NYC withholds payments to police and firefighter widows, union says

NEW YORK — New York City is withholding vital funds earmarked for the widows and children of cops, firefighters and other uniformed city employees who died in the line of duty as the agency in charge of the funds reprioritizes its debts, the Daily News has learned.

Since the beginning of the fiscal year, the city’s Office of Labor Relations has stopped providing $850,000 in quarterly payments earmarked for widows and children of fallen employees through the agency’s Health Insurance Stabilization Fund.

The payments go to the city’s unions, which use the money to offset prescription drug, eye and dental exam costs for families of city employees who died on the job.

Margaret Mosomillo, the widow of Police Officer Anthony Mosomillo, who was shot and killed while trying to arrest an ex-con in 1998, used these funds just this week, she said.

“I picked up a prescription, went to the dentist, and had my yearly eye exam,” Mosomillo told The News Wednesday. “We’re being victimized all over again. ... (My husband and others) made the ultimate sacrifice, and they want to cut the funds. It just doesn’t make sense. For what?

—New York Daily News

Barack Obama to visit Pa. next week to stump for Kamala Harris

PITTSBURGH — Former President Barack Obama will be in Pittsburgh on Thursday to kick off a sweep through several battleground states in support of Vice President Kamala Harris.

No details of exactly when and where Obama will be Thursday have been released, according to multiple media outlets.

Obama will be the latest Harris campaign surrogate to visit Western Pennsylvania in support of Harris’ presidential run. Recently Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., visited the area on behalf of Harris.

Harris supported Obama’s 2008 presidential bid early on in his campaign, and some of his former staff members are now part of her campaign. Obama also spoke at the Democratic National Convention this year in support of Harris saying she is “ready for the job.”

With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania has been categorized as one of the most important states in this election — evidenced by the number of visits both candidates have made to the region.

—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

SC Supreme Court sets next execution date of a death row inmate

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court issued an execution notice for Richard Moore, who was convicted of shooting a convenience store clerk. He is scheduled to die on Nov. 1.

In 1999, Moore walked into Nikki’s Speedy Mart convenience store in Spartanburg County unarmed. His goal was to rob the store to buy cocaine.

He got into a fight with the store clerk, James Mahoney, who had a gun. The gun went off and killed the store clerk. Moore got ahold of the gun and fired a shot at a bystander, but missed.

After leaving the crime scene, Moore got into a car accident. When a police officer arrived, Moore got out of his truck, lay down on the road and said “I did it.”

Moore was convicted in 2001 of murder, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime and assault with intent to kill. It took the jury just two hours to decide on the guilty verdict.

—The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Over 200 animals found in deplorable conditions at NY vet’s home

NEW YORK — More than 200 animals in deplorable conditions were recovered from the Long Island home of a licensed veterinarian, the Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.

According to the nonprofit, the investigation into the shocking case of hoarding and animal neglect began on Wednesday, after a vet tech called to report the alleged abuse.

Detectives with the animal rights advocacy organization — whose agents can legally enforce animal cruelty laws as New York State peace officers — obtained a search warrant and went into the Woodbury home on Thursday.

The situation was described as one of the worst they’d ever seen. Aerial footage shot by NBC New York showed several NCSPCA investigators wearing hazmat suits entering the home, which is located in a heavily wooded area.

The veterinarian, later identified as 75-year-old Linda Pesek, was taken to a hospital for evaluation, Rogers said Thursday, adding she was expected to be charged with animal cruelty.

—New York Daily News

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