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CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man who has served more than half of his life in prison for his role in the 2001 stabbing deaths of two married Dartmouth College professors as part of a plan to rob and kill people before fleeing overseas is getting his first chance at parole. James Parker was 16 when he was part of a conspiracy with his best friend that resulted in the deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop in Hanover, New Hampshire. Now just shy of 40, he’s scheduled for a state parole board hearing Thursday, years after pleading guilty to being an accomplice to second-degree murder. Parker has served nearly the minimum term of his 25-years-to-life sentence. “I’m sorry,” Parker said, crying at a brief hearing in 2002. “There’s not much more I can say than that. I’m just really sorry.” Years later, he’s earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in prison and created paintings that are displayed in the building, according to a 2018 motion filed by his lawyer. He’s been a part of theatrical, musical and sports activities and has helped develop inmate education guides. Parker received earned time credits toward his sentence and he lives in a transitional housing unit, which is usually the final placement for a resident prior to their release from incarceration, said a Department of Corrections spokesperson. Parker sought a sentence reduction in 2018, his accomplishments praised by corrections staff at the time. Under the law, he was eligible to do so because he had served two-thirds of his term, but he withdrew the petition in 2019 after the Zantops’ two daughters objected. “The Zantops were not killed in self-defense or in the heat of the moment,” prosecutors said in the objection. “Instead, their deaths were the result of months of detailed criminal planning that included the purchase of weapons and failed attempts to rob and kill others.” Parker’s lawyer, Cathy Green, said Parker remains deeply sorry for his actions. “He has spent his time in prison very constructively with dedication not only to his own rehabilitation, but to making it a better place for others,” she said in a recent statement. Parker and then-17-year-old Robert Tulloch, bored with their lives in nearby Chelsea, Vermont, wanted to move to Australia and estimated they needed $10,000 for the trip. They eventually decided they would knock on homeowners’ doors under the pretext of conducting a survey on environmental issues, then tie up their victims and steal their credit cards and ATM information. They planned to make their captives provide the pin numbers before killing them. For about six months, they had tried to talk their way into four other homes in Vermont and New Hampshire, but were turned away or found no one home. Parker, who cooperated with prosecutors, said they picked the Zantop house the morning of Jan. 27, 2001, because it looked expensive and it was surrounded by trees. Half Zantop let them in. Parker told police the interview lasted at least 10 minutes before Tulloch stabbed Zantop and then directed him to attack Susanne Zantop. Tulloch also stabbed her. They fled with Half Zantop’s wallet, which contained about $340 and a list of numbers, but then realized they had left sheaths to their knives at the house. They attempted to go back but saw a police officer was in the driveway. Fingerprints on a knife sheath and a bloody boot print linked them to the crime, but after being questioned by police, they fled and hitchhiked west. They were arrested at an Indiana truck stop weeks later. In his interviews with police, Parker said he and Tulloch developed a different sense of morality. “We thought, you know, what everybody was doing was silly. Like going to school and like wasting half your life with education that you’re not ever going to use,” he had said at the time. Parker agreed to testify against Tulloch, who had planned to use an insanity defense at his trial. But Tulloch abruptly changed his mind and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He got the mandatory sentence of life without parole. Now 40, Tulloch is scheduled for a resentencing hearing in June. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 2012 that it is unconstitutional to sentence juvenile offenders to mandatory life imprisonment without parole and the state Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that Tulloch and four other men who received such sentences for murders they committed as teenagers should be re-sentenced. Susanne Zantop, 55 and Half Zantop, 62, were born in Germany. She was head of Dartmouth’s German studies department. He taught Earth sciences. Respected in their fields, the professors were beloved by colleagues and students, many of whom had an open invitation to their home a few miles from the Dartmouth campus. A campus memorial garden in their name has trees, perennial flowers and ferns. The college also holds an annual Zantop lecture in Susanne Zantop’s honor on comparative literature. “There’s no statement in the entire world that can capture the absolute horror, disbelief, pain, sadness and anger that my sister, my family and friends have experienced since the murders,” said Veronika Zantop, a daughter of the victims and a psychiatrist who lives in the Seattle area, had said before Tulloch’s sentencing. “Rather than focus on the inhumanity and monstrosity and the sheer stupidity of their brutal and senseless deaths, I try to console myself by trying to perpetuate the essence of my parents.” She did not respond to requests seeking comment before Parker’s parole board hearing. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Tesla will ask shareholders to reinstate a $56 billion compensation package for CEO Elon Musk that was rejected by a judge in Delaware this year and to move the electric car maker’s corporate home from Delaware to Texas. In a filing with federal regulators early Wednesday, the company said it would ask shareholders to vote on both issues during its annual meeting on June 13. In January, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick ruled that Musk is not entitled to a landmark compensation package awarded by Tesla’s board of directors that is potentially worth about $55.8 billion over 10 years starting in 2018. Five years ago, a Tesla shareholder lawsuit alleged that the pay package should be voided because it was dictated by Musk and was the product of sham negotiations with directors who were not independent of him. Musk said a month after the judge’s ruling that he would try to move Tesla’s corporate listing to Texas, where he has already moved company headquarters. Almost immediately after the judge’s ruling, Musk did exactly that with Neuralink, his privately held brain implant company, moving its corporate home from Delaware to Nevada. In a letter to shareholders this week, Chairperson Robyn Denholm said that Musk has delivered on the growth it was looking for at the automaker, with Tesla meeting all of the 2018 CEO pay package targets. “Because the Delaware Court second-guessed your decision, Elon has not been paid for any of his work for Tesla for the past six years that has helped to generate significant growth and stockholder value,” Denholm wrote. “That strikes us — and the many stockholders from whom we already have heard — as fundamentally unfair, and inconsistent with the will of the stockholders who voted for it.” Tesla posted record deliveries of more than 1.8 million electric vehicles worldwide in 2023, according to a regulatory filing. But the value its shares has eroded quickly this year as sales of electric vehicles soften. Future growth is in doubt and it may be a challenge to get shareholders to back a fat pay package in an environment where competition has increased worldwide and demand for electric vehicle sales is fading. Tesla’s shares have lost more than one third of their value this year as massive price cuts have failed to draw more buyers. The company said it delivered 386,810 vehicles from January through March, nearly 9% fewer than it sold in the same period last year. At the time of the Delaware court ruling, Musk’s package was worth more than $55.8 billion, but the court may have cost the mercurial CEO over $10 billion due to the company’s stock slide this year. The filing said Musk’s 2018 compensation was worth $44.9 billion at the close of trading on April 12. Since last year, Tesla has cut prices as much as $20,000 on some models. The price cuts caused used electric vehicle values to drop and clipped Tesla’s profit margins. This week, Tesla said it was letting about 10% of its workers go, about 14,000 people. In the filing, Tesla’s board wrote that the decision to seek shareholder approval of Musk’s 2018 pay package was made by the board after it received a report from a special committee of one board member, Kathleen Wilson-Thompson. The shareholder vote is advisory only, but the board wrote that if there is any significant vote against executive pay packages, “we will consider our stockholders’ concerns, and the compensation committee will evaluate whether any actions are necessary to address those concerns.” Shares of Tesla Inc., which slide another 8% this week, were essentially flat before the opening bell Wednesday. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

GENEVA (AP) — A new study says an African woman is roughly 130 times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth complications than a woman in Europe or North America, the U.N. population fund reported Wednesday as it decried widening inequality in sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide. UNFPA’s latest “ State of World Population ” report also estimates that nearly 500 maternal deaths per day occur in countries with humanitarian crises or conflicts, and shows that women of African descent in the Americas are more likely to die giving birth than white women. “Sweeping global gains in sexual and reproductive health and rights over the last thirty years are marred by an ugly truth — millions of women and girls have not benefited because of who they are or where they were born,” the fund said in a statement. UNFPA executive director Dr. Natalia Kanem said the unintended pregnancy rate has declined by nearly one-fifth since 1990 and the maternal death rate has dropped by more than one-third since 2000. But “inequalities within our societies and health systems are widening, and we have not adequately prioritized reaching those furthest behind,” she said. Improvements in health care access have mostly benefited wealthier women and members of ethnic groups with better access to care, the fund said. Kanem hailed some progress: More than 160 countries have passed laws against domestic violence, and “legislation against LGBTQIA+ sexuality” that was once widespread has been on the retreat. Now only one-third of countries have such laws. While she credited “the world’s agreement” that led to such gains, Kanem also warned: “Human reproduction is being politicized. The rights of women, girls and gender diverse people are the subject of increasing pushback.” “And yet, today, that progress is slowing. By many measures, it has stalled completely,” she said. “Annual reductions in maternal deaths have flatlined. Since 2016, the world made zero progress in saving women from preventable deaths in pregnancy and childbirth.” “Health systems today are weak,” Kanem added. “They’re tainted by gender inequality, by racial discrimination and by misinformation.” The fund called for new investment in sexual and reproductive health, as well as improvements in sexuality education, stopping gender-based violence, and “ending unmet need for contraception” — an issue that has driven a wedge in some countries. Under the term of U.S. President Donald Trump, the United States halted funding for UNFPA largely over concerns about abortion — depriving the fund of tens of millions of dollars over four years. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Visitors to Disney’s California parks could one day walk through the snow-covered hamlet of Arendelle from “Frozen” or the bustling, critter-filled metropolis of “Zootopia” under a park expansion plan approved by the Anaheim City Council. Disney would spend at least $1.9 billion over the next decade to transform its 490-acre (488-hectare) campus in densely-populated Southern California. It would be the biggest expansion of Disney’s Southern California theme parks in decades, aiming to create more immersive experiences for guests. Disney would also be required to spend tens of millions of dollars on street improvements, affordable housing and other infrastructure in the city. The council unanimously approved the project at the end of an eight-hour meeting that began Tuesday evening, the Orange County Register reported. A second council vote for final approval of Disney’s plan is required in May. The plan wouldn’t expand Disney’s footprint in tourism-dependent Anaheim but would help it add rides and entertainment by letting the company relocate parking to a new multi-story structure and redevelop the massive lot, as well as make other changes to how it uses its properties. Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and the Downtown Disney shopping area are surrounded by freeways and residential areas in the city 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, so the company sees the plan as vital to being able to continue to create sizable new attractions. A significant share of public testimony to the city council focused on Disney’s plans to buy a public street near the theme park and turn it into a pedestrian walkway as well as its intention to add a crosswalk on another neighboring street. Scott Martindale, who lives nearby, said the crosswalk would improve safety. “No change or project is perfect. But in this case, the gives I believe outweigh the takes,” he said. Martindale added that Disney conducted community outreach about its expansion plans for three years. Another neighbor, Cassandra Taylor, said she looks forward to the new rides the expansion will bring. But she’s concerned about Disney’s plans to privatize a city street, adding she first heard of the idea last month in a newspaper article even though she had attended two Disney informational presentations. “They might have a pedestrian walkway planned now, but once it is theirs, they could just as easily remove it,” Taylor said. “It will be theirs and theirs entirely. Voters will have no say in its future use.” Ken Potrock, president of the Disneyland Resort, said at the meeting: “We are ready to bring the next level of immersive entertainment here to Anaheim.” Over the last two decades, Disney investments have included Cars Land, Pixar Pier, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge and Avengers Campus. Disney has not committed to which stories it plans to feature given that the new development will take years. It’s the first time Disney has sought a major change to its California theme parks since the 1990s, when the company obtained approvals to turn Disneyland, its original theme park dubbed “the happiest place on Earth” and built in 1955, into a resort hub. It later built the Disney California Adventure theme park and the Downtown Disney shopping and entertainment area. Disneyland was the second-most visited theme park in the world in 2022 with 16.8 million people coming through the gates, according to a report by the Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM. Anaheim is Orange County’s most populous city and home to 345,000 people as well as a major league baseball team and a national hockey league team. Hotel revenue typically makes up about half of the city’s revenue and is expected to climb to $236 million this year, according to city estimates. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Democrats in the Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday will seek to repeal an 1864 ban on abortion that is poised to become state law once again, but they will need the help of some Republicans in the closely divided legislature. A state Supreme Court ruling on April 9 revived a ban on nearly all abortions under a law written during the U.S. Civil War when Arizona was not yet a state and women lacked the right to vote. The law, which would take effect within 60 days, imposes a sentence of two to five years for anyone found guilty of inducing an abortion except for a doctor who deems it necessary to save the life of the mother. The ruling added fuel to a raging debate across the United States over abortion rights ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Democrats, confident that public opinion is on their side in supporting abortion rights, have sought to elevate the issue since the U.S. Supreme Court rescinded the constitutional right to abortion in 2022 and Republican-led states went about setting new restrictions. Arizona House Democrats sought to repeal the ban a week ago, but were thwarted by the narrow Republican majority. Democrats said they will try again in Wednesday’s session, scheduled to start at 10 a.m. MST (1 p.m. ET, 1700 GMT). With Republicans holding a 31-29 advantage, Democrats would need at least two Republicans to join them to succeed. If the repeal passes in the House, Democrats also would need help in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 16-14 edge. Democratic Representative Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, sponsor of the repeal bill, said she was still counting votes late Tuesday and had been in contact with sympathetic Republicans. “Nothing is certain until we show up tomorrow,” Stahl Hamilton said. While crossing party lines on such an issue is rare in highly partisan times, a repeal in Arizona of the 1864 ban would leave in place a 2022 Republican-passed law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Some Republicans have softened their hardline stance on abortion, mindful of the same polling that has emboldened Democrats. Arizona Democrats are attempting to place a ballot measure before voters in November that would restore abortion rights. One influential anti-abortion voice urged Republicans to stand by previous pledges to ban abortion unless needed to save the life of the mother. “Arizonans deserve lawmakers they can trust. They want elected officials who keep their word, especially when it concerns human life,” Cathi Herrod, president of the advocacy group Center for Arizona Policy, said in a statement. Stahl Hamilton said Herrod’s warning “certainly ups the pressure” on Republicans. (Reporting by Liliana Salgado in Phoenix and Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Adler) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com