Salman Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic Verses” drew death threats from Iran in the 1980s, has been stabbed in the neck and abdomen by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York. The 75-year-old Rushdie was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery Friday. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye he was likely to lose. An Associated Press reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution and punch or stab him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. Police arrested the attacker and identified him as 24-year-old Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey. His lawyer declined to comment.

The family of country singer Naomi Judd filed an amended court petition to seal police reports and recordings made during the investigation into her death. The family said Friday the records contain video and audio interviews with relatives in the immediate aftermath of her death and releasing such details would inflict "significant trauma and irreparable harm.” Judd died at the age of 76 on April 30 at her home in Tennessee. The court filing also included details about how Ashley Judd found her mother alive after she shot herself. Ashley stayed by her mother’s side for 30 minutes until help arrived.

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention say that several of their denomination’s major entities are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The SBC’s statement gave few details about the investigation, but indicated it dealt with sexual abuse. The SBC, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., has been plagued by problems related to clergy sex abuse in recent years. Earlier this year, an SBC task force released a blistering 288-page report from outside consultant, Guidepost Solutions. The firm’s seven-month independent investigation found disturbing details about how denominational leaders mishandled sex abuse claims and mistreated victims.

Officials in some parts of rural Nevada are vowing to bypass voting machines in favor of hand counting ballots this November and the Nevada secretary of state’s office is proposing statewide guidelines on how to do it. The communities pushing for hand-counting are in conservative rural parts of the state where election misinformation has grown. But four voting rights groups came out against the proposed rules Friday before the secretary of state holds a hearing seeking feedback. The groups, including the Brennan Center and ACLU Nevada, called on Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske to ban the practice outright.