National Roundup

New Jersey
New report links corrupt doctors to drug abuse
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A new report finds illicit medical practices run by unscrupulous entrepreneurs and corrupt physicians are fueling prescription drug and heroin abuse in New Jersey.
The State Commission of Investigation on Wednesday released its findings of a probe of prescription painkillers that it initiated two years ago.
Investigators found Medicaid patients and drug addicts in Newark were regularly taken by a van to a medical center where they were given unnecessary prescriptions for painkillers.
Officials also say a chiropractic office operating out of a seemingly abandoned building in Camden prescribed during a 19-month period enough Oxycodone with an estimated street value of nearly $10 million.
The panel is proposing stronger oversight of the medical community. It also wants tougher financial and criminal penalties for offenders.

Oregon
Trial set in UO Title IX gender bias lawsuit
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A federal court in Eugene has set Nov. 12 to hear the lawsuit of a former University of Oregon graduate student who accuses the university of gender bias.
Monica Emeldi says she was blocked from earning a doctoral degree in retaliation for expressing her belief that faculty in the College of Education was biased against women. The university denies the claim and says professors declined to advance her five years ago because of her academic record.
The Register-Guard reports the suit has attracted attention because it is the first time that a federal law banning discrimination in federally funded schools, known as Title IX, has been used in an academic setting rather than in athletics.

California
Ex-S. Cal teacher pleads not guilty to student sex
REDLANDS, Calif. (AP) — A former Southern California teacher who allegedly gave birth to her student’s baby has pleaded not guilty to having sex with three underage boys.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise says 28-year-old Laura Whitehurst entered the pleas Tuesday to 41 felony counts. She remains jailed and could face up to 29 years in prison if convicted.
Whitehurst is a former teacher at Citrus Valley High School in Redlands. Prosecutors contend that she began a sexual affair with a student last summer when he was 16. She gave birth last month.
She’s also accused of having sex several years ago with two students, who are now adults.

Missouri
Nixon shows no support for gas chamber plan
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon isn’t ready to embrace the idea of using the gas chamber to execute prisoners.
Attorney General Chris Koster last week suggested that if lethal injection issues are going to remain tied up in the courts, Missouri might consider using the gas chamber. State statutes allow for either method of execution.
KMOX Radio reports that Nixon was asked about Koster’s suggestion when the governor was in St. Louis for a news conference on Tuesday. Both men are Democrats.
Nixon’s response: Missouri doesn’t have a gas chamber, and the issues related to the death penalty need to be worked out in the courts.

Washington
Man blames his sleeping pill for vandalism spree
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A Lakewood school official accused of vandalizing the Davenport Hotel during a conference in Spokane will go into a diversion program for low-risk offenders to avoid a criminal record on possible burglary charges.
Spokane Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Shane Smith told The Spokesman-Review James N. Paxinos must complete 50 hours of community service and pay $1,200.
The assistant superintendent from the Clover Park School District is accused of climbing through the ceiling panel of a restroom the night of June 25 to reach the roof of the hotel where he threw rolls of roofing material, jugs of cleaning and food to the street below.
Paxinos was identified by security video and his key card. His lawyer, Steve Graham, said he had an adverse reaction to the sleeping pill Ambien.

Oklahoma
Prosecutors seek death penalty in slaying of senior
PAULS VALLEY, Okla. (AP) — Prosecutors say they’re seeking the death penalty for a Wynnewood man charged in the beating death of an 84-year-old man.
Prosecutors filed a bill of particulars for 42-year-old Martin High in the September 2011 death of Glenn Brownlee. Authorities say Brownlee was found in a pool of blood in his Wynnewood home on Sept. 29, 2011. Wynnewood police say Brownlee died from severe head trauma.
The Pauls Valley Daily Democrat reports that defense attorneys are asking a judge to not allow into evidence statements that High made to police.
On Monday, a judge in Garvin County scheduled a hearing for Aug. 5 on pending motions in the case. Trial is set for Sept. 9.

Missouri
Woman receives 22 year sentence in child’s death
BRUMLEY, Mo. (AP) — A central Missouri woman was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the child abuse death of a toddler in 2008.
Thirty-seven-year-old Roshell Dawn Johnson was sentenced Tuesday in the death of 20-month-old Ocean McCoy, who was injured at a home in Brumley shared by Johnson and the baby’s father.
Johnson pleaded guilty in April to voluntary manslaughter and child abuse. Prosecutors said the child suffered severe brain injuries due to shaking and head trauma inflicted by Johnson.

Texas
Dallas judge orders life term for child predator
DALLAS (AP) — A judge in Dallas has ordered life in prison for a convicted child sexual predator who violated rules of his commitment to a halfway house.
The Dallas Morning News reports 62-year-old Paul Harvey Andrews was sentenced Tuesday following emotional testimony from one of his victims.
Andrews was convicted in 1975 and 1985 of kidnapping and sexually assaulting children in Dallas County. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison in the 1985 case.
Andrews in 2010 was paroled but was deemed a sexually violent predator. He was sent to a halfway house where administrators say he refused to take prescribed medications and walked out of a sex offender treatment session. a