Georgia moves closer to major

overhaul of HIV criminal law

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia House of Representatives approved legislation Thursday that would dramatically overhaul a state law that makes it a crime for people who know they have HIV to have sex without first disclosing the infection.

Advocates say the measure would be a milestone in the South, where the bulk of new HIV diagnoses occur and stigma around the disease remains high.

“For a southern state, this is a big deal,” said Nina Martinez, with the Georgia HIV Justice Coalition.

The bill passed the state House 124-40 and now goes to the state Senate.

Georgia is among roughly 20 states that criminalize the failure to disclose HIV status before sex. Authorities in Georgia made nearly 600 arrests from 1988 to September 2017 on suspicion of HIV-related crimes, according to a 2018 study by the Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.

Texas megachurch pastor

pleads guilty to bilking investors

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A Texas megachurch pastor and former spiritual adviser to two U.S. presidents has pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of millions of dollars alongside a Louisiana investment adviser.

Kirbyjon H. Caldwell pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, news outlets reported. Caldwell was the senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston and a spiritual adviser to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Caldwell’s co-defendant Gregory A. Smith, a Shreveport financial planner, pleaded guilty to the same charge in July 2019.

According to the Department of Justice, Caldwell and Smith used their clout and influence to persuade people to invest about $3.5 million in historical Chinese bonds. The bonds were reportedly issued by the former Republic of China before they lost power to the communist government in 1949. The bonds aren’t recognized by China’s current government and thus have no investment value.