July 24, 2019 5:49 pm
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A woman has been sentenced to three to six years in the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian in western Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that 30-year-old Melinda Gregor tearfully apologized before an Allegheny County judge imposed the mandatory term Wednesday. She said “I know me saying ‘I’m sorry’ a million times won’t change anything, but I just want to say I’m so sorry to your family.” Defense attorney Phil DiLucente said his hadn’t committed “an intentional act to hurt or kill someone.” Common Pleas Court Judge Beth Lazzara, however, said Gregor knew she had struck something when she hit 50-year-old Michael Menner in December 2017, and jurors who convicted of her of failure to render aid didn’t believe her story that she thought she had struck a deer.
July 24, 2019 5:47 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Jerry Sandusky isn’t getting a fresh chance to argue in state court he should get a new trial, seven years after the former Penn State assistant football coach was convicted of molesting 10 boys. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down the 75-year-old’s request it review a Superior Court decision earlier this year that rejected most of Sandusky’s arguments. His lawyer says he’s very disappointed and Sandusky may seek help from federal courts. Sandusky’s November 2011 arrest led to the firing of his longtime boss, head football coach Joe Paterno. Paterno died in 2012. Superior Court had also ordered Sandusky be resentenced because mandatory minimum guidelines were improperly applied. The re-sentencing has been on hold awaiting the high court decision. Sandusky was sentenced in 2012 to 30 to 60 years.
July 24, 2019 5:27 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – An Associated Press analysis of prescription opioid data shows enough drugs were shipped in 2012 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. to have nearly a 20-day supply even as a national overdose and addiction crisis deepened. The AP crunched federal Drug Enforcement Administration numbers made public this month on the distribution of opioids from 2006 through 2012. The data is at the heart of a series of lawsuits filed by governments trying to hold the drug industry responsible for the opioid crisis. Drugmakers and distributors deny the charges.
By accounting the potency of drugs, the AP found that the total amount of opioids distributed per year over that period increased by 55%.
July 24, 2019 12:51 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Medical device maker Allergan Inc. is recalling a type of breast implant linked to a rare form of cancer. The company Wednesday announced a worldwide recall of implants with a textured surface. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it called for the removal after new information showed Allergan’s Biocell breast implants account for a disproportionate share of rare lymphoma cases. The move follows similar bans by regulators in France, Australia and Canada. The FDA is not recommending women with the implants have them removed if they are not experiencing problems. The recalled implants feature a textured surface designed to prevent slippage and to minimize scar tissue. Such models account for just 5% of the U.S. market. Most U.S. breast implants are smooth.
July 24, 2019 10:40 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal regulators are fining Facebook $5 billion for privacy violations and instituting new oversight and restrictions on its business. But they are only holding CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally responsible in a limited fashion. The fine is the largest the Federal Trade Commission has levied on a tech company, although it won’t much dent a company that had nearly $56 billion in revenue last year. Zuckerberg must personally certify Facebook’s compliance with its privacy programs. The FTC says false certifications could expose him to civil or criminal penalties. Some experts thought the FTC might fine Zuckerberg directly or limit his authority over the company. The commission opened their investigation after revelations that data mining firm Cambridge Analytica had gathered details on as many as 87 million Facebook users without their permission.
July 24, 2019 8:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Former special counsel Robert Mueller has finished testifying before Congress. Mueller testified before two committees on Wednesday for more than six hours on his 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller said the interference was not a hoax, and it was not an isolated episode. He warned that there should be a more robust effort to guard against future interference. Mueller also dismissed President Donald Trump’s claim of “total exoneration,” saying it’s not what his Russia report said. Mueller told lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee that investigators did not exonerate Trump of obstruction of justice. He made the statement in response to questions from the committee’s chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat. Mueller’s report said the investigation did not find sufficient evidence to establish charges of a criminal conspiracy between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia. But it said investigators did not clear Trump of trying to obstruct the probe. A redacted version of the 448-page report compiled by Mueller’s team was released by the Justice Department in April.
July 24, 2019 8:44 am
NEW CASTLE, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a Pennsylvania father fatally shot his teenage daughter’s boyfriend because he believed he had gotten her “hooked on drugs.” New Castle Police say Michael D’Biagio is charged with homicide and aggravated assault in the death of 17-year-old Darren Jevcak on Friday. Authorities say D’Biagio shot Jevcak several times outside a pizza shop where Jevcak worked. Police say there’s no evidence of Jevcak or D’Biagio’s daughter being involved in drugs besides smoking marijuana at a party
July 24, 2019 6:57 am
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – A federal judge has blocked three new abortion restrictions from taking effect in Arkansas, including a measure that opponents say would likely force the state’s only surgical abortion clinic to close. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker granted a 14-day temporary restraining order shortly before midnight Tuesday. The 159-page order blocks the state from enforcing the new laws, including a measure prohibiting the procedure 18 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy. They also included a requirement that doctors performing abortions be board-certified or board-eligible in obstetrics and gynecology. An official with a Little Rock clinic that performs surgical abortions says it has one physician who meets that requirement, but he only works there a few days every other month. Baker also blocked a law prohibiting doctors from performing an abortion if it’s being sought because the fetus was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.
July 24, 2019 5:35 am
OKLAHOMA BOROUGH, Pa. – An historic former hotel was destroyed late Tuesday night in Oklahoma Borough, Westmoreland County. The old Belvedere Hotel collapsed in on itself as flames ripped through the building just before midnight, officials said. Located on Route 66, the building was a hotel in the early 1900s. It later became a bar and also had apartments, but no one had been living there for quite some time. Route 66 is closed from Route 819 to the Apollo Bridge on the Armstrong County side, and the railroad is also shut down. Officials do not expect either to open for the morning commute. The borough had been trying to find money to tear down the building, according to officials. (Photo: WPXI)
July 24, 2019 4:23 am
HOUSTON (AP) – A U.S.-born 18-year-old has been released from immigration custody after wrongfully being detained for more than three weeks. Francisco Erwin Galicia left a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pearsall, Texas, on Tuesday. His lawyer, Claudia Galan, confirmed he had been released, hours after The Dallas Morning News first reported about his case. Galan says Galicia lives in the border city of Edinburg and was traveling north with friends when they were stopped at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint. According to Galan and the Morning News, agents apprehended Galicia on suspicion that he was in the U.S. illegally even though he had a Texas state ID. The Border Patrol detained Galicia for three weeks before transferring him to the ICE detention center. ICE and the Border Patrol haven’t responded to requests for comment.
