WORLD DIGEST || FDA warns of fake warning letters sent to consumers

FDA warns of fake warning letters sent to consumers

WASHINGTON

U.S. health authorities are alerting consumers to a new scam involving fake government warning letters sent to people who tried to buy medicines online or over the phone.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that the fake letters may be part of an extortion scam. However, authorities have not yet documented cases of consumers being coerced to turn over money.

The forged letters claim to be from the FDA or the Federal Trade Commission, but those agencies almost never issue such warnings to private individuals, but rather to companies, professionals or industry officials. The letters falsely claim that the government is investigating the drugs the consumers attempted to purchase.

FDA officials have repeatedly warned about the risks of buying medicines through unverified online pharmacies.

Border measures part of Trump's bigger immigration crackdown

WASHINGTON

The separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border caught the attention of the world and prompted mass outrage, but it only tells a small part of the story surrounding the Trump administration's immigration policy.

In reality, the government is working to harden the system on multiple fronts to curb immigration, carving a path around various court rulings to do so. The administration is seeking to lock up families indefinitely, expand detention space and tighten asylum rules and apply more scrutiny to green-card applications.

Many of the initiatives received little attention during the chaos over separated families, but they show how determined President Donald Trump is to stop immigrants from coming " both legally and illegally " even in cases where the administration has been stymied by the courts.

Other administrations may have faced similar problems with illegal immigration and tried similar solutions, but all have been unable to stem the flow of migrants streaming through southern border. No other president, however, has campaigned so vociferously on the topic.

"The United States will not be a migrant camp, and it will not be a refugee-holding facility," President Donald Trump declared days before putting an end to the separation of parents from their children. "Not on my watch."

Man found guilty in fatal Ohio Amish buggy crash

SIDNEY

A man who struck an Amish buggy from behind, killing a woman and injuring three of her family members, has been found guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide.

Court records show 43-year-old Steven Hunter pleaded no contest to charges Friday in western Ohio's Shelby County.

Shelby County Prosecutor Tim Sell told the Sidney Daily News that Hunter was drunk and high on marijuana when he drove his SUV into the buggy in April.

Twenty-three-year-old Sarah Schwartz was killed. Her husband, 27-year-old Henry Schwartz, 18-month-old son Elmer and 4-month-old daughter Ester were critically injured but survived. All four were ejected.

Hunter, who had no license after a previous DUI conviction, fled the scene.

The family declined to participate in the prosecution.

Judge dismisses suit filed by family of man killed by police

CLEVELAND

A federal judge's ruling dismissing a lawsuit filed by the family of an unarmed black man fatally shot by an Ohio police officer says the man's civil rights were not violated.

Cleveland.com reports U.S. District Judge James Gwin ruled Friday it was a "close and difficult question" whether Euclid police officer Matthew Rhodes used excessive force when he shot Luke Stewart last year as Stewart drove away with Rhodes in the front passenger seat.

Stewart's killing inflamed racial tensions in the city.

The judge concluded deadly force was warranted because of the risk Rhodes and others faced from Stewart's erratic driving. The ruling says Stewart continued driving despite Rhodes having punched and used a stun gun on him.

Attorneys for Stewart's family say they're "disturbed" by the ruling and plan to appeal.

Judge overturns Columbus' ban on gun bump stocks

COLUMBUS

A city of Columbus' law banning a gun accessory that allows semi-automatic weapons to be fired rapidly has been overturned by a judge as unconstitutional.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Franklin County Judge David Cain ruled Friday that municipalities can't regulate gun accessories such as bump stocks under state law.

Bump stocks drew wide attention last year when a gunman in Las Vegas killed 58 people attending a music festival. Authorities said some of the semi-automatic rifles Stephen Paddock used that night where outfitted with bump stocks that essentially turned them into automatic weapons.

Two Ohio pro-gun groups sued Columbus after it enacted the ban in May.

Cain upheld a law that allows Columbus to charge some people convicted of violent felonies with misdemeanors for being in possession of a firearm.

Ohio governor to dedicate state park named for Jesse Owens

COLUMBUS

Gov. John Kasich plans to dedicate a new state park and wildlife area named for Olympic great Jesse Owens.

The Republican governor announced the creation of the park earlier this year in his final State of the State speech.

The land spans parts of Guernsey, Morgan, Muskingum and Noble counties. The new park was created after the Ohio Department of Natural Resources struck a deal last year with American Electric Power to buy a large portion of a 60,000-acre parcel owned by the company and known as ReCreation Land.

The state says the park will include a portion of that property.

The governor has planned dedications at events Tuesday in Columbus at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium and later in the day at Miner's Memorial Park in McConnelsville.

Autopsy: Overdose killed officer who succeeded slain chief

REYNOLDSBURG

An autopsy shows a police chief in an Ohio village where one of his predecessors was gunned down last year fatally overdosed on the powerful opioid fentanyl.

A report released Friday by the Franklin County Coroner's Office says Kirkersville Police Chief James Hughes' death in May at his Reynoldsburg home was an accident.

Investigators found one syringe with fentanyl residue, a second with fentanyl in a liquid and a sandwich bag containing cocaine residue.

Reynoldsburg police weren't immediately available for comment.

Hughes became chief in March after Steven Eric Disario's successor resigned. Disario was chief for only three weeks when he was gunned in May 2017 while responding to a hostage situation. His killer then fatally shot two nursing-home employees and took his own life.

Firefighter killed in wildfire near Yosemite

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIF.

A firefighter was killed Saturday while battling a wildfire burning near Yosemite National Park, California state fire officials said.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Heavy Fire Equipment Operator Braden Varney was killed while fighting the Ferguson Fire in the morning hours.

The blaze broke out around 10:30 p.m. Friday in Mariposa County, near the west end of Yosemite National Park and the Sierra National Forest.

Fire officials said it had burned about 130 acres by Saturday afternoon.

Associated Press