Philadelphia DA files second lawsuit against opioid makers

PHILADELPHIA » Philadelphia’s district attorney says he has filed a lawsuit against 10 different pharmaceutical companies, claiming the companies have helped fuel the city’s opioid crisis through deceptive marketing.

District Attorney Larry Krasner’s lawsuit announced Thursday follows a lawsuit filed in January by Philadelphia city officials. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Krasner’s lawsuit was filed on Feb. 2, nearly two weeks before Thursday’s news conference.

Krasner praised the city’s earlier actions against pharmaceutical companies, saying his suit complements the city’s lawsuit.

The drug companies named in the lawsuit have previously said in similar lawsuits they don’t believe litigation is the answer, but have pledged to help.

A Krasner spokesman says the news conference was scheduled to be held after the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl victory parade to gather more attention.

University professor arrested on child pornography charges

HARRISBURG, PA. » A Pennsylvania university professor has been charged with having child porn on his work computer.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Friday that Bloomsburg University found the illegal images on 57-year-old Scott Lowe’s office computer during a routine audit of the university’s machines.

Bloomsburg University says it’s aware of the charges against its faculty member and is cooperating with law enforcement. It says the professor has been suspended from his job in the philosophy department.

Bloomsburg president Bashar W. Hanna says everyone at the university is “shocked and saddened” by the news.

Court records show Lowe is being held in Columbia County Prison and don’t list contact information for an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

This story has been corrected to show Lowe is no longer the philosophy department’s chairman.

Couple pleads guilty in case of child abuse, starvation

HARRISBURG, PA. » A Pennsylvania couple has pleaded guilty in a case in which prosecutors say three children were so starved for food they peeled paint off the walls to survive.

Joshua and Brandi Weyant pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of aggravated assault, conspiracy, false imprisonment, unlawful restraining and child endangerment.

Police, acting on anonymous tip, discovered the three children, a 6-yearold boy and two girls, ages 4 and 5, locked inside a room at the couple’s Halifax Township home in December. Prosecutors say two of the children were close to dying of malnutrition.

While the Weyants raised the children, they were not their biological parents. Prosecutors say the children are in foster care.

The Weyants face a minimum of 10 years in prison when they are sentenced in May.

Franklin Regional schools closed after potential threat

MURRYSVILLE, PA. » Officials have closed a western Pennsylvania school district that is no stranger to violence after learning of a potential threat.

The Franklin Regional School District says it took the step to cancel classes Friday for its more than 3,600 students out of an abundance of caution after Murrysville police learned of the threat. No other information was released.

The district serves students in grades K through 12 Murrysville, Delmont and Export.

The district’s high school was the scene of a mass stabbing in 2014 in which a student was accused of knifing more than 20 people.

The closing comes two days after a former student was accused of killing 17 people in a Florida school.