Religious freedom cited in doctors' appeal of case

Religious freedom citedin doctors' appeal of case
SAN DIEGO -- A California appeals court heard arguments Tuesday in the case of a woman who sued her doctors after they refused to artificially inseminate her, allegedly because she is gay. The physicians are appealing a ruling that prevented them from raising religious freedom as a defense in the test of whether doctors can deny treatment to gays and lesbians. Attorney Carlo Coppo told California's Fourth District Court of Appeal that religion is relevant to deciding whether his clients wrongly denied fertility treatment to Guadalupe Benitez. Drs. Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton should be allowed to explain "what went through their hearts and minds when they did what they did," Coppo told the three-judge panel. One of the judges said the case is destined for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Student faces chargesafter shooting shotgun
FARMINGTON, Mo. -- A high school student was arrested Tuesday after he donned a mask and fired a shotgun into a restroom ceiling, prompting a brief lockdown at the school, authorities said. No one was injured when the shot was fired around 8 a.m. Joshua Minks, 17, was charged with assault while on school property and unlawful use of a weapon, said prosecutor Wendy Wexler Horn. He was jailed on $250,000 bail. Minks brought his father's 12-gauge shotgun to school in a duffel bag and assembled it in the boys restroom, according to Police Chief Rick Baker and court records. When another student walked in and said the gun did not look real, Minks motioned for the student to get out of the restroom and then fired the weapon into the ceiling, officials said. One other student who walked into the bathroom and ran out to notify school officials said the shooter had "a black cloth over his head with two eyeholes," according to a court document. Farmington High Principal David Waters and a teacher persuaded the student to give up the gun and detained him until police arrived.
Airman buried after goingmissing in Panama in '41
BOSTON -- An Army airman who was missing for 58 years was laid to rest Tuesday in his hometown of Haverhill, Mass., six years after the wreckage of his plane was found in the mountains of Panama. Cpl. Paul R. Stubbs was 24 when he and his crew disappeared while on patrol over the Panama Canal in June 1941, a few months before the United States entered World War II. Air and ground searches were conducted at the time, but no trace was found until 1999, when a hunter stumbled upon the wreckage. Scientists spent the next six years comparing DNA from remains found at the crash site to a database of missing military personnel before positively identifying Stubbs and his two crew members, 2nd Lt. Augustus J. Allen of Myrtle Springs, Texas, and Staff Sgt. James D. Cartwright of Los Angeles. On Tuesday, Stubbs was buried in Hilldale Cemetery near his parents, after a graveside service attended by about 75 local veterans. Soldiers from the Army's 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y., served as pallbearers. Stubbs had no surviving family members in the area. Robert Adams, 87, a World War II Army veteran, did not know Stubbs but said he was pleased Stubbs was finally able to come home. "There's an awful lot out there who they haven't found and never will," Adams said.
Officials search for cluesin cross-state jet theft
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- A 10-passenger charter jet that was reported stolen from St. Augustine, Fla., was found at an airport some 350 miles away near Atlanta, and authorities were attempting to figure out who had flown it there. The plane, a $7 million Cessna Citation 7, was found at the Gwinnett County Airport-Briscoe Field on Monday and remained there Tuesday, said Darren Moloney, spokesman for the Gwinnett County Police Department. The plane is owned by Pinnacle Air of Springdale, Ark., which had no comment on the incident Tuesday. Moloney said people have given "pretty detailed" information about the theft to county police, but he did not elaborate. Crime scene technicians have investigated the interior of the plane, and Moloney said there is no evidence that there were weapons or drugs on it. "We've ruled out anything diabolical or sinister," he said. "We didn't find anything threatening on the plane." The FBI is also investigating although the theft does not appear to be linked to terrorism, said Lisa Ray, spokeswoman at the Georgia Office of Homeland Security. The plane landed at the airport sometime between 9 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday, Moloney said. It had some damage to the front edge of one wing but was not disabled, authorities said. Although the plane landed when the airport's flight tower was not operating, officials said that is not unusual. Once on the ground, an automatic gate would have let the person out of the airport, Moloney said.
Associated Press