A woman tossed a red liquid from the public gallery of the California Senate on Friday, splashing onto lawmakers and forcing them to finish their work in a committee room on the final day of the legislative session.
Senators had just finished taking a vote when a woman tossed the substance onto the floor of the Senate, saying: "That's for the dead babies."
"A crime was committed today, but the Senate will not be deterred from completing the Senate's business," Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins told lawmakers as the Senate reconvened.
California state Senate President Toni Atkins, of San Diego, right, flanked by Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove, left, addresses the members of the Senate in one of the Senate committee hearing rooms after a woman threw red liquid from the public gallery in the Senate chambers, in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. The woman was taken into custody and with authorities investigating the substance thrown, Senate leadership decided to finish their work in the committee room. Friday is the last day of this year's legislative session. (AP PhotoRich Pedroncelli)
A news release from Atkins' office condemned the behavior as "unacceptable" and said it "has been dealt with by Capitol law enforcement."
Representatives from the California Highway Patrol have not commented. But Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove indicated police have arrested the woman.
"The person that is in question should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and I support the CHP officers that have her in custody right now," Grove said.
The California state Senate meet in one of the Senate committee rooms after a woman threw red liquid from the public gallery in the Senate chambers, in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. The woman was taken into custody and with authorities investigating the substance thrown, Senate leadership decided to finish their work in the smaller committee room. Friday is the last day of this year's legislative session. (AP PhotoRich Pedroncelli)
The drama unfolded on the final day of the Legislative session, with lawmakers still having several key bills to debate before adjourning for the year. With authorities still investigating what the substance was, Senate leadership decided lawmakers would finish their work in a smaller committee room. Legislative aides scrambled to move the Senate's work to the room as journalists and others watched from an upstairs balcony.
It's unclear who the woman was or what she was protesting. But hundreds of people had packed the state Capitol for weeks protesting a bill that seeks to crack down on fraudulent medical exemptions for vaccinations. Several sought to link the woman to the protesters, including Sen. Richard Pan, who last month was shoved in the back by a protester as he was walking near the Capitol.
"This incident was incited by the violent rhetoric perpetuated by leaders of the antivaxx movement," Pan said in a news release. "As their rhetoric escalates, their incidents of violence does as well. This is an attack on the democratic process and it must be met with strong condemnation by everyone."
Democratic Sen. Steve Glazer said the liquid landed on his head. He also said five other senators were struck by the liquid.
"I'm going to take a shower," Glazer told reporters crowded in the hallway outside the Senate chambers. "We have work to do."
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.
Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.
In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.
“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
