John Glenn’s Ohio birthplace places historic marker

John Glenn’s Ohio birthplace places historic marker

COLUMBUS

The Ohio birthplace of John Glenn is celebrating its place in history with a historic marker commemorating the astronaut and U.S. senator who died last year.

Officials in Cambridge unveiled the marker Thursday. Glenn was born there July 18, 1921.

The mayor, officials at the local convention and visitors’ bureau and a graduate student researching Glenn collaborated on the project. It’s part of increased efforts to honor Glenn’s legacy since his death at age 95.

Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth and served 24 years as a Democrat in the Senate.

John Paul I moves closer to sainthood

VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis has moved Pope John Paul I – the pope who reigned for only 33 days in 1978 – a step closer to possible sainthood just days after the Vatican endorsed a new book debunking decades of conspiracy theories about his sudden death.

The Vatican said Thursday that Francis signed a decree declaring that John Paul I had lived a life of heroic virtue. The Vatican must confirm a miracle attributed to his intercession for the late pope to be beatified and a second miracle for him to be made a saint.

Earlier in the week, a book titled “Pope Luciani: Chronicle of a Death” went on sale in Italy. It states that John Paul I, the former Cardinal Albino Luciani, died of a heart attack at age 65.

The author, journalist Stefania Falasca, was involved in the beatification cause and had access to confidential Vatican documents, including John Paul’s medical file.

Wall of 22,000 pills is memorial to overdose victims

CHICAGO

A memorial wall opens to the public in Chicago today that includes 22,000 pills each engraved with the face of someone who died of an opioid overdose.

The National Safety Council memorial will be in Chicago through Nov. 16 before making stops in Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Ohio and Washington, D.C. The nonprofit organization calls the wall “Prescribed to Death: A Memorial to the Victims of the Opioid Crisis.” A machine carves a new pill on site every 24 minutes to represent the frequency of fatal overdoses.

The council also has created “Opioids: Warn Me” labels for insurance and pharmacy cards intended to prompt prescribers and patients to discuss opioids before they’re taken. The council says it has found one in three Americans prescribed an opioid didn’t know they were taking one.

Shopper hurt while buying melon wins $7.5M verdict

PHENIX CITY, Ala.

An Alabama man who said he tripped and broke his hip while buying a watermelon at a Walmart store has won a $7.5 million verdict in his lawsuit against the retailer.

Henry Walker on Wednesday was awarded the damages after a jury trial in Phenix City, Ala., just west of the Georgia state line, court records show.

Walker had sued Arkansas-based Walmart, saying his foot became trapped in a pallet beneath the watermelons as he reached for one of the fruits at a Phenix City Walmart on June 25, 2015.

Walmart should have covered the pallet so that it could not entangle a shopper’s foot, Charles Gower, one of Walker’s attorneys, told The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Associated Press