Ex-Philly treasurer sentenced to 10 years

Philadelphia The city’s former treasurer was sentenced to 10 years in prison on corruption charges Tuesday in a federal investigation that came to light when an FBI bug was discovered in the mayor’s office.

Corey Kemp, 36, was found guilty in May of taking part in a scheme to trade city contracts for gifts, favors and cash.

The case hinged on telephone calls, secretly recorded by the FBI over nine months, in which Kemp and Democratic fund-raiser Ronald A. White talked about shaking down businessmen for contributions and other payments.

The FBI also bugged Mayor John F. Street’s City Hall office, but the device was discovered shortly after it was put in place. Prosecutors said they unearthed no evidence that Street committed a crime, and he was not charged.

Health care disparity will get worse, study says

Washington Hispanic children are less likely than other children to have health insurance or recommended vaccinations, disparities that a government study says will be magnified in the coming years by the nation’s changing demographics.

By the year 2020, nearly one in four American children will be Hispanic, up from fewer than one in five today.

The data in the government report shows that the rising number of Hispanic children would help lower the rate of smoking among teens. However, teen pregnancy rates would rise and the percentage of students completing high school would fall without changes occurring, said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, one of several federal agencies that contributed to the report.

“The people who follow population demographics and health disparities are very concerned about this,” Alexander said.

Group wants to trademark Black Panther slogan

San Jose, Calif. An Oakland, Calif., group is seeking to trademark the infamous Black Panther slogan “Burn, baby, burn” to help market a new brand of hot sauce.

Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last October and recently featured on The Smoking Gun Web site ( www.thesmokinggun.com) show that the heirs of Huey P. Newton, the Oakland-based co-founder of the revolutionary Black Panthers, are ready to cash in on the phrase, which gained notoriety in the 1960s because it became associated with riots that left large sections of cities such as Watts, Calif., in flames and ash.

The Huey P. Newton Foundation also wants to trademark the phrase “Revolutionary Hot Sauce.” The foundation, which is run by Newton’s widow, Fredrika, and ex-Panther David Hilliard, appears close to securing government approval of its requests, according to the trademark office.

The foundation describes itself as a “community-based, nonprofit research, education, and advocacy center dedicated to fostering progressive social change.”

Doctors warned about infection from abortion pill

Washington The government warned doctors Tuesday to be on the lookout for rare but deadly infections in women using the abortion pill RU-486, citing two more deaths after its use.

At least five U.S. women have died after taking the pill since it began selling in 2000, although the Food and Drug Administration stressed that it could not prove the drug was to blame.

But the four deaths caused by bloodstream infections, or sepsis, all occurred in women who didn’t follow FDA-approved instructions for a pill-triggered abortion, said agency drug chief Dr. Steven Galson.

“We don’t know that this off-label use has caused the deaths,” he cautioned.

Still, the FDA issued a public health advisory warning doctors of the possible link and urging them to be on the lookout for infections in women who have used the Mifeprex abortion pill.

The drug, sold by Danco Laboratories, is approved to terminate pregnancy up to 49 days after the beginning of the last menstrual cycle. It blocks a hormone required to sustain a pregnancy. When followed by another medicine, misoprostol, the pregnancy is terminated.

The FDA’s instructions call for women to swallow both pills, but most abortion clinics instead instruct that the misoprostol tablet be inserted into the vagina, Galson said. Studies have shown it can work that way, too.

But the four sepsis deaths, all reported from California, came after this so-called off-label use. Galson couldn’t say if the women had inserted the tablet vaginally themselves.

Fire spreads across acres of tires in Wisconsin

Watertown, Wis. Fire erupted in a huge pile of tires at a recycling plant Tuesday, sending black smoke billowing for miles across southeastern Wisconsin and shutting down roads as firefighters tried to contain the blaze.

About six acres of Watertown Tire Recycling Co.’s estimated 1 million tires were in flames Tuesday night, a smoldering mound expected to take days to burn itself out.

“Several days is being optimistic,” said Jennifer Warmke, emergency management deputy director for Dodge County.

No one was injured, but crews had to fight through acrid smoke as they used construction equipment to try to isolate the burning tires.

About 30 tanker trucks were hauling water from nearby Watertown to the fire, and more than a dozen area fire departments were called in, Warmke said.

76-year-old woman arrested in cocaine case

Jacksonville, Fla. A 76-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly selling crack cocaine by putting the drugs in her purse and lowering them by rope from her second-floor window.

The woman was arrested last week on charges of possession and sale of a controlled substance, and was freed on $10,000 bail.

The suspect, who has no record of previous arrests in Jacksonville, is accused of selling $20 worth of crack in a police sting.

Police said they found a gun and ammunition in Minnie Perlotte Collins’ house, as well as a purse attached to a rope next to her bed.