US probe of vaping illnesses focuses on THC from marijuana
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials said Friday that their investigation into an outbreak of severe vaping-related illnesses is increasingly focused on products that contain the marijuana compound THC.
Most of the 800 people who got sick vaped THC, the ingredient in marijuana that causes a high, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But officials said they didn’t know if the THC is the problem or some other substance added to the vaping liquid, such as thickeners.
“The outbreak currently is pointing to a greater concern around THC-containing products,” said the CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat.
So far, investigators have not identified a particular e-cigarette, vaping device, liquid or ingredient behind the outbreak. But officials say patients have mentioned the name Dank Vapes most frequently. Many of the people who got sick in Illinois and Wisconsin said they used prefilled THC cartridges sold in Dank Vapes packaging.
“It’s a generic product name that doesn’t really tie back to one store or one distributor,” said Dr. Jennifer Layden, chief medical officer for the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“Folks are getting it from friends or folks on the street, with no understanding of where it came from prior to that.” she said Friday.
Until a cause is pinned down, the CDC continues to advise Americans to consider avoiding all vaping products, though the agency on Friday added the phrase “particularly those containing THC.”
“We didn’t feel comfortable dropping the broader recommendation yet,” said Schuchat.
This week, the CDC reported 805 confirmed and probable cases of the lung illness. Thirteen people have died. Only the U.S. has reported such an outbreak, although Canadian officials this week confirmed that country’s first case.
On Friday, the agency provided more details in two reports:
— The first case in the U.S. began in late March. Cases ramped up in late June and rose dramatically in late July.
— Median age for the illnesses is 23. But the median age of those who died is much older — 50.
— Nationally, 9 in 10 cases required hospitalization. Many young and previously healthy adolescents and young adults needed machines to help them breathe.
— In Illinois and Wisconsin, patients mentioned 87 different product names and many vaped more than one.
Doctors say the illnesses resemble an inhalation injury. Symptoms have included shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, diarrhea and vomiting.
Officials continue to find a substantial numbers of U.S. patients — the new report says 16% — who said they vaped only nicotine, and not THC. But the report noted that in Wisconsin, five patients who initially denied using products with THC turned out to have used them.
The most illnesses have occurred in California, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Mylan agrees to pay $30M in SEC EpiPen settlement
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mylan has agreed to pay $30 million in a settlement tied to its failure to tell investors about a Justice Department investigation into whether the company overcharged Medicaid for the EpiPen.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday that Mylan NV classified the EpiPen as a “generic” drug under the Medicaid drug rebate program. This led to the pharmaceutical company paying much lower rebates to the government than if the EpiPen had been classified as a “branded” drug.
Mylan had disclosed in July that it had reached an agreement-in-principle with the SEC on the matter. The company said in a statement Friday that it neither admits nor denies the SEC’s allegations.

Lamb joins ranks of Democrats backing impeachment inquiry
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — All nine Pennsylvania Democrats in the U.S. House now say they support Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s move to open impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb of suburban Pittsburgh on Friday joined the eight other Pennsylvania Democrats in the chamber saying they support it.
Earlier in the week, U.S. Reps. Matt Cartwright of northeastern Pennsylvania, Susan Wild of Allentown and Chrissy Houlahan of Chester County joined the ranks, too. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Gov. Tom Wolf, both Democrats, also say they support it.
None of Pennsylvania’s 10 Republicans in Congress, including U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, have said they support the impeachment probe spurred by an intelligence whistleblower’s complaint over Trump prodding Ukraine’s president to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Pennsylvania high court passes on death penalty review
By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined a special petition to review the constitutionality of the death penalty but says it will still consider the fairness of individual cases.
The decision Friday comes after the court heard arguments this month from critics who call the punishment cruel and arbitrary in the way it’s applied to poor and black defendants. Public defender Shawn Nolan represents the two men whose petitions were at the heart of the petition.
Nolan said he is disappointed, given “overwhelming evidence that Pennsylvania’s death penalty system is broken.” But his office will continue to litigate the issue in state courts, he said.
Statewide, just under half of the current death row inmates in Pennsylvania are black, compared with 11% of state residents.
The death penalty remains legal in 29 U.S. states, although four of those states, including Pennsylvania, have a moratorium on executions.
More than half of the 441 death sentences handed down since the death penalty was reinstated in the late 1970s have been deemed flawed and overturned, Assistant Federal Defender Timothy Kane said at the Sept. 11 hearing. Among the 155 from Philadelphia, the reversal rate is 72 percent.
“The reliability of the system as a whole is cruel, and the systemic problems affect every case,” Kane argued before the overflow crowd at Philadelphia City Hall.
Most of the time, the sentence or verdict was reversed on appeal because of the work of court-appointed lawyers working with limited public funds, he said.
Justice Debra Todd asked why the issue was urgent, given the moratorium on executions that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf imposed after taking office in 2015. A lawyer for Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who opposed the petition, said it was not.
Shapiro’s office said that any amendments to the death penalty should be decided by the Legislature, which issued a troubling report on the issue last year.
“The questions the report raises are important, and should be thoroughly considered and resolved, by the General Assembly,” Shapiro’s office said in its brief.
However, Kane hoped the Supreme Court would step in given the lack of action by lawmakers.
The average appeal in Pennsylvania takes 17 years, straining the resources of the court system, critics said.
Five Democrats and two Republicans sit on the state Supreme Court.

The Latest: McConnell: If House acts, Senate must have trial
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the House impeachment inquiry (all times local):
2:30 p.m.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said months ago that if the House goes ahead and impeaches President Donald Trump, the Senate “has no choice” but to conduct a trial to determine whether the president is removed from office.
The Kentucky Republican told NPR that “if the House were to act, the Senate immediately goes into a trial.” McConnell made the comments long before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the House would begin an impeachment inquiry into the president.
McConnell had not previously indicated whether the Senate would act on any articles of impeachment, though the Constitution anticipates that it would. It’s commonly assumed that the GOP-held chamber would acquit Trump just as Democrats held together in 1999 to deny the GOP House from winning a conviction of President Bill Clinton.
McConnell is among the few senators remaining in the chamber who participated in the 1999 Clinton impeachment trial.
___
This item has been corrected to show that McConnell spoke to NPR months ago, not Friday.
___
12:50 p.m.
As they begin an investigation into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, members of the House intelligence committee may be working through a two-week congressional recess that starts Friday.
Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat on the panel, said committee members are prepared to return. California Rep. Jackie Speier, also on the committee, said she’s already canceled some of her previous commitments.
The Democrats are seeking to keep momentum as the committee is suddenly at the center of an investigation that their caucus will use to inform impeachment proceedings. Members of the committee said they expect to eventually interview White House aides and others linked to a whistleblower complaint made public Thursday.
The complaint showed Trump repeatedly urging the Ukrainian president to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his family.
___
8:35 a.m.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is voicing concern over President Donald Trump’s comments that suggested retaliation against people who helped an intelligence whistleblower. The whistleblower’s complaint about Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s leader is at the center of the House impeachment probe.
White House officials took extraordinary steps to “lock down” information Trump’s call, even moving the transcript to a secret computer system, according to the complaint.
Trump lashed out Thursday, saying whoever provided information to the whistleblower is “close to a spy.” Trump suggested that was treason, an act punishable by death.
Pelosi told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday she’s “concerned about some of the president’s comments about the whistleblower.”
She said the House panels conducting the impeachment probe will make sure there’s no retaliation against people who provided information.

Deer hunters are being warned to watch out for tuberculosis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning just ahead of deer hunting season which is starting across the country. The CDC believes a man who diagnosed with the disease in 2017 came into contact with a deer that had a bacteria and was spread to him, causing TB. Doctors say the bacteria was inhaled after the deer was killed. Hunters are advised to wear protective equipment while field-dressing.

Joe Biden, courting donors at a fundraiser in California on Thursday, began his remarks by reading directly from a whistleblower’s complaint that President Donald Trump sought foreign interference in the 2020 election. As Trump faces an impeachment inquiry over his demands that his Ukrainian counterpart investigate Biden, his top Democratic rival is striving to turn the growing political crisis to his advantage, raking in donations and taking to national television to make his case to voters that he is the Democrat best able to beat Trump next year. The controversy has allowed Biden to portray himself as Trump’s top target, bolstering his long-standing argument that he is the candidate the president fears most.