Maine
State sues Monsanto over contamination
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine is suing biochemical giant Monsanto for allegedly knowingly selling products containing harmful chemicals that have contributed to contamination in the state.
The latest lawsuit targeting the company over the manufacture and sale of products with polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs, was filed on Thursday in Cumberland County Superior Court. It alleges that Monsanto knew about the danger of PCBs years before they were banned but continued to make and sell products containing them.
“We have evidence that Monsanto knew that its PCBs products were causing long-lasting harm and chose to continue to make money off poisoning Maine’s people and environment,” Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a statement Friday. “I am taking action to demand that Monsanto pay for the harm it knowingly caused our state.”
Monsanto is now owned by Bayer, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company.
Monsanto said it discontinued production of PCBs five decades ago and never manufactured or disposed of PCBs in Maine. Describing the lawsuit as “meritless,” the company said in a statement that third-party manufacturers that produced and sold PCB-containing products would be responsible for any contamination their products caused under applicable law.
The company also said it conducted hundreds of studies over the years on the safety of PCBs “and provided warnings to its customers based on the state-of-the science at the time.”
Vermont was the first state to sue Monsanto last year over PCB contamination of natural resources, followed by dozens of school districts in the state. Bayer agreed to pay $698 million to Oregon to end a lawsuit over PCB pollution in 2022.
PCBs are linked to numerous health concerns and are one of the chemicals responsible for fish consumption advisories in Maine. They were used in building materials and electrical equipment like transformers, capacitors and fluorescent lighting ballasts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned manufacturing and certain uses of them in 1979 over concerns they could cause cancer and other illnesses.
Maine said it will be seeking damages for the costs of cleaning up, monitoring and mitigating 400 miles (644 kilometers) of Maine rivers and streams and 1.8 million ocean acres (728,000 hectares) that are currently identified as impaired by PCBs.
California
Woman with history of DUIs sentenced to 15 years to life for crash that killed mom-to-be
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California woman with a history of convictions for driving under the influence has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for a crash that killed a 23-year-old pregnant woman and left her baby in critical condition.
Courtney Pandolfi, 44, pleaded guilty to second degree murder earlier this year just as the case was headed for trial, the Orange County Register reported Friday.
Prosecutors said Pandolfi was on a “drug cocktail” that included cocaine and methamphetamine in August 2020 when she drove her Jeep SUV onto a sidewalk in Anaheim. striking Yesenia Aguilar, who was eight months pregnant. Aguilar’s husband, James Alvarez, was walking with her but was not injured.
Aguilar died, but her daughter was surgically delivered and survived. The girl, Adalyn Rose, is now 3 years old.
Pandolfi, of Garden Grove, was convicted of driving under the influence of drugs in 2008, 2015 and 2016. As a result, she received a warning — known as a Watson advisement — that if she continued to drive under the influence and killed someone she could be charged with murder.
Along with pleading guilty to the crash that killed Aguilar, Pandolfi also admitted to driving while on a combination of drugs, including methamphetamine and morphine, in November 2019. She also acknowledged possessing and using illegal drugs in jail while awaiting trial, the Register reported.
Florida
Detectives solve 1968 killing of World War II veteran who became milkman, sheriff says
VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — More than five decades after a World War II veteran was slain while working as a milkman in Florida, investigators say they’ve solved the case thanks to two people who came forward after the killer died.
Hiram “Ross” Grayam was delivering milk in April 1968 and failed to return home after work. Deputies later found his body and his milk truck deep in the woods in the Vero Beach area, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. He had been shot several times.
The case went cold, and no arrests were made during the next 56 years.
“Through determination and the cooperation of witnesses, new leads emerged: Thomas J. Williams, now deceased, had confessed to Grayam’s murder, his guilt echoing from beyond the grave,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Grayam, a decorated World War II veteran who received a Purple Heart, had become “a beloved milkman” after settling in Indian River County after the war, authorities said.
A witness told deputies she saw Grayam talking to two men who were walking on the side of the road, WPEC-TV reported.
The two unidentified men and Grayam all left in the milk truck, he said.
During a search of the area by ground and by air, the milk truck and Graham’s body were spotted by an airplane.
“When they arrived at the initial scene, Mr. Grayam was laying next to the milk truck with bullet wounds, killed execution style,” Flowers said.
In 2006, there were rumors that Williams might have been involved. So he wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper “saying that he had been accused of the murder, but he denied having knowledge of it, that he wasn’t involved in it,” the sheriff said.
The case went cold again, and Williams died in 2016.
With Williams now dead, detectives got huge breaks in the case during the past two years: Williams’ ex-wife and a friend of his sister came forward, telling investigators what they knew, the Florida TV station reported.
Flowers said that the witnesses — neither of whom know each other — told investigators that Williams had previously confessed to them that he had killed Grayam.
“These folks said, ‘I would have never said anything to you before, as long as he was alive, he was a threat to me and my family, we would have never told you,’but the fact that he is now dead gave them the courage to come forward,” Flowers said.
Now, detectives are hoping that anyone who knows about the second man seen with Grayam before he was killed will contact them.
State sues Monsanto over contamination
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine is suing biochemical giant Monsanto for allegedly knowingly selling products containing harmful chemicals that have contributed to contamination in the state.
The latest lawsuit targeting the company over the manufacture and sale of products with polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs, was filed on Thursday in Cumberland County Superior Court. It alleges that Monsanto knew about the danger of PCBs years before they were banned but continued to make and sell products containing them.
“We have evidence that Monsanto knew that its PCBs products were causing long-lasting harm and chose to continue to make money off poisoning Maine’s people and environment,” Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a statement Friday. “I am taking action to demand that Monsanto pay for the harm it knowingly caused our state.”
Monsanto is now owned by Bayer, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company.
Monsanto said it discontinued production of PCBs five decades ago and never manufactured or disposed of PCBs in Maine. Describing the lawsuit as “meritless,” the company said in a statement that third-party manufacturers that produced and sold PCB-containing products would be responsible for any contamination their products caused under applicable law.
The company also said it conducted hundreds of studies over the years on the safety of PCBs “and provided warnings to its customers based on the state-of-the science at the time.”
Vermont was the first state to sue Monsanto last year over PCB contamination of natural resources, followed by dozens of school districts in the state. Bayer agreed to pay $698 million to Oregon to end a lawsuit over PCB pollution in 2022.
PCBs are linked to numerous health concerns and are one of the chemicals responsible for fish consumption advisories in Maine. They were used in building materials and electrical equipment like transformers, capacitors and fluorescent lighting ballasts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned manufacturing and certain uses of them in 1979 over concerns they could cause cancer and other illnesses.
Maine said it will be seeking damages for the costs of cleaning up, monitoring and mitigating 400 miles (644 kilometers) of Maine rivers and streams and 1.8 million ocean acres (728,000 hectares) that are currently identified as impaired by PCBs.
California
Woman with history of DUIs sentenced to 15 years to life for crash that killed mom-to-be
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California woman with a history of convictions for driving under the influence has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for a crash that killed a 23-year-old pregnant woman and left her baby in critical condition.
Courtney Pandolfi, 44, pleaded guilty to second degree murder earlier this year just as the case was headed for trial, the Orange County Register reported Friday.
Prosecutors said Pandolfi was on a “drug cocktail” that included cocaine and methamphetamine in August 2020 when she drove her Jeep SUV onto a sidewalk in Anaheim. striking Yesenia Aguilar, who was eight months pregnant. Aguilar’s husband, James Alvarez, was walking with her but was not injured.
Aguilar died, but her daughter was surgically delivered and survived. The girl, Adalyn Rose, is now 3 years old.
Pandolfi, of Garden Grove, was convicted of driving under the influence of drugs in 2008, 2015 and 2016. As a result, she received a warning — known as a Watson advisement — that if she continued to drive under the influence and killed someone she could be charged with murder.
Along with pleading guilty to the crash that killed Aguilar, Pandolfi also admitted to driving while on a combination of drugs, including methamphetamine and morphine, in November 2019. She also acknowledged possessing and using illegal drugs in jail while awaiting trial, the Register reported.
Florida
Detectives solve 1968 killing of World War II veteran who became milkman, sheriff says
VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — More than five decades after a World War II veteran was slain while working as a milkman in Florida, investigators say they’ve solved the case thanks to two people who came forward after the killer died.
Hiram “Ross” Grayam was delivering milk in April 1968 and failed to return home after work. Deputies later found his body and his milk truck deep in the woods in the Vero Beach area, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. He had been shot several times.
The case went cold, and no arrests were made during the next 56 years.
“Through determination and the cooperation of witnesses, new leads emerged: Thomas J. Williams, now deceased, had confessed to Grayam’s murder, his guilt echoing from beyond the grave,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Grayam, a decorated World War II veteran who received a Purple Heart, had become “a beloved milkman” after settling in Indian River County after the war, authorities said.
A witness told deputies she saw Grayam talking to two men who were walking on the side of the road, WPEC-TV reported.
The two unidentified men and Grayam all left in the milk truck, he said.
During a search of the area by ground and by air, the milk truck and Graham’s body were spotted by an airplane.
“When they arrived at the initial scene, Mr. Grayam was laying next to the milk truck with bullet wounds, killed execution style,” Flowers said.
In 2006, there were rumors that Williams might have been involved. So he wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper “saying that he had been accused of the murder, but he denied having knowledge of it, that he wasn’t involved in it,” the sheriff said.
The case went cold again, and Williams died in 2016.
With Williams now dead, detectives got huge breaks in the case during the past two years: Williams’ ex-wife and a friend of his sister came forward, telling investigators what they knew, the Florida TV station reported.
Flowers said that the witnesses — neither of whom know each other — told investigators that Williams had previously confessed to them that he had killed Grayam.
“These folks said, ‘I would have never said anything to you before, as long as he was alive, he was a threat to me and my family, we would have never told you,’but the fact that he is now dead gave them the courage to come forward,” Flowers said.
Now, detectives are hoping that anyone who knows about the second man seen with Grayam before he was killed will contact them.
