Firm says it’s suing over Asiana crash
CHICAGO – A Chicago law firm says it has taken steps to sue aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. on behalf of 83 people who were aboard the Asiana Airlines flight that crash-landed in San Francisco earlier this month, claiming in a court filing that the crash might have been caused by a mechanical malfunction of the Boeing 777’s auto throttle.
Ribbeck Law Chartered on Monday filed a petition for discovery – a move meant to preserve evidence – in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, where Boeing is headquartered. The firm said that additional pleadings will be filed against Asiana Airlines and several component parts manufacturers in coming days.
Three people were killed when the airplane, carrying 307 passengers and crew on a flight from South Korea to San Francisco International Airport on July 6, approached the runway too low and slow.
Liz Cheney: Time for ‘new generation’
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Liz Cheney says “it’s time for a new generation” in explaining her GOP primary challenge to Wyoming’s senior U.S. senator next year.
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney tells The Associated Press that long-term incumbency is part of the problem in Washington these days. She says she does not view seniority “as a plus.”
Cheney is challenging popular Sen. Mike Enzi, who has served three terms in the Senate. Enzi announced Tuesday that he will run for a fourth term.
A Republican incumbent facing a serious primary challenge is almost unheard of in Wyoming.
Cheney lived in Virginia until recently. Last year, she bought a home in Jackson Hole. She was born in Madison, Wis., but says Wyoming has always been her home.
Pa. man gets 8½ years in Internet terror case
PITTSBURGH – A western Pennsylvania man whom authorities called a “homegrown, radical extremist” was sentenced Tuesday to 8½ years in prison for helping lead an Internet forum that promoted terrorist attacks against American military and civilian targets.
The sentence for Emerson Begolly, 24, formerly of Redbank Township, also includes time for having a concealed gun and biting an FBI agent when he was arrested in 2011.
Begolly’s sentence was far less than the 15-year term he agreed to when he pleaded guilty nearly two years ago, and which prosecutors still sought in a sentencing memorandum filed last week.
Calif. seeks record fine in pipeline explosion
SAN FRANCISCO – California regulators on Tuesday called on Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to pay at least $300 million in fines in connection with a deadly 2010 gas pipeline blast in what they said would amount to the largest fine ever levied by the state Public Utilities Commission.
In an amended brief filed in the pipeline case, the commission’s safety division cited the eight people killed and 38 homes destroyed in the blast in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of San Bruno and said there were steps PG&E could have taken to prevent the explosion.
“The tragedy in San Bruno, which was directly caused by PG&E’s unreasonable conduct and neglect for decades, was the worst disaster in the history of California electric and/or gas utilities,” the safety division said in its filing.
Associated Press
