Nation briefs: March 18, 2023

Supreme Court honors legacy of Justice Ginsburg

WASHINGTON — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose death ahead of the 2020 election led to a conservative shift on the Supreme Court, was remembered Friday during ceremonies at the high court as a legendary champion for women’s rights.

Speaking just two days after what would have been the justice’s 90th birthday, Chief Justice John Roberts called her a “woman of conviction, courage and quiet compassion.”

“Small in stature, she stands as a giant in the history of this court,” Roberts said during a ceremonial session of the court attended by its nine current members as well as former justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer.

Chauvin pleads guilty in tax case

MINNEAPOLIS — The former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the 2020 killing of George Floyd pleaded guilty Friday to two tax evasion counts, admitting that he didn’t file Minnesota income taxes for two years due to “financial concerns.”

Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty specifically to two counts of aiding and abetting, failing to file tax returns to the state of Minnesota for the 2016 and 2017 tax years.

Chauvin appeared in a Minnesota court via Zoom from a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, where he is serving his sentences on a state murder conviction for killing Floyd and on a federal count of violating Floyd’s civil rights.

He stood in a room and paced around before Friday’s hearing began. When Washington County Judge Sheridan Hawley asked why he didn’t file his Minnesota tax returns, he told the judge: “The true reason is some financial concerns at the time.”

Librarian fired for ‘unkind pushback’ at conservative event

HENDERSONVILLE — A library director in Tennessee has been fired after the actor and evangelist Kirk Cameron accused him of “unkind pushback” to visiting celebrities during a conservative event last month, officials said.

Sumner County Mayor John Isbell told The Tennessean that the county’s library board voted 4-3 on Wednesday to fire Hendersonville library director Allan Morales. The mayor said Morales’ termination was “related to the Kirk Cameron event.”

In his social media post, Cameron described “unkind pushback (from one disgruntled librarian).”

Emails obtained by the Tennessean indicated Morales was concerned about the event’s size.

“Our invitation was sincere to read a book during our story time,” Morales wrote to a representative from Brave Books, which helped put on the event.

“We guard that time because it is for small children and not adults. We work hard at not promoting any agendas left or right,” Morales wrote in an email dated Feb. 22.

Morales declined to comment about the episode to the newspaper.

“I don’t want to add to all this. I’m hoping, now that they have fired me, that the community can move on. There’s not much of a point to giving my side. At end of the day I don’t hate anybody,” Morales said.