Letter to FBI from shooting suspect made wild claims about Klobuchar and Walz, sources say

MINNEAPOLIS — In a rambling, conspiratorial letter addressed to the FBI, alleged assassin Vance Boelter claimed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instructed him to kill U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar so that Walz could run for the U.S. Senate, according to two people familiar with the contents of the letter.

The letter is the clearest evidence yet of Boelter’s mindset after the targeted violence against Minnesota politicians last week. It is incoherent, one and a half pages long, confusing and hard to read, according to two people familiar with the letter’s contents. It includes Boelter alleging he had been trained by the U.S. military off the books, and that Walz, who is not running for Senate, had asked him to kill Klobuchar and others.

Asked to comment about the letter, Hennepin County Attorney spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping said the office cannot comment on an open investigation but “due to the seriousness of the allegations it contains, we will state only that we have seen no evidence that the allegations regarding Governor Walz are based in fact.”

Walz’s spokesman, Teddy Tschann, said in a statement Friday afternoon that “this tragedy continues to be deeply disturbing for all Minnesotans.”

“Governor Walz is grateful to law enforcement who apprehended the shooter, and he’s grateful to the prosecutors who will ensure justice is swiftly served,” Tschann said.

Klobuchar said in a statement Friday that, “Boelter is a very dangerous man and I am deeply grateful that law enforcement got him behind bars before he killed other people.”

She was not the only other politician named; the letter included a seeming reference to U.S. Sen. Tina Smith.

—Minnesota Star Tribune

Study finds US government has overestimated Native American life expectancy

LOS ANGELES — Official U.S. records dramatically underestimate mortality and life expectancy disparities for Native Americans, according to a new, groundbreaking study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The research, led by the Boston University School of Public Health, provides compelling evidence of a profound discrepancy between actual and officially reported statistics on the health outcomes of American Indian and Alaska Native populations in the U.S.

The study, novel in its approach, tracks mortality outcomes over time among self-identified AI/AN individuals in a nationally representative cohort known as the Mortality Disparities in American Communities.

The researchers linked data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey with official death certificates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System from 2008 through 2019, and found that the life expectancy of AI/AN populations was 6.5 years lower than the national average. They then compared this to data from the CDC’s WONDER database, and found that their numbers were nearly three times greater than the gap reported by the CDC.

Indeed, the study found that the life expectancy for AI/AN individuals was just 72.7 years, comparable to that of developing countries.

The researchers also uncovered widespread racial misclassification. The study reports that some 41% of AI/AN deaths were incorrectly classified in the CDC WONDER database, predominantly misrecorded as “White.” These systemic misclassifications drastically skewed official statistics, presenting AI/AN mortality rates as only 5% higher than the national average. When they adjusted the data to account for those misclassifications, the researchers found that the actual rate was 42% higher than initially reported.

—Los Angeles Times

Atlanta doctor hit with $2 million verdict for Instagram posts of decapitated baby

ATLANTA — An Atlanta doctor and his clinic must pay $2.25 million to a couple after posting to his public Instagram account graphic videos of their decapitated baby during an autopsy, a jury has decided.

Dr. Jackson Gates and his business, Medical Diagnostic Choices, were found liable by default in the lawsuit brought against them by Jessica Ross and Treveon Taylor after the couple discovered the social media posts.

Ross and Taylor said they were horrified and outraged when they learned Gates had published without their knowledge or permission images of their child, who was decapitated during a difficult delivery July 9, 2023. The couple had hired Gates to perform an autopsy.

On Wednesday, an Atlanta jury awarded the couple $2 million in compensation and $250,000 in damages designed to punish Gates and Medical Diagnostic Choices. The jurors found Gates did not intend to cause harm.

“They asked for $30 million and they got just over $2 million,” said Gates’ lawyer, Ira Livnat. “Obviously we were disappointed with the verdict, but the jurors’ finding that he did not act with specific intent to cause harm was very significant.”

Attorneys for Ross and Taylor said they are pleased the jury punished Gates for his “reprehensible” behavior, though nothing can ease the couple’s pain over their son’s “horrific” death.

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

UK House of Commons approves legalization of assisted dying

LONDON — The U.K.’s House of Commons voted to legalize assisted dying on Friday, in a move that is likely to usher in a significant cultural shift over how to handle the treatment of those with terminal illnesses.

The measure was passed by a 314-to-291 vote following hours of debate in Parliament, when some members shared their own emotional accounts of loved ones suffering through terminal illnesses. It will now have to go through the House of Lords, which could choose to amend it further but historically has tended not to block legislation passed by the elected house.

The so-called private members’ bill, which was put forward by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater rather than Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, would allow those with less than six months to live to opt to end their own lives.

It had become an increasingly contentious issue in recent months, with opponents arguing the legislation didn’t have strong enough safeguards to protect vulnerable people from opting for that choice, potentially to ease the burden on their families.

But such concerns were overridden by supporters who said it would give people freedom to choose how to approach the end of their lives. Starmer was among those who voted in favor.

Leadbeater said it would “correct the profound injustices of the status quo and to offer a compassionate and safe choice to terminally ill people who want to make it.”

—Bloomberg News