NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1Secret recordings: A Baltimore gynecologist who secretly used a penlike camera to record hundreds of videos and photos of his patients’ sex organs during pelvic exams will cost one of the world’s most prestigious medical centers $190 million in a settlement with more than 8,000 women. Dr. Nikita Levy was fired in February 2013, days after a co-worker alerted authorities at Johns Hopkins Health System about him. He committed suicide days later. The preliminary settlement of a class-action lawsuit approved Monday is one of the largest in the U.S. involving sexual misconduct by a doctor.
2Beef production: A study published Monday finds that raising beef for the dinner table does far more damage to the environment than producing pork, poultry, eggs or dairy. The report says that compared with the other animal proteins, beef produces five times more heat-trapping gases per calorie, spews six times as much water-polluting nitrogen, and uses 11 times more water for irrigation and 28 times more land. The research was conducted by Gidon Eshel, a professor of environmental physics at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. The cattle industry calls the study a “gross oversimplification.”
3Medal of Honor: President Obama on Monday bestowed the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest decoration for battlefield valor, to Ryan Pitts, a former Army staff sergeant. Pitts, 28, of Nashua, N.H., became the ninth living recipient of the medal for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The citation says Pitts battled enemy fighters on July 13, 2008, in Wanat, Afghanistan. Despite losing blood from wounds in both legs and an arm, he continued to fire at 200 Taliban fighters and guided air strikes that helped repel the attack.
4Derailment: A Canadian National Railway Co. train struck another freight train in southeastern Wisconsin, causing cars to derail, injuring two people and spilling thousands of gallons of diesel oil that prompted the temporary evacuation of dozens of homes. The southbound Canadian National train hit several Wisconsin & Southern Railroad cars Sunday night at a rail crossing in Slinger, about 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee. An engineer and conductor on the Canadian National train were hospitalized with injuries that were not life threatening, officials said. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
5Sex slayings: A pregnant teenager in Wyoming, Mich., was strangled and her boyfriend decapitated after apparently connecting with a stranger online for a sexual encounter, police said Monday. The body of Brooke Slocum, 18, was found Thursday in the trunk of the suspect’s car. Police Chief James Carmody said her boyfriend, Charles Oppenneer, 25, was found decapitated in a park a day earlier. Investigators said e-mails indicate Slocum connected with the suspect, Brady Oestrike, 31, through Craigslist and arranged a sexual encounter. Oestrike fled as police tried to search his home Thursday. He fatally shot himself after crashing his car.