Epstein jail guards charged with falsifying records
By MICHAEL BALSAMO, LARRY NEUMEISTER and TOM HAYS Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Two jail guards responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself were charged Tuesday with falsifying prison records to conceal they were sleeping and browsing the internet during the hours they were supposed to be keeping a close watch on prisoners.
Guards Toval Noel and Michael Thomas were accused in a grand jury indictment of neglecting their duties by failing to check on Epstein for nearly eight hours, and of fabricating log entries to show they had been making checks every 30 minutes, as required.
Prosecutors allege that instead of making their required rounds, the two guards sat at their desks, browsed the internet and walked around the unit’s common area. During one two-hour period, the indictment said, both appeared to have been asleep.
The charges against the officers are the first in connection with the wealthy financier’s death in August at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where he had been awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The city’s medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide. Prosecutors said surveillance cameras confirmed that no one else entered the area in which he was housed.
“As alleged, the defendants had a duty to ensure the safety and security of federal inmates in their care at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Instead, they repeatedly failed to conduct mandated checks on inmates, and lied on official forms to hide their dereliction,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said.
A lawyer for Thomas, Montell Figgins, said both guards are being “scapegoated.”
“We feel this a rush to judgment by the U.S. attorney’s office,” he said. “They’re going after the low man on the totem pole here.”
Both correctional officers were in federal custody pending an expected Tuesday afternoon court appearance. Noel’s lawyer didn’t immediately return a phone message.
Epstein’s death was a major embarrassment for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
The cell where he died was in a high-security unit, famous for having held terrorists and drug cartel kingpins. Epstein’s death, though, revealed the jail was suffering from problems including chronic staffing shortages that lead to mandatory overtime for guards day after day and other staff being pressed into service as correctional officers.
Attorney General William Barr had previously said investigators found “serious irregularities” at the jail and the FBI’s investigation had been slowed because some witnesses were uncooperative.
Epstein had been placed on suicide watch after he was found July 23 on the floor of his cell with a strip of bedsheet around his neck.
The indictment said he was on that watch for 24 hours before he was moved to psychological observation until July 30, several days before his death.
Prosecutors had wanted the guards to admit they falsified the prison records as part of a plea offer that they rejected, according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss the investigation.
Federal prosecutors had subpoenaed up to 20 staff members at the jail in August. The case was a top priority for the Justice Department. Both Barr and Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen received regular updates.
Falsification of records has been a problem throughout the federal prison system.
Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who was named director of the Bureau of Prisons after Epstein’s death, disclosed in an internal memo earlier this month that a review of operations across the agency found some staff members failed to perform required rounds and inmate counts but logged that they had done so anyway. A copy of the memo was obtained by the AP.
Epstein’s death ended the possibility of a trial that would have involved prominent figures and sparked widespread anger that he wouldn’t have to answer for the allegations.
He had pleaded not guilty and was preparing to argue that he could not be charged because of a 2008 deal he made to avoid federal prosecution on similar allegations.
Epstein’s death prompted a whirl of conspiracy theories from people, including members of Epstein’s family and some of his alleged victims, who questioned whether it was possible that he’d killed himself in such a high-security setting.
Officials have said there is no basis for those suspicions.
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Associated Press reporter Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report. Balsamo reported from Washington.

Pittsburgh’s controller to run for state auditor general
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pittsburgh’s third-term city controller is running for an open state auditor general’s office next year.
Democrat Michael Lamb made the announcement Tuesday, two weeks after he was re-elected to the fiscal watchdog job in Pennsylvania’s second-largest city.
Pennsylvania’s current auditor general, Eugene DePasquale, is completing a second four-year term and is barred from seeking another.
The 57-year-old Lamb is from a prominent political family. His nephew is a member of Congress from suburban Pittsburgh and his father was the state Senate’s Democratic majority leader.
Several other Democrats have announced their candidacy, including Christina Hartman, a former congressional candidate from Lancaster County who has worked in human rights and nonprofit advocacy, and Nina Ahmad, a former Philadelphia deputy mayor and former president of the National Organization for Women’s Philadelphia chapter.

Bill limiting gifts to public officials moves in Legislature
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A legislative committee voted Tuesday to advance new limits on gifts to Pennsylvania public officials, including an outright prohibition on taking cash, although the proposal includes numerous exceptions.
The House State Government Committee unanimously approved an annual limit on the cash value of gifts and hospitality that public officials, public employees or candidates can accept.
The vote came after Republicans pushed through a party-line vote to add an exception to let lobbyists give birthday or wedding presents.
Rep. Matt Gabler, R-Clearfield, said he wanted to make the legislation “more workable” and argued that lobbyists have friends and attend personal events such as weddings where gifts should be allowed.
He said his exception is “allowing for regular human interaction when there is a significant life event.”
Gifts generally would not be allowed if they total more than $50 from one person in a calendar year, or hospitality, transportation or lodging worth $500 a year.
The bill’s other exceptions would permit gifts from family members or “gifts exchanged between public officials or public employees on a voluntary basis.” Lobbyist gifts would not be covered if the lobbyist and public official have “a personal romantic relationship.”
Other exceptions include informational material, awards, prizes, training in the government’s interest, food and drinks at public meetings and educational missions.
Rep. Jared Solomon, D-Philadelphia, said a tougher policy on gifts might help lawmakers improve their historically miserable public approval ratings.
Committee Chairman Garth Everett, R-Lycoming, said afterward the total ban on cash gifts is a central element of the proposal, and acknowledged the legislation is not a gift ban.
“There ought to be some middle ground in order for us to conduct business, as long as things are open and transparent and that taxpayers know what we’re accepting and from who,” Everett said.
Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown, D-Philadelphia, was sentenced in 2018 to probation on a bribery conviction in a case that included acceptance of unreported cash gifts. Her investigation led both state legislative chambers in 2014 to ban most types of cash gifts to members.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has banned gifts to executive branch employees under his authority and has repeatedly pushed the Republican-controlled Legislature to do the same. Republican lawmakers were critical of the Wolf policy during the Tuesday hearing, noting that his staff have turned down bottles of water and paid their own way or declined food at public events.
Most other states have laws limiting the extent of gifts that lawmakers may accept, but in Pennsylvania, lobbyists and other groups routinely provide lawmakers free meals, travel and tickets to expensive sporting or entertainment events to lawmakers.

An Ambridge man faces a hearing today for allegedly striking a female with a vaccum cleaner hose. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has the story. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania House majority is giving approval to a proposal to require the burial or cremation of fetal remains that end up in possession of a health care facility. The bill, modeled on Indiana legislation that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, was sent to the state Senate on a vote of 123 to 76. Supporters framed it as giving parents greater say in the disposal of remains, while opponents argued it would harass abortion facilities and impinge on women’s health choices.

The latest report from AARP shows family caregivers in Pennsylvania are providing $18.2 billion in unpaid care to family or friends at home. Andrea Sears reports…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf will sign legislation allowing hunting on three Sundays a year in Pennsylvania. The Senate voted 38-11 on Wednesday. The bill permits Sunday hunting one day during rifle deer season, one during statewide archery deer season and a third day the Game Commission selects. The long-fought issue overcame opposition from farmers and outdoors groups. Pennsylvania has banned Sunday hunting since the 19th century, although there are currently several exceptions.

(Photo taken by Sandy Giordano)

The Center Volunteer Fire Department has been awarded a grant from Energy Transfer. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has more. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

WEATHER FORECAST FOR TUESDAY, NOV. 19TH, 2019

TODAY – CLOUDY. HIGH – 46.

TONIGHT – OVERCAST. LOW – 34.

WEDNESDAY – CLOUDY. HIGH – 44.

New, old drugs may offer fresh ways to fight heart disease
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE AP Chief Medical Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Novel drugs may offer fresh ways to reduce heart risks beyond the usual medicines to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.
One new study found that heart attack survivors benefited from a medicine long used to treat gout. Several experimental drugs also showed early promise for interfering with heart-harmful genes without modifying the genes themselves — in one case, with treatment just twice a year.
The research was featured at an American Heart Association conference ending Monday in Philadelphia.
“There’s a lot of excitement” about the new gene-targeting medicines, especially because they seem to last so long, said Dr. Karol Watson, of the University of California, Los Angeles.
Scientists have been exploring gene therapy — altering DNA — to attack the root cause of many diseases. The new drugs essentially accomplish the same thing without tampering with genes, said the University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. Daniel Rader, who has consulted for some makers of these drugs.
The medicines work by silencing or blocking messages that genes give to cells to make proteins that can do harm, such as allowing cholesterol to accumulate. The first few of these “RNA-interference” drugs recently were approved for other conditions, and research is also targeting heart disease.
Farthest along is inclisiran, tested in 1,561 people with heart disease from clogged arteries who still had high LDL, the bad form of cholesterol, despite taking standard drugs. They were given a shot of inclisiran or a dummy drug when they joined the study, three months later and then every six months.
The drug lowered LDL by 56% without serious side effects. More testing will show whether it also lowers heart attacks and other problems, not just cholesterol. Inclisiran’s maker, The Medicines Company, plans to seek federal approval for it later this year.
Two other RNA interference drugs aim at a different target — triglycerides, another fat in the blood that’s elevated in one quarter of Americans. Treatments include very low-fat diets, weight loss, fish oil and drugs, but doctors say more and better therapies are needed.
Each RNA interference drug was tested at various doses in 40 people. A single shot lowered triglycerides by 30% to 67%, and the benefit lasted for at least four months. The studies were just intended to show safety; Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals is developing both drugs.
Other research found new benefits from older drugs. AstraZeneca’s Farxiga, originally developed to treat diabetes, also lowered the risk of heart problems in heart failure patients who did not have diabetes. Among 2,605 of such patients treated for 18 months, about 9% of those on Farxiga had worsening heart failure or heart-related death versus nearly 13% of those not given the drug. That worked out to a 27% lower risk, without extra serious side effects.
Surprising benefits also were seen in a Canadian study of the decades-old gout drug. The anti-inflammatory drug colchicine — sold as Colcrys, Mitigare and in generic form — was tested in 4,745 people who recently had a heart attack.
After about two years, colchicine users had a 23% lower risk of suffering a new heart attack, heart-related death, stroke, cardiac arrest or urgent need for an artery-opening procedure compared with a group given dummy pills. The benefit came mostly from preventing strokes and artery-opening procedures, and some heart doctors would rather have seen more difference in heart attacks and deaths.
Colchicine is being tested in several other studies, and more evidence is needed before using it routinely to lower heart risks, Dr. L. Kristin Newby of Duke University wrote in a commentary published with the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, a Northwestern University cardiologist and program chief for the heart conference, was more supportive.
“When you have a safe drug that’s easily available, it’s going to be hard to hold this one back,” he said.
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Marilynn Marchione can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP
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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.