Montana court permits physician-assisted suicide

Montana court permits physician-assisted suicide

HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court said Thursday that nothing in state law prevents patients from seeking physician-assisted suicide, making Montana the third state that will allow the procedure.

Patients and doctors had been waiting for the state’s high court to step in after a lower court decided a year ago that constitutional rights to privacy and dignity protect the right to die.

The Montana Supreme Court opinion will now give doctors in the state the freedom to prescribe the necessary drugs to mentally competent, terminally ill patients without fear of being prosecuted, advocates said.

Immigration prosecutions increase in United States

WASHINGTON — Immigration prosecutions rose to record levels in 2009 as the Obama administration kept up aggressive enforcement that began under President George W. Bush.

Nearly 27,000 people faced serious federal charges relating to immigration in 2009, according to Chief Justice John Roberts’ annual year-end report on the judiciary. More than three-fourths were accused of illegally re-entering the United States after having been sent home before.

Immigration cases increased by about a fifth over the previous year and made up a third of all new criminal filings in U.S. district courts in the government spending year that ended Sept. 30. The statistics were compiled by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Ringing in the new year with cheap champagne

PARIS — Partygoers worldwide have at least one good reason to forget the economic pain, job fears and mortgage woes of 2009: unusually cheap Champagne for New Year’s.

Champagne houses and retailers have had a tough year, forcing some to make aggressive price cuts. But the discounting is causing divisions among vintners, and analysts warn the move could threaten the bubbly’s premium reputation.

In supermarket chains such as Carrefour SA and Auchan, French shoppers were snapping up real Champagne for less than euro10 ($14) a bottle, as even high-end producers such as Laurent Perrier compete with cheaper bubbly such as Italian prosecco and Spanish cava.

Animal skulls found in Pa.

PHILADELPHIA — Animal-welfare authorities have dug up a dirt floor of a Philadelphia house where remains of dozens of animals were found over the weekend and found more evidence.

The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reports that remains of wild animals were found Wednesday in the house in Philadelphia’s Feltonville neighborhood.

Pennsylvania SPCA director of law enforcement George Bengal says three large turtles were found starved to death in a tank.

A report of dogs living in unsanitary conditions initially led animal control officers to the house, where remains of dozens of animals that appear to have been sacrificed in religious rituals were found Sunday.

Singer Van Morrison: The child is not my son

LOS ANGELES — Reclusive Irish singer Van Morrison said Thursday that a computer hacker planted a false report on his Web site claiming he had fathered a fourth child at the age of 64 with a new partner.

The false report was disseminated Monday by a Los Angeles-based publicist for Morrison, Phil Lobel. The publicist was quoted by an unidentified associate on Thursday as getting the report from the Morrison site.

The false report was picked up by several news agencies, including The Associated Press, as well as celebrity sites and British newspapers. The false report on the Morrison Web site claimed that a woman identified as Gigi had just borne a son with Morrison.

Woman charged in killing, torturing of Ohio man

ST. LOUIS — A woman accused of helping her husband and stepson torture and kill a 20-year-old Ohio man was charged Thursday with first-degree murder, and prosecutors said she admitted telling her husband how to suffocate the man. Angela Harvey, 34, told investigators she was among those who held James William Boyd McNeely at gunpoint in the basement of her Laddonia home on Dec. 17, and that she took part in beating him, investigators said in a probable cause statement.

Associated Press

She said she told her husband, 38-year-old Chester Harvey Jr., that he should kill McNeely by suffocating him, then watched as he wrapped a black trash bag around the victim’s face until he died, they said.

Prosecutors are seeking first-