Lawmaker quits, then wins election amid sex scandal

Richmond, Va.

Lawmaker quits, then wins election amid sex scandal

A Virginia state lawmaker who resigned his seat following a sex scandal involving a teenage employee won it back during a special election Tuesday. Apparently plenty of voters in Joseph Morrissey's Richmond-area House of Delegates district were okay with his conviction in the scandal involving his 17-year-old secretary, whose nude photo was found on his cellphone and allegedly shared with a friend. Morrissey, a 57-year-old bachelor, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying his phone was hacked. The teenager, who denies they had sex, is now pregnant. In unofficial returns, Morrissey defeated Democrat Kevin Sullivan and Republican Matt Walton by a comfortable margin. Morrissey won 42 percent of the vote, compared with 33 percent for Sullivan and 24 percent for Walton. Morrissey's victory was not unprecedented: Through four previous elections, most voters overlooked or even embraced the lawmaker's flamboyant history of fistfights, contempt-of-court citations and disbarment. He repeatedly won at least 70 percent of the vote as a Democrat. He resigned his seat — effective Tuesday, the day of this special election — after he was convicted last month of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His agreement to serve six months in jail for the misdemeanor avoided a felony trial that could have barred him from office and put him in prison for years.

Indiana

Diocese fired teacher who underwent IVF

A federal judge has reduced the damages awarded to an Indiana teacher who was fired by a Roman Catholic diocese for trying to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization. The decision dropped Emily Herx's $1.9 million judgment in her civil rights lawsuit to just under $544,000. A federal jury in Fort Wayne found last month that diocese officials discriminated against Herx, who had taught at a diocese school, when they declined to renew her contract in 2011 because she had undergone IVF in hopes of having a second child. The diocese said the church teaches that IVF is evil and never justifiable. In vitro fertilization involves mixing eggs and sperm in a laboratory dish and transferring the resulting embryo into the womb.

North Carolina

Soldier wins fight over sculpture near cross

A small town has agreed to remove a sculpture depicting a soldier kneeling before a cross after a lawsuit claimed that the artwork violated the separation of church and state. The plaintiff, Steven Hewett, was a staff sergeant in the Army and served in Afghanistan. In a statement issued in November, Hewett said the town of King "should be honoring everyone who served our country, not using their service as an excuse to promote a single religion." The sculpture was placed in a veterans memorial park in 2010. The town's insurer will pay $500,000 to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which filed the suit, to cover legal costs. The town, population 6,906, said that it had already spent more than $50,000 on the case.

Elsewhere

Ukraine: An attack on a passenger bus in eastern Ukraine killed 12 people Tuesday, likely dealing the final blow to hopes that a short-lived and shaky cease-fire could take hold.

Times wires