Peanut company president faces prison in salmonella case
A former peanut executive convicted of shipping tainted food and faking lab tests for contaminants could be sent to prison for life when he’s sentenced by a federal judge.
A sentencing hearing was scheduled for Monday in U.S. District Court in southwest Georgia for 61-year-old Stewart Parnell. The former Peanut Corporation of America owner and two co-defendants were convicted a year ago of crimes linked to a salmonella outbreak blamed for killing nine Americans and sickening 714.
Judge W. Louis Sands has calculated that Parnell faces up to 803 years in federal prison.
The outbreak led to one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history and cost Parnell’s customers an estimated $144 million.
Parnell’s family is asking a federal judge to show mercy when sentencing him for his role in a deadly salmonella outbreak.
America’s obesity rates remain stagnant
New government data shows that in most states, the rate of adult obesity is not moving.
Results from a telephone survey show obesity rates stayed about the same in 45 states last year. There were small increases in Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Utah.
Some experts said they are glad, overall, that obesity rates aren’t getting worse.
The 2014 survey found that in 22 states, 30 percent or more of the population was obese. They were mostly in the South and Midwest. Three states — Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia — had obesity rates over 35 percent.
The government Monday released the rates, which were analyzed in a separate report by the advocacy group, Trust for America’s Health.
Edward Snowden to speak in Park City
_1-1024x706.jpg" alt="FILE - This Thursday, June 6, 2013, file photo, shows a sign outside the National Security Agency campus in Fort Meade, Md. A bipartisan privacy board on Wednesday, July 2, 2014, unanimously adopted its report that endorses some of the National Security Agency's Internet surveillance programs. The programs provoked worldwide controversy when they were revealed last year by news organizations after leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)" width="960" height="661" srcset="https://universe.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/NSA_Surveillance_Privacy_Report__releases@byu.edu_1-1024x706.jpg 1024w, https://universe.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/NSA_Surveillance_Privacy_Report__releases@byu.edu_1-300x207.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" />Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden is scheduled to speak by video to an audience in Park City.
Snowden is known for leaking classified documents to expose government surveillance by the National Security Agency. He will be participating in a Dec. 5 discussion on cybersecurity at the Eccles Center.
Snowden will speak in real time in a closed circuit conversation from his apartment in Russia, where he has been given asylum.
Park City Institute director Teri Orr will not reveal how much Snowden will be paid but says his appearance is “not the priciest” of the Institute’s events.
Tickets for the Snowden event will go on sale to Institute members this week. The public can buy tickets beginning October 1.
UN sets new global development goals
A season of goal-setting begins this month as the United Nations launches a new 15-year plan to fight grinding world poverty, improve health and education and quell climate change.
More than 150 world leaders, including President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, are expected to speak at a three-day summit dedicated to adopting the goals. That meeting precedes the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. beginning Sept. 28.
The SDGs consist of 17 broad goals and 169 specific targets. They replace the United Nations’ expiring Millennium Development Goals, eight of them, adopted in 2000.
Despite significant progress, the only one of those original goals achieved before this year was halving the number of people living in extreme poverty. That was due primarily to economic growth in China.
Southern Utah flooding death toll to 20
The search resumed Monday for a 6-year-old boy who is the last known victim of the floods in southern Utah.
Black was one of 16 people in two cars that were swept away in a massive flash flood on Sept. 14 in the small polygamous community on the Utah-Arizona border. Twelve were found dead.
A total of 20 people have been confirmed dead from the heavy rainstorm on Sept. 14 in southern Utah. Seven people were killed when they were caught in narrow slot canyon in southern Utah’s Zion National Park. Another man was killed while driving in the area.
