NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

NY clinic Rivers used is losing accreditation

NEW YORK

The New York City clinic where Joan Rivers suffered a fatal complication during a medical procedure is losing its accreditation at the end of the month, a federal agency said Monday.

“Yorkville Endoscopy no longer meets the conditions for a supplier of ambulatory surgical center services,” the Centers for Medicare Services said in a statement. As of Jan. 31, the Manhattan medical facility will no longer be eligible to receive federal funds for services provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Rivers, a comedian who crashed the male-dominated realm of late-night talk shows and starred with her daughter on E! in “Fashion Police,” died Sept. 4 at age 81. The city’s medical examiner found she died of brain damage due to lack of oxygen when she stopped breathing during an endoscopy days earlier.

J.K. Rowling assails Murdoch tweets

NEW YORK

J.K. Rowling had a few words for Rupert Murdoch. The “Harry Potter” author responded sharply to Murdoch’s tweet that while “Maybe most Moslems peaceful,” all were responsible for “growing jihadist cancer” until they worked to destroy it.

Murdoch’s tweet Friday came two days after the deadly terrorist attack in Paris at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The media mogul also tweeted: “Political correctness makes for denial and hypocrisy.”

Rowling sent a handful of tweets Sunday attacking Murdoch. She wrote that since she and Murdoch were both Christians, she felt responsible for him and would “auto-excommunicate.” She mockingly accepted the blame for the Spanish Inquisition and for any violence by Christian fundamentalists.

Associated Press