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10/15/2012

'GQ' captain faces cruise survivors

NEW: Lawyer for passengers compares ex-captain's suit to fashion magazine attire
Francesco Schettino is accused of manslaughter, abandoning ship, causing shipwreck
A judge will decide what's admissible at a trial; three others being investigated are in court
Schettino was captain of the Costa Concordia when it ran aground in January, killing 32

Grosseto, Italy (CNN) -- Described by one lawyer Monday as looking "like he walked straight out of a GQ magazine," the ex-captain of a shipwrecked cruise liner faced about a dozen of the survivors he's accused of abandoning.

It was the first time Francesco Schettino, 52, had faced survivors since the luxury ship Costa Concordia ran aground in January, killing at least 32 people.

Schettino, 52, wore a black suit and tie at the preliminary hearing, which was held inside a theater in the Tuscan town of Grosseto. Accompanied by lawyers and technical consultants working on his behalf, the embattled former captain arrived 20 minutes early.

"He looked like he walked straight out of a GQ magazine," said John Arthur Eaves, an American lawyer who is representing 150 of the passengers.

Schettino faces allegations of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship, failing to report an accident to the coast guard and destroying a natural habitat. The ship, carrying 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members, turned on its side after striking rocks off the Italian island of Giglio on January 13.

According to passengers' accounts, chaos ensued on the night of the shipwreck, as guests rushed to fill lifeboats and escape. Some crew members helped passengers and then jumped overboard, passengers said; remaining crew members seemed helpless to handle the melee.

Like all preliminary hearings in Italian courts, Monday's hearing was closed to the news media. But eventually, reports about the hearing made their way out of the theater.

One survivor approached Schettino at the hearing, saying he hoped the "truth would come out soon." The captain shook the man's hand and replied, "Yes, the truth must be ascertained," Italian media reported.

During the hearing, Schettino was seated on the theater stage with eight other defendants under investigation in the case, including his second in command, Ciro Ambrosio, officer Salvatore Ursino and Roberto Ferrarini, the head of the Costa Cruises fleet.

Also in attendance were about 12 former passengers, some of whom contributed to the theatrical theme outside the hall, known as Teatro Moderno. Passengers turned the area around the theater into a stage for impromptu news conferences for an international group of about 150 journalists.

Several German passengers said German newspapers had flown them to Grosseto.

Dozens of police patrolled the area. Schettino's lawyer, Paolo Bastianini, told CNN his client had received death threats.

The case centers on several questions, including why it allegedly took Schettino more than an hour to issue an order to abandon ship and why he allegedly left the vessel before all passengers had abandoned it.

Retired Capt. Fredrik J. van Wijnen, a friend of Schettino's and a representative of the Confederation of European Shipmasters' Associations, told reporters that Schettino felt terrible for the loss of life.

Though the captain made a mistake by coming too close to Giglio, his maneuvers after the accident saved thousands of lives, van Wijnen told CNN.

Schettino, who was released from house arrest in July, was fired last week by the Costa Crociere parent company, Italy's official ANSA news agency reported.

He has said that he was wrongfully fired and that his actions prevented additional deaths.

During the hearing, which is expected to last up to 10 days, a judge is expected to determine what evidence is admissible for an eventual trial, including the on-board ship data recorder.

An attorney for Schettino raised objections about an expert and asked that the inquiry be extended while he was brought in from Jakarta, but the request was denied.

Efforts to secure the wreckage are expected to be completed within 10 days, ANSA reported.

The next phase will involve putting floating platforms inside the half-sunken ship.

Salvagers plan to remove the wreckage by summer, it said.

Journalist Barbie Nadeau reported from Grosseto; CNN's Hada Messia reported from Rome; CNN's Josh Levs contributed to this report.

Caught on camera: Little league coach hits referee

By NBCMiami.com

A little league football assistant coach could be facing assault charges after he was caught on video punching a referee during a game in West Park over the weekend, police said Monday.

The incident happened Saturday evening during a game between the West Park Saints and Miramar Patriots at Mc Tyre Park at 3501 Southwest 56th Avenue, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office report.

According to the report, referee Andrew Keigans gave the Saints a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct after one of the assistant coaches made a derogatory comment from the sidelines.

After he threw the flag, Keigans turned around an bumped one of the players and moved the player to the side to talk to one of the other referees, the report said.

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The assistant coach, who disagreed with the penalty, barged the field and confronted Keigans as he was held back by head coach Antonio Lane, the report said.

Because the assistant coach left the sidelines and entered the field of play to confront Keigans, the head referee decided to end the game, the report said.

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At that point, the entire coaching staff and parents of the young players ran onto the field to confront Keigans. As Keigans started walking off the field, the Saints' assistant coach ran towards him and slapped him on the face with his left hand.

The slap sent Keigans to the ground and knocked his hat off. The entire incident was captured on a video posted to YouTube.

The assistant coach was later identified as 43-year-old Dion Robinson. He hasn't been arrested yet but could face an assault charge, the BSO said.

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FDA: More drugs from Mass. facility are suspect

The New England Compounding Center recalled all its products earlier this month following an outbreak of fungal meningitis.

NEW: Two other products are linked to illnesses, FDA says
NEW: The number of cases is now up to 214 with 15 deaths, according to CDC
NEW: The cases have spread to 15 states, officials say
The outbreak has been linked to a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy

(CNN) -- More issues have been reported with drugs from a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy linked to a deadly multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis, federal officials said Monday.

Fifteen people have died from the non-contagious meningitis associated with injections of a contaminated steroid produced by the New England Compounding Center.

As part of the ongoing investigation into the center, a patient with possible meningitis has been identified who received injection of another NECC product, triamcinolone acetonide, the Food and Drug Administration said.

And fungus infections from Aspergillis, one fungus linked to the meningitis outbreak, were reported in two transplant patients who received cardioplegic solution from NECC, the FDA said. Cardioplegic solution is used to induce paralysis of the heart during open-heart surgery.

The other fungus linked to the meningitis outbreak is Exserohilum, which the CDC says may not be easily detectable. A patient with a negative fungal test is not in the clear, officials have said.

The NECC on October 6 announced a recall of all its products. The FDA said Monday it has not confirmed the three infections were caused by NECC products, but noted, "the sterility of any injectable drugs ... produced by NECC (is) of significant concern, and out of an abundance of caution, patients who received these products should be alerted to the potential risk of infection."

Monday's announcement comes as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the number of meningitis cases increased from 205 to 214 cases in 15 states.

Two of the cases are a "peripheral joint infection" that specifically affects a joint such as a knee, hip, shoulder or elbow, officials said.

The cases have been linked to injections of a contaminated steroid, methylprednisolone acetate, produced by the NECC. Some 14,000 people may have received the injections, the CDC estimated last week.

Meningitis outbreak: What are compounding pharmacies?

A Minnesota woman, Barbe Puro, filed a lawsuit Thursday -- which may be the first from the outbreak -- against the Massachusetts pharmaceutical company at the center of the deadly incident. In it, she alleges she was injected in September with a tainted batch of steroids from the NECC.

Meanwhile, members of Congress on Friday expanded an investigation into the outbreak.

In a letter to the director of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy, leaders of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce noted the Food and Drug Administration sent the NECC a warning letter in 2006 "detailing significant violations witnessed" by investigators the previous year.

Woman sues over outbreak

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick also accused the NECC last week of misleading regulators and operating outside its license by shipping large batches of drugs nationwide. Plus, the state's pharmacy board mandated that all Massachusetts compounding pharmacies sign affidavits stating they are complying with state regulations requiring compounders to mix medications for specific patients.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. It is usually caused by an infection, frequently with bacteria or a virus, but it can also be caused by less common pathogens, such as fungi in this case, according to the CDC.

Steroid injections common for back pain sufferers

Fungal meningitis is very rare and, unlike viral and bacterial meningitis, is not contagious.

Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told CNN that fungal infections are not usually mild. He said when a fungus invades small blood vessels, it can cause them to clot or bleed, which can lead to symptoms of small strokes.

In addition to typical meningitis symptoms such as headache, fever, nausea and stiffness of the neck, people with fungal meningitis may also experience confusion, dizziness and discomfort from bright lights. Patients might just have one or two of these symptoms, the CDC says.

CDC: Tests may not detect meningitis fungus

Mediator sets payment rules for Aurora shooting victims

By NBC News staff and wire services

DENVER -- The families of the 12 people killed and those who suffered permanent injuries in the July 20 shooting at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater will get the majority of the $5 million donated to help the victims, a governor-appointed mediator says.

Kenneth Feinberg said Monday those two classes of victims will get 70 percent of the money, or about $200,000 each, based on current donations. The Aurora Victim Relief Fund currently has $4,961,739, according to a statement released by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's office.

The rest of the donations will go to people who suffered physical injuries, based on the number of days they were hospitalized. Feinberg identified the categories as "victims hospitalized for 20 days or more; victims hospitalized for between eight and 19 days; and victims hospitalized between one and seven days." Victims within each category will receive the same payment.

There were 58 people wounded in the attack.

Feinberg said due to limited funds, victims who did not require overnight hospitalization and claims for mental trauma will not be compensated.

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Former University of Colorado-Denver graduate student James E. Holmes is charged with carrying out the the attack during a showing of a Batman movie.

"We are extremely grateful to Ken Feinberg for his service to victims and their families and to the state of Colorado," said Hickenlooper in a statement. "He has proven once again why he is the nation's leading expert in handling these kinds of matters. Those most impacted by the theater shooting are best served by a speedy and fair distribution of the Aurora Victim Relief Fund and Ken is delivering as promised."

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Feinberg also said Monday was the last day for the public to donate through Community First Foundation's GivingFirst.Org website. Checks, however, will be accepted through Nov. 15, according to the statement.

Feinberg oversaw the compensation fund for victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Hickenlooper recruited Feinberg in September to expedite the disbursement of the Colorado fund and curb turmoil that had grown over the donation process, The Denver Post reported.

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Early victim misdiagnosed

Judge Eddie Lovelace initially was thought to have died of a stroke
His family now believes he contracted meningitis through contaminated injections
Other cases will "gradually come to light," one doctor says
Lovelace's wife says his death was "useless"

(CNN) -- Eddie Lovelace's symptoms were subtle at first, almost imperceptible -- a headache now and then, a little dizziness in the first week of September.

A healthy 78-year-old circuit court judge in Albany, Kentucky, Lovelace didn't want to go to the doctor, and he certainly didn't seem terribly ill. As usual, he worked more than a full day every day except Sunday, and walked at least three miles.

But then on September 9, Lovelace became confused while teaching his regular Sunday school class at the Albany First Baptist Church and had to stop partway through. Two days later, he went to pick up his newspaper and fell over onto the sidewalk. He said he couldn't feel his legs, and his daughter rushed him to the emergency room.

Fearing he'd had a stroke, doctors at Clinton County Hospital sent him by ambulance to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, where an MRI confirmed he had indeed had a stroke. Lovelace died five days later, his death attributed to a combination of old age and bad luck.

At his funeral, Kentucky Chief Justice John Minton eulogized Lovelace, remembering his 20 years on the bench and his 23 years as a state prosecutor. Lovelace's granddaughter played a hymn on the piano, and he was buried at the Memorial Hill Cemetery, with Joyce, his wife of 55 years, their two children, five grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter in attendance.

As she sat in the church, Lovelace's daughter, Karen Talbott, couldn't get something out of her mind.

Grief and fear after meningitis death

Chasing down tips in meningitis outbreak

She's a nurse, and while her father was at Vanderbilt, not one but several doctors took her aside and told her his stroke was in a part of the brain where strokes hardly ever happen -- and when they do, it's in patients with severe, prolonged high blood pressure. The judge's blood pressure was normal, even a little low.

"This is the strangest stroke I've ever seen," they told her.

'Bitter, angry, and heartbroken'

Right now, doctors in 23 states are looking back at medical records to reconsider whether deaths that looked routine might actually have been caused by contaminated medicine from the New England Compounding Center.

"There will be people who gradually come to light -- people like this judge," says Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt who's been working with the Tennessee Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control during the outbreak.

What is a compounding pharmacy?

Lovelace died on September 17, more than a week before doctors -- and the rest of the world -- learned about the contaminated shots.

Then, three weeks later, Lovelace's son-in-law, Bob Talbott, read a short article online in The Tennessean newspaper, which said a 78-year-old man was the first to die in the meningitis outbreak. The date of death was listed as September 17 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Talbott called Lovelace's widow, Joyce, immediately. It must be Eddie, he said -- how many other 78-year-old men could have died at Vanderbilt on September 17?

But no one from Vanderbilt or the state department of health had reached out to the family.

Then Joyce remembered receiving a telephone call a week after her husband's death from someone at the St. Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center in Nashville, where her husband had had three steroid injections for neck and back pain over the summer. The caller wanted to know how "Brother Eddie" was doing.

"I said, 'Well, Brother Eddie passed away,' and they said they were sorry and everything, and that was the end of the call," Joyce remembers. "Then the next day I got a call from the same number and it was a different individual. She wanted to know about his symptoms and whether an autopsy had been done."

Steroid injections common for back pain sufferers

Joyce thought the calls were a little odd -- she wondered why they were inquiring about her husband's health nearly a month after they gave him the injections.

The callers never mentioned the words "fungal meningitis," she says, even though the connection between the shots and the disease had been made by that time.

CNN tried through e-mails and phone calls to get answers from the St. Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center, but did not receive a response.

Only after reading the Tennessean article did Joyce put it all together. The St. Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center received 2,000 vials of tainted steroids, and some 1,000 patients received the injections between June 6 and September 6, according to the St. Thomas Hospital. Lovelace received his three injections in July and August.

"I've been bitter, angry, heartbroken, and grief-stricken," Joyce says.

Vanderbilt reported Lovelace's death as one of four "suspected" cases of meningitis, according to hospital spokesman Craig Boerner.

A strict judge, a loving grandfather

Some 14,000 people may have received shots of contaminated medicine from the New England Compounding Center, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Since it can take as long as seven weeks for symptoms to show up after a patient receives a shot, it's possible some of them are experiencing symptoms such as headaches and dizziness and haven't connected them to the shots they received.

Meningitis outbreak: What you need to know

"It's important to make that connection, because the earlier you treat this, the better," says Dr. Howard Kirshner, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Vanderbilt, who has treated patients in this outbreak.

That's why Joyce Lovelace says she's speaking out -- she doesn't want anyone else to suffer the way her husband did.

Eddie Lovelace and Joyce Davis were college sweethearts and married 56 years ago this December. She worked as a lab technician while he attended law school at the University of Louisville, graduating in 1960.

"Those were rough years. We didn't have money or anything, but they were good years," Joyce remembers.

After graduation, Lovelace went to work as an attorney for the city of Albany and then as a county and state prosecutor. He was a circuit court judge from 1992 until he passed away, and was named Kentucky Trial Judge of the Year in 1995.

Lovelace worked seven days a week, cutting down only recently to six.

"He loved the law," Joyce says.

"He was the most intelligent man I've ever met," his son, Chris Lovelace, says. "If you needed advice, regardless of what the subject was, you could always take his and trust it and rest assured that things would work out."

The lawyers who argued cases before him remembered how well prepared he was -- and that his decisions were rarely reversed by appellate courts.

FDA: More issues with drugs from Mass. facility

"He believed in proper courtroom decorum and had a respect for the legal system and for the office he held," David Cross, an Albany lawyer, wrote in an article in The Wayne County Outlook. "He will be remembered as one of the most influential figures in our county's history."

Lovelace's family remembers him as a loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He sometimes took his granddaughters to work with him, letting them play with their Barbie dolls quietly behind him on the bench while he heard cases.

Lovelace's term as judge would have ended in two years, and he had planned on opening a law practice with one of those granddaughters, Megan Lovelace Thompson, who recently graduated from law school.

"He was really looking forward to that," Joyce says. "He had many more years -- good years."

Now the entire family has to figure out how to live on without the man they describe as "the center of our universe."

"I was married when I was 19. I don't remember what it's like not to be married," Joyce says.

"It was such a useless death."

CNN's Trisha Henry and William Hudson contributed to this report.

Report: Military recruiters shot paintballs at homeless

By Jeff Black, NBC News

Military recruiters with the Arizona Army National Guard engaged in a pattern of systemic misbehavior over the past decade that included instances of sexual abuse, forgery, embezzlement and assaults, including riding in a Humvee and shooting paintball guns at homeless people, according to a five-month investigation by The Arizona Republic newspaper.

The newspaper cites interviews with military officers, police reports and military documents obtained through public records requests.

The alleged wrongdoing was primarily carried out by a small group of military recruiters assigned to visit high schools as part of efforts to enlist them in the armed forces, according to the newspaper.

National Guard investigators said commanders failed to hold subordinates accountable for wrongdoing, partly because they also allegedly engaged in unethical behavior.

In response to the investigation, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer announced an inquiry into Arizona's military operations by a National Guard officer of another state.

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"Gov. Brewer has called for a full, fair and independent review of the Arizona National Guard, its personnel and policies, and the discipline that has been handed down for the recent instances of misconduct that have been documented," Matthew Benson, a spokesman for Brewer, told NBC News.

Benson said Brewer was in the process of identifying the appropriate outside party to carry out the review.

"She would like the inquiry to begin as quickly as possible so that she is provided credible information with which to judge the conduct of the Arizona National Guard and its leaders," Benson said in a statement.

The highest-ranking officer at Arizona National Guard, Maj. Gen. Hugo Salazar, acknowledged discipline problems and failures by commanders.

"I acknowledge there was a problem," Salazar, told the Republic, "We should have had more command emphasis. We should have paid more attention." Salazar said he did not think the there is an ongoing problem.

Military documents detail that non-commissioned officers caught driving drunk in military vehicles were dealt with lightly, and recruiters who forged records or took fraudulent bonus paychecks only received transfers, the Republic reports.

In addition, sergeants who had affairs with teenage recruits were given counseling. One staff sergeant, the paper reported, allegedly had sex with a female enlistee but was still allowed to deploy overseas. While overseas, he was disciplined for similar offenses, and was transferred to the California National Guard as a recruiter, according to the report.

On Monday, the newspaper reported that Staff Sgt. Chad Wille, a recruiter who blew the whistle about the alleged misconduct, had been harassed afterward.

A bicyclist had reported incidents of a camouflage-painted Humvee driving down Seventh Street in north Phoenix shooting paintballs at pedestrians. When Wille questioned a colleague, Sgt. 1^st Class Michael Amerson, about it, Amerson reportedly replied, "You're not aware of the bum hunts?"

Further investigations would unearth more allegations of sexual misconduct, including offering homeless women food, money or drinks for exposing their breasts.
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Supreme Court to hear Ariz. voter ID case

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider whether Arizona can demand that voters show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

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The high court will not hear the case before the Nov. 6 U.S. election, ensuring that the disputed registration requirement in Arizona will not be in effect.

The legal dispute over the registration requirement dates back to 2004 when Arizona voters passed a ballot initiative, Proposition 200, designed to stop illegal immigrants from voting. The measure amended state election laws to require voters to show proof of citizenship to register to vote, as well as identification to cast a ballot at the polls.

Arizona residents, Indian tribes and civil rights groups sued to challenge measure.

The registration law requires voters to present "satisfactory evidence" of U.S. citizenship, including a driver's license number, naturalization papers, U.S. birth certificate or passport.

It is one of many measures nationwide championed by Republicans and put in place at the state level that Democrats say are intended to make it more difficult for certain voters who tend to vote Democratic to cast ballots.

Arizona, which borders Mexico, has been a focal point of immigration laws. In a landmark case, the U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld Arizona's provision on immigration status checks by police. But it also struck down rules in the state's measure that would, among other things, ban illegal immigrants from soliciting work in public places.

While the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Arizona's right to require voter identification at polling places, the court in April found that the citizenship requirement conflicted with a 1993 federal law designed to make it easier for people to register to vote in federal elections by using a federal registration form.

'Operate harmoniously'
The state requirement and the federal scheme did not "operate harmoniously," the appeals court found, so the federal rules won out.

On appeal, Arizona argued that the 9th Circuit owed more deference to the state's authority to administer federal elections.

The dispute over the citizenship registration requirement differs from challenges to state voter ID laws unfolding in courts across the country. The Arizona case focuses on the tension between federal and state authority over elections while the voter ID challenges focus on the laws' alleged discriminatory effects.

Voter ID laws in U.S. states have suffered a series of setbacks in courts ahead of the November election. The laws require voters to show certain types of identification before voting.

Judge blocks Pennsylvania voter ID law

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a voter identification law passed by Indiana, leading many experts to conclude that it would be hard to challenge such laws in court.

Since the last presidential election in 2008, some 15 states have passed or tightened legislation requiring people to identify themselves before voting.

Defenders of the laws, mostly Republicans, say the laws are needed to prevent people from fraudulently impersonating registered voters at the election booth. Opponents, mostly Democrats, complain that obtaining identification documents is an undue burden that could disenfranchise the poor, minorities and the elderly - people who may tend to vote Democratic.

The June ruling in the Arizona immigration case went to the heart of a fierce national debate between Democrats and Republicans over the 11.5 million illegal immigrants the U.S. government estimates to be in the country.

President Barack Obama has vowed to push for comprehensive immigration legislation if re-elected. Opinion polls show Hispanic voters overwhelmingly support Obama.

Republicans generally back stricter controls on illegal immigration than Democrats. In the Republican primaries to pick a presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, Obama's challenger, took a hard line, saying he supported what he called self-deportation for illegal immigrants.

In Monday's order, the Supreme Court granted Arizona's appeal without comment. A decision is expected by the end of June 2013.

The case is Arizona v. The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona Inc et al, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-71.