Three families sue Sago Mine owner
The lone survivor of the Sago Mine disaster and the families of two victims on Wednesday sued the mine owner and five other companies, alleging negligence that put the miners at grave risk as they went about their work underground.
All three lawsuits accuse International Coal Group and a subsidiary of shoddy operation of the mine near Buckhannon and of producing unsafe conditions that led to the Jan. 2 explosion. Twelve men died in the blast or succumbed during their prolonged entrapment, while survivor Randal McCloy Jr. was severely injured.
The lawsuits were filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court by McCloy and his wife, Anna; Judy Bennett, widow of miner Alva Bennett; and Lily Bennett, widow of miner James Bennett. Each suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Riverhead, N.Y.
Guilty plea entered in theft for lottery
A former bookkeeper for a doctor’s office pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing more than $2.3 million from her employer to buy lottery tickets.
Annie Donnelly, 38, of Farmingville, spent as much as $6,000 a day playing lotto and scratch-off lottery games, prosecutors said. She faces four to 12 years in prison for stealing the money from her employers, Great South Bay Surgical Associates.
Donnelly, who is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail, also will have to repay the money. She is charged with second-degree grand larceny.
Hartford, Conn.
Lieberman earns spot on ballot
U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who relaunched his campaign as an independent after losing the Democratic primary, has enough valid voter signatures to secure a spot on the November ballot, the secretary of the state announced Wednesday.
Lieberman far exceeded the 7,500 signatures necessary to be certified as a third-party candidate, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said.
His name will appear on the general election ballot under his newly created party, Connecticut for Lieberman. By creating the party, Lieberman secured a position higher on the ballot than he would have had as an independent.
Washington
Senator apologizes for racial remarks
Sen. George Allen, R-Va., apologized directly to S.R. Sidarth on Wednesday, telling the 20-year-old Democratic campaign staffer that he was sorry for offending him with remarks that have generated nationwide criticism for being racially insensitive.
Allen’s telephone call to Sidarth was the first direct contact between the two since Allen was caught by Sidarth’s video camera calling him “macaca” and derisively welcoming the Fairfax native to “America and the real world of Virginia.”
Sidarth said Allen told him the apology was “from his heart.”