August 28, 2019 4:09 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – State attorneys general and lawyers representing local governments say they are in active negotiations with Purdue Pharma, maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, as they attempt to reach a landmark settlement over the nation’s opioid crisis. The privately held company has offered to settle for $10 billion to $12 billion, according to an NBC News report Tuesday. Purdue has been cast by attorneys and addiction experts as a main villain in the crisis for producing a blockbuster drug while understating its addiction risk. News of the negotiations comes about two months before the first federal trial over the toll of opioids is scheduled to start in Cleveland. In a statement, Purdue said it sees “little good” coming from years of lawsuits and appeals, and is actively working toward a resolution.
August 28, 2019 4:08 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says it’s investigating allegations of “potential wrongdoing” resulting in multiple patient deaths at a VA hospital in West Virginia. VA Inspector General Michael J. Missal said in a statement Tuesday that his office has been looking with federal law enforcement into allegations at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg. He didn’t elaborate. The Exponent Telegram reported an attorney for the daughter of a Clarksburg VA patient who died last year filed a notice of a pending lawsuit. It said an autopsy showed her father died after an insulin injection. Charleston attorney Tony O’Dell said the VA told his client there was evidence as many as 10 other patients died in similar fashion. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia says he wants answers about what happened.
August 28, 2019 4:06 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Prosecutors have announced plans to seek the death penalty in the slaying of an off-duty Pittsburgh police officer shot to death in a street confrontation last month. The Allegheny County district attorney’s office informed the court Monday of intent to seek capital punishment should 30-year-old Christian Bey be convicted of first-degree murder. Prosecutors also unsealed the homicide and firearms crimes criminal complaint against Bey in the July 14 shooting of 36-year-old Officer Calvin Hall during a street dispute in the Homewood neighborhood as a party was going on. Prosecutors said the death penalty would be warranted because the victim was an officer, the slaying allegedly occurred during commission of another felony and there was also risk to another person. Bey remains in custody; court documents don’t list a defense attorney.
August 28, 2019 3:54 am
Washington City Councilman Matt Staniszewski is, again, facing DUI charges. City Police say they responded to a report of an unconscious male in a vehicle in the middle of the roadway at East Wheeling and Schaefer Avenue just after 1 p.m. Monday afternoon. Officers say the 42 year old appeared confused with “glassy and bloodshot” eyes. Several ‘airplane’ size bottles of alcohol were found inside the vehicle and at least one was open. When asked to provide his drivers license, Staniszewski initially handed the officer a credit card and then a ‘gold’ Councilman of Washington badge. Officers say they had to assist him from his vehicle and did not administer a field sobriety test because of ‘his high level of impairment’. He was taken to Washington Hospital but refused a requested blood test. He was then taken to the police station where he , again, refused the test. He was turned over to the custody of his father and will be charged via summons. According to reports, Staniszewski has faced DUI charges at least three other times dating back to 2005. Staniszewski has not returned an email request for comment.
August 28, 2019 3:34 am
A former bus driver for the Monessen School District has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge of possession of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced Tuesday. The one-count Indictment, returned on Aug. 20 and unsealed yesterday, named Jack Brian Laforte, age 54, of Monessen, Pennsylvania, as the sole defendant. According to Indictment, on or about June 14, 2019, Laforte possessed videos and images in computer graphic files, the production of which involved the use of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, some of whom had not yet attained 12 years of age. If you have any information involving this defendant, please call the Homeland Security Investigations Tip Line at 866-347-2423. The law provides for a maximum total sentence of 10 years in prison, a maximum term of supervised release of life, and a fine of $250,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
August 27, 2019 5:36 am
A ‘Celebration of Life in Our Community’ will be held this weekend in memory of 25 year old Nicholas Cumer. The 2012 graduate of Washington High School was among the nine victims in the mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio earlier this month. The event is set for 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Washington High School and will be open to the public. A group of former high school classmates are coordinating the event. The celebration is to remember his “talent, joy and leadership through his involvement-from the classroom to sports, the Prexie Performers to leading the ban as Drum Major. The service will include important aspects of Cumer’s life in Washington and will culminate with a flame-free candlelight vigil.
August 27, 2019 4:23 am
BIARRITZ, France (AP) – No, first lady Melania Trump hasn’t had any secret meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The White House is clarifying comments made by President Donald Trump during a news conference in France. He had said “the first lady has gotten to know” Kim and likely agrees he’s “a man with a country that has tremendous potential.” Press secretary Stephanie Grisham says in a statement from aboard Air Force One that the president “confides in his wife on many issues including the detailed elements of his strong relationship with Chairman Kim – and while the First Lady hasn’t met him, the President feels like she’s gotten to know him too.” Trump has said he’ll likely meet with Kim again to discuss Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
August 27, 2019 4:22 am
BOSTON (AP) – A judge says actress Lori Loughlin (LAWK’-lin) and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, can continue using a law firm that recently represented the University of Southern California. The couple appeared in Boston federal court on Tuesday to settle a dispute over their choice of lawyers in a sweeping college admissions bribery case. Prosecutors had said their lawyers pose a potential conflict of interest. Loughlin and Giannulli say the firm’s work for USC was unrelated to the admissions case and was handled by different lawyers. The judge is expected to rule later on a potential conflict with another firm representing the couple that also represents other defendants in the case. The couple is accused of paying $500,000 to have their two daughters labeled as recruits to the USC crew team, even though neither participated in the sport. They have pleaded not guilty.
August 27, 2019 4:17 am
MIAMI (AP) – President Donald Trump is sparing no detail in touting the features that would make the Doral golf resort the ideal place for the next G-7 Summit – close to the airport, plenty of hotel rooms, separate buildings for every delegation. There’s just one detail he left out: He owns the place. Critics have long railed against the president’s company opening the doors of its Washington, D.C., hotel and other properties to foreign embassies and diplomats intent on currying favor with the White House. But they say Trump’s proposal made at the current G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, takes it to a whole new level because foreign governments would have no choice but to spend money at the president’s resort.
August 27, 2019 4:16 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Up to 30 women were expected to take a judge up on his invitation to speak at a hearing after financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself before facing sex trafficking charges. The hearing Tuesday morning was scheduled last week by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman. Berman presided over the case prosecutors brought against Epstein after the 66-year-old convicted felon was arrested July 6. A New York City coroner has formally classified the death a suicide. He died Aug. 10. The judge set the hearing after prosecutors asked that he scrap charges against Epstein since the defendant is dead. Berman said he would give prosecutors, Epstein lawyers and any victims a chance to speak. Epstein had pleaded not guilty to charges he sex trafficked women in the early 2000s.
