AP PA Headlines 8/28/19
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Firefighters have brought under control a blaze that engulfed a west Philadelphia church, causing portions of the building to collapse and sending one person to a hospital. The blaze at Greater Bible Way Temple in the Parkside neighborhood was reported shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday. News helicopter footage showed flames shooting through the steeple and roof as hoses poured water onto the structure from several directions.
Fire commissioner Adam Thiel said arriving crews were told that all occupants had evacuated, but one person, perhaps from an adjacent building, was taken to a hospital; a condition wasn’t immediately available. Thiel said some portions of the building had collapsed internally or into the street, and evacuation of some nearby residences might be needed. There was no immediate word on a possible cause.
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Features
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State attorneys general and lawyers representing local governments said Tuesday they are in active settlement talks with Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin that is facing billions of dollars in potential liability for its role in the nation’s opioid crisis. 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. A report by NBC News said the privately held company has offered to settle for $10 billion to $12 billion.
In a statement, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said it’s prepared to defend itself but sees little good in years of “wasteful litigation and appeals.” “Purdue believes a constructive global resolution is the best path forward, and the company is actively working with the state attorneys general and other plaintiffs to achieve this outcome,” the company said. News of the settlement talks involving more than 2,000 lawsuits against the company and other players in the painkiller industry comes about two months before the first federal trial over the toll of opioids is scheduled to start in Cleveland. NBC reported that Purdue presented a plan for it to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy and then restructure into a for-profit “public benefit trust.”
ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire woman is fighting the state Department of Motor Vehicles over her 15-year-old vanity license plate showing a common parental phrase. Seacoastonline.com reports Wendy Auger, of Rochester, has been asked to surrender the plate, which reads “PB4WEGO.” The state says phrases related to excretory acts aren’t permitted.
Auger’s appealing. She asked: “Who has a mom or dad or parental figure who hasn’t said that to kids before leaving the house?” She’s one of 92 New Hampshire drivers who received vanity plate recall letters this year. State records show there are 152,028 vanity plates on the road in New Hampshire. A DMV spokesperson said plates must be rejected “when they do not conform to legal requirements.” The spokesperson said the state cannot comment on the specifics of Auger’s case.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Therapy dogs will soon be available to soothe nervous passengers at Orlando International Airport. Airport officials say the Alliance of Therapy Dogs will help select 10 dogs and handlers to be part of a pilot program.
The Orlando Sentinel reports more details about the MCO Paw Pilots program are expected on Friday.
Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport have similar programs in place. The alliance reports that there were about 58 airports across the globe using therapy dogs in 2018.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The College Board is replacing the so-called adversity score associated with the SAT with a tool that will no longer reduce an applicant’s background to a single number. Chief Executive David Coleman says that idea was a mistake. Coleman tells The Associated Press that students also will have access to their information under changes to the pilot Environmental Context Dashboard being announced Tuesday.
Renamed “Landscape,” the revised tool no longer produces a single number to measure obstacles posed by a student’s neighborhood or high school. Instead, it will show several data points, including the urban or rural location of a school, advanced course offerings and neighborhood crime rate. It doesn’t change the SAT score itself. The College Board says the idea is to make it easier for college admissions officers to spot students who have excelled within their surroundings.
MIAMI SHORES, Fla. (AP) — Hermine Ricketts, whose lengthy legal battle led to passage of a new bill that allows Floridians to grow vegetables in their front yards, has died. She was 63. The Institute for Justice confirmed Ricketts died Saturday after a long illness. The organization represented Ricketts during her six-year court battle over her garden. The new law took effect July 1.
In 2013, the Miami Shores Village Council amended its zoning codes to prohibit residents from having front-yard vegetable gardens. They told Ricketts she must uproot all of her previously planted vegetables, or face a $50 daily fine. An appeals court backed the village before the Florida Legislature stepped in to legalize the gardens. Ricketts is survived by her husband, Tom Carroll. They lived in their Miami Shores home for 26 years.
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A city councilor in Burlington, Vermont, says the city should consider disarming its police force. WCAX-TV reports that Perri Freeman says she’s researching law enforcement expectations and training. She says smaller countries similar in size to Vermont, like the U.K., Ireland and Iceland, function with unarmed police forces.
Burlington Police Officers Association President, Daniel Gilligan, says disarming officers is unrealistic. He says those countries have more restrictive gun laws, while the U.S. is “an armed nation.” Burlington Deputy Police Chief Jon Murad says the U.S. has a high rate of violent crime and that disarming law enforcement would put officers and civilians at risk. Freeman says preventing violence and finding its root causes should be the focus.
She says she hopes to bring the conversation to the policing practices committee.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Hundreds of beer can collectors are heading to New Mexico for a “CANvention.” The Albuquerque Journal reports the Brewery Collectibles Club of America is scheduled Thursday to start celebrating different types of beer cans at its three-day national gathering at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
The club says the event attracts collectors from around the world who trade, buy and sell vintage and craft beer cans. It is a chance for those attending to sample beer from local Albuquerque brewers.
The gathering began in 1969 after collector Denver Wright, Jr. put an ad in a St. Louis newspaper asking anyone who collected beer cans to contact him. Six collectors responded and they held an event in Denver months later.
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PA Sports, Scores & Skeds
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Rhys Hoskins dropped a routine catch at first base in the ninth inning that allowed the go-ahead run, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4. Phillies outfielder Sean Rodriguez continued to get booed after he blasted fans a night earlier. Phillies manager Gabe Kapler tried to defend Rodriguez and called him ‘a fiery player.’
The Phillies play on 1070AM WKOK, while our normal programming continues at WKOK.com and on the Sunbury Broadcasting Corporation app. The Phils host the Pirates again today at 5:30pm. Our normal programming (WKOK Late Day News Roundup, and CBS Sportsradio) will continue on WKOK.com.
INTERLEAGUE
Final Baltimore 2 Washington 0
Final Toronto 3 Atlanta 1
Final Boston 10 Colorado 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Cleveland 10 Detroit 1
Final Oakland 2 Kansas City 1
Final Houston 15 Tampa Bay 1
Final Minnesota 3 Chi White Sox 1
Final L-A Angels 5 Texas 2
Final N-Y Yankees 7 Seattle 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Chi Cubs 5 N-Y Mets 2
Final Pittsburgh 5 Philadelphia 4
Final Cincinnati 8 Miami 5
Final St. Louis 6 Milwaukee 3
Final Arizona 3 San Francisco 2
Final L-A Dodgers 9 San Diego 0
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Indiana 86 Las Vegas 71
Final Phoenix 95 New York 82
Final Washington 95 Los Angeles 66
Final Minnesota 93 Chicago 85
Final Connecticut 89 Seattle 70
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