News Wrap: Judge strikes down Georgia ban on abortions after 6 weeks

In our news wrap Monday, a judge in Georgia struck down the state’s ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, the FBI agreed to pay $22 million to 34 women who claimed they were targeted for dismissal from the agency’s training center, more than 90,000 people near Atlanta sheltered in place after a chemical fire and musician and actor Kris Kristofferson died at 88.

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Amna Nawaz: We begin the day’s other headlines with a multimillion-dollar sexual discrimination settlement at the FBI.

The bureau has agreed to pay $22 million to 34 women who claimed they were targeted for dismissal from the agency’s training center in Quantico, Virginia. According to the 2019 lawsuit, they were subjected to sexually charged comments and advances from their instructors. Many of the allegations were confirmed in a 2022 internal watchdog report.

If approved by a federal judge, this would rank among the biggest settlements in the bureau’s history.

More than 90,000 people in Georgia are sheltering in place after a fire broke out at a chemical plant yesterday. The blaze began after a sprinkler malfunctioned at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Georgia, about 25 miles southeast of Atlanta. That sparked a chemical reaction, sending a cloud into the sky visible for miles.

No injuries were reported, but officials say chlorine was detected in the air and advised residents to stay inside with the air conditioning off and windows and doors shut. The haze and chemical smell spread to Atlanta today, where officials are monitoring the air quality.

The U.K. is on the verge of becoming the first G7 nation to stop burning coal for electricity. Its last coal plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar Station in Central England, shuts down tonight. It’s a notable end to a decades-long shift in energy production. More than half of the U.K.’s electricity now comes from renewable sources such as wind and solar. The rest is from natural gas and nuclear energy.

Narrator: The miners hold the key to national recovery.

Amna Nawaz: It’s also the end of a 142-year run of coal and coal miners playing a vital role in the nation that sparked the Industrial Revolution. In fact, the world’s first ever coal-fired electricity plant was Thomas Edison’s Edison Electric Light Station, which opened in London in 1882.

The death toll from flooding and landslides in Nepal has risen to 193 after a weekend of intense rainfall. Many of the fatalities were in the capital city of Kathmandu, where residents began to clean up today as water levels received. Flooding drenched much of the city’s south. And landslides cut off its three main highways. Schools across Nepal will be shut for the next three days.

Back here in the U.S., a judge in Georgia has struck down the state’s ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The measure was passed and signed in 2019, but didn’t take effect until Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. In his decision, Judge Robert McBurney wrote that a woman in Georgia has the right to — quote — “reject state interference with her health care choices.”

Georgia had been one of four states where bans on abortions kick in after six weeks, before many women even realized that they’re pregnant.

The nation’s major dockworkers union has signaled that its 45,000 members will walk off the job at midnight tonight. The strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association would cause some 36 ports across the East and Gulf Coast to shut down. They handle about half of all goods shipped in and out of the U.S., meaning a direct impact on the nation’s supply chains and the risk of higher prices for consumers.

Union members are seeking higher wages and a ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container moving trucks. President Biden has so far said he will not intervene to prevent the strike from going forward.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended moderately higher after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the economy is in solid shape, signaling more rate cuts to come. The Dow Jones industrial average gained about 17 points, so virtually flat. The Nasdaq feared a little better, adding nearly 70 points. The S&P 500 also ended slightly higher on the day.

And we have two passings of note. Beginning with basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, who has died of brain cancer. The 7’2” center was one of the greatest defensive players in history, blocking more than 3,200 shots, the second most ever. Those often came with his signature finger wag towards opponents.

Off the court, Mutombo was a scholar, speaking nine different languages. And he was the NBA’s first global ambassador, helping those in his native Democratic Republic of Congo and across Africa. Mutombo said that this work was always more important to him than basketball.

Dikembe Mutombo, Former NBA Player: To turn back to see my people suffering the way they’re suffering, it kind of break my heart, and because those are my soul, man. And what is happening to them? Why nobody’s not doing enough? The world is doing something, but I think they’re not doing enough. It can be much better.

Amna Nawaz: Dikembe Mutombo was 58 years old.

And musician and actor Kris Kristofferson has died. As a singer-songwriter, he helped change the perception of country music in the late 1960s, winning a lifetime Grammy achievement honor in 2014. And as an actor, he appeared in more than 100 films and TV shows. Kristofferson was also a Rhodes Scholar, a soldier, an activist, and much more.

Jeffrey Brown has this remembrance.

Jeffrey Brown: “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” written by Kris Kristofferson made famous by his mentor and friend Johnny Cash, part of the legacy of Kristofferson, who first made his mark for the poetry and lyricism he brought to country and rock music with hits that included Janis Joplin’s classic recording of “Me and Bobby McGee” in 1971.

Born into a military family, Kristofferson himself served in the Army, becoming a captain and helicopter pilot, before leaving that life behind to make it in Nashville as a songwriter. It took a while, but make it he did. He also began performing and recording his songs himself.

Kris Kristofferson, Musician and Actor: What about Friday?

Jeffrey Brown: Movie star handsome and charismatic, in the 1970s, he began a new career as an actor in such films as Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and with Barbra Streisand in the 1976 remake of “A Star Is Born,” while continuing with music, notably as part of the country super group The Highwaymen, alongside Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson.

In his 60s, Kristofferson developed health problems, including memory loss and Lyme disease, but he remained active. In a moving moment at last year’s concert for Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday, he joined Rosanne Cash to sing his song “Loving Her Was Easier.”

Kris Kristofferson died Saturday at his home in Maui. No cause of death was given. He was 88 years old.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Jeffrey Brown.