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California 'lawfare' case against pro-lifers first brought by Kamala Harris ends after nine years

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California 'lawfare' case against pro-lifers first brought by Kamala Harris ends after nine years

California authorities on Tuesday announced an end to their nearly decade-long criminal prosecution of an independent journalist and an anti-abortion activist who secretly recorded videos showing Planned Parenthood allegedly selling aborted fetal tissue.

The pair at the center of the legal fight, founder of the Center for Medical Progress David Daleiden and journalist Sandra Merritt, agreed to a “no-contest” plea deal on a single charge, resulting in no fines or prison sentences. California prosecutors had at one point pursued up to 15 felony counts in a case Daleiden said was politically motivated “lawfare.”

“My case is the first and only one that was ever criminally charged by the state attorney general’s office, and it was because of Planned Parenthood’s demand to cover up the information that was on those video recordings about how they’re using partial birth abortions to sell late-term aborted baby body parts at their taxpayer funded mega clinics across the state of California and across the country,” Daleiden told Fox News Digital in an interview on Tuesday. 

“I’m no expert, but I definitely think that the election has something to do with it,” Daleiden said when asked why he thinks prosecutors dropped the charges all these years later. Daleiden dubbed the litigation “lawfare,” in a post on X.

TRANS INMATE’S LAWSUIT CHALLENGES TRUMP ‘TWO-SEXES’ ORDER CUTTING OFF TAX MONEY FOR GENDER THERAPY

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Founder of Center for Medical Progress, David Daleiden, and pro-life journalist Sandra Merritt had their California case dropped with no prison time or fines on Monday. The pair secretly recorded videos showing Planned Parenthood allegedly selling aborted fetal tissue. (Getty Images)

In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, California State Attorney General Rob Bonta said, “While the Trump Administration is issuing pardons to individuals convicted of harming reproductive health clinics and providers, my office is securing criminal convictions to ensure that Californians can exercise their constitutional rights to reproductive healthcare.”

“We will not hesitate to continue taking action against those who threaten access to abortion care — whether by recording confidential conversations or other means,” he said.

Daleiden and Merritt’s plea agreement requires no contact with victims, no public identification of them, and compliance with all laws, including restrictions on recording, according to Bonta’s office.

 “[T]his entire case was an exercise in grotesquely political weaponization of government.” – pro-life activist David Daleiden

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As the then-California Attorney General, Kamala Harris initiated an investigation into Daleiden’s Center for Medical Progress, focusing on the legality of their undercover methods and a narrow application of the state’s eavesdropping law following the release of undercover footage. In 2016, a Texas grand jury indicted Daleiden and Merritt on felony charges related to the creation of fake IDs and offering to purchase fetal tissue. These charges, however, were later dismissed. 

In April 2016, under then-AG Harris, California authorities raided Daleiden’s home for evidence, prompting questions about her relationship with Planned Parenthood, which has donated to her campaigns and many other Democrats. 

Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate months later and resigned as state attorney general in January 2017.

In 2017, California prosecutors under Harris’ successor Xavier Becerra charged Daleiden and Merritt with 15 felony counts, including criminal conspiracy and invasion of privacy, for recording individuals without consent.

“They pursued this case viciously for nine years, because it was such a priority for national Planned Parenthood,” Daleiden said. “But ultimately, it’s a totally weaponized political prosecution. They’re totally wrong on the facts and the law of undercover video reporting in California, all the conversations that me and my team recorded were in public areas where other people could overhear.”

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“For the Attorney General’s Office of California to come this far after nine years, and essentially walk away with nothing… just shows this entire case was an exercise in grotesquely political weaponization of government.”

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photo montage, planned parenthood, Kamala Harris, and DNC 2024 sign

Planned Parenthood is sending a bus to the DNC. (Getty Images)

When the recordings were released, Planned Parenthood maintained it strictly donates the specimens, charging only for transportation and storage costs. 

Some of the videos were recorded in 2015 during meetings between Daleiden’s operatives, posing as representatives of a fetal tissue procurement company, and various Planned Parenthood staff members. The hours-long footage published online showed conversations in which Planned Parenthood providers and executives appeared to negotiate prices for fetal tissue and discuss under-the-table procedures for obtaining it.

Merritt was involved in the undercover operation as one of the key figures behind the release of the footage alongside Daleiden. 

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“Sandra Merritt did nothing wrong,” Merritt’s attorneys at the Christian law firm Liberty Counsel said in a statement Monday. “She did the right thing by exposing the depravity of the abortion industry.”

According to a 2015 Guardian report, Planned Parenthood stopped accepting reimbursements for its fetal tissue donation program following state and federal probes after Daleiden’s undercover videos.

TRUMP’S ‘TWO SEXES’ EXECUTIVE ORDER COMES ON HEELS OF SCOTUS ACCEPTING ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO LGBT AGENDA

Abortion clinic procedure room 2 sign

North Dakota’s previous restrictions on abortion were challenged in court by what was formerly state’s only abortion clinic. Pictured is an abortion clinic in Idaho. (Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday, “to end the use of federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion,” reinforcing the Hyde Amendment. As a result, organizations like Planned Parenthood, which provide abortion services, may face funding challenges depending on how the organization receives its funds for elective abortions. 

According to a blog post by the organization’s political action fund, “60% of Planned Parenthood patients rely on public health programs like Medicaid and Title X.”

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Fox News Digital has reached out to Harris and Planned Parenthood for comment. 

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Alaska

Help with paying utility bills listed among top requests from Alaska 211

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Help with paying utility bills listed among top requests from Alaska 211


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Workers at United Way’s statewide 211 line said Thursday that Alaskans asking for help to pay their utility bills is one of the top requests.

According to United Way data from 2023, utility assistance continues to be one of the top four unmet needs in Alaska, with that list rounded out by requests for help with housing, transportation, and food.

In the case of utility bills, United Way’s Chief Operating Officer Sue Brogan said the agency has a database with as many as 70 partners around the state that can provide some sort of energy assistance. That database features nonprofits, city and state programs, and tribal and non-tribal entities.

Brogan said trained navigators can help people find programs for which they might be eligible. The database also keeps track of which programs are currently accepting clients and have funding available and which ones don’t. The State of Alaska, for example, reports a backlog on processing applications for heating assistance programs.

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Some of the money available includes a recent $50,000 donation from Enstar, which Brogan said is designed to help Southcentral Alaskans who are struggling to pay their heating bills.

“All of that information is in the database,” Brogan said, “and so, when somebody calls in for help, the resource call specialist can take that person through all of those qualifications to make sure we are making a good referral.”

In addition to calling, Brogan said people can go directly to the Alaska 211 website to research various programs themselves, though she said calling or emailing the call center has the advantage of getting personalized help.

“Where do you start, what’s the eligibility, what do I have to bring to my appointment?” Brogan said. “We can help you with that; we can help you navigate that. And that is one of the greatest things about 211, is that we have staff that are here that can help you with that step.”

Alaskans can call 211 or (800) 478-2221, visit the website at Alaska211.org, or email Alaska211@ak.org.

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The call center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Callers can leave messages after hours.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com



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Arizona

Former Arizona Coyotes franchise has fans vote on team name

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Former Arizona Coyotes franchise has fans vote on team name


The former Arizona Coyotes franchise, now the Utah Hockey Club, has chosen three names for fans to vote on for their permanent team name.

Not making the list is the fan favorite “Yeti” or “Yetis” name. The Utah Hockey Club filed for a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to The Associated Press, that was rejected on Jan. 9. The “Yeti” name in relation to the hockey team would have confused the majority of people with the Yeti brand. Thus, Yeti and the Utah Hockey Club could not reach an agreement of coexistence with branding and merchandising.

The final three names up for consideration were Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Wasatch.

After Wednesday night’s first day of voting, Utah decided that the Wasatch name was not as popular to the crowd as they thought.

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On Thursday, the team announced that they would be switching the option of Utah Wasatch to Utah Outlaws after the first round of voting.

For the next three home games (voting started on Wednesday night against Pittsburgh) fans at the Delta Center can vote on their favorite name on an iPad. The next three home games are on Jan. 31 versus Columbus, Feb. 2 versus St. Louis and Feb. 4 versus Philadelphia.

The initial thought to use the Wasatch name was to still get across the idea behind the fans’ wishes of the Yeti, a mythical creature that lives up in the Himalayan mountains. The Wasatch Mountains run along the east side of the Salt Lake Valley.

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“We wanted to honor this idea people had for a mythical snow creature like the Yeti and bring a very Utah-centric approach to it,” Smith Entertainment Group executive Mike Maughan said in an article by AP’s John Coon. “Because we have the Wasatch Mountains, because we have the Wasatch Front, we have so many different iterations or ways we can do it. We wanted to honor the sentiment of one of those top names of the last iteration (of fan voting) while also including a Utah-centric version of it.”

A unique feature is that when fans click to vote on their favorite name, it will reveal logos, jerseys and branding for that particular choice.

The permanent team name will be revealed ahead of the Utah Hockey Club’s 2025-26 home opener.





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California

Northern California’s dry January only put a minor dent in region’s water supply

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Northern California’s dry January only put a minor dent in region’s water supply


The incoming storms follow what has been an exceptionally dry January for the Bay Area, with the lack of rain having an impact on the region’s water supply.

Healdsburg residents Tom and Molly Nicol visited Lake Sonoma to see where its water levels stood before they rise again with the rain from this weekend’s atmospheric river.  

“Yeah, when the water is up to the bottom of those trees over there, you know it’s full,” laughed Tom. “And you can see that it’s dropped a little bit from the last storm we got in December. So it’s down a little, but it’s full.”

There is still room in the lake, with a good chunk of winter yet to come.

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“That’s the thing. You need more storms,” explained Jeffrey Mount with the PPIC Water Policy Center. “We need somewhere in the order of five to seven big storms. That makes up the bulk of our precipitation. Just the difference of two storms can be the difference between an average year and a wet year.”

Mount cautions that this winter’s full story is yet to be written.

“We can tell what kind of year it’s gonna be by the end of February,” he said of California’s water year. “That’s it. And then we kinda know what it’s gonna be like.”

So where do things currently stand? After significant rains in November and December, the dry January has landed Northern California right back at an average winter. But looking at reservoirs like Lake Sonoma, the situation is better than average. 

For that, Californians can thank the current streak of wet winters, which could turn into something very out of the ordinary.

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“Shasta and Oroville are well above their historical averages,” Mount said of the state’s largest reservoirs. “So we’re about average, and our reservoirs are in really good shape right now. That’s the one thing. Even in the dry parts of the state.”

It is the continued payoff of the good year, and then an average year. Throw in another average year and — as far as recent decades — that’s a pretty decent three-year stretch.

“Yeah, and in two ways,” Mount explained. “One is we don’t get back-to-back wet years. It just doesn’t happen in the system. We usually have intervening dry years. 2017 was very wet. 2018 was dry, 2019 was wet. So yeah, ’23 and ’24 were really unusual. And if we come up with an average year on top of that, that is unprecedented in the 21st-century, is the best way to describe it. We haven’t seen that.”

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