Pennsylvania
Elderly man with prostitute under bed loses subsidy
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say a man living in a suburban Philadelphia assisted-living facility has lost his housing subsidy after officials found a prostitute underneath his bed.
Uri Monson tells The Intelligencer in Doylestown the man, believed to be in his 70s, paid prostitutes using profits earned from peddling alcohol to fellow residents.
Monson says the man was a "more mobile gentleman" who went on booze runs for his neighbors.
The incident was reported Thursday after county commissioners authorized contract extensions with private facilities housing former residents of the closed county-owned assisted living facility.
The county paid more than $1 million to subsidize assisted living care for 21 seniors last year.
California
Inmate hurt in blast at sheriff's gun range dies
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - A jail inmate who was injured in a gas pipeline explosion at a central California sheriff's gun range last month has died, authorities said.
Jeremiah Espino, 52, of Sanger, suffered severe injuries in the April 17 blast and died at a hospital on Monday afternoon, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said.
The explosion sent 11 people to the hospital, including eight jail inmates who were doing cleanup work at the range and a county employee operating a front-loader. Two other inmates and the county worker are still hospitalized, sheriff's spokesman Tony Botti said.
The blast occurred while the employee was using the front-loader to build a dirt berm to confine gunfire to the range.
The explosion sent flames towering over a nearby highway and warped 400 feet of nearby railway line, shutting down both.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has said it appears the employee ruptured its pipeline. But sheriff's officials have disputed that, saying the county equipment operator was smoothing dirt, not digging, near the line and was merely driving on the road near the berm when the line ruptured.
The blast is now being investigated by a host of agencies.
Colorado
Singer who rode baggage carousel misses court date
DENVER (AP) - A band's lead singer has missed a court date after being arrested for riding the oversized luggage carousel at the Denver International Airport earlier this year.
KMGH-TV reports that Puddle of Mudd lead singer Wes Scantlin was arrested by Denver police and charged with misdemeanor trespassing after taking his joy ride into an area that requires a security clearance for entrance.
Scantlin did not show up for his February arraignment, and he faces a warrant for failure to appear in court.
Pennsylvania
Woman awaits new trial after 42 years in jail
CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) - After 42 years behind bars, a central Pennsylvania woman has been released from prison, pending a new trial in a double-murder arson case.
PennLive.com reports that 62-year-old Letitia Smallwood was released from Muncy State Prison late Monday to live with her aunt in Carlisle.
Four decades ago, Smallwood was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for crimes she says she didn't commit.
Last month, a Cumberland County judge vacated her convictions, ordered a new trial and granted Smallwood unsecured bail of $20,000. The judge says prosecutors relied on arson science that has been discounted.
The Cumberland County prosecutor has appealed to Superior Court.
Prosecutors say a lovers' quarrel prompted Smallwood, then 20, to set the 1972 fire at a Carlisle apartment building that killed two people.
Ohio
Trial date set for mom accused of contaminating IV
CINCINNATI (AP) - A West Virginia woman accused of deliberately making her 9-year-old son sick by contaminating his IV with fecal matter at a Cincinnati hospital will go to trial before a jury this summer.
A judge in Hamilton County on Tuesday set an Aug. 3 date for Candida Fluty's trial on felonious assault and child endangering charges. A court official said the 35-year-old woman from Kermit, West Virginia, wasn't in court Tuesday.
Fluty rejected a proposed plea agreement last month and opted to go to trial. Her attorney hasn't returned calls seeking comment.
Prosecutors say Fluty's son has a condition affecting the bowels that has required numerous surgeries. Authorities say fecal matter was put in his IV and caused his fever to spike while he was hospitalized in January.
Iowa
Ex-high school football player awarded $1M
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A jury has awarded a former Bedford High School football player almost $1 million in a case involving the school's response to head injuries.
The Des Moines Register reports 18-year-old Kacey Strough had a pre-existing medical condition known as a "cavernous malformation," or abnormally formed blood vessels, in his brain.
Strough's attorney argued a head injury aggravated his condition, but he was allowed to continue playing.
Jurors Monday found the school district and a school nurse were negligent for failing to notify coaches of Strough's potential injury and consult with Strough's grandmother to ensure treatment.
Strough had a blood clot removed in November 2012. He has permanent injuries and uses a wheelchair.
Washington
Hospital joins lawsuit against scope-maker
SEATTLE (AP) - Virginia Mason Medical Center has joined the widow of a man who contracted a "superbug" infection at the Seattle hospital in a lawsuit against a medical scope maker.
The scope has been tied to outbreaks that have sickened dozens with multidrug-resistant infections in the Seattle area and more across the country. Health officials say patients were sickened by the dangerous bacterial that remained on specialized duodenoscopes even after they were cleaned according to manufacturers' directions.
The Seattle Times reports the hospital announced on Monday it would join Theresa Bigler of Woodway in seeking damages from Olympus America in connection with the August 2013 death of her 57-year-old husband, Richard Bigler.
At least 18 Virginia Mason patients affected by the outbreak have died, although the role the infections played in their deaths, if any, isn't clear.
Published: Wed, May 13, 2015
