The Washington Post - 09.11.2019

SATURDAy, NOVEMbER 9 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ re A

said his office did not s eek the

compensation arrangement a nd

that the proposition was the

judge’s. Hills’s attorney, R obert

Tucker, said Thursday w as the

first he had h eard o f the offer.

Hills was convicted last year o f

raping t he woman in 2003.

— A ssociated Press

Restaurant worker dies after

breathing cleaning agent: An

employee at a Buffalo Wild Wings

in suburban Boston died a fter

breathing in f umes f rom a

powerful cleaning agent a t the

restaurant and at l east 10 people

have been hospitalized,

authorities s aid. Burlington fire

officials s aid general manager

Ryan B aldera, 32, d ied after b eing

rushed to a hospital Thursday

night. The sports bar is closed

while t he a uthorities c ontinue

their investigation.

— A ssociated Press

LOUIsIANA

Rape victim refuses

cash to cut sentence

A Louisiana rape victim said

she w on’t a ccept a judge’s offer to

reduce h er assailant’s s entence i f

the m an pays h er $150,000,

adding that she d oesn’t want any

amount of money from her

attacker.

“I don’t think money is g oing t o

provide any restitution for w hat

he’s d one,” the 3 1-year-old woman

said Thursday a fter a court

hearing. She was 15 when s he was

raped.

State District Judge Bruce

Bennett h ad just sentenced

Sedrick Hills, 44, to 12 years in

prison when he m ade t he o ffer to

reduce t he time if the w oman

agreed t o cash r estitution.

East Baton Rouge Parish

District A ttorney Hillar Moore

Gov. Kevin Stitt s igned the order

to commute her sentence. Her

release came about a month after

the s tate Pardon a nd Parole Board

voted unanimously to

recommend that Stitt commute

her s entence t o time served.

Hall w as sentenced in 2006 to

30 years in p rison a fter pleading

guilty to failing to protect two of

her c hildren. The boyfriend,

Robert Braxton Jr., pleaded guilty

to abusing the c hildren a nd was

released on probation w ith the

credit f or the two years he already

spent i n jail.

While living with Braxton,

Hall’s y oung children suffered

broken bones, but n o evidence

ever indicated Hall committed

any violence o r harmed h er

children, said o fficials from the

American Civil Liberties Union,

which c hallenged the

disproportionate s entence.

— A ssociated Press

OKLAHOMA

Woman is freed after 15

years in abuse case

An Oklahoma woman whose
sentence for failing to report her
boyfriend’s a buse of her children
was f ar h arsher than his for t he
abuse i tself w as released from
prison Friday after 1 5 years.
To ndalao Hall, 3 5, l eft a
women’s p rison in McLoud, Okla.,
after s erving a bout 1 3 more years
behind bars t han her boyfriend,
who pleaded guilty in 2006 but
was r eleased o n probation with
credit f or time served.
The disparity of the s entences
outraged women’s rights
advocates and brought f urther
attention to Oklahoma’s h igh rate
of incarceration, particularly of
women.
The Oklahoma D epartment of
Corrections said T hursday that

DIGesT

mArK HUmPHrey/AssocIAted Press

Bubbles rise Friday from a newly installed bio-acoustic “fish fence”

at the lock and dam in Grand Rivers, Ky., where the Cumberland

River meets Lake Barkley. The noisemaking, bubbling barrier is

intended to deter destructive Asian carp from entering the lock and

moving upstream. Others will be installed if the trial there succeeds.

Politics & the Nation

BY DANIELLE

DOUGLAS-GABRIEL

The Education Department
said Friday that it will cancel
federal loans provided last year to
students at four Art Institutes
locations after revelations that
officials knew the for-profit col-
leges were not accredited and in-
eligible to receive such aid.
The federal agency has been
embroiled in controversy over its
efforts to shield Dream Center
Education Holdings, owner of the
Art Institutes and Argosy Univer-
sity, from the consequences of
lying to students about the ac-
creditation of its since-closed
schools. Documents released in
October by the House Education
and Labor Committee show the
department provided $10.7 mil-
lion in federal loans and grants to
students at Art Institutes loca-
tions while the schools were not
fully accredited. Now those loans
will be forgiven.
On Friday, E ducation Secretary
Betsy DeVos placed blame on the
accreditor, the Higher Learning
Commission, for harming stu-
de nts by withholding its seal of
approval from failing for-profit
schools and heralded the depart-
ment’s a ctions as an effort to right
the wrong.
“The Department is committed
to holding institutions and ac-
creditors accountable to the stu-
dents they serve,” DeVos said in a
statement. “In this instance, stu-
dents were failed and deserve to
be made whole.”
While the Higher Learning
Commission applauded the Edu-

cation Department’s action, the

accreditor said Dream Center’s

duplicity remains at the heart of

the matter.

Neither the Art Institute of Col-

orado, the Art Institute of Michi-

gan nor the Illinois Institute of

Art in Chicago and Schaumburg

held the accrediting commission’s

seal of approval in the 2018 spring

semester. In reviewing Dream

Center’s 2017 acquisition of the

chain, the accreditor raised con-

cerns about the quality of educa-

tion at the campuses and down-

graded their status for up to four

years.

The accreditor issued a public

notice in January 2018 and in-

structed Dream Center to inform

students, but the Los Angeles

company, which could not be

reached for comment, continued

to advertise that the schools were

accredited.

“The institutions did not ap-

propriately inform their students

as was required and specifically

instructed by” the Higher Learn-

ing Commission, said Steve Kauff-

man, spokesman for the accredi-

tor.

In Friday’s announcement, the

Education Department criticized

the accrediting commission’s

downgrade as a “newly developed

and improperly defined accredi-

tation status,” but Kauffman said

the policy has been in place since

2009.

He noted that the accrediting

commission not only posted in-

formation about the Art Insti-

tutes campuses on its website but

also simultaneously notified state

education agencies and the Edu-

cation Department.

Still, the federal agency contin-

ued issuing loans to Art Institutes

students, even though for-profit

colleges must be fully accredited

to participate in federal student

aid programs.

The for-profit schools’ down-

graded designation as “pre -

accredited” institutions prohibit-

ed the receipt of federal student

aid, although nonprofit schools

with the same status can receive

aid. To fix the problem, the de-

partment in May 2018 retroac-

tively designated the schools as

nonprofits effective Jan. 20, 2018,

the date they lost their accredita-

tion, according to letters obtained

by the House committee.

The department insists the

schools were fully accredited un-

til they closed.

The Education Department

will grant debt relief to 1,

students who took out loans to

attend the four Art Institutes

campuses between Jan. 20, 2018,

and Dec. 14, 2018. The cancella-

tion applies only to that period.

Students who burned through

federal Pell grants to attend the

schools that closed before they

could graduate will also have

their eligibility for Pell aid re-

stored.

DeVos is also extending the

window for another form of debt

cancellation, known as a closed

school discharge. Students are eli-

gible for the discharge if they were

enrolled when a school closed,

were on an approved leave of

absence or had withdrawn within

four months of the closure. Trans-

ferring elsewhere to complete a

degree makes students ineligible.

Instead of the standard four-

month period, the department is

expanding the time frame to six

months for students at 24 other

Dream Center schools — includ-

ing Argosy locations — that

closed. The agency estimates the

change will benefit 285 people.

DeVos and the department are

being sued by former Art Institute

of Colorado and Illinois Institute

of Art students for unlawfully is-

suing loans that the students say

they should not have to pay.

Robert J. Infusino, one of the

students involved in the case, was

thrilled to learn Friday that at

least some of the $28,000 in debt

he amassed at the Illinois Insti-

tute of Art would be forgiven.

“The whole time since we found

out that our school wasn’t a ccred-

ited, we’ve been asking the De-

partment to stand up for stu-

dents,” Infusino said in a state-

ment. “I’m happy they finally

agreed, instead of fighting our

lawsuit.”

[email protected]

DeVos cancels nearly $11 million in student loans for unaccredited schools

Yo u, too, could

have home delivery.

1-800-753-POST

SF

BY LENA H. SUN

Federal health officials have
identified v itamin E acetate in the
lung fluids of 29 people sickened
in the outbreak of dangerous
v aping-related lung injuries. The
discovery points to the oil as a
likely culprit in the outbreak
that has sickened more than
2,000 p eople and k illed at l east 39.
“These findings provide direct
evidence of vitamin E acetate at
the primary site of injury within
the lungs,” said Anne Schuchat,
principal deputy director at the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The latest informa-
tion points to growing evidence of
vitamin E acetate a s “a very strong
culprit of concern,” she said in a
briefing with reporters.
The findings a nnounced Friday
do not rule out other possible
compounds or ingredients that
may be causing the lung injuries.
But Schuchat described the lab
results as a “breakthrough” in the
investigation. The CDC tested for
a wide range of substances that
might be found in patients’ lung

fluids, including plant oils and

petroleum distillates, s uch a s min-

eral oil.

But what they did not find was

just as important. “No other po-

tential toxins were detected,”

Schuchat said.

CDC officials found vitamin E

acetate, an oil derived from the

vitamin, in all 29 samples of lung

fluid collected from patients who

had fallen ill or died of lung inju-

ries. THC, the psychoactive ingre-

dient in marijuana, was also

found in 23 patients, including

three who said they had not used

THC products. Nicotine was de-

tected in 16 of 26 patients. Most

patients who have fallen ill in the

outbreak have vaped THC, offi-

cials have said.

Vitamin E acetate had already

been identified in previous testing

by the Food and D rug Administra-

tion and state laboratories i n vape

products that contain THC. New

York s tate’s Wadsworth Center lab

was the first to discover it about

two months ago in samples from

sick patients. Of 595 vaping prod-

uct samples linked to patients that

have been tested by the FDA,

70 percent contained THC. Half of

those THC-containing products

also had vitamin E acetate, with

concentrations as high as 88 per-

cent, the FDA s aid Friday.

Many of the THC-containing

products were obtained on the

illicit market, officials have said.

Vitamin E acetate has been used

in recent months as a cutting

agent or additive on the cannabis

black market to stretch the

amount of THC in v ape cartridges,

officials and i ndustry e xperts have

said. Vitamin E acetate is a popu-

lar additive because it is colorless

and o dorless, has similar v iscosity

to THC oil and i s much cheaper.

The findings are significant be-

cause for the first time, scientists

have been able to connect results

from product testing with clinical

specimens from patients,

Schuchat said. The 29 patients are

from 10 states, representing a di-

verse geographical area, making

the findings “much more robust”

than if all t he p atients were from a

single location. Most of the pa-

tients were male, with a median

age of 2 3. Two of the patients died.

“They help us better under-

stand the potential compounds”

that may contribute to the inju-

ries, Schuchat said. “They tell us

what entered the lungs of some of

these patients.”

Vitamin E acetate is found in

many foods and in cosmetics, es-

pecially skin-care products. It is

not known to cause harm when

swallowed or applied to the skin,

Schuchat said. But w hen it is heat-

ed and inhaled, it may interfere

with normal lung function. Its

properties could be associated

with the kinds of respiratory

symptoms that many patients

have reported — cough, shortness

of breath and chest pain, officials

and e xperts have said.

Public health experts wel-

comed the news but cautioned

that more testing n eeds t o be com-

pleted. “While this is a big step in

helping us understand what may

be causing these injuries, these

findings d o not rule out the p oten-

tial for other compounds or ingre-

dients as contributing factors,”

said Scott Becker, executive direc-

tor of the Association of Public

Health Laboratories. “There may

be more than one cause of the

outbreak.”

The findings, detailed in a CDC

report released Friday, also rein-

forced official health warnings

against using e -cigarette or vaping

products that contain THC, espe-

cially those bought off the street.

The CDC is maintaining its rec-

ommendation that consumers

consider refraining from all vap-

ing and e-cigarette products, in-

cluding those containing nicotine,

because a small proportion of pa-

tients continue to report exclusive

use of nicotine-containing prod-

ucts, Schuchat said.

Chemistry professor Michelle

Francl has described vitamin E

acetate a s basically g rease. Its mo-

lecular structure means that “you

have to heat it up pretty hot” for it

to vaporize, said Francl, a profes-

sor at Bryn Mawr College. Once

the oil is heated enough to vapor-

ize, it can potentially decompose,

and “now you’re breathing in who

knows w hat,” Francl has said.

Officials s till need t o test f or the

substance in other people who

vaped and who did n ot experience

these injuries, Schuchat said. Offi-

cials also want to test a broader

number of lung fluid samples

from patients in different loca-

tions, she said.

Animal studies also need to be

undertaken to better understand

how vitamin E acetate might

cause the harm i n lungs, she s aid.

For the lung fluid testing, CDC

scientists had drawn up a priority

list of chemicals that had the po-

tential to be toxins. They i ncluded

vitamin E acetate; plant oils;

p etroleum-based o ils such a s min-

eral oil; and terpenes, organic

compounds that give fragrant aro-

mas to plants and flowers, said

Jim Pirkle, director of the labora-

tory science division at the CDC’s

National Center for Environmen-

tal Health. Pirkle is overseeing

much of the CDC’s o utbreak-relat-

ed lab testing.

“We haven’t f ound a ny o f those”

except for vitamin E acetate,

Pirkle said, but the samples ac-

count for only a small portion of

the number of people sickened,

and more testing will continue.

Finding vitamin E acetate in 29

out of 29 samples of lung f luid is “a

very strong signal,” he said.

V itamin E acetate is a sticky

substance, like honey, Pirkle said.

“When it goes into the lung,” he

said, “it does hang around.” The o il

can disrupt the ability of the lungs

to stay i nflated, officials said.

THC, on the other hand, “is not

something you would expect to be

hanging around in the lung fluid,”

Pirkle said. It is more likely to be

found in u rine, he said. That c ould

account for why it was not found

in some samples. I t is also p ossible

that the vitamin E acetate was

part of different kind of vaping

liquid, officials said.

[email protected]

CDC cites ‘breakthrough’ in vaping-related lung illnesses

Vitamin E acetate

found in patients is

seen as a likely culprit

“These findings provide

direct evidence of

vitamin E acetate at the

primary site of injury

within the lungs.”

Anne schuchat, principal deputy

director at the cdc

 Video: trump says he’ll raise

vaping age to 18: wapo.st/vaping

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