Transplant Group Rejects Lung Rule Changes

Transplant Group Rejects Lung Rule Changes

 

Sarah Murnaghan, with her mother.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The national organization that manages organ transplants rejected making emergency rule changes Monday for children under 12 who are waiting on lungs, but created a special appeal and review system to hear such cases.

The executive committee of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network held a teleconference to consider children who seek to qualify for adult lungs, and many members voiced serious ethical and medical concerns about a recent federal judge’s ruling that questioned the existing system.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Residents Displaced After Partial Building Collapse On South Street

Residents Displaced After Partial Building Collapse On South Street

 

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Eight residents were displaced after a partial building collapse on South Street Monday night, according to the American Red Cross.

The incident happened along the 800 block of South Street in Bella Vista.
The American Red Cross says they are responding to assist the residents.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Records show past turmoil in Calif. gunman's home

Records show past turmoil in Calif. gunman's home 

Akiva Sherman, right, 62, repairs the wall next to a makeshift memorial Sunday, June 9, 2013, where a victim's vehicle crashed during the shootings at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, Calif. The shootings on Friday left six people dead, including the gunman.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- The mother of a gunman who fatally shot five people during a chaotic spate of violence last week said the shooter's father threatened to kill her on at least two occasions during their tumultuous marriage, according to court records obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

In a 1998 request for a restraining order, gunman John Zawahri's mother, Randa Abdou, wrote that her husband once told her: "If I had a gun it would be over."

Abdou also said her husband had threatened to take their two young sons to Canada after the couple separated at the time, and that he once punched her and stole her jewelry, purse, and divorce papers she had started filling out.

Authorities said John Zawahri, 23, shot his father, Samir Zawahri, and his brother, Christopher Zawahri, on Friday, leaving their home in flames before shooting at strangers in cars and on the Santa Monica College campus during a 15-minute rampage.

The former student at the school was heavily armed and carried a duffel bag with 1,300 rounds of ammunition before officers killed him in the campus library.

Abdou cut short a visit with family in Lebanon to return to Los Angeles on Sunday and had spoken with investigators who hoped she could provide clues to what sparked the violence.

Neighbor Beverly Meadows said Abdou told her by phone Monday that she was in mourning and concerned about those who were hurt.

"She is very, very fragile right now, and at this point in time, everybody else is gone," Meadows said.

Abdou has not spoken to the media.

"Please respect the fact that this woman is devastated," Meadows said. "She is absolutely overwhelmed and she doesn't know how to process it. She sounds like she's done nothing but cry. ... She still feels like maybe she should have done something."

Investigators are trying to determine whether the family's problems played any role in the killings, which came as Santa Monica College students were taking finals. Authorities were tracing the firearms to determine the owner and how Zawahri was in possession of so much ammunition.

Besides the two Zawahris, the victims included Carlos Navarro Franco, 68, and his daughter Marcela Franco, 26. They were gunned down as he pulled his vehicle out of a parking lot at the college, where he worked as a landscaper and she was a student.

On Monday, campus Police Chief Albert Vasquez identified the fifth victim as Margarita Gomez, 68, of Santa Monica. She was a nonstudent known for collecting recyclables at the site and shot outside the library.

Students returned to campus Monday to complete exams and recover backpacks, cars and other items left behind when they fled and the school was closed. Extra security and counselors were on hand but the library remained off-limits.

Kelly Williams, 19, said she was nervous about coming to campus to take a psychology final but felt better once she saw a police car parked outside.

"It's kind of scary because it just happened and you don't know if it will happen again," she said.

Zawahri enrolled in the winter of 2009 and last attended in fall 2010, taking classes in the entertainment technology program, which involves video game design, animation and computer skills for digital media, the college said in a statement that also reported no disciplinary issues with Zawahri.

Zawahri has a record with Santa Monica police but the department has not disclosed any details because he was a juvenile at the time.

Neighbors have described Zawahri as reclusive and said his 55-year-old father was friendly though not overly social. It's unclear how long the pair lived together. His 25-year-old brother lived with his mother.

Zawahri's parents married in 1985, and in the mid-1990s his father brought his family to the Santa Monica neighborhood of small homes and apartment buildings tucked up against Interstate 10, according to property records.

When Zawahri was 9, his now-separated mother sought the restraining order.

In the 1998 document, Abdou said she left Lebanon and joined her husband in the U.S. five years after their wedding, and the couple "have had marital troubles ever since."

Her husband had been "verbally abusive and controlling," she stated, adding that she was afraid he might do something "drastic because he seems to become increasingly angry and frustrated over our separation."

Abdou said her husband has "followed me, struck me, taken the children without telling me, and entered my apartment without my permission and removed photographs."

He once came to the apartment and told her that he was going to take the children to Canada, she said.

"The defendant said that he would do anything to make my life miserable and that he could kill me and no restraining order can stop him," she said.

Her husband waited for her at work once, and when she pulled up in a car with a friend, he struck her in the arm, pulled her hair, took gold bracelets, her purse and divorce papers she had not completed, she said.

She was afraid to press charges, she added, because he scared her and she didn't want to enrage him further. "The defendant has told me that life means nothing to him if we are not together," she said.

Abdou asked the court to order the return of her property, including her green card, and to grant her custody of the couple's two sons pending a court hearing. However, her request for a restraining order was dismissed when she missed the hearing.

She wrote that she was afraid to notify him of the restraining order, saying "I do not know how he would react to the notice."

Court records indicated that Samir Zawahri filed for divorce in 1993, but it was never finalized.

Five years later, when Abdou filed court papers for the restraining order, she noted that no divorce was pending, but she indicated that she had been in the process of filling out divorce papers. It's unclear if the couple ever divorced.

Public records show that Abdou sold her portion of the family home to Samir Zawahri in 2002. The sale was finalized the following year.

Stroke Survivors, Supporters Take Part In 19th Annual Strides For Stroke 5K

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Melva Adams gets back in her wheelchair after getting
up to walk across the finish line.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It may be the slowest 5K on Philadelphia’s race calendar, but the annual Strides for Stroke is often an important milestone for stroke survivors and their families. The 19th edition of the event was held Sunday morning, near the Art Museum.

The event attracts many groups honoring survivors, and survivors themselves. Melva Adams half-walked, half-rode a wheelchair with a group of survivors from Moss Rehab. Crossing the finish line at 1 hour, 16 minutes on the race clock hardly put Adams in the winners circle for the 5K event, but she was on her own two feet and that was a major victory.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

South Africa: family visits Nelson Mandela

South Africa: family visits Nelson Mandela 

FILE - In this file image taken from video, the ailing anti-apartheid icon Nelson Madela is filmed Monday April 29, 2013, more than three weeks after being released from hospital. The office of South Africa's president said Saturday, June 8, 2013 that Mandela has been taken to a hospital because of a lung infection.

 

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Nelson Mandela received visits from family members on Sunday at a hospital where the former president and anti-apartheid leader was being treated for a recurring lung infection, while South Africans expressed their appreciation for a man widely regarded as the father of the nation.

There was no official update on 94-year-old Mandela after his second night in the hospital. His condition was described as "serious but stable" on Saturday.

The office of President Jacob Zuma had said that Mandela was taken to a Pretoria hospital after his condition deteriorated at around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The anti-apartheid leader has now been taken to a hospital four times since December, with the last discharge coming on April 6 after doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia and drained fluid from his lung area.

Members of Mandela's family on Sunday were seen visiting the Pretoria hospital where he is believed to be staying. They included Makaziwe Mandela, the eldest of the ex-leader's three surviving children, and Ndileka Mandela, one of his 17 grandchildren.

Worshippers at a Sunday church service in the Johannesburg township of Soweto prayed for the recovery of Mandela, who was freed in 1990 after 27 years as a prisoner of white racist rule and won election to the presidency in all-race elections in 1994. He retired from public life years ago and had received medical care at his Johannesburg home until his latest transfer to a hospital.

At the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, Father Sebastian Rousso said Mandela, seen by many as a symbol of reconciliation for his peacemaking efforts, played a key role "not only for ourselves as South Africans, but for the world."

There is a stained glass image of Mandela with arms raised in the Catholic church, a center of protests and funeral services for activists during the apartheid years.

"We still need him in our lives because he did so much for us," said Mantsho Moralo, a receptionist who was in the congregation. Siyabonga Nyembe, a student, described Mandela as a "pillar of strength" for South Africans.

A stream of tourists visited Mandela's former home, now a museum, on Vilakazi Street in Soweto. Visitors and vendors wished a quick recovery for the man whose sacrifices in the fight against apartheid made their lives better, even if South Africa today is struggling today with high unemployment and other severe challenges.

"He's like one in a million. I don't think we're ever going to get a leader like him. We're living the life that we have because of him and for that we wish him well," said Seponono Kekana, who toured the brick, one-storey house.

On April 29, state television broadcast footage of a visit by Zuma and other leaders of the ruling African National Congress to Mandela's home. Zuma said at the time that Mandela was in good shape, but the footage - the first public images of Mandela in nearly a year - showed him silent and unresponsive, even when Zuma tried to hold his hand.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been particularly vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his long imprisonment. The bulk of that period was spent on Robben Island, an outpost off the coast of Cape Town where Mandela and other prisoners spent part of the time toiling in a stone quarry.

The Sunday Times, a South African newspaper, quoted Andrew Mlangeni, an old friend of Mandela, as saying he wished the former president would get better but noted his infirmity had become a drawn-out process. He said Mandela had been taken to the hospital "too many times" and that there was a possibility he would not be well again.

"The family must release him so that God may have his own way. They must release him spiritually and put their faith in the hands of God," said Mlangeni, a co-defendant of Mandela in the 1960s trial on sabotage charges that led to a sentence of life imprisonment for them and other anti-apartheid leaders.

"Once the family releases him, the people of South Africa will follow. We will say thank you, God, you have given us this man, and we will release him too," Mlangeni told the newspaper.

Nhlanhla Ngcobobo, a street vendor who works a few steps from the Mandela Family Restaurant next to the former leader's old home, said the ailing Mandela was a kind of psychological anchor for his compatriots. South Africa has held peaceful elections since 1994 and remains an economic powerhouse on the continent, but many worry that the sense of promise that Mandela represented in the early years of democracy is in peril.

"There's a lot of corruption and when Mandela dies, people will start feeling they can do what they like and corruption will be worse than it is," Ngcobobo said. "By him being alive, there's a lot more order."

Rayan Blackwood, A.K.A., "Playboii Pain": Local Philadelphia Music Entertainer And Photo Journalist Coming To Philadelphia Front Page News To Help Uplift Community by Van Stone frontpagenews1@yahoo.com (267) 293-9201.

Rayan Blackwood, A.K.A., "Playboii Pain": Local Philadelphia Music Entertainer And Photo Journalist Coming To Philadelphia Front Page News To Help Uplift Community by Van Stone frontpagenews1@yahoo.com (267) 293-9201.

Rayan ("Playboii Pain") Blackwood, Jamaican heritage and raised in Philly, PA. has been an entertainer, artist, and newspaper reporter for more than 15 years. After graduating from high school with a diploma in communications, he landed his first journalism job as photo journalist editor of the daily online newspaper, The Philadelphia Front Page News, where he will shoot nearly all the entertainment photo stories, write the captions, edit and manage music photos, and “post up” the paper each week. As a professional entertainer/artist Rayan, also known as "Playboii Pain," joined the public relations staff at FPN in Philadelphia, where he help publicize community and entertainment news, including
fresh photos and videos about schools, children, youth, and political events.

He works with the arts department managing drawing comics and animal characters also.  He joined the Philadelphia Front Page News as a photo reporter in June 2013.

Phila. School District Sends Out Thousands of Layoff Notices

Phila. School District Sends Out Thousands of Layoff Notices

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — There’s a pink slip in the mail for about one out of every five Philadelphia school district employees.

The district is sending out 3,783 layoff notices to assistant principals, teachers, counselors, noontime aides and others. Superintendent William Hite says the layoffs will save the district $215 million toward its $300 million shortfall.

“The School District of Philadelphia must live within its means. We can only spend the revenues that are given to us by the city and the state. Unfortunately this is the harsh reality of how that looks,” said Hite.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Equipment operator to be charged in Pa. collapse

Equipment operator to be charged in Pa. collapse 

Firefighters view the scene of a building collapse, Thursday, June 6, 2013, in Philadelphia. On Wednesday, the building under demolition collapsed onto a neighboring thrift store, killing six people and injuring 14, including one who was pulled from the debris nearly 13 hours later.

  

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A felon who was allegedly high while operating demolition equipment when a downtown building collapsed and killed six people will be charged with involuntary manslaughter, a top city official said Friday.

Sean Benschop, 42, faces six manslaughter counts along with six counts of risking a catastrophe, six counts of reckless endangerment and other charges, Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison told The Associated Press.

Authorities believe Benschop had been using an excavator Wednesday when what was left of the four-story building gave way and fell on top of a neighboring Salvation Army thrift store, killing two employees and four customers, and injuring 13 others.

A toxicology report showed "evidence that he was high" on marijuana, Gillison said. That finding, combined with witness statements and evidence from the scene, led to the decision Friday to raid his North Philadelphia home and later seek an arrest warrant, he said.

"The D.A. has approved it (his arrest), and my police officers are out looking for him as we speak," said Gillison, the deputy mayor for public safety.

Benschop, who also goes by the name Kary Roberts, has been arrested at least 11 times since 1994 on charges ranging from drugs to theft to weapons possession, according to court records. He was twice sentenced to prison in the 1990s after being convicted on drug trafficking charges. Benschop's last arrest, for aggravated assault, came in January 2012, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Benschop did not return phone messages left at numbers listed in his name, though he told The Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday that he couldn't comment because of the investigation.

The victims include a pair of 24-year-old artist friends shopping at the store and a newly engaged woman working her first day there.

Video shot of the scene days before the fatal collapse show bricks falling onto a sidewalk, which remained open to pedestrians, as a worker used heavy equipment to take out a front wall.

Some blame has been lobbed at demolition contractor Griffin Campbell, whose background includes arrests for drugs, assault and insurance fraud, along with two bankruptcy filings. He was being paid $10,000 for the job, according to the demolition permit.

Campbell violated several federal safety regulations, while building owner Richard Basciano should have picked a more qualified and competent contractor to do the work, said lawyer Robert Mongeluzzi, who represents injured store worker Nadine White in a lawsuit filed Friday against the pair.

"From what we can understand, given (Campbell's) checkered past, and what appears to be a total lack of experience and know-how, we believe that was a grossly negligent selection," said lawyer Robert Mongeluzzi, who won court permission Friday to examine the debris after city officials finish their investigation.

The collapse has brought swift and mounting fallout in a city where demolition contractors are lightly regulated. Officials have begun inspecting hundreds of demolition sites citywide, and a city councilman charged that dangerous, under-the-radar tear-downs are taking place throughout Philadelphia.

The city is also preparing to implement sweeping changes in its regulations of building demolition, Mayor Michael Nutter said Friday, adding that every active demolition site is being inspected for safety.

The mayor appeared forlorn at the afternoon news conference at City Hall, apologizing to the victims' families for the deaths and promising the city would do better.

"We lack the resources to have a police officer on every corner, or L&I (License and Inspections) at every construction site every hour of the day, (but) we can do much better," Nutter said. "We will not accept the status quo in the face of this tragedy."

Nutter's reform plan for construction sites that includes the random drug testing of heavy equipment operators.

"If that's a factor here, that certainly takes things in a very different direction," Nutter said hours before the charges were confirmed.

The mayor also pledged to adopt tougher background requirements for demolition contractors, including information about each worker's experience, and more frequent site inspections when demolitions are under way.

Several homicide prosecutors and police department crime scene investigators were on the scene this week when a steel beam from the site was removed.

Construction engineers have said adjacent buildings should be evacuated during critical phases of a demolition project. The other victims also include two immigrants from Africa, a 68-year-old man from Liberia described as a devoted husband and Salvation Army worker, and a 52-year-old woman from Sierra Leone who had nine children and loved to hunt for bargains.

The Salvation Army was concerned enough about the demolition that its attorneys reached out to a lawyer for building owner STB Investments Corp., a company linked to prominent businessman and developer Richard Basciano.

"There was communication between The Salvation Army and the attorney of the neighboring building's owner, pertaining to the demolition. The neighbor assured The Salvation Army that they would be taking proper precautions," Maj. Robert W. Dixon, director of operations of The Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia, said in a statement Friday afternoon.

"These discussions were never finalized," he said.

Ohio man faces 329 charges in missing women case

Ohio man faces 329 charges in missing women case 

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Cuyahoga County Jail shows Ariel Castro. Castro, accused of holding three women captive in his home for a decade, has been indicted Friday, June 7, 2013, on 329 charges including kidnapping and rape, prosecutors said. The grand jury charged the former school bus driver with one count of aggravated murder, saying he purposely caused the unlawful termination of a pregnancy.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A man accused of holding three women captive in his run-down home in Cleveland for a decade and fathering a child with one of them has been indicted on 329 charges including murder, kidnapping and rape, prosecutors said.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned the indictment Friday against Ariel Castro, a former school bus driver fired last fall.

Castro, 52, is accused of kidnapping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight and holding them captive along with a 6-year-old girl he fathered with Berry.

The grand jury charged Castro with two counts of aggravated murder related to one act, saying he purposely caused the unlawful termination of one of the women's pregnancies. Castro also was indicted on 139 counts of rape, 177 counts of kidnapping, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, three counts of felonious assault and one count of possession of criminal tools.

Castro's attorneys have said he would plead not guilty to any indictment. Castro, during his brief arraignment last month, tried to hide his face, tucking his chin inside his shirt collar, and did not speak.

Castro is being held on $8 million bail. He has been taken off suicide prevention watch, jail officials said this week. He has told jail guards he won't accept news media interview requests.

A telephone message left for one of his attorneys after business hours on Friday wasn't immediately returned.

Castro was arrested May 6, shortly after Berry broke through a door at the home, yelled to neighbors for help and frantically told a police dispatcher by phone: "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years, and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."

Berry, 27, told officers that she was forced to give birth in a plastic pool in the house so it would be easier to clean up. Berry said she, her baby and the two other women rescued with her had never been to a doctor during their captivity.

Knight, 32, said her five pregnancies ended after Castro starved her for at least two weeks and "repeatedly punched her in the stomach until she miscarried," authorities said.

She also said Castro forced her to deliver Berry's baby under threat of death if the baby died. She said that when the newborn stopped breathing, she revived her through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The women had vanished separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. 

They haven't spoken publicly since their rescue.

Castro's two brothers were arrested with him but later were cleared of involvement in the case and were released.

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said the indictment covers only the period from August 2002, when the first of the women disappeared, to February 2007.

Castro will be arraigned on the charges next week, and a trial judge will then be assigned.

The investigation continues, McGinty said. And when the indictment process is completed, the county prosecutor's capital review committee will weigh whether the case is appropriate for seeking the death penalty.

Days after the women were rescued from Castro's home, McGinty had said at a news conference that capital punishment "must be reserved for those crimes that are truly the worst examples of human conduct."

"The law of Ohio calls for the death penalty for those most depraved criminals, who commit aggravated murder during the course of a kidnapping," he added.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who may be victims of sexual assault, but the names of the women were widely circulated by their families, friends and law enforcement authorities for years during their disappearances and after they were found.

Gov't recommends 4 years for Jesse Jackson Jr.

Gov't recommends 4 years for Jesse Jackson Jr.

FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2013 file photo, former Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. arrives at federal in Washington. Prosecutors are recommending four years in prison for Jackson following his guilty plea this year on criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. The government is also recommending that Jackson be ordered to pay $750,000 in restitution to the campaign, and forfeit $750,000.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Prosecutors Friday recommended four years in prison for former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., following his guilty plea this year on criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items.

The government suggested an 18-month sentence for Jackson's wife, Sandra, who pleaded guilty to filing false joint federal income tax returns that understated the couple's income.

The government is also recommending that Jackson pay $750,000 in restitution to the campaign and that Sandra Jackson make a restitution payment of $168,000.

Because the couple has two children, prosecutors proposed that the sentences be staggered, with Sandra Jackson going first. According to the government, she could be out of prison in little over a year with credit for satisfactory behavior and serving the end of her sentence in home confinement. Both Jacksons are scheduled to be sentenced on July 3.

Jesse Jackson's lawyer, meanwhile, asked the judge to sentence Jackson to a term below guidelines. Under federal sentencing guidelines, the range is 46 to 57 months in prison. The lawyer, Reid H. Weingarten, argued that Jackson's ongoing treatment for depression and bipolar disorder, his record of good works and his family and community ties all support leniency. Jacksons' sentencing memo includes about five pages of redacted material on his health issues, and a few redacted lines on other issues.

Jackson, who had been a Democratic congressman from Illinois from 1995 until he resigned last November, used campaign money to buy items that included a $43,350 gold-plated men's Rolex watch and $9,587.64 worth of children's furniture, and his wife spent $5,150 on fur capes and parkas.

In Friday's 45-page sentencing memo, prosecutors urged the judge to take into account the advantages Jackson, the son of a famed civil rights leader, had in his life. Jackson "chose to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars despite having advantages in life and financial resources that few possess and that most can only dream of obtaining," the prosecutors wrote.

They noted that his yearly salary as a congressman ranged from $133,600 to $174,000, and that his wife's salary as Chicago alderman was also six figures. The memo said that Jackson's campaign paid his wife's consulting firm $5,000 a month during the time of the conspiracy - $340,500 in total.

"Before defendant or his wife stole a dime, they received substantial incomes," the government wrote, adding that in 2011, for example, their combined income was around $344,000 - putting them among the nation's high earners.

"This offense, at its core, is about greed and entitlement: defendant wanting more than even his substantial resources could afford him and believing he was entitled to both the items desired and campaign funds to purchase those items," the government said.

Prosecutors also argued that Jackson's behavior threatened to deter people from making campaign contributions and participating in the political process.

In a 22-page statement filed by prosecutors in February, Jackson admitted that he and his wife used campaign credit cards to buy 3,100 personal items worth $582,772.58 from 2005 through April 2012. 

Personal expenditures at restaurants, nightclubs and lounges amounted to $60,857.04. Personal expenditures at sports clubs and lounges were $16,058.91, including maintaining a family membership at a gym. Spending for alcohol was $5,814.43. Personal spending for dry cleaning was $14,513.42.

Prosecutors credited Jackson with cooperating with them in the investigation, which helped the government wrap up in weeks what could have taken months. While Jackson deserves credit for accepting responsibility and his level of cooperation, the government said, he already received that significant consideration in how the plea agreement was structured.

In Jackson's sentencing memo, his lawyer wrote that the former congressman's mental health may worsen under the stress of incarceration.

"During sentencing, federal courts have the authority to determine whether a defendant's mental illness warrants a below-guidelines sentence," Weingarten said.

"His public fall from grace has already made an example of him, warning other politicians and elected officials of the dangers of personal use of campaign funds," wrote Weingarten, who went on to detail Jackson's accomplishments in Congress and his help to others.

In a separate memorandum prepared for Sandra Jackson's sentencing, prosecutors said she was personally involved in the thefts, and they noted she served as treasurer of her husband's congressional campaign from January 2005 to November 2006. But prosecutors also credited her for cooperation and accepting responsibility.

Judge Tosses Lawsuit By Governor Tom Corbett Against NCAA

Judge Tosses Lawsuit By Governor Tom Corbett Against NCAA

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PA Governor Tom Corbett speaks with Penn State
student leaders behind him during a press conference in State College.
 
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett’s bid to get sanctions imposed by the NCAA against Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case dropped has been dealt a blow by a federal judge in Harrisburg.

The NCAA imposed, and Penn State accepted, a $60-million fine and a four-year ban on postseason action for the football team long before Sandusky, a former assistant coach, was convicted of sexually abusing young boys.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Search Is Over At Site Of Deadly Building Collapse; Several Victims Identified

Search Is Over At Site Of Deadly Building Collapse; Several Victims Identified

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) –- A day after a deadly building collapse in Center City, the mayor’s office has identified the six victims who were killed and 13 of the injured. The investigation into what caused the collapse is ongoing.

The search for survivors ended at about 3 p.m. after going through the night Wednesday and into Thursday. 

The collapse took place at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in a pair of low-rise buildings at 22nd and Market Streets, one of which was under demolition at the time.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

First Lawsuit Filed After Deadly Building Collapse

First Lawsuit Filed After Deadly Building Collapse

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – With many questions still remaining in the Center City building collapse, the first lawsuit was filed Thursday. One of the 14 injured victims, a Salvation Army store employee, is now suing the owners of the collapsed building and the demolition company.

On the job at the Salvation Army store for eight months, 54-year-old Nadine White was buried in the rubble for 10 to 15 minutes before she was rescued. She was treated and released from the hospital and, with the help of attorney Robert Mongeluzzi, is filing suit.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

3 Dead, 13 Rescued, 1 Possibly Unaccounted For In Center City Building Collapse

3 Dead, 13 Rescued, 1 Possibly Unaccounted For In Center City Building Collapse

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) –- Sources confirm to Eyewitness News that three people were killed and at least 13 people were injured following a building collapse in Center City Philadelphia Wednesday morning.
Sources tell Eyewitness News one person may be unaccounted for in the rubble.


The collapse took place at about 10:30 a.m. in a pair of low-rise buildings at 22nd and Market Streets, one of which was under demolition at the time.  Eyewitnesses recalled hearing a loud rumbling sound before the collapse.

“All of a sudden, I heard a rumble and the ground shake, so I immediately took off the other way,” said Kate Slyman, who was walking to her apartment at 19th and Market Streets. “And about 15 minutes later, I heard sirens.”

Authorities say 125 rescuers responded along a police dog and suburban search and rescue dog to search through the rubble using buckets and their bare hands to remove bricks and debris.

For full story   go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Court: Girls can buy morning-after pill, for now

Court: Girls can buy morning-after pill, for now

NEW YORK (AP) -- Girls of any age can buy generic versions of emergency contraception without a prescription while the federal government appeals a judge's ruling allowing the sales, according to a ruling Wednesday by a federal appeals court.

The brief order issued by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan permitted two-pill versions of emergency contraception to immediately be sold without restrictions, but the court refused to allow unrestricted sales of Plan B One-Step until it decides the merits of the government's appeal. It did not specify why the two-pill versions were being allowed now, though it said the government failed to meet the requirements necessary to block the lower-court decision.

The order was welcomed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, where President Nancy Northup called it a "historic day for women's health."

"Finally, after more than a decade of politically motivated delays, women will no longer have to endure intrusive, onerous and medically unnecessary restrictions to get emergency contraception," she said in a statement.

The center's litigation director, Julie Rickelman, said the government has two weeks to decide whether to appeal the 2nd Circuit's decision on the stay to the full appeals court or the Supreme Court. Even if there is no appeal of the stay ruling, it was unclear how soon drugstores would move the two-pill emergency contraception from behind the counter. She said she hoped the pills would be available without restriction within a month.

"What it does mean is that generic two-pill products are going to be readily available to women without age restrictions, on any drugstore shelf," Rickelman said. "It'll be like buying Tylenol. You'll be able to go get it off the drugstore shelf, no ID, at the regular counter."

Justice Department spokeswoman Allison Price said the government was reviewing the court's order.

The government has appealed U.S. District Judge Edward Korman's underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered levonorgestrel-based emergency contraceptives be made available without a prescription, over-the-counter and without point-of-sale or age restrictions.

The government asked Korman to suspend the effect of that ruling until the appeals court could decide the case, but the judge declined, saying the government's decision to restrict sales was "politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent." He also said there was no basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available.

The government had argued that "substantial market confusion" could result if Korman's ruling was enforced while appeals were pending, only to be later overturned.

The Food and Drug Administration was preparing in 2011 to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill with no limits when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists in an unprecedented move.

The FDA announced in early May that Plan B One-Step could be sold without a prescription to those 15 and older. Its maker, Teva Women's Health, plans to begin those sales soon. Sales had previously been limited to those who were at least 17.

Korman later ridiculed the FDA changes, saying they established "nonsensical rules" that favored sales of the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill and were made "to sugarcoat" the government's appeal.

He also said they place a disproportionate burden on blacks and the poor by requiring a prescription for less expensive generic versions of the drug bought by those under age 17 and by requiring those over age 17 to show proof-of-age identification at a pharmacy.

Plan B One-Step is the newer version of emergency contraception - the same drug, but combined into one pill instead of two.

‘Sad Day,’ Says Ramsey, As More Corruption Charges Filed Against Philly Cops

‘Sad Day,’ Says Ramsey, As More Corruption Charges Filed Against Philly Cops

 

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — New charges have been filed against one allegedly corrupt Philadelphia cop, and an alleged partner in crime has also been charged.

This is another blow to the Philadelphia Police Department, already reeling from repeated allegations of corruption, acts of admitted corruption, and concerns about police shootings.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

School Bus Attendant And Hall Monitor Arrested For Alleged Indecent Assault Of 14-Year-Old Girl

School Bus Attendant And Hall Monitor Arrested For Alleged Indecent Assault Of 14-Year-Old Girl

 Philadelphia Police Department
 
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) –A 22-year-old school bus attendant and hall monitor has been arrested for the alleged indecent assault of a 14-year-old girl and using foul language with three other students, according to police.

The alleged incident happened on April 30^th inside of the schoolyard of Bryant Elementary School in West Philadelphia.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Deadly Okla. tornado widest on record, rare EF5

Deadly Okla. tornado widest on record, rare EF5 

FILE - In this May 31, 2013 file photo a tornado forms near Banner Road and Praire Circle in El Reno, Okla. The National Weather Service says the deadly tornado that struck near Oklahoma City late last week was another top-of-the-scale EF5 that packed winds reaching 295 mph. The weather service also says the twister's 2.6-mile width is the widest ever recorded.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The deadly tornado that plowed through an area near Oklahoma City last week was even larger and more powerful than previously estimated - a record 2.6 miles wide with winds that reached nearly 300 mph, just shy of the strongest winds ever measured.

The National Weather Service on Tuesday announced that the twister that hit El Reno was a top-of-the-scale EF5 twister - the second to strike the area in less than two weeks.

Friday's tornado was initially rated as an EF3. But the agency upgraded that ranking after surveying damage and concluding that the storm had winds of 295 mph. Nineteen people died in the storm and subsequent flooding, including three storm chasers.

The Oklahoma City area also saw an EF5 tornado on May 20. That one raked Moore, a suburb 25 miles southeast of El Reno, and killed 24 people. Moore was hit in 1999 by another EF5, which had the strongest winds ever measured on earth: 302 mph.

The massive tornado that formed Friday avoided highly populated metro areas, a fact that almost certainly saved lives.

Winds were at their most powerful in areas devoid of structures, said Rick Smith, chief warning coordination meteorologist for the weather service's office in Norman.

"Any house would have been completely swept clean on the foundation," Smith said.

The twister marched through the countryside between El Reno and Union City, a region of largely rural farm and grazing land. Most of the destruction came toward the end of the tornado's 16.2-mile path along Interstate 40, where several motorists were killed when their vehicles were tossed around.

Like many Midwestern cities, the Oklahoma City metropolitan area continues to expand in the suburbs, but the rapid growth hasn't quite reached as far west as where Friday's tornado tracked.

William Hooke, a senior policy fellow of the American Meteorological Society, said the continued growth of cities in tornado-prone areas makes it only a matter of time before another monstrous twister hits a heavily populated area.

"You dodged a bullet," Hooke said. "You lay that path over Oklahoma City, and you have devastation of biblical proportions.

In El Reno, the city of 18,000 suffered significant damage, including to its vocational-technical center and a cattle stockyard that was reduced to a pile of twisted metal. But Mayor Matt White said it could have been worse had the twister passed to the north.

"If it was two more miles this way, it would have wiped out all of downtown, almost every one of our subdivisions and almost all of our businesses," White said. "It would have taken out everything."

The EF5 storm that hit Moore decimated neighborhoods.

"It's very scary ... I don't think a normal person can fathom just how scary," White said. "I don't think they realize how lucky El Reno was."

The storm's 2.6-mile-wide path surpassed a record set in 2004 in Hallam, Neb. And it would have made the storm hard to recognize up close, Smith said.

"A 2 1/2-mile wide tornado would not look like a tornado to a lot of people," Smith said, explaining that the twister would not have a tapered funnel and would instead resemble a dark cloud hanging below the horizon.

Greg Carbin, a meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, said May in Oklahoma is a time of weather transition, offering the perfect fuel for violent thunderstorms that can produce tornadoes - a combination of warm, moist air combined with cooler jet stream energy that causes massive instability in the atmosphere.

"In these past two events, we've had a lot of unstable air sitting around, a lot of moisture and warm air," Carbin said. "That provides the fuel for thunderstorm development."

2 Children Rescued From Pennypack Creek In Northeast Philadelphia

2 Children Rescued From Pennypack Creek In Northeast Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Two children were rescued from the Pennypack Creek in Northeast Philadelphia on Monday evening.

The incident happened at about 5 p.m. near Winchester Avenue and Woodward Street in Winchester Park.

Chopper 3 HD was over the scene as crews responded.

A 13-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy were attempting to wade across the creek.  They managed to become stranded, and grabbed on to a rock.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Police: Serial Rapist Attacked 4 Girls In Germantown

Police: Serial Rapist Attacked 4 Girls In Germantown

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Police are searching for a serial rapist who has attacked four young girls in the streets of Germantown since March.

The most recent happened early Sunday morning in the 1100 block of East Chelten Avenue.  In that attack, a female was dragged into a city recreation center where she was raped by the suspect.

During a press conference today, police said that in each attack the suspect has targeted victims who were walking in the area of Chelten Avenue. He grabbed his victims at gunpoint on the street or sidewalk and forced them into a secluded area, where he raped them.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Jury finds for Ohio teacher fired while pregnant

Jury finds for Ohio teacher fired while pregnant 

FILE - This photo made Dec. 8, 2011, in Withamsville, Ohio, shows teacher Christa Dias holding her 11-month-old daughter in her home. A jury sided Monday with Dias who sued a Catholic archdiocese in Ohio, saying it violated anti-discrimination laws by firing her after she became pregnant via artificial insemination. The federal jury found the Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati discriminated against Dias by firing her in 2010. The panel awarded her more than $170,000.

CINCINNATI (AP) -- A Catholic school teacher who was fired after she became pregnant through artificial insemination won her anti-discrimination lawsuit against an Ohio archdiocese Monday and was awarded more than $170,000.

A federal jury found that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati discriminated against Christa Dias by firing her in October 2010.

Dias, who taught computer classes, declined to comment immediately after the verdict but said later in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that she was "very happy and relieved."

The jury said the archdiocese should pay $51,000 in back pay, $20,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages. Dias had sued the archdiocese and two of its schools; the jury didn't find the schools liable for damages.

Dias' attorney, Robert Klingler, had argued she was fired simply because she was pregnant and unmarried, a dismissal he said violated federal and state law. He had suggested damages as high as $637,000, but Dias said she was satisfied with the jury's award.

"It was never about the money," she said. "They should have followed the law and they didn't."

Steven Goodin, the attorney for the archdiocese and the schools, had argued Dias was fired for violating her contract. The church considers artificial insemination immoral and a violation of church doctrine, and the contract required her to comply with the philosophies and teachings of the Catholic church, Goodin said.

"We gave always argued that this case was about a contract violation and should never have been allowed to come to trial," Goodin said after the verdict.

He said that while he was disappointed in the finding against the archdiocese, he was relieved the schools were not held liable, saying that would have proven a financial hardship for them.

Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco said after court that for the archdiocese, it was always "a matter of principle" and about "an employee who broke a contract she signed."

Dias, who is not Catholic, testified she didn't know artificial insemination violated church doctrine or her employment pact. She said she thought the contract clause about abiding by church teachings meant she should be a Christian and follow the Bible.

Dias also has claimed that the church policies are not enforced equally against men and women.

Goodin argued that Dias, who is gay, never intended to abide by her contract. She kept her sexual orientation a secret because she knew that homosexual acts also would violate that contract, he said.

Neither Dias nor the archdiocese claim she was fired because she is gay, and the judge told jurors that they could not consider sexual orientation in determining motivating factors for the firing.

Dias, formerly from suburban Cincinnati, now lives in Atlanta with her partner and their 2-year-old daughter.

The case, viewed as a barometer on the degree to which religious organizations can regulate employees' lives, is the second lawsuit filed in the last two years against the archdiocese over the firing of an unmarried pregnant teacher.

Dias said she pursued the lawsuit "for the sake of other women" who might find themselves in a similar situation. She also said she filed it for "my daughter's sake, so she knows it's important to stand up for what's right."

The archdiocese had argued prior to trial that Dias was a ministerial employee and that the Supreme Court has said religious groups can dismiss those employees without government interference. But Klingler insisted Dias had no such duties, and the court found that she was not a ministerial employee.

Klingler said the case shows jurors are willing to apply the law "even to churches and religious organizations when non-ministerial employees are discriminated against."

But Goodin said he thinks the verdict could result in churches and religious organizations making their contracts "lock in" employees so specifically that it could be "hard to bring these types of lawsuits in the future."

Goodin said there was no immediate decision on whether to appeal.

Programs To Receive $780M To Help Victims Of Sandy In New Jersey

Programs To Receive $780M To Help Victims Of Sandy In New Jersey

 

Homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Beach Haven West, NJ.

 

TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) - Seven months after Hurricane Sandy came a calling, and thousands in New Jersey saw their primary homes damaged or destroyed, federal grants are being offered to help them rebuild.

Two programs are getting $780 million in funding from HUD.

One will help people move to another area of the county where they reside, but the lions share goes to keep them where they were before the storm.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/