In brief: Pipeline explosion blamed on PG&E
WASHINGTON – Federal accident investigators lay the blame squarely on Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for a gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people and decimated a suburban neighborhood near San Francisco last year, according to a final report and video released Monday.
The National Transportation Safety Board posted online its 140-page report and a 20-minute video, pulling together information gathered in a yearlong investigation of the Sept. 9, 2010, explosion and fire in San Bruno, Calif.
Dozens of people were injured and more than 100 homes destroyed or damaged.
The board unanimously agreed at a meeting last month that the accident was caused by what NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman called “a litany of failures” by PG&E, one of the nation’s largest gas companies, as well as weak oversight by regulators.
Strauss-Kahn claims immunity
NEW YORK – Dominique Strauss-Kahn claimed Monday he has diplomatic immunity and asked a New York court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the hotel maid who says he sexually assaulted her.
Attorneys for the former International Monetary Fund leader filed the motion in a Bronx court, arguing judges there do not have the ability to try the case, because Strauss- Kahn’s time as head of the fund gives him immunity from the litigation.
The 62-year-old Strauss-Kahn was initially charged with attempted rape after the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, said he attacked her in his hotel suite May 14 and forced her to perform oral sex. The case was eventually dismissed when prosecutors said they had lost faith in Diallo’s credibility.
Engineers will rappel monument
WASHINGTON – The National Park Service says the Washington Monument remains closed indefinitely to visitors because of damage sustained during the 5.8-magnitude quake on Aug. 23.
Starting today, engineers will begin rappelling down the sides of the monument to check for damage outside.
Diocese funds abuse victims trust
WILMINGTON, Del. – The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington has emerged from bankruptcy with the funding of a $77.4 million trust for victims of priest sex abuse.
The diocese serves about 230,000 Catholics in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It sought Chapter 11 protection in October 2009 on the eve of the first in a series of trials scheduled in lawsuits filed by alleged victims of priest abuse.
Under the diocese’s reorganization plan, some 150 alleged abuse victims will share proceeds of the trust in return for releasing all legal claims against the diocese, its parishes and affiliated entities.
FBI paid millions to Bulger tipsters
HARTFORD, Conn. – The FBI said Monday it has paid $2.1 million in reward money to people who provided information that resulted in the capture in June of most-wanted fugitive James “Whitey” Bulger and his girlfriend Catherine Greig.
The reward was paid to “more than one individual,” the bureau said.
A telephone tipster, alerted by a televised, FBI publicity campaign, led agents to Bulger and Greig on June 21. The couple were living comfortably, after 16 years on the run, in a seaside apartment in an area near Los Angeles popular with retirees.
Bulger, 81, had been on the FBI’s most-wanted list for years. He was wanted for decades of violence that included 19 killings.