade case. But when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Dobbs decision and overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, states regained the power to decide their own laws on abortion.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WISCONSIN TO RESUME ABORTIONS IN SHEBOYGAN BEFORE YEAR’S END

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul speaks at a campaign stop, Oct. 27, 2022, in Milwaukee.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit challenging the law in 2022. He argued that a 1985 Wisconsin law that allows abortions before a baby can survive outside the womb supersedes the ban.

Urmanski contends that the ban was never repealed, and it can co-exist with the 1985 law since it did not legalize abortion at any point.

He also argues that other modern-day abortion restrictions do not legalize the practice.

Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled last year that the ban outlaws feticide, or the killing of a fetus without the mother’s consent, but not consensual abortions.

Because of the ruling, Planned Parenthood was able to resume offering abortions in Wisconsin after halting procedures when Roe was overturned.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.

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Michigan

Michigan Republicans may try to impeach Attorney General Dana Nessel

Published

29 minutes ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

Michigan Republicans may try to impeach Attorney General Dana Nessel

Lansing — Michigan House Republicans said they might try to impeach the state’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, in her eighth and final year in office, accusing her of inappropriately wading into two investigations involving her allies.

But Nessel’s supporters countered that the GOP lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee are engaging in political theater and are misinterpreting or inaccurately portraying emails they obtained through subpoenas.

At the center of the claims are internal firewalls that were set up within Nessel’s office to prevent conflicts of interest in ongoing investigations. An Attorney General’s office probe that was supposed to be walled off from Nessel focused on Traci Kornak, a lawyer who served in 2018 on Nessel’s attorney general transition team. The other probe that Republicans have examined focused on Bipartisan Solutions, a nonprofit organization that contributed $782,000 to Fair and Equal Michigan, a ballot proposal committee co-chaired by Nessel’s wife, Alanna Maguire.

House Republicans obtained emails that showed Kornak had contacted Nessel and asked to receive documents related to the investigation into her. The emails also suggested that Nessel had spoken with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a fellow Democrat, about a campaign finance investigation into Bipartisan Solutions.

“There’s definitely, at minimum, a clear ethics violation by Attorney General Dana Nessel,” House Oversight Chairman Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, declared Tuesday.

While there was a conflict wall in place for matters involving Fair and Equal Michigan, there was not one for Bipartisan Solutions, Nessel spokeswoman Kim Bush said. The Attorney General’s Office also provided The Detroit News with emails that showed an investigation into Kornak’s work as a conservator for an elderly woman in west Michigan had been closed on Sept. 26, 2022, two months before Nessel messaged about being contacted by Kornak.

“Attorney General Nessel wielded no influence over the Kornak investigation, and none of the committee’s testimony or exhibits demonstrated that she had,” Bush said.

The scrutiny of Nessel, the state’s top law enforcement official and a frequent critic of Republican President Donald Trump, has been led by the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee.

On Tuesday, the panel met for about three hours. Members heard a report on the documents they received from the Attorney General’s Office, approved a subpoena for additional information on the Kornak investigation and voted to recommend that the full House hold Nessel in contempt of the Legislature for allegedly not cooperating with past demands.

The new subpoena referenced the House’s “ability to impeach civil officers of the state of Michigan.”

“There’s only one place that possesses impeachment to start, and that’s the House of Representatives,” DeBoyer said after the hearing. “So I would say that it certainly would be on the table.”

Across the aisle, state Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou, D-East Lansing, said Republicans, who took control of the House in January, have been exercising their oversight powers for political purposes throughout the year. Last week’s actions toward Nessel were merely the latest example, she said.

“What’s going on is political theater and a kangaroo court,” Tsernoglou said.

“Do we need oversight? Absolutely,” she added. “Should we hold departments and department heads accountable? Yes, we should. I just don’t think that’s what’s happening in that committee.”

A potential appointment

For years, Republicans have questioned Nessel’s handling of the 2022 investigation into Kornak, a former Michigan Democratic Party treasurer. They’ve alleged that Kornak abused her power as a conservator who was supposed to help an elderly woman oversee her finances. But Kornak hasn’t been charged with such a crime.

In July, seven months after winning a majority in the House, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena the records from Nessel’s office about its probe into Kornak.

The documents showed Nessel’s office opened an investigation into Kornak after reporting in The Detroit News on July 13, 2022, said a Grand Rapids nursing home was accusing Kornak of “inappropriate and unauthorized” invoicing.

“Notwithstanding … we’ve not received a complaint, the AG wants to know if this billing issue is something we would investigate,” Christina Grossi, former chief deputy attorney general, wrote in a July 13, 2022, email to other Attorney General staffers.

A conflict wall to exclude Nessel from discussing or accessing the Kornak case was set up on Sept. 6, 2022, according to emails obtained by the House Oversight Committee.

By Sept. 26, 2022, Lorri Bates, a supervisory special agent, requested that the probe into Kornak be closed.

Bush said the office was examining potential insurance fraud. The insurance company and the assisted living home involved in the situation didn’t want to pursue a case, Bush said.

“For an investigation regarding these alleged misdeeds, a complainant is required to participate in order to establish a crime occurred,” Bush said. “Having no viable path to further investigate the reported complaint, the file was closed.”

Despite it coming after the investigation’s closure, House Republicans have highlighted a Dec. 6, 2022, email in which Nessel discussed being contacted by Kornak.

The allegations against her “are apparently holding up a potential judicial appointment for her in Kent County,” Nessel wrote in the Dec. 6, 2022, message to two Attorney General employees. “She has requested the documents from our investigation.”

Nessel added, “Please advise what our process should be.”

During the three-hour Tuesday committee hearing, the House Oversight Committee heard a report on and asked questions about the Kornak matter for about two hours.

“This stinks,” DeBoyer said of the attorney general’s handling of the case.

Also, House Republicans said the Kent County Sheriff’s Office had separately investigated Kornak and recommended charges be brought by the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office, including embezzlement from a vulnerable adult.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said the case was still under investigation as of Friday.

In an email, Kornak said she wasn’t available to respond due to other obligations.

Bipartisan Solutions

The Secretary of State’s office determined in November 2022 that a nonprofit group named Bipartisan Solutions might have violated campaign finance requirements by flowing about $782,000 to Fair and Equal Michigan, a petition campaign that sought to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Because of the coordination involved in your organization’s contributions to Fair and Equal Michigan and Bipartisan Solutions’ failure to file campaign statements, the department concludes there may be reason to believe that a potential violation of the act has occurred,” wrote Adam Fracassi of the Bureau of Elections in a letter to Bipartisan Solutions.

Then, the Secretary of State’s office referred the matter to Nessel’s office in April 2023.

Spurred by a separate matter, three years earlier, Nessel’s office had already set up an internal conflict wall regarding Fair and Equal Michigan, for which Nessel’s wife had briefly served as a co-chair.

In August 2023, the Attorney General’s Office asked the Secretary of State’s Office to reopen its inquiry into Bipartisan Solutions because the communications from the Secretary of State’s Office to Bipartisan Solutions had been sent to an incorrect address, according to emails obtained by House Republicans.

Michael Brady, chief legal director for the Secretary of State, responded by saying the communications were sent to the address the group had on file, and his office couldn’t reopen the investigation.

On Feb. 22, 2024, Danielle Hagaman-Clark, the Attorney General’s chief bureau chief, wrote to Brady, “I was informed the AG reached out directly to the Secretary and the Secretary agreed to take this matter back for further review.”

However, Benson spokeswoman Angela Benander said Friday that the Secretary of State’s Office never reopened the matter or took it back.

But House Republicans said the emails showed Nessel had violated the conflict wall regarding Fair and Equal Michigan.

“It’s quite brazen that the attorney general would contact the secretary of state and ask for these charges to be taken back,” Rep. Angela Rigas, R-Caledonia, said at one point Tuesday.

Nessel’s office said the conflict wall was set up for matters regarding Fair and Equal Michigan specifically, not for Bipartisan Solutions, a separate organization.

“The determination to refer the Bipartisan Solutions matter back to the Michigan Department of State was predicated on Michigan Department of Attorney General prosecutors’ determination that the Department of State had not satisfied statutorily prescribed processes for resolving complaints of conduct contrary to the Michigan Campaign Finance Act,” Bush said.

Nessel’s office didn’t participate in Tuesday’s three-hour hearing. At the end of it, Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, said he believes Nessel’s actions amounted to impeachable conduct.

The committee then approved a motion by Rep. Jason Woolford, R-Howell, to recommend the House symbolically hold Nessel in contempt of the Legislature. The House similarly voted to hold Benson, the Democratic secretary of state, in contempt in May.

The evidence showed the “unaccountable deep state operating behind the scenes,” Woolford said.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

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Minnesota

4 things we learned from the Giants’ 16-13 loss to the Vikings

Published

41 minutes ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

4 things we learned from the Giants’ 16-13 loss to the Vikings

At this point in the 2025 NFL season, there really isn’t much left to learn about this New York Giants team. They’re bad. As a former scientist, I do appreciate that ownership has tried to apply the scientific method to understand why.

Two hypotheses were offered by fans and the Giants beat writers in mid-season. The Giants are bad because (a) the coaches are bad, or (b) the players (and hence the general manager) are bad. They couldn’t realistically fire the entire coaching staff in mid-season, but they did fire the two most frequent targets of fans’ and writers’ wrath, head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. They’ve now run the experiment for five weeks, taken the Petri dish out, and the results are in: The Giants still stink. So we now know it wasn’t (just) the coaches, although it’s possible that Mike Kafka and Charlie Bullen are as bad as Daboll and Bowen.

No scientific experiment is perfect, but today we got another data point. What did we learn from the Giants’ 16-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings?

Is Mike Kafka the second coming of Joe Judge?

When Brian Daboll was still head coach, the Giants had some of their most successful offensive games this season after Jaxson Dart took over as starter. That more or less continued until Dart’s concussion in Chicago, during another blown fourth quarter lead, precipitated Daboll’s dismissal. Kafka, who supposedly had been given back the play calling this year, now had complete charge of the offense, and it looked good, even great at times, in his first two games as head coach with Jameis Winston at the helm.

Since Dart returned, though, things haven’t been the same…except for the losing. Dart has played some of his worst ball since returning to the lineup against New England. Today was clearly the worst game of his Giants career, with only 33 yards passing on the day. Maybe the absence of designed runs has taken something important from his arsenal.

Or maybe Kafka is coaching scared. Last week I was upset at how often he called running plays on 2nd and 10 after incomplete passes. Today Kafka just bypassed first down passes completely for a while. Kafka called runs on the Giants’ first four offensive plays. The first two worked for big gains, but the next two didn’t. Kafka finally called passes on two consecutive plays, neither of which worked, but both of which were canceled by Minnesota penalties. Given new life at the Vikings’ 16 yard line, Kafka called three consecutive runs that only got them to 4th and goal at the 5 yard line. THEN, rather than kick the field goal to get back to a 3-3 tie, he decided to have Dart pass…which resulted in a sack and change of possession.

This is terrible play calling. You’re telling your QB that you have no faith in him. It brought back memories of the final two games of the Joe Judge Experience, when he refused to let Mike Glennon pass at all after the first quarter in Chicago, and then had Jake Fromm not even attempt to get first downs deep in his own territory. I get it – Brian Flores runs a difficult defense to diagnose, and you’re risking disastrous turnovers if he’s confusing your rookie QB. But Flores was blitzing Dart about 70% of the time, and play callers are supposed to have hot reads for the QB to throw to in order to blunt the effect of the pressure. If you don’t let your QB experience that, you’re stifling his development. If you’re using 12 personnel and then almost always running out of it rather than passing, you’re tying your QB’s hands.

You’re not in good hands with the Giants’ receiving corps

The counter to my point above is that minus Malik Nabers, the Giants’ receivers are a really unreliable group. On the rare occasions that Dart did try to pass, he was undercut by his receivers’ inability to corral the ball. Darius Slayton bobbled and lost another pass that would have been a first down. Wan’DaleRobinson, among the more sure-handed of the Giants’ receivers, let a pass hit him in the face mask and be bobbled before he got hit and it fell incomplete. Admittedly it was a pass that Dart floated rather than putting velocity on so Robinson could gather it in well before contact, but it was still a drop. Finally, Theo Johnson once again could not bring in a pass that he should have been able to go get, letting it bounce off his hands for an interception.

The pass rush is looking up

Granted, the Vikings’ OL is not the best, but the Giants got good pressure on J.J. McCarthy and Max Brosmer today. The beneath-the-surface story of today’s game was that the QB the Giants chose not to draft last year faced the QB they chose to trade up for this year. McCarthy, after a rough start to his career, had played great the previous two games, making the Viking offense suddenly look like a juggernaut. Today, The Giants sacked McCarthy three times and Brosmer once and held the two of them together to 160 yards passing. Brian Burns had two more sacks, continuing his excellent season, and Abdul Carter was active again, with another sack on a beautiful inside spin, his signature move, plus several other pressures. In addition, Chauncey Golston, who has been injured for much of his first Giants season and invisible when he’s been out there, got his first sack and was generally active when he was in the game.

Maybe it was the pass rush, maybe it was the inexperienced QBs, but today was the first day that I thought the Giants’ secondary played well this season. Paulson Adebo had his first interception as a Giant. Jevon Holland had what should have been a pick-6, but it was called back because Abdul Carter lined up in the neutral zone. Oof. Tyler Nubin finally made a positive play this season, recovering McCarthy’s fumble and returning it 27 yards for a TD.

I also thought the Giants’ linebackers had one of their best games of the season, especially Bobby Okereke, who has been MIA since Wink Martindale stormed out the door. Okereke even broke up a pass to Justin Jefferson.

After a 3-year odyssey, the Giants today looked like they actually have a kicker who can make field goals in Ben Sauls. Granted, they were only 27 and 39 yards, but we’ll take what we can get as Giants fans. Besides,he was kicking in what looked like a decent wind today and it looked like he placed them perfectly to compensate for the wind. He also made his only extra point, which would not be a big deal on any other team, but as Giants fans we count our blessings, however small.

Speaking of blessings, the dream of the No. 1 pick remains alive, with unexpected help from the Titans, who handily defeated the cratering Chiefs.

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Missouri

Missouri Lottery Pick 3, Pick 4 winning numbers for Dec. 21, 2025

Published

53 minutes ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

The Missouri Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Dec. 21, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Pick 3 numbers from Dec. 21 drawing

Midday: 9-5-2

Midday Wild: 3

Evening: 0-5-0

Evening Wild: 9

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from Dec. 21 drawing

Midday: 3-4-0-7

Midday Wild: 0

Evening: 3-4-4-6

Evening Wild: 1

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash4Life numbers from Dec. 21 drawing

15-25-30-40-55, Cash Ball: 02

Check Cash4Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash Pop numbers from Dec. 21 drawing

Early Bird: 01

Morning: 06

Matinee: 14

Prime Time: 01

Night Owl: 10

Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Show Me Cash numbers from Dec. 21 drawing

04-07-13-22-32

Check Show Me Cash payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

All Missouri Lottery retailers can redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners have the option to submit their claim by mail or in person at one of Missouri Lottery’s regional offices, by appointment only.

To claim by mail, complete a Missouri Lottery winner claim form, sign your winning ticket, and include a copy of your government-issued photo ID along with a completed IRS Form W-9. Ensure your name, address, telephone number and signature are on the back of your ticket. Claims should be mailed to:

Ticket Redemption

Missouri Lottery

P.O. Box 7777

Jefferson City, MO 65102-7777

For in-person claims, visit the Missouri Lottery Headquarters in Jefferson City or one of the regional offices in Kansas City, Springfield or St. Louis. Be sure to call ahead to verify hours and check if an appointment is required.

For additional instructions or to download the claim form, visit the Missouri Lottery prize claim page.

When are the Missouri Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
Pick 3: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
Pick 4: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
Cash4Life: 8 p.m. daily.
Cash Pop: 8 a.m. (Early Bird), 11 a.m. (Late Morning), 3 p.m. (Matinee), 7 p.m. (Prime Time) and 11 p.m. (Night Owl) daily.
Show Me Cash: 8:59 p.m. daily.
Lotto: 8:59 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.
Powerball Double Play: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Missouri editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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