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Biden Administration Sues Idaho Over Its Abortion Restrictions

Biden Administration Sues Idaho Over Its Abortion Restrictions

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration sued Idaho on Tuesday over a strict state abortion law set to take effect this month that the Justice Department said would inhibit emergency room doctors from performing abortions that are necessary to stabilize the health of women facing medical emergencies.

The lawsuit, announced by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, is the first Biden administration has filed to protect access to abortion since the Supreme Court ruling in late June that ended the constitutional right to terminate pregnancies.

Since then, Mr. Garland noted at a news conference on Tuesday, “there have been widespread reports of delays and denials of treatment to pregnant women experiencing emergencies.” The lawsuit argues that a federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, bars states from imposing restrictions that would prevent emergency room doctors from treating those women.

“If a patient comes into the emergency room with a medical emergency jeopardizing the patient’s life or health, the hospital must provide the treatment necessary to stabilize that patient,” Mr. Garland said. “This includes abortion when that is the necessary treatment.”

The litigation came as voters in Kansas went to the polls to decide whether to overturn a 2019 ruling by the state’s Supreme Court interpreting the state’s Constitution as protecting abortion rights. The ballot initiative is the first referendum on abortion rights since the US Supreme Court’s decision in late June.

Last month, after the federal Department of Health and Human Services put out guidance to ensure access to abortion in certain emergency situations at hospitals that take Medicare funding, Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas filed a lawsuit challenging the rules.

The new case raises similar legal issues about the scope of federal law to protect emergency room doctors who decide abortions are necessary to treat dangerous pregnancy complications that fall short of a direct threat to the life of a patient. This time, however, the federal government is the plaintiff, not the defendant.

The Justice Department is also seeking an injunction barring Idaho from enforcing its strict abortion law on emergency room doctors, nurses and lab technicians who assist with abortions in emergency situations — including instances in which women face conditions like ectopic pregnancies, severe pre-eclampsia or pregnancy complications threatening septic infections or hemorrhages.

Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion contained a trigger that would allow it to take effect shortly after any ruling by the US Supreme Court overturning its Roe v. Wade abortion rights precedent. Because the court issued such a ruling earlier this summer, the Idaho law is set to take effect in about three weeks.

The legislation bans abortion except when necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman — but not to protect her health — or in cases of rape or incest that were previously reported to the authorities.

It allows law enforcement officials to arrest and indict a doctor whenever an abortion has been performed, regardless of the circumstances; it is up to the doctor, as a defense at trial, to prove that one of the narrow exceptions to the ban applied. As a result, critics of the law say that doctors will be afraid to perform abortions under any circumstances.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit seeks a declaration from a court that Idaho’s law is invalid if applied to situations covered by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act because the US Constitution makes federal law supreme over state law where the two conflicts.

“Even in dire situations that might qualify for the Idaho law’s limited ‘necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman’ affirmative defense, some providers could withhold care based on a well-founded fear of criminal prosecution,” the department’s complaint said.

It continued: “Idaho’s abortion law will therefore prevent doctors from performing abortions even when a doctor determines that abortion is the medically necessary treatment to prevent severe risk to the patient’s health and even in cases where denial of care will likely result in death for the pregnant patient.”

Appearing alongside Mr. Garland, Vanita Gupta, the associate attorney general and the head of a Justice Department task force on reproductive rights, said that her working group had been studying the “fast-changing landscape” of state legal restrictions on abortion since the Supreme Court’s ruling. She suggested that more lawsuits were likely to follow.

“We know that these are frighting and uncertain times for pregnant women and their providers,” she said. “The Justice Department, through the work of its task force, is committed to doing everything we can to ensure continued, lawful access to reproductive services.”

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Putin’s reported girlfriend Alina Kabaeva hit with US sanctions | Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin’s purported lover has been hit with sanctions from the US government’s treasury department over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Alina Kabaeva, 39, landed on the latest update to the federal Office of Foreign Assets Control’s specially designated nationals list, freezing any of her assets in the US and generally prohibiting Americans from dealing with her.

The move came a little more than three months after the White House said Kabaeva, a famed former rhythmic gymnast, nor anyone else was safe from sanctions, even after her last-minute removal from a round of such penalties in April.

United Kingdom officials had similarly sanctioned Kabaeva – who is now chairperson of Russia’s New Media Group, the country’s largest private media company – in May.

Western countries have levied economic penalties at associates and loved ones of Putin to punish the Russian president, 69, for his decision to invade Ukraine in February. The US has avoided a direct confrontation with Russia over the invasion, though it has provided billions of dollars in weapons and other resources to help Ukraine.

The Kremlin has long denied that Putin, who is divorced, is romantically involved with Kabaeva, but various published reports suggest that she is the mother of at least some of his children. A Moscow newspaper which, in 2008, reported that Putin and Kabaeva were involved despite his still being married at the time was shut down soon after for unclear reasons.

Kabaeva, who is originally from Uzbekistan, won gold in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. She later spent more than six years as a lawmaker in Putin’s United Russia party before taking over the National Media Group in 2014, with her only prior experience in the company’s industry being her hosting of a TV talkshow.

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Drone strike on al-Zawahiri confronts Taliban with nationalist backlash

Drone strike on al-Zawahiri confronts Taliban with nationalist backlash

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KABUL — The US drone strike that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri here early Sunday morning also struck a humiliating blow to the Taliban regime, which had secretly hosted the aging extremist in the heart of the Afghan capital for months but failed to keep him safe.

Just as the Taliban was preparing to celebrate its first year in power later this month, the attack has sparked a nationalistic backlash against the beleaguered regime at home and taunting comments on social media calling for revenge against the United States.

“If the martyrdom of Zawahiri is confirmed, then shame on you that we could not protect the true hero of Islam,” an Afghan named Ehsanullah tweeted in response to a statement early Tuesday by the chief Taliban spokesman that the al-Qaeda leader had been killed in a US drone strike.

The assassination of al-Zawahiri, a hero to Islamist militant groups but a long-wanted terrorist in the West, has also crystallized the ongoing struggle between moderate and hard-line factions within the Taliban regime. Several leaders of the hard-line Haqqani network, long denounced by US officials for directing high-profile terrorist attacks, hold powerful positions in the regime.

Now, some Afghan and American analysts said, the drone strike may harden Taliban attitudes and push the regime toward an open embrace of the extremist forces it pledged to renounce in its 2020 peace deal with the United States.

“The Taliban are in deep political trouble now, and they are going to face pressure to retaliate. The relationship they have with al-Qaeda and other jihadi groups remains very strong,” said Asfandyar Mir, an expert on Islamic extremism at the US Institute of Peace in Washington. “I think we should brace for impact.”

Mir noted that while Taliban officials have been hoping to gain international recognition and access to more than $9 billion in assets that were frozen by the Biden administration, the group’s supreme religious leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, declared flatly at a national conclave in May, “We are in a clash of civilizations with the West.”

US kills al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in drone strike in Kabul

There is deep-seated animosity here toward the United States, which intensified after US troops withdrew last year and the war economy collapsed, leaving millions of Afghans jobless. When Afghan officials belatedly confirmed that a US drone had killed the al-Qaeda leader, after first insisting the strike was a harmless rocket attack, many Afghans were infuriated.

“We have so many worries already. For a whole year, there have been no jobs, no business, no activity. But at least the fighting was over. The Taliban was in charge, and there was good security, ”said a resident of the Sherpur neighborhood, where the drone struck, who gave his name to him as Hakimullah. “Now, suddenly, this attack happens, and everyone is frightened again.”

Many Afghans seem to know little about al-Zawahiri or al-Qaeda. In part, this is because so many of them were born after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that US officials said were masterminded by al-Zawahiri and his associates, and in part because the al-Qaeda fighters who joined forces with the Taliban are Middle Easterners whose presence in Afghanistan has always been low profile.

What Ayman al-Zawahiri’s killing means for al-Qaeda

Until now, people here were far more focused on the threat posed by a different Sunni Muslim extremist movement, known as the Islamic State-Khorasan or ISIS-K. The group has in the past repeatedly bombed mosques, schools and other sites in Kabul, especially during the Shiite Muslim festival of Muharram, which began this week.

Among those most dismayed by the turn of events are Afghan civilians who have tried to form working relationships with the new Taliban authorities, encouraging them to develop moderate and practical governing policies rather than focusing exclusively on religion.

Faiz Zaland, who teaches governance and political science at Kabul University, expressed frustration with the Taliban for failing to anticipate the risks of bringing al-Zawahiri to the capital and concern that the US attack had doomed chances for the moderate elements in the regime to compete. with the hard line religious figures at the top.

“The Taliban are stuck now, and it’s their own fault,” he said. “This is going to undercut the achievements of their first year, and people who care feel betrayed and scared.”

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Misleading Kansas abortion texts linked to Republican-aligned firm

Misleading Kansas abortion texts linked to Republican-aligned firm

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The text messages arrived on Monday, the day before Kansans were set to vote on an amendment that would excise abortion protections from their state constitution.

Thetext claimed that approving that measure, which could allow the Republican-controlled legislature to outlaw abortion, would safeguard “choice.” If the amendment fails, constitutional protections would remain in place, buttressing current law that allows abortion in the first 22 weeks of pregnancy.

“Women in KS are losing their choice on reproductive rights,” the text warned. “Voting YES on the Amendment will give women a choice. Vote YES to protect women’s health.”

The unsigned messages were described as deceptive by numerous recipients, including former Democratic governor Kathleen Sebelius, who also served as health and human services secretary in the Obama administration. She told The Washington Post that she was “stunned to receive the message, which made clear there was a very specific effort to use carefully crafted language to confuse folks before they would go vote.”

The gambit was all the more alarming to abortion rights advocates and watchdogs because its source was unknown. But the messages were enabled by a fast-growing, Republican-aligned technology firm, whose role in the episode has not been previously reported.

The messages were sent from phone numbers that had been leased by Alliance Forge, based in Sparks, Nev., according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue. Alliance Forge, which was founded in 2021, describes itself as the “nation’s fastest growing political technology company, proudly serving federal, state, and local campaigns throughout the nation.”

The numbers were leased by Alliance Forge from Twilio, a San Francisco-based communications company. The numbers were disabled Monday evening, according to a Twilio spokesman, Cris Paden, who said the account that had leased them was in violation of the company’s policies prohibiting the “spread of disinformation.”

In a statement, Alliance Forge chief executive David Espinosa said that “Alliance Forge did not consult on this message’s messaging strategy or content.” He said the company was notified Monday night of a “possible content violation” and “immediately began working with the Twilio team to identify the source and nature of the content.”

It was not immediately clear which of Alliance Forge’s clients sent the messages seeking to sway Kansas voters. Alliance Forge representatives declined to say. The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission said Monday that, “under current law, text message advocacy about constitutional ballot initiatives does not require paid-for disclaimers.”

This election cycle, Alliance Forge has been paid more than $60,000 by federal campaigns alone, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Its clients have included Adam Laxalt, a Republican candidate for the US Senate in Nevada, and a committee associated with Kathy Barnette, a political commentator and unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for the US Senate in Pennsylvania. Alliance Forge provided text-messaging services for both, filings show.

The texts sent Monday did not mention Alliance Forge or its client, leaving no clear way for people who received the messages to tell who was seeking to push them in favor of a “Yes” vote.

The effort offered fresh evidence of the power of text messages in political campaigning, as well as the covered style of communications made possible by the platform. Two days after the 2020 election, a Republican firm run by a top aid to then-President Donald Trump’s campaign helped send unsigned text messages that urged supporters in Philadelphia to converge outside a building where local election officials were counting votes. It blared: “ALERT: Radical Liberals & Dems are trying to steal this election from Trump!”

Reports filed with the Kansas ethics commission illustrate keen interest in the outcome of Tuesday’s referendum, the first major vote on abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June. The opposing camps have spent $11.2 million this year, with the Catholic Church and its affiliates dispensing $3.4 million in support of the amendment that could give legislators the ability to impose new abortion restrictions and the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood spending $382,000 and $1.3 million , respectively, to oppose it.

Espinosa, an information technology specialist, is among Alliance Forge’s co-founders. the others are Michael Clement, a Republican operative whose LinkedIn profile says he managed the 2020 campaign of Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), and Greg Bailor, a former state director for the Republican National Committee and executive director of the Nevada Republican Party.

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Solid line of storms, severe wind gusts, isolated tornado possible after Wednesday’s steambath

Solid line of storms, severe wind gusts, isolated tornado possible after Wednesday's steambath

The weather set-up is classic for a late summer line of severe thunderstorms Wednesday.

All of the boxes of basic items on a severe weather checklist are checked for afternoon Wednesday and evening. Heat and high humidity will create unstable air. Unstable air rises and produces billowing thunderstorms. The engine to a large line of thunderstorms is an upper-air disturbance and an abrupt wind shift at the surface. Both of those storm-making weather features will be present late Wednesday. Finally, the time of day matters for robust storms. The heat of late afternoon and evening are the right time for scattered thunderstorms to merge into a solid line of thunderstorms.

The Storm Prediction Center’s early Tuesday morning severe weather forecast for Wednesday afternoon and evening indicates the severe weather should occur over part of Lower Michigan.

The severe storms are expected from the Alpena area through Bay City, Saginaw, Midland, the Thumb, Flint, Lansing and possibly the Grand Rapids area. The placement is based mostly on the peak instability of the day from 3 pm to 10 pm

severe wed

Overall severe weather probability for Wednesday afternoon and evening, August 3.

The Storm Prediction Center mentions that widespread tornado development is not expected, but an isolated tornado is possible.

severe wed

Isolated tornado probability for Wednesday afternoon and evening, August 3.

Typically these lines of thunderstorms produce one-mile wide segments of 60 mph winds, or maybe even slightly stronger. The damaging wind like forecast shows the area where the storms will be located during the late afternoon and evening.

severe wed

Damaging wind like probability for Wednesday afternoon and evening, August 3.

They also give a small chance of large hail occurring in any of the thunderstorms across Lower Michigan.

severe wed

Large hail probability for Wednesday afternoon and evening, August 3.

Here is the radar forecast from the best model for this situation and the 24 hour to 36 hour timeframe (from Tuesday morning).

Radar

Radar forecast from midnight Wednesday, August 3 to 6 am Thursday, August 4.

The weather scenario gives us a pretty easy concept on when and where to prepare for possible severe thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon and evening. The line of storms will likely move from the northeast corner of Lower Michigan to the Saginaw Bay area, and could even hold together into southeast Lower Michigan. The severe part of the line of storms may extend back to the southwest into the Grand Rapids area.

Also note that an early morning line of thunderstorms could bring a burst of severe wind gusts across the northern part of Lower Michigan. This line of storms would be a different line of storms than the afternoon storms.

If you have a construction project that is susceptible to wind damage or heavy rain damage, make sure to protect it today. If you are planning some boating, Wednesday will probably be too windy before the storms and then obviously too dangerous during the storms. Campers will just need to be ready to move to a sturdy vehicle or solid building for the hour when storms are moving over your campsite.

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Manchin’s inflation bill includes BBB’s ‘most economically damaging provision,’ analysis shows

Manchin's inflation bill includes BBB's 'most economically damaging provision,' analysis shows

Check out what’s clicking on FoxBusiness.com.

Democrats’ inflation bill includes a provision from the Build Back Better Act (BBB) ​​which a nonpartisan analysis deemed the “most economically damaging provision.”

The Inflation Reduction Act, introduced last week by Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., would introduce a 15% minimum tax on corporate book income, or the income that corporations list on public earnings reports. However, the same tax was included in BBB, President Biden’s budget proposal that Manchin ultimately tanked over concerns the bill would dampen economic growth and worsen inflation.

The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy research group, characterized the provision as a particularly harmful provision of the BBB.

MOST AMERICANS WILL FEEL TAX PAIN FROM DEM INFLATION BILL DESPITE BIDEN’S PAST PROMISES: ANALYSIS

“The proposed 15 percent minimum tax on corporate book income is the most economically damaging provision in the bill,” the Tax Foundation’s analysis of BBB stated in December.

Joe Manchin

Sen. Joe Manchin walks near the White House on Nov. 18, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)

The analysis concluded the corporate minimum tax would cost roughly 27,000 jobs and reduce gross domestic product by 0.1%. The tax provision would also lead to lower wages, according to the December study.

While the Tax Foundation hasn’t issued a similar analysis of the Inflation Reduction Act, William McBride, the group’s vice president of federal tax and economic policy at the Tax Foundation, said the bill would cause economic damage. I have noted that the Federal Reserve’s attempt to halt inflation from increasing is likely to trigger a recession within the next 12 months.

“In such conditions, it would be extremely unwise to raise taxes, especially the type of taxes advocated by this administration, which would do excessive harm to the economy,” McBride wrote in a blog post on July 27.

SMALL BUSINESS GROUPS RIP MANCHIN, SCHUMER DEAL: ‘MISERY FOR MANY MORE AMERICANS’

Separate analyzes from the Penn Wharton Budget Model and National Taxpayers Union Foundation concluded that the Inflation Reduction Act wouldn’t reduce inflation.

FOX Business host Stuart Varney argues there’s ‘no certainty’ that Manchin will get the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

“Unfortunately, the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ doubles down on the same irresponsible fiscal policy that has caused inflation: All of the new government spending is upfront, while the deficit-reducing revenues are backloaded,” Matthew Dickerson, the director for the Grover M Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at The Heritage Foundation, wrote on July 29. “The result would be higher short-term deficits and higher inflation.”

In addition, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) published a report Friday that showed most Americans, including those that make less than $10,000, would face increased costs as a result of the bill. Republicans, including Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, highlighted the report and slammed Democrats for pushing a bill that “raises taxes on the middle class.”

But Democrats argued the JCT analysis was incomplete and didn’t factor in the bill’s energy, pharmaceutical and health care cost reductions.

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“The JCT report that we’re currently seeing is incomplete because it omits the actual benefits that Americans would receive when it comes to prescription drugs, when it comes to lowering energy costs, like utility bills,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. “It does not include that.”

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RDU police hear from co-pilot, NTSB investigating man’s death after fall or jump from plane :: WRAL.com

RDU police hear from co-pilot, NTSB investigating man's death after fall or jump from plane :: WRAL.com

By Joe Fisher, WRAL reporter

The National Transportation Safety Board is taking over the investigation into a man’s death last week linked to the emergency landing of the plane he was co-piloting.

The body of Charles Hew Crooks, 23, was found Friday evening in a Fuquay-Varina backyard, hours after the plane landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. It is not clear whether Crooks, who was one of two pilots on the CASA 212-200 airplane, jumped or fell from the plane.

The news comes a day after the Federal Aviation Administration said it would lead the investigation.

The RDU Police Department said it had interviewed the surviving co-pilot, whose name was not made public. RDU police have not released the incident report, citing the ongoing investigation. Airport police turned over the interview to the FAA and NTSB.

Crews find person believed to be missing from plane that made emergency landing at RDU

Preliminary information indicates that the airplane sustained substantial damage to the landing gear and fuselage, according to the NTSB.

The NTSB will determine the scope of its investigation after more information is gathered. The board is not conducting any interviews as of Tuesday.

WRAL News has also requested interviews with the FAA and RDU Police.

Wake County Emergency Management Chief of Operations Darshan Patel said the initial 911 call came in around 2:30 pm Friday, July 29. Flight logs show the emergency landing happened at 2:48 pm

“Once the aircraft had landed, it was reconfirmed based on a report the pilot said the second person in the aircraft had exited the aircraft prior to landing,” Patel said.

Charles Hew Crooks

Patel said 80-plus people were involved in the search for Crooks.

“At the beginning, it was quite a large search area, and we wanted to make sure we using our resources effectively but also efficiently to do what we could for this individual,” Patel said.

Several law enforcement entities were involved in the search for Crooks, including Wake County Emergency Management, the town of Cary, the town of Holly Springs, the town of Fuquay-Varina and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

‘It was kind of an all hands on deck for the folks who were in that area,’ Patel said.

This is a developing story. Refresh the page for the latest information.

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‘My life will never, ever be the same.’ Court hears first victim impact statements in Parkland shooter’s death penalty trial

'My life will never, ever be the same.' Court hears first victim impact statements in Parkland shooter's death penalty trial

“Soon she’d go on to be a professional soccer player. She’d get her law degree, and maybe become one of the most successful business negotiation lawyers the world would see,” Ilan Alhadeff told a Broward County courtroom Tuesday, testifying in the death penalty trial of his daughter’s killer.

“She was supposed to get married, and I was going to have my father-daughter dance,” he said, his voice breaking. “She would have had a beautiful family, four kids, live in a gorgeous house – a beach house on the side.

“All those plans came to an end with Alyssa’s murder,” he said.

Families of the 17 people killed in the Parkland school shooting continue to take the stand Tuesday, offering victim impact statements to illustrate the toll the murders have taken as a jury decides whether to sentence the shooter to death.

Nikolas Cruz, now 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, and this phase of his criminal trial aims to determine his sentence: Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, while Cruz’s defense attorneys are asking the jury for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

To recommend a death sentence, jurors must be unanimous. If they do so, the judge could choose to follow the recommendation or sentence Cruz to life instead.

To make their decision, jurors will hear prosecutors and defense attorneys argue aggravating factors and mitigating circumstances — reasons Cruz should or should not be executed. Victim impact statements add another layer, giving the families and friends of the victims their own day in court, though the judge told the jury the statements are not meant to be weighed as aggravating factors.

“We were a family unit of five always trying to fit into a world set up for even numbers,” said Tom Hoyer, whose 15-year-old son Luke — the youngest of three — was killed. “Two-, four-, six-seat tables in a restaurant. Two-, four-, six-ticket packages to events. Things like that.”

But the Hoyers are no longer a family of five, and “never again will the world feel right, now that we’re a family of four,” Hoyer said.

“When Luke died something went missing in me,” he said. “And I’ll never, never get over that feeling.”

Patricia Oliver is comforted as a witness testifies to her son's fatal injuries during the penalty phase of the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on August 1, 2022.

‘I will never get over it’

Testimony by the parents of the 14 students killed has focused not only on who their children were, but on who they will never get to become — a never-ending catalog of things left undone and unsaid.

Nicholas Dworet, captain of the high school’s swim team, had just received a scholarship to the University of Indianapolis at the time he was killed, his mother, Annika Dworet, testified Tuesday. He wanted to study finance and move to Boston with his girlfriend from him.

“Nick had big goals — bigger than most of us dare to dream of,” she said. Next to his bed, he’d tapped a note that read, “I want to become a Swedish Olympian and go to Tokyo 2020 to compete for my country. I will give all I have in my body and my mind to achieve the goals I have set.”

“Now,” Annika Dworet said, “we will never know if he would have reached his goal to go to the Olympics.”

Linda Beigel Schulman holds a photo of her son, Scott Beigel, before giving her victim impact statement.

Jennifer Guttenberg, mother of 14-year-old Jaime, told the court that watching her daughter’s friends and classmates grow up and achieve things that Jaime never will is “excruciatingly difficult.”

Family get-togethers and holidays are hard, too, with one less seat at the table and no Jaime to keep “everyone upbeat and laughing.”

“There is togetherness, but there is no celebrating,” Guttenberg said. “There is a deadening silence amongst everyone, as they do n’t want to bring up Jaime’s name to her to cause pain, but do n’t want to forget her, either.”

The last four years have been no less painful for Linda Beigel Schulman, who told the court Monday it had been 1,630 days since she spoke to her son Scott Beigel, a geography teacher killed as he ushered students to safety in his classroom.

“I will never get over it. I will never get past it,” she said Monday. “My life will never, ever be the same.”

‘Our lives have been shattered’

Cruz had no visible reaction Monday to any of the victim impact statements, though one of his defense attorneys was seen wiping away a tear, as were at least two members of the jury.

“It’s been four years and four months since he was taken from us, his friends and his family,” Patricia Oliver said of her son, who was 17 when he was killed. “We miss him more than words can say and love him dearly,” she said, adding, “Our lives have been shattered and changed forever.”

Joaquin’s sister, Andrea Ghersi, said her 6-foot-1 baby brother was “energetic, vibrant, loud, confident, strong, empathetic, understanding, smart, passionate, outgoing, playful, loving, competitive, rebellious, funny, loyal and constantly spoke up when he felt something was not just.”

Victoria Gonzalez, who has been called Joaquin Oliver's girlfriend but said they called themselves "soulmates," she wipes away tears as she gives her victim impact statement.

Victoria Gonzalez also took the stand Tuesday. The day of the shooting, she became Joaquin’s girlfriend, Gonzalez told the court, but they already referred to each other as “always soulmates,” and she described him as “magic personified, love personified.” His name, she said, is “etched into the depth of my soul.”

Kelly Petty, mother of victim Alaina Petty, described the late 14-year-old as a “very loving person.”

“She loved her friends, she loved her family and, most importantly, she loved God,” Kelly Petty said of her daughter. “I am heartbroken that I won’t be able to watch her become the amazing young woman she was turning into.”

Alain’s sister Meghan echoed that sentiment, telling the court, “I would have loved to see her grow up. She would have been a blessing to the world.”

CNN’s Carlos Suarez and Sara Weisfeldt contributed to this report.

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Rand Paul knocks Charles Booker for visit to areas ravaged by KY flood

Charles Booker carrying jugs of water into an emergency shelter at Letcher County Central High School in flood-ravaged Whitesburg on Saturday

Charles Booker carrying jugs of water into an emergency shelter at Letcher County Central High School in flood-ravaged Whitesburg on Saturday

Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Charles Booker, his Democratic opponent this fall in Kentucky, traded shots at each other Monday involving each other’s response to the deadly flooding that devastated several Appalachian counties last week.

Booker personally delivered a truck full of water and supplies to an emergency shelter at Letcher County Central High School in flood-ravaged Whitesburg on Saturday, with his campaign office in Louisville now full of more supplies that will be delivered soon after his call for supporters to provide donations.

But when asked by a reporter at his Monday press conference in Louisville if he felt like he was doing enough for the flood victims — and the optics of his opponent being there on the ground with his volunteer effort — Paul countered that politicians should stay out of the way.

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Sandy Hook dad says Alex Jones made his life a ‘living hell’

Sandy Hook dad says Alex Jones made his life a 'living hell'

AUSTIN, Texas– The father of a 6-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting testified Tuesday that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones made his life a “living hell” by pushing claims that the murders were a hoax.

In more than an hour of emotional testimony during which he often fought back tears, Neil Heslin said he has endured online abuse, anonymous phone calls and harassment on the street.

“What was said about me and Sandy Hook itself resonates around the world,” Heslin said. “As time went on, I truly realized how dangerous it was. … My life has been threatened. I fear for my life, I fear for my safety.”

Heslin said his home and car have been shot at, and his attorneys said Monday that the family had an “encounter” in Austin since the trial started and have been in isolation under security.

Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, have sued Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems over the harassment and threats they and other parents say they have endured for years because of Jones and his Infowars website. Jones claimed the 2012 attack that killed 20 first-graders and six staffers at the Connecticut school was a hoax or faked.

Heslin and Lewis are seeking at least $150 million in the case.

“Today is very important to me and it’s been a long time coming… to face Alex Jones for what he said and did to me. To restore the honor and legacy of my son,” Heslin said.

Heslin also said that while he doesn’t know if the Sandy Hook hoax theory originated with Jones, it was Jones who “lit the match and started the fire” with an online platform and broadcast that reached millions worldwide.

Heslin told the jury about holding his son with a bullet hole through his head, even describing the extent of the damage to his son’s body. A key segment of the case is a 2017 Infowars broadcast that said Heslin holding his son didn’t happen.

An apology from Jones wouldn’t be good enough at this point, he said.

“Alex started this fight,” Heslin said, “and I’ll finish this fight.”

Jones wasn’t in court during Heslin’s testimony, to move the father called “cowardly.” Jones has skipped much of the testimony during the two-week trial and had a cadre of bodyguards in the courtroom when he did attend. Tuesday was the last scheduled day for testimony and Jones was expected to take the stand as the only witness in his defense of him.

Scarlett Lewis was also called to the stand Tuesday.

Heslin and Lewis suffer from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder that comes from constant trauma, similar to that endured by soldiers in war zones or child abuse victims, a forensic psychologist who studied their cases and met with them testified Monday.

Jones has portrayed the lawsuit against him as an attack on his First Amendment rights.

At stake in the trial is how much Jones will pay. The parents have asked the jury to award $150 million in compensation for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury will then consider whether Jones and his company will pay punitive damages.

The trial is just one of several Jones faces.

Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. In both states, judges issued default judgments against Jones without trials because he failed to respond to court orders and turn over documents.

Jones has already tried to protect Free Speech Systems financially. The company filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week. Sandy Hook families have separately sued Jones over his financial claims from him, arguing that the company is trying to protect millions owned by Jones and his family from him through shell entities.

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