News in brief

By The Associated Press

Florida school district must restore books with LGBTQ+ content

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. | A school district in northeast Florida must put back in libraries three dozen books as part of a settlement reached Thursday with students and parents who sued over what they said was an unlawful decision to limit access to dozens of titles containing LGBTQ+ content.

Under the agreement the School Board of Nassau County must restore access to three dozen titles including “And Tango Makes Three,” a children’s picture book based on a true story about two male penguins that raised a chick together at New York’s Central Park Zoo. Authors Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson were plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the district, which is about 35 miles ortheast of Jacksonville along the Georgia border.

Judge strikes down N. Dakota’s abortion ban

BISMARCK, N.D. | A state judge struck down North Dakota’s abortion ban Thursday, declaring that broad guarantees of personal liberty in the constitution of his conservative, Republican-dominated state create a fundamental right to abortion before a fetus is viable.

The state’s GOP attorney general promised to appeal the decision, which would take effect within a few weeks. North Dakota no longer has any abortion clinics, but legalizing abortion again would affect doctors in hospitals who believe an abortion is necessary when a pregnant patient faces a medical emergency.

Besides ruling that the state constitution protects abortion access, District Judge Bruce Romanick also said that the law is unconstitutional because it is too vague to be enforced fairly.

—From AP reports