Ohio’s Rep. Tubbs Jones Dies After Aneurysm

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) (C) makes a statement on a presidential endorsement at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee on May 14, 2008, in Washington, D.C.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton (L) celebrates with her daughter Chelsesa Clinton (C) and Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (R) at a campaign rally at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 21, 2008.

Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

CLEVELAND (AP) ― Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress, died Wednesday after suffering an aneurysm, according to a spokeswoman from the Cleveland Clinic where she was admitted.

Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman Eileen Sheil says Tubbs Jones died at 6:12 p.m. Wednesday after suffering a brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm that burst and left her with limited brain function.

Tubbs Jones had the aneurysm while driving her car in Cleveland Heights on Tuesday, spokeswoman Nicole Williams said.

The congresswoman had been driving erratically and her vehicle crossed from the northbound lanes across the southbound lanes, according to a statement from police.

An officer pulled a cruiser across the roadway to warn oncoming traffic. The officer reached her vehicle and found Tubbs Jones in medical distress, the statement said.

“She’s a great lady and we’ve done so much together,” said U.S. Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio.

First elected in 1998, Tubbs Jones was one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s biggest boosters during the primaries. She backed Barack Obama in June and was a superdelegate at next week’s Democratic National Convention in Denver. Although she backed Obama, Tubbs Jones had said Obama can’t win unless Clinton’s supporters rally behind him.

Tubbs Jones, who represented the heavily Democratic 11th District, chaired the ethics committee in the House. She was also the first black woman to serve on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

Toddler’s Death Ruled A Homicide

By: NY1 News

The body of 2-year-old Jashya Brown was found inside his Queens house on Aug. 18.

FAR ROCKAWAY, N.Y. (CBS) ― Battered child syndrome – that was the official ruling issued Wednesday in the death of a Queens toddler.

Little Jashya Brown died at St. John’s Hospital on Monday night – his body covered in bruises and bite marks.

His mother told police he was hurt while wrestling with his 5-year-old brother.

The question now is who really caused the injuries, and, ultimately, his death?

“For my baby to lose her baby …yeah it’s killing me,” DeShawn Purrington said.

Purrington is the mother of Sheree Brown, and she, in turn, is the mother of 2-year-old Jashya. The grandmother spoke to CBS 2 HD on Wednesday afternoon, and defended her daughter. But that was before the medical examiner said the boy’s autopsy revealed his death is a homicide; the result of battered child syndrome.

After questioning Jashya’s mother and her boyfriend, Daquean Williams, for several hours Tuesday, police at the 101st Precinct questioned them again on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg commented on the tragic circumstances.

“There are some families that are terribly dysfunctional, and tragedies happen because there’s no right answer in a lot of these cases,” Bloomberg said. “I think society should have done more, but looking back, keep in mind that everything that ACS did was done the judge’s consent.”

But the city will have to look closely at the mother’s long history with the Administration for Children’s Services:

* 2006 — children taken from mother

* 2007 — mother completes training classes

* 2008 — children are gradually returned

* 2008 — ACS visits 30 times, most recently on Aug. 13.

Two years ago, ACS took all three of her children from Sharee Brown. But last year, she apparently worked to get her children back, completing anger management and parenting classes. This year, gradually, each child was returned; and ACS followed with 30 visits, the most recent being last Tuesday.

Statistics show that in more than 90 percent of cases in New York City, children are successfully reunited with parents. But this may not have been one of those times.

“Yes, we made mistakes with ACS, but we learn from our mistakes, we grow,” Purrington said.

Teen fatally shot in Artesia

Email Picture

Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Mitchell Saint-Jones, 21, lights candles under the 91 Freeway at Pioneer Boulevard, where his friend was shot and killed. The 17-year-old boy was found dead next to his bicycle.

The 17-year-old male is found collapsed next to his bicycle on Pioneer Boulevard near the 91 Freeway.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
9:42 AM PDT, August 20, 2008

College student Mitchell Saint-Jones lit a candle this morning at a makeshift memorial in Artesia, where a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies found the teenager collapsed next to his bicycle about 12:10 a.m. on Pioneer Boulevard near the 91 Freeway, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Derrick Thompson.

• 

  The latest from The Homicide Report,…

The youth, who has not yet been identified by authorities, died at a hospital.

Saint-Jones, 21, of Cerritos, who called himself a friend of the victim, said the teenager attended a nearby high school and played ice hockey.

“He was just a funny, fun-loving guy, a great outgoing personality,” said Saint-Jones, a student at Cerritos College.

Saint-Jones said the teen, who sported a crew cut and a tan, had never been involved in a gang, although he may have been mistaken for a Latino gang member by members of several gangs active in the area.

Saint-Jones said he avoids certain parts of town because of crime and gang activity, but he considered the area where the shooting occurred to be safe, even at night.

“There’s always been people trying to beef with other people,” he said. “The whole macho thing has always been around. But apparently, it’s getting worse.”

No suspect description was available, and it was unclear whether the shooting was gang-related, Thompson said. Anyone with information is asked to contact homicide investigators at (323) 890-5500.

Paul Starr, A-list makeup artist, is found dead

Email Picture

Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Makeup artist Paul Starr prepares back stage before “A Celebration of Oscar Fashion,” a retrospective at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science last year.

He is discovered in his home in the Silver Lake-Echo Park area, possibly dead from natural causes, authorities say.

By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
11:24 AM PDT, August 20, 2008

Celebrity makeup artist Paul Starr, who has worked with Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Garner and Sophia Loren, among other Hollywood stars, was found dead in his home in the Silver Lake-Echo Park area of Los Angeles.

Starr, 51, was found Tuesday by police who forced their way into his home in the 2200 block of Lakeshore Avenue after friends and neighbors became concerned that they had not heard from the A-list makeup artist for several days, officials said.

“It is a possible natural causes” case, said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. An autopsy is pending.

Starr was discovered about 10:30 a.m.

His client roster includes old and new Hollywood, from Sophia Loren, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jane Fonda to Scarlett Johansson, Cameron Diaz and Jessica Alba.

He was a founding beauty editor of Flaunt magazine from 1998 to 2001, and in 2005 he released a book, “Paul Starr on Beauty: Conversations With Thirty Celebrated Women.”

Today’s Notable Deaths

• Chao Yao-dong, 92, Taiwanese minister of economic affairs, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. [1] (Chinese)
• Hua Guofeng, 87, Chinese premier (1976–1980), chairman of the Communist Party of China (1976–1981). [2]
• Adrian Sudbury, 27, British journalist, campaigned for better awareness of bone marrow donation, leukaemia. [3]