Late-term abortion ban struck down

RICHMOND - A Virginia law banning a type of late-term abortion is still unconstitutional, even though a similar federal ban was upheld by the US Supreme Court, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit affirms the same court's 2005 ruling striking down the law. The Supreme Court had ordered the appeals court to take another look at Virginia's statute after the ruling on the federal ban. The appeals court cited a key difference between the federal and state bans on the procedure that abortion opponents call "partial-birth abortion." The federal law protects doctors who set out to perform a legal abortion that by accident becomes the banned procedure. The Virginia statute provides no such protection. (AP)

NEW YORK - Seven police officers were hit with disciplinary charges yesterday in the 50-shot slaying of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that has sparked protests and raised questions about police firepower. If found guilty at an internal trial, the officers could be fired, including three shooters acquitted last month at a criminal trial and their supervisor. A union official said yesterday that they would fight the allegations. Bell, 23, died in a hail of 50 bullets on Nov. 25, 2006, near a Queens topless bar where he had just had a bachelor party and where undercover police were investigating complaints of prostitution. Two of his friends were seriously wounded. (AP)

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK - Decades after law enforcement raided the ranch where Charles Manson hid following a 1969 killing spree, detectives and scientists returned to hunt for undiscovered graves yesterday. A group of about 20 people, including scientists and law enforcement personnel, headed to the secluded ranch within Death Valley National Park early in the morning and started digging. The team includes specialists in detecting disturbed soils and chemical markers that indicate likely grave sites. The expedition to the secluded ranch in the rugged Panamint Mountain range is expected to last through tomorrow. (AP)

NEW YORK - Governor David Paterson has been diagnosed with acute glaucoma in his left eye and was undergoing an outpatient laser procedure yesterday, his office said. The governor, who is blind in his left eye and has only limited vision in his right, received the diagnosis after admitting himself to a hospital with symptoms of a severe headache. (AP)