NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Home confinement: The chairman of Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential bid was sentenced Tuesday to probation and home confinement rather than prison, and two other top aides were awaiting their sentences for a scheme to cover up campaign payments to a former Iowa state senator who agreed to endorse their boss. Although Des Moines prosecutors were seeking more than two years in federal prison, Jesse Benton was sentenced to two years’ probation and six months of home confinement, along with community service and a $10,000 fine. He was convicted of conspiracy, causing false campaign contribution reports to be filed to the Federal Election Commission and participating in a false statement scheme.
2 Murder-for-hire: A man who served prison time for a murder-for-hire plot in 2004 has been convicted of aggravated murder and other charges in a contract killing two years later in which a hired killer went to the wrong home and killed someone with the same name as the intended target. A jury on Monday convicted Joe Rosebrook of all counts in the fatal shooting of Daniel Ott in 2006 in a Cleveland suburb. Authorities said another Daniel Ott was targeted for double-crossing Rosebrook in 2004. Rosebrook is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 6.
3 Pipeline leak: Gasoline should begin flowing again Wednesday — through a temporary bypass on a critical pipeline — after a major leak in Alabama forced a shutdown that led to surging fuel prices and scattered gas shortages across the South, a company official said Tuesday. The roughly 500-foot section of pipe serving as the bypass is now complete, but supply disruptions may continue for days, said Colonial Pipeline spokesman Steve Baker. The leak, which spilled between 252,000 and 336,000 gallons of gasoline near Helena into a detention pond, was detected Sept. 9.
4 Jail suicide: A federal jury has ordered a medical provider and several employees to pay $11.9 million to the wife and family of a Pennsylvania man who killed himself in jail. Mumun Barbaros, 46, stuffed his shredded T-shirt down his throat and died in 2009 at the Monroe County Correctional Facility in Stroudsburg. At the time, he was a pizza shop owner being held on charges that he vandalized the shops of two competitors. The verdict was returned last week against PrimeCare Medical Inc. and several of its employees. The lawsuit claimed the medical staff failed to properly evaluate Barbaros’ risk for suicide and made mistakes that kept Barbaros from receiving antidepressants.
5 Brangelina ends: Angelina Jolie Pitt has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, bringing an end to one of the world’s most star-studded, tabloid headline-generating romances. Jolie Pitt, 41, cited “irreconcilable difference” in divorce papers filed Monday in Los Angeles. She is seeking physical custody of their six children, with visitation rights for Pitt. An attorney for Jolie Pitt, Robert Offer, said Tuesday that Jolie Pitt’s decision to divorce was made “for the health of the family.” Though together for 12 years, Pitt and Jolie Pitt — known as “Brangelina” — only wed in August 2014. This is the second marriage for Pitt, 52, who previously wed Jennifer Aniston. It’s the third for Jolie Pitt, who was previously married to Billy Bob Thornton and Jonny Lee Miller. Chronicle News Services