NATION / WORLD BRIEFING Former Tennessee governor won’t seek Senate
Home detention sought for defendant Epstein
NEW YORK – Financier Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers argue he should be held under house arrest with electronic monitoring pending trial despite prosecutors’ claims he could flee to dodge sex trafficking charges.
The lawyers argued for bail in court papers filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court. A bail hearing for the 66-year-old is set for Monday.
Prosecutors argued in court this week for Epstein to be jailed ahead of trial. They said a trove of what seems to be nude pictures of underage girls was found in his mansion after his arrest on charges that he sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls from 2002 to 2005.
Epstein’s lawyer said the new charges are “ancient history” and can’t be brought because of a decade-old federal non-prosecution agreement when he pleaded guilty in Florida state court.
Hospital fires 23 in case of excessive doses
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio hospital system where excessive painkiller doses were given to dozens of patients who died fired 23 more employees Thursday and said it is changing leadership, a sign that professional fallout from the scandal has expanded far beyond the intensive care doctor accused of ordering the drugs.
The announcement by the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System comes five weeks after William Husel pleaded not guilty to murder charges in 25 deaths, marking one of the biggest cases of its kind against an American health care professional.
The newly fired Mount Carmel employees include five physicians and nursing and pharmacy management team members, President and CEO Ed Lamb said. One employee remains on administrative leave, and 11 are being given the chance to return to work if they complete additional training.
Airline apologizes after $75 charge to mother
Sun Country Airlines has apologized to a La Mesa, Calif., woman who said the airline wouldn’t let her sit next to her toddler unless she paid a $75 fee.
The woman told KGTV in San Diego that she picked seats together while booking via a third-party site but once at the airport, she discovered her seat wasn’t next to her son’s. She said an airline representative told her she could pay $75 to solve the problem.
Ultimately, a grandmother on the flight let the woman have her seat so she could sit with her son.
The airline has apologized, refunded the fees and sent her vouchers totaling $300.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Former Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam won’t run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, a move sure to draw new interest in the race from other candidates. When Alexander announced in December that he wouldn’t seek a fourth term in 2020, Haslam said he would give “serious consideration” to making a Senate bid. Six months later, Haslam finally declared his intentions, jokingly apologizing “to all those who think it has taken me an exceedingly long time to make up my mind!”
After Haslam’s announcement, Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green said he would not seek the seat either. Green raised eyebrows when he challenged, without evidence, the science behind vaccines.
TSA: US travelers broke record over holiday
WASHINGTON – The number of people screened at airport checkpoints last Sunday set a record as people streamed home after a four-day holiday weekend.
The Transportation Security Administration said Thursday that its officers screened 2,795,014 passengers and airline crew members, barely beating a record set over the recent Memorial Day weekend. TSA screens about 2.2 million people on an average day.
The top four days and eight of the busiest 10 in TSA history have occurred this year, as airlines report booming travel demand.
Japan says space probe landed on asteroid
TOKYO – Japan’s space agency said data transmitted from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft indicated it successfully landed on a distant asteroid Thursday and completed its historic mission of collecting underground samples that scientists hope will provide clues to the origin of the solar system. Hayabusa2 had created itself a landing crater in April by dropping a copper impactor. Thursday’s mission was to land inside that crater and collect underground samples that scientists believe contain more valuable data.
Hayabusa2 is the first to successfully collect underground soil samples from an asteroid and comes ahead of a similar mission planned by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration team.