Erin Andrews' was cross-examined in her $75 million civil case. Donald Trump's and Hillary Clinton's Super Tuesday wins paint different pictures for their parties. The Supreme Court takes up abortion. Scott Kelly returned to Earth.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Defense attorneys in Erin Andrews' civil case took a risky strategy of suggesting her career was helped by nude videos that were shot and uploaded to the Internet by a stalker who filmed her in Nashville and Columbus hotels.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the most far-reaching abortion case in 20 years today, with the fate of abortion restrictions in many states on the line.
Super Tuesday triumphs by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump paint contrasting pictures of their parties.
Also in the news:
- NASA astronaut Scott Kelly landed on Earth safely after an unprecedented year in space.
- Vice President Joe Biden said Trump will unintentionally help Americans deal with racism.
- A U.S. general said ISIS is "spreading like cancer" within the refugee flow to Europe.
- The University of Buffalo mourns the death of a highly regarded player who collapsed at practice.
- Cleveland's West Side Market will add Sunday hours in April.
- Wright State is gearing up to host the first general-election presidential debate this fall.
- And in a year of presidential politics, two Ohio State football players have formed their own ticket.
These are some of the stories making headlines on front pages of newspapers around the country and across Ohio:
The Tennessean
Defense suggests Erin Andrews videos helped career: Lawyers defending a Nashville hotel operator made the case Tuesday that sports television reporter Erin Andrews thrived in her career even after secretly recorded videos of her went viral in 2009.
Marc Dedman, an attorney with Spicer Rudstrom in Nashville, led the cross-examination of Andrews. A legal analyst said a defense focus on Andrews' career success was a dangerous strategy to try and convince jurors she deserved no -- or less -- money in her $75 million lawsuit.
Dedman's cross-examination and the first defense witnesses made clear a key defense strategy: that Andrews thrived in her career and even made more money after what has become known as the "peephole" incident.
In a series of questions, Dedman listed off Andrews' endorsements -- for Reebok, for Degree deodorant, for Diet Mountain Dew and others -- and her commercial for Victoria's Secret as proof she has been successful since the video scandal. She agreed she has thrived in her career since the videos went viral.
Barrett secretly recorded Andrews at three hotels. Jurors last week saw the video from Nashville and one from a hotel in Columbus. The Ohio video is 6 seconds.
"I look at the Marriott as more damaging because it's 41/2 minutes of my personal private time" that she was naked, Andrews said.
New York Times
As Trump wins, GOP split widens: Democrats are falling in line. Republicans are falling apart.
The most consequential night of voting so far in the presidential campaign crystallized, in jarring and powerful fashion, the remarkably divergent fortunes of the two major parties vying for the White House.
The steady and seemingly inexorable unification of the Democratic Party behind Hillary Clinton stands in striking contrast with the rancorous and widening schisms within the Republican Party over the dominance of Donald J. Trump, who swept contests from the Northeast to the Deep South on Tuesday.
Now, as the parties gaze ahead to the fall, they are awakening to the advantages of consensus and the perils of chaos.
Washington Times
Biden says Trump will unintentionally help Americans deal with racism: Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Tuesday night that Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump and his rivals will help Americans address racism by inundating voters with their divisive rhetoric.
"I want to thank Donald Trump," Mr. Biden said to laughter at a Black History Month reception he hosted at his official residence. "The stuff he's doing, and others, the stuff [Texas Sen. Ted] Cruz is doing. He's making the American people look in the mirror."
USA Today
Major abortion case arrives at Supreme Court: The Supreme Court takes up its most far-reaching case on abortion rights in nearly a quarter century Wednesday, with the fate of abortion restrictions in many states on the line.
Depleted by the death last month of Justice Antonin Scalia, the eight-member court will consider a challenge mounted by Texas abortion clinics against a law that threatens to leave only 10 clinics operating in a state with 5.4 million women of reproductive age.
Lawyers for the state and clinics seek to sway a single justice -- Anthony Kennedy, who holds the deciding vote between four liberal justices and three other conservatives.
The most immediate impact of the case will be felt in Texas, where more than 40 abortion facilities have dwindled to 18 under restrictions that set tougher operating standards for clinics and require doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at area hospitals. If the restrictions are upheld, additional clinics will close.
Houston Chronicle
Scott Kelly returns safely after 340 days in space: Astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth on Wednesday after an unprecedented year in space for NASA, landing in barren Kazakhstan with a Russian cosmonaut who shared his whole space station journey.
Their Soyuz capsule parachuted onto the central Asian steppes and ended a science-rich mission at the International Space Station that began last March and was deemed a steppingstone to Mars.
It was a triumphant homecoming for Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko after 340 days in space. Kelly pumped his fist as he emerged from the capsule, then gave a thumbs-up. He smiled and chatted with his doctors and others, as photographers crushed around him in the freezing cold.
"The air feels great out here," NASA spokesman at the scene Rob Navias quoted Kelly as saying. "I have no idea why you guys are all bundled up."
Parkersburg News and Sentinel
General says refugees spreading terrorists "like cancer:" Violent extremists, criminals and foreign fighters are part of the daily refugee flow into Europe, the top NATO commander in Europe told lawmakers, "masking the movement" of these dangerous elements and heightening the potential for an attack.
In testimony Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove said the Islamic State is "spreading like a cancer" within this mix, "taking advantage of paths of least resistance, threatening European nations" and the United States.
Buffalo News
Buffalo football player mourned: University of Buffalo football players remembered Solomon Jackson Tuesday as one of their most enthusiastic, hard-working, unselfish, teammates.
"Me and him had a conversation where we were talking about how sometimes he felt like he was going to die on the field, like I love you all that much that I'd die on the field before I quit," UB running back Anthone Taylor said.
Jackson died Monday night one week after he was hospitalized as a result of a medical emergency he suffered during an off-season conditioning workout the team held. Jackson, from Stone Mountain, Ga., was admitted to Buffalo General Medical Center. He was in his third year at UB, pursuing a major in sociology. He was 20.
OHIO
Dayton Daily News
Tickets will be scarce for presidential debate: Wright State officials said the school won't have enough tickets for every student to attend the first general-election presidential debate on September 26 at the Nutter Center -- the first of three featuring candidates for president. In January the university told its trustees that the debate may cost up to $8 million.
Columbus Dispatch
OSU election has write-ins and walk-ons: The ballot for Ohio State University's March 7-9 Undergraduate Student Government election has only one pair of candidates, for president and vice president, but students won't be without choice. At least two other tickets have arisen as write-in candidates. The ticket getting the most attention is made up of Cin'Quan Haney, a third-year physics major running for president, and Curtis Henry, a third-year sports-industry major running for vice president.
The two also are walk-on football players, and they're not above using that to generate interest: A campaign announcement reads that the two "have enjoyed their time with the Buckeyes, but are ready to take their leadership skills they've learned from coach Urban Meyer off the field."
The Plain Dealer
West Side Market to open Sundays: Attention, West Side Market shoppers!
The historic food hall will undergo a controversial schedule change next month, adding Sundays to the mix after years of debate and more than a century of consistent hours.
Cleveland officials confirmed that the city-owned facility will be open from noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays starting April 3. The city also is preparing to combine and reconfigure two parking lots behind the market, in a project that will contribute to congestion over the next 10 months but, upon completion, will add more than 100 sorely-needed spaces to the district.