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A lot about the family struck her as strange, she said. The children she saw were very pale — an observation several other neighbors made as well. And she often wondered why, if there were so many children in the house, they never came out to play. ||||| (CNN) A couple was arrested after police discovered that their 13 children had been held captive in their California home in filthy conditions, some shackled to beds with chains and padlocks, officials said Monday.

 The victims ranged in age from 2 to 29, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

 A 17-year-old girl managed to escape from the residence in Perris, California, on Sunday and called 911 from a cell phone she found in the house, police said.

 The girl claimed her 12 brothers and sisters were being held captive inside the home by her parents, some of them bound with chains and padlocks, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said.

 The 17-year-old "appeared to be only 10 years old and slightly emaciated," the Riverside Sheriff's Department said.

 Sheriff's deputies responded to the home and found the 12 other victims, who "appeared malnourished and very dirty," authorities said. All of them looked like children, police said, and officers were surprised to learn that seven of them were adults. Several were shackled to their beds "in dark and foul-smelling surroundings," the sheriff's department said.

 David Allen Turpin, left, and Louise Anna Turpin, right.

 David Allen Turpin, 56, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were charged Sunday with torture and child endangerment, the Sheriff's Department said. The couple was taken to the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.

 Bail was set at $9 million for each, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said.

 It was not immediately clear if the suspects had attorneys or whether they had entered a plea.

 The six children -- including the 17-year-old who escaped -- are being treated at Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley. The seven adults are being treated at Corona Regional Medical Center in Corona, authorities said.

 David and Louise Turpin with their children

 Home listed as a school, state records show

 David Turpin is listed as the principal of the Sandcastle Day School, according to the California Department of Education website. It was operated out of his home, the same nondescript, suburban residence where the 13 victims were found. The day school opened March 21, 2011, and was described as a private school serving grades 1-12. According to the website, the status of the school is "active."

 Neighbors said they knew a large family lived there, CNN affiliate KABC reported, but they never saw any of the younger children.

 One neighbor told the station that she saw the parents being arrested early Sunday. The children were taken from the home in their pajamas, she said.

 "They were very, very pale-skinned, almost like they've never seen the sun," the neighbor said.

 "And it was mostly girls ... kind of small-framed," the neighbor said.

 David and Louise Turpin with the children at one of the couple's vow renewals.

 Court records: David Turpin had worked as an engineer

 The Turpins moved into the Perris home in 2010, public records show.

 The next year, they filed for bankruptcy in California, according to court records.

 Ivan Trahan, an attorney who represented the couple at their bankruptcy hearing, told CNN "there was nothing out of ordinary" about the couple when he worked with them in 2011.

 David Turpin made about $140,000 per year working as an engineer at Northrop Grumman, according to the bankruptcy documents. His wife's occupation was listed as "homemaker."

 They listed about $150,000 in assets, including about $87,000 from 401k plans from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, according to court papers. The documents listed debts of about $240,000, which included mostly credit card debt and a foreclosed farm in Rio Vista, Texas, valued at $40,000.

 Trahan said neither of the Turpins seemed upset they were going through bankruptcy.

 "They came with a lot of debt. We just knew there was no way they could make their payments," Trahan said.

 The attorney said the couple "spoke lovingly of their children and even showed me their photos from Disneyland."

 'This is a highly respectable family,' suspect's mother said.

 David Turpin's mother, Betty, told CNN the couple usually took vacations with the entire family in tow. They have 13 children, she said, and they usually dressed alike when they went out for safety reasons.

 "They were very protective of the kids," she said. When they went out, the couple would line the children up according to age, and the parents took their positions at the front and back of the line, she said.

 "It was easier to keep up with the kids" that way, she said.

 "This is a highly respectable family," she added.

 A series of videos on social media showed the couple renewing their vows at the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. They appear to have renewed their vows several times in recent years, in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

 In the first video, an Elvis Presley impersonator sang "Love Me Tender" as he walked a smiling Louise Turpin down the aisle to reaffirm her commitment to her husband after 26 years together.

 "I offer you this ring," David Turpin said, repeating after the impersonator, "as a symbol of my love, baby, baby."

 Then, they danced to Presley's "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You."

 The couple's children joined them for the 2013 and 2015 renewals.

 In one ceremony, the girls, wearing matching plaid dresses, lead the processional, and the boys, wearing dark suits, stand with their father.

 An emotional David Turpin can be seen repeating his vows in the video. The children laugh along with the Elvis impersonator, and the couple kisses as their daughters clap.

 CORRECTION: This story has been updated to give the correct spelling of Northrop Grumman and the correct age for David Turpin, who is 56. ||||| People bicycle past a house in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road in Perris on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018. Authorities say 13 siblings had been held captive there until one of them escaped and called 911 Sunday morning, leading to their parents’ arrest. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

 Neighbors stand across the street from the house at 160 Muir Woods Road in Perris on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018. Twelve siblings, some chained to their beds, were rescued after a 13th sister escaped Sunday morning. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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 Media trucks line the 100 block of Muir Woods Road in Perris on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, following the arrest of David and Louise Turpin on suspicion of torture and child endangerment. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

 Media crews set up Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, in front of the house on Muir Woods Road in Perris where authorities say 13 siblings had been held captive. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

 Neighbors gather Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, to share photos they took of a house in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road in Perris where 13 siblings who authorities say were being held captive were found the day before. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

 Authorities say this house Muir Woods Road in a middle-class suburban neighborhood of Perris was dark and foul-smelling inside, with several children shackled to their beds as their parents allegedly held their 13 children, ages 2 to 29, captive. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

 Neighbors stand across the street from the house at 160 Muir Woods Road in Perris on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018. Twelve siblings, some chained to their beds, were rescued after a 13th sister escaped Sunday morning. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

 Neighbors gather Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, to share photos they took of a house in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road in Perris where 13 siblings who authorities say were being held captive were found the day before. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

 Neighbors stand outside the house on Muir Woods Road in Perris on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, where 12 siblings, some chained to their beds, were rescued after a 13th sister escaped Sunday morning. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

 A car drives past the house on Muir Woods Road in Perris on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, where 12 siblings, some chained to their beds, were rescued after a 13th sister escaped Sunday morning. (Photo by Andrew Foulk for The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

 In a discovery that has stunned both authorities and neighbors in a suburban Riverside County neighborhood, 13 brothers and sisters who appeared to have been held captive by their parents in a Perris house were found early Sunday, Jan. 14, after one of them escaped and called 911.

 Some of them were chained and padlocked to their beds inside the dark and foul-smelling house in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said.

 “The parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner,” sheriff’s officials said in a news release.

 The victims appeared dirty and malnourished, the release said, and were so emaciated that deputies were shocked to discover that while all looked like children, they actually ranged in age from 2 to 29; six of them were minors and seven were 18 or older.

 David Allen Turpin, 56, and Louise Ann Turpin, 49, were each arrested on suspicion of nine counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment, online jail records show. Bail was set at $9 million each. Neither suspect has a documented criminal record in Riverside County, Superior Court records show.

 In a bankruptcy filing from 2011, when the couple lived in Murrieta, records state that David Turpin was an engineer at Northrop Grumman and that his wife was a homemaker.

 David Turpin also was listed in California Department of Education records as principal of a private school with the same address as their house. While it’s not clear that the school’s six enrolled students as of last year were the Turpins’ own children, parents who intend to homeschool their children are required to file a Private School Affidavit, according to the state Department of Education website.

 Neighbors Zinzi and Ricardo Ross expressed disbelief Monday afternoon at the situation on Muir Woods Road. The couple has lived nearby for more than two years.

 “It’s very shocking,” Ricardo Ross said. “Very devastating.”

 Zinzi Ross agreed. “It’s crazy. I can’t believe this is going on,” she said.

 An escape and plea for help

 Early Sunday, a 17-year-old girl — who investigators said looked like she was only about 10 — managed to escape from the home with a cellphone that she used to 911, the sheriff’s news release said. She said her 12 brothers and sisters were being held captive.

 Deputies went to the home, where they found the other victims along with the parents, David and Louise Turpin.

 The victims, who “claimed to be starving,” were fed and admitted to local hospitals, the release said. Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services assisted in the investigation.

 There was no answer at Child Protective Services’ main offices on Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. A supervisor at the child abuse hotline said he could not provide any information.

 It wasn’t clear how long authorities believe the children may have been kept in those conditions. The Sheriff’s Department made no further information available Monday beyond the news release but scheduled a rare news conference for 10 a.m. Tuesday.

 Investigators asked that anyone with information on the case contact Master Investigator Tom Salisbury at the Perris station at 951-210-1000 or PerrisStation@RiversideSheriff.org.

 ‘Mommy loves me’

 The horrible allegations against the Turpin parents contrast sharply with the impression given by their joint Facebook page. Several dozen photographs, posted publicly, show a smiling family having fun in places such as Disneyland and Las Vegas.

 David and Louise Turpin appear to have had marriage-renewal ceremonies at least three times, in 2011, 2013 and 2015, at the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas.

 The couple posted photos from the Halloween 2015 ceremony on their Facebook page throughout spring 2016. Louise wears a white wedding gown and David wears a tuxedo; Elvis is in a gold jacket. There’s a baby in a frilly pink dress and nine other girls in matching pink and purple plaid dresses, while three boys have on black suits and magenta ties, their hair cut in mop-tops like David’s.

 Other pictures show the family in matching outfits on other group outings. And there are lots of pictures of the baby, including one in which she wears a “Mommy loves me” T-shirt.

 Many of the children appear thin in the photos but not obviously unhealthy. And like the sheriff’s deputies who found the victims Sunday, someone seeing the pictures may be surprised any of the children were in their 20s.

 Attempts to reach relatives of the Turpins were unsuccessful Monday.

 A comment on one of the family photos indicates the couple moved to California around 2009. They purchased their current house in Perris — a four-bedroom, three-bathroom, 2,388-square-foot home that was built in 2013 — in August 2014 for $351,000, county property records show.

 That house at 160 Muir Woods Road is also the address of Sandcastle Day School, a private school founded in the 2014-15 school year, according to state records.

 In the 2016-17 school year, it had an enrollment of six: one student in each of the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.

 The school is within the boundaries of the Perris Union High School District, said Candace Reines, the district’s deputy superintendent for business services. However, as a private school, Reines said, Sandcastle has no association with the public district.

 “Private schools, they don’t have to get any approvals from the local school district,” she said.

 Instead, their operators — including a parent who wants to run a private homeschool — file a Private School Affidavit with the state Department of Education.

 ‘No idea this was going on’

 The Turpins’ middle-class neighborhood — where their frequently unkempt lawn was one of the things neighbors had noticed most about it — was abuzz Monday afternoon as news spread of what had authorities found inside.

 More than two dozen people gathered in groups on the sidewalk, and motorists drove by the house, some slowing down and pulling out their cellphones to capture the scene. A helicopter flew overhead and news reporters poured in to try to gain insight on the family, but few of the people who were outside had had much interaction with the Turpins.

 Andrew Santillan, who lives around the corner, heard about the case from a friend.

 “I had no idea this was going on,” he said as he stood in a nearby driveway and watched the scene. “I didn’t know there were kids in the house.”

 Neighbor Andria Valdez said she first saw four cop cars outside the Turpins’ house about 8:15 a.m. Sunday. She said officials stayed all day — one deputy was there until 10 p.m., and a truck with a camper shell that said “Riverside Services” stayed overnight, she said.

 Valdez said her family had previously joked the family at that house reminded them of the fictional Cullen family from the “Twilight” book and film series.

 “They only came out at night,” she said. “They were really, really pale.”

 Jonte McLaurin also saw about four or five sheriff’s cars Sunday morning.

 He said he used to mow lawns in the neighborhood, and several years ago he tried knocking on the door to offer his lawn services, but the family declined.

 “They were all weird about it,” he said

 He said he noticed they at one point let their grass die and then put bales of hay in the front yard.

 A few years ago, Robert Perkins said he and his mom saw a few family members constructing a Nativity scene in the Turpins’ front yard. Perkins said he complimented them on it.

 “They didn’t say a word,” he said.

 Staff writers Craig Shultz, Alma Fausto, Tim Guy and Gail Wesson contributed to this report.

 Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct David Turpin’s age and the spelling of Louise Turpin’s middle name. ||||| Advisory

 Early Sunday morning on January 14, 2018, a 17-year old juvenile escaped from her residence situated in the 100 Block of Muir Woods Road, Perris and managed to call 911 from a cellular device she found inside the house. The teenager claimed her 12 brothers and sisters were being held captive inside the residence by her parents and further claimed some of her siblings were bound with chains and padlocks.

 When Police Officers from the Perris Police Department and Deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department met with the juvenile, she appeared to be only 10 years old and slightly emaciated. After a brief interview with the female, they contacted 57-year old David Allen Turpin and 49-year old Louise Anna Turpin at the residence where the teenager escaped.

 Further investigation revealed several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings, but the parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner. Deputies located what they believed to be 12 children inside the house, but were shocked to discover that 7 of them were actually adults, ranging in age from 18 to 29. The victims appeared to be malnourished and very dirty. Perris Station Detectives were dispatched to the residence for further investigation.

 All 13 victims, ranging from the age of 2 to 29, were transported to the Perris Station and interviewed. Both parents were detained and transported to the station for further investigation. Child Protective Services (CPS) and Adult Protective Services (APS) arrived to assist in the investigation. The victims were provided with food and beverages after they claimed to be starving.

 The six children were eventually transported to the Riverside University Hospital System (RUHS) for medical examinations and admitted for treatment. The seven adult children were transported to Corona Regional Medical Center for an examination and admitted for medical treatment.

 Both parents were interviewed in this matter and subsequently transported to the Robert Presley Detention Center (RPDC). They were booked for violations of California Penal Code Section 206–Torture and Section 273a(A)–Child Endangerment. Bail was set at $9,000,000.00 each.

 Anyone with additional information regarding this investigation is encouraged to contact Master Investigator Tom Salisbury at the Perris Station by calling (951) 210-1000, or by email at PerrisStation@RiversideSheriff.org ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video

 Two parents are being held on $9 million bail each after a horrific discovery at a residence in Perris over the weekend -- 13 malnourished siblings held captive amid dirty conditions, including some children shackled to beds, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said Monday.

 An investigation began after a 17-year-old girl "escaped" from her home in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road and called 911 early Sunday morning to report that her 12 brothers and sisters were being held captive by their parents, according to a sheriff's news release. The call came from a cellphone that she had managed to find in the house before fleeing.

 In the disturbing phone call, she alleged some of her siblings were bound in padlocked chains.

 Responding officers initially believed the “slightly emaciated” girl was only 10 years old until she provided her age.

 After interviewing the teen, investigators went to the residence and contacted her parents, identified as 56-year-old David Allen Turpin and 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin, according to the release.

 Investigators discovered "several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings," the release said. The parents could not provide a "logical" explanation for why the kids were restrained, investigators said.

 Authorities located what they thought were 12 children, but were "shocked" to find out that seven of them were adults. In all, the victims are between the ages of 2 and 29, the release stated.

 They looked to be malnourished and filthy, authorities said. The department did not say how long the children had been held under such conditions.

 The victims were taken to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department's Perris Station for interviews; they were provided food and drink after telling investigators they were "starving," according to the release.

 The six children and seven adults were then transported to different hospitals for treatment. Their conditions were not immediately known.

 One neighbor told KTLA that residents in the area didn't know what was going on in the home.

 “It’s heartbreaking," she said. "Now to know that there was that much kids in there and not even know about it then, it’s like, I wish there was something this community could have done."

 A Facebook page for a "David-Louise Turpin" shows photos of the couple that match the pair seen in the booking photos. Images posted to the account in 2016 show the couple at what looks like a wedding ceremony, accompanied by 13 apparent children.

 The 10 female children are dressed identically in pink plaid dresses, white tights and white Mary Janes, while one of the girls holds a baby. Three male children wear suits and magenta ties.

 The girls all have long brown hair, and the boys have bowl haircuts, like the father.

 Both parents were detained and interviewed while child and adult protectives services responded to assist in the investigation, the release stated. They were arrested on Muir Woods Road Sunday around 9 p.m. and booked early Monday morning at the Robert Presley Detention Center, according to inmate records.

 The Turpins were booked on nine felony counts each of torture and 10 felony counts each of child endangerment.

 The release stated that David Turpin was 57, but inmate records that show his date of birth indicate he is 56.

 David’s mother, Betty Turpin, told CNN the children usually dressed alike during family outings for safety purposes.

 "They were very protective of the kids," she said. The parents would also line their children up according to age, and then lead the group at the front and back of the line, she said.

 "This is a highly respectable family," Betty added.

 California records indicate a David Turpin is the principal of Sandcastle Day School, a private school that is located in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road in Perris. The address of the school matches that listed for the Turpins in public records.

 The school -- which opened in March 2011 -- has a total of six students, one each in fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades, according to the latest information from the state Department of Education.

 The couple filed for bankruptcy the same year Sandcastle Day School opened, after accruing about $240,000 in debt, mostly from credit cards and a foreclosed farm south of Fort Worth, Texas, federal court documents show.

 David Turpin had been an engineer for defense contractor Northrop Grumman, where he earned about $140,000 a year, the court record indicated. His wife was a homemaker.

 When they declared bankruptcy, the Turpins had 12 children and "spoke about them highly," their attorney, Ivan Trahan, told the New York Times in an interview. He described them as "a very nice couple," noting that the family loved to visit Disneyland and visited the Anaheim theme park often.

 "This is shocking," Trahan said of the accusations against the husband and wife.

 The residence where the discovery was made is on a cul-de-sac in residential area of Perris, about 60 miles east-southeast of downtown Los Angeles and 19 miles south-southeast from downtown Riverside.

 The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is contracted to operate the Perris Police Department. Deputies assigned to both agencies responded.

 Anyone with information about the investigation is urged to call Master Investigator Tom Salisbury at the Perris Station by calling 951-210-1000, or via email at PerrisStation@RiversideSheriff.org.

 KTLA's Melissa Pamer contributed to this story.

 Please enable Javascript to watch this video

 Please enable Javascript to watch this video |||||Summary:

– An ordinary house in a California subdivision concealed a bizarre and disturbing case of torture and child abuse, police say. In a press release, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office says a 17-year-old girl called 911 early Sunday morning after escaping a home in Perris and told police her 12 siblings were being held captive by their parents. Police say that inside the residence, they found several malnourished and dirty children "shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings"—and parents David and Louise Turpin were "unable to provide a logical reason" why they were restrained. Investigators initially thought the couple's 13 children were all juveniles, but they were shocked to discover that seven were adults and the oldest was 29. David Turpin, 57, and Louise Turpin, 49, were arrested on charges of torture and child endangerment and are being held on a $9 million bond each, the Los Angeles Times reports. The 13 victims—the youngest just 2 years old—were hospitalized. Police say they gave them food after they said they were starving. Horrified neighbors tell the Press-Enterprise that they had no idea what was going on. Some didn't even know there were children in the house. A joint Facebook page shows the Turpins, accompanied by their children, renewing their wedding vows in Las Vegas. A 2011 bankruptcy filing seen by CNN states that David Turpin made $140,000 per year working as an engineer at Northrup Grumman. He is listed as principal of the Sandcastle Day School, a private school with just six students, at his Perris address, KTLA reports.


– "Chaos" is the word being used to describe the first day of Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and now new labels are being applied to Kavanaugh himself, including ill-mannered and "coward." Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the Parkland shooting, said he approached Kavanaugh during a break in Tuesday's hearing to introduce himself. "I put out my hand and I said: 'My name is Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime Guttenberg, who was murdered in Parkland,' and he walked away,'" Guttenberg tells the Guardian, adding on Twitter: "I guess he did not want to deal with the reality of gun violence." Videos from various angles are circulating, showing Kavanaugh stare at Guttenberg, with his extended hand, for two seconds before walking away. It's not clear if Kavanaugh heard Guttenberg's introduction. White House spokesman Raj Shah says "security … intervened" when an "unidentified individual" approached Kavanaugh, an explainer Guttenberg is refuting. "Incorrect. I was here all day and introduced by Senator [Dianne] Feinstein," who invited Guttenberg to the hearing, Guttenberg tweeted. The Parkland father said he'd simply wanted to speak to Kavanaugh, father to father, to let him "know that my family was torn apart by gun violence," and he dismissed theories that, although he doesn't support Kavanaugh's nomination, this was intended to make Kavanaugh look bad. Per the Hill and the Washington Post, Guttenberg says he was questioned by Capitol Police for about 15 minutes, then allowed to return to the hearing—and he thinks Kavanaugh is the one who pinpointed him to security. "He could have absolutely shook my hand and said: 'I'm sorry for your loss.' I mean—if nothing else," he tells the Guardian.

Expand this summary.

When the father of a school shooting victim held out his hand to Donald Trump’s nominee for the supreme court on Tuesday, Judge Brett Kavanaugh looked at him, then turned without saying a word and walked out.

 “I put out my hand and I said: ‘My name is Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime Guttenberg, who was murdered in Parkland,’ and he walked away,” Guttenberg said in an interview with the Guardian.

 The moment was captured in dramatic photographs, as well as on video from several different angles. In a statement after the incident, a White House spokesman said that “an unidentified individual” had approached Kavanaugh as he was preparing to leave for the confirmation hearing’s lunch break and that “before the Judge was able to shake his hand, security had intervened”.

 Brett Kavanaugh fails to shake hands with Parkland victim's father – as it happened Read more

 “If you watch the video, you see that’s not the case, ” Guttenberg said. “What the White House said was not true.”

 Kavanaugh made eye contact with him “long enough for me to say who I was”, Guttenberg said. “He could have absolutely shook my hand and said: ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’ I mean – if nothing else.”

 In an email, the White House spokesman, Raj Shah, wrote: “I stand by my tweet/email on this topic,” when asked about video of the interaction that appears to contradict the White House’s claim that security had intervened “before the Judge was able to shake [Guttenberg’s] hand”.

 Kavanaugh, a champion of gun rights, has been backed by the National Rifle Association, which announced in August that it was spending at least $1m on a national advertising campaign to support the judge’s confirmation to the supreme court.

 In the video advertisement released by the NRA, an announcer warns, “Four liberal justices oppose your right to self-defense. Four justices support your right to self-defense. President Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh to break the tie. Your right to self-defense depends on this vote.”

 An NRA spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on the interaction between Kavanaugh and the father of a school shooting victim.

 Guttenberg has become a prominent advocate for gun control, including stricter regulation on military-style “assault weapons”, after his 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was shot to death in her school hallway this February with a legally purchased AR-15-style rifle. He said he had attended the hearing in hopes of making Kavanaugh consider the consequences of his position on the second amendment.

 Parkland students: our manifesto to change America's gun laws | Editorial staff of the Eagle Eye Read more

 “I wanted to be there to make sure he understands what he’s being asked to do has real-world consequences,” Guttenberg said. “As he sat there thinking about his beautiful family, I wanted him to know that my family was torn apart by gun violence, preventable gun violence, the kind of gun violence that people can do something about, and he doesn’t believe that.”

 Kavanaugh wrote in a 2011 dissent that the District of Columbia’s assault weapon ban was unconstitutional, because the weapons were already “in common use”. He argued that there was no “meaningful or persuasive” distinction between semi-automatic handguns and rifles, and noted, correctly, that handguns were more frequently used in crime than rifles are.

 Gun control advocates say that if Kavanaugh is confirmed to the supreme court, which is currently divided between justices who support gun rights and gun control, he may serve as the swing vote to make state and federal assault weapon bans unconstitutional, as well as to tear down local restrictions on carrying guns in public.

 Earlier in the day, Guttenberg said, he had been publicly introduced during the hearing by Senator Dianne Feinstein, who had invited him as her guest. He said he thought Kavanaugh would probably have been able to recognize who he was from that introduction, even before he introduced himself again.

 Asked if he thought the NRA’s backing of his confirmation might have played any role in Kavanaugh’s choice not to speak to him or shake his hand, Guttenberg said: “You know what? I don’t know. I don’t put myself in other people’s heads.”

 After lunch, when the hearing resumed, “security came and took me out of the room and they kept me out for 15 minutes, questioning me”, Guttenberg said. “They took my license and wanted to know why I was there.”

 Afterwards, he said, he was allowed to return as the hearing continued.

 Guttenberg added in an interview with CNN on Tuesday evening that he thought security took him out of the room after the break because Kavanaugh pointed him out to them and asked them to.

 Gun control advocates, including some student survivors of the Parkland shooting, argued on Tuesday that Kavanaugh’s refusal to greet the father of a gun murder victim showed a lack of character, as well as reflecting his strongly pro-gun legal views.

 Andrew Pollack, another, more conservative father of a Parkland gun violence victim, publicly defended the judge on Tuesday. “Judge Kavanaugh was not responsible for the Parkland school shooting that killed my daughter,” he said, placing blame instead on local law enforcement and school officials. “Judge Kavanaugh is a decent man and should be confirmed. Stop weaponizing Parkland to advance a dangerous political agenda!” ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Fred Guttenberg, father of Parkland victim, Jaime, tries to shakes hands with Brett Kavanaugh: "My daughter was murdered at Parkland." White House says an "unidentified individual approached" Kavanaugh, but "before the judge was able to shake his hand, security had intervened."pic.twitter.com/IerpDMOW0h |||||


Article:

Man admits to killing retired nun in 2012 Posted: Tuesday, April 1, 2014 1:45 PM EDT

 SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – A man has pleaded guilty to killing a former nun in December 2012.

 Schenectady County officials have confirmed that Michael Briggs, 38, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted burglary on Monday in county court.

 Briggs admitted to strangling Mary Greco, 82, in her apartment in 2012. She was found on New Year's Day 2013. Briggs had shoveled snow for Greco around the time she was killed, said officials.

 At the time of the murder, Briggs was on parole in Long Island for a burglary and robbery. ||||| Toilet seat helps doom killer Clues galore clinch guilty plea in retired nun's 2012 killing

 Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 Michael Briggs (Albany County Sheriff's Department) Michael Briggs (Albany County Sheriff's Department) Toilet seat helps doom killer 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

 Schenectady

 When Sgt. Darryl Mallard arrived at the scene of Mary Greco's murder, he saw a blanket that her killer had draped over the retired nun's body. He noticed coffee mugs and glassware in the kitchen of her Stanford Street home. The veteran cop spotted something in the bathroom.

 The toilet seat was up.

 The 82-year-old woman lived alone. Perhaps, Mallard hypothesized, the killer was a man who also used her bathroom.

 Fingerprints lifted from the toilet's handle matched those of Michael Briggs, a 38-year-old robber on parole. Those prints would become part of a ream of evidence, large and small, that connected Briggs to Greco's murder in 2012, a crime he confessed to Monday, a week before his trial was to start. He will be sentenced in June to 30 years to life.

 Greco was a deeply spiritual, soft-spoken woman. The longtime parishioner at St. Luke's Roman Catholic Church on State Street volunteered as a teacher on international mission trips.

 Briggs lived a short walk from Greco's home near Vale Cemetery. The two crossed paths on Dec 27, 2012, when Briggs offered to shovel Greco's car out after a snowstorm. She paid him in cash and cookies, prosecutors said.

 More Information

 Three days later, on the morning of Dec. 30, Briggs returned after nearly half a foot of snow blanketed the city. As he again cleared off Greco's car, she called her neighbor and asked if she wanted Briggs to shovel her car out as well. The neighbor declined. That, said District Attorney Robert Carney, was last time Greco spoke with anyone but her killer.

 After strangling and stabbing her, Briggs stole Greco's car. It was later found in a nearby church parking lot. A rosary with Swarovski amethyst beads and a 2-inch sterling silver crucifix, a gift to her just days before, was never found.

 Greco's call to her neighbor helped authorities put Briggs at the scene. So did the fingerprints from the toilet and others lifted from a coffee mug on the kitchen counter and a glass in the sink. Briggs' fingerprints were in Greco's car as well. His DNA turned up on the blanket that covered her body.

 The most crucial piece of evidence, however, was video surveillance footage that showed Briggs leaving his home, snow shovel in hand, and walking toward Greco's just before she was killed.

 "There was everything a jury could sink their teeth into," said Michael Mansion, Briggs' attorney, who struck a plea deal after seeing the video for the first time Friday

 "As I got myself deeper and deeper into trial preparation, it became pretty apparent there was more than sufficient evidence for a jury to find a guilty verdict on all counts," said Mansion, who took over as assigned counsel for Briggs last fall.

 Briggs was released from prison in 2007 after serving 10 years of a 15-year sentence for a robbery in Nassau County. In that crime, Carney said, Briggs tied up a 12-year-old boy and sexually assaulted him.

 At the time of Greco's killing, Briggs had violated parole and was being sought by authorities, Carney said. That factored into Carney's decision to agree to a plea to second-degree murder and burglary rather than take the case to trial. Given Briggs' violent history and the fact he was had violated parole just before the murder, Carney said he can't envision any parole board ever letting Briggs out of prison.

 bfitzgerald@timesunion.com • 518-454-5414 • @BFitzgeraldTU |||||
What is a summary?

– A Schenectady man confessed this week to the horrendous crime of murdering a retired nun in her own home, reports News10. And the Albany Times Union notes that police caught 38-year-old Michael Briggs thanks in part to a dumb move on his part at the crime scene: He used the toilet and left the seat up. It caught the attention of a detective who wondered why an 82-year-old woman who lived alone would have the seat in that position, and, sure enough, Briggs' fingerprints turned up on the toilet handle. Police had other evidence, including surveillance video that showed him leaving his house with a snow shovel and heading toward the victim's house shortly before she was killed. But the prints (he left some elsewhere, too) put him inside the house, and defense lawyers opted to have him plead guilty. Briggs will get 30 years to life, and the DA doesn't expect he'll ever be a free man again.


– Everyone knows smartphones can steal hours from a day, but employees are turning to their mobile devices while on the clock, too. A new survey by staffing firm OfficeTeam finds that office workers spend an average of 56 minutes a day on their cell phones while at work, and another 42 minutes a day doing other personal tasks. That's nearly five hours of personal phone time a week, and a total of more than eight hours of broader personal time, notes WTOP. Not only that, but most bosses underestimate the time waste on phones to be closer to 39 minutes a day—and workers younger than 35 are averaging a whopping 70 minutes of their day on their phones and 48 minutes on other personal matters. "It's understandable that employees may occasionally use their mobile devices or attend to personal tasks during business hours," OfficeTeam's' district president says. "But these activities can easily become big distractions." Fortune reports that most of the personal time on phones is spent on social media and non-work email; in distant third, fourth, and fifth places come sports sites, mobile gaming, and shopping. Beyond this, the survey found that 58% of office workers visit pages their company prohibits, but there's a breakdown between the sexes: 68% of men do this, compared to just 43% of women. (In the UK, some women get time off to cope with menstrual pain.)

Expand this summary.

The average worker spends a full day of their work week doing things other than, well, work.

 A survey from staffing firm OfficeTeam found the average office employee spends 56 minutes per day using their cell phone at work for non-work activity. That’s 43% more than the 39 minutes most managers said they thought occurred.

 That works out to just under five hours per week of goofing off on phones. Personal email and social media made up the majority of the wasted time, with sports sites, mobile gaming, and shopping placing a far distant third, fourth, and fifth place.

 More than half of the 600+ office employees surveyed said they used their phones to access websites blocked by company IT departments.

 Phones weren’t the only ways employees waste time, though. The average employee spends 42 minutes a day—3.5 hours a week—attending to personal tasks, such as errands, according to the survey.

 Added together, that’s nearly 8 hours a week of total lost productivity.

 And if the office is mostly comprised of younger workers, the amount of lost time jumps dramatically. Employees ages 18 to 34 rack up 70 minutes on mobile devices and 48 minutes on personal tasks each work day—the most of all age groups—a total of just under 10 hours per week.

 “It’s understandable that employees may occasionally use their mobile devices or attend to personal tasks during business hours. But these activities can easily become big distractions,” said Brandi Britton, a district president for OfficeTeam. ||||| The time office workers spend checking their phones for emails, texts or social media updates while on the job adds up — to about eight hours of the workweek.

 WASHINGTON — How much time do you spend checking your phone for emails, texts or social media updates while at work? Hours, if you’re like most office rats.

 A survey of professionals by staffing firm OfficeTeam found that office workers squander an average of 56 minutes a day, or nearly five hours a week, using their mobile devices for non-work activities in the office.

 Add to that another 42 minutes a day, on average, spent doing other personal tasks, and the average employee could be wasting more than eight hours per workweek on activities unrelated to their jobs.

 Younger workers are even bigger offenders. Those under 35 rack up an average of 70 minutes on mobile devices and 48 additional minutes on personal tasks each work day.

 “It’s understandable that employees may occasionally use their mobile devices or attend to personal tasks during business hours. But these activities can easily become big distractions,” said Brandi Britton, a district president for OfficeTeam.

 “To best manage their time, staff can take advantage of breaks during lunch and throughout the day to catch up on non-work email or errands,” she said.

 The phone also is a way around company policy.

 OfficeTeam said 58 percent of office workers surveyed say they use their personal devices at work to visit websites that are banned by their companies, but bosses haven’t necessarily caught on, with only 39 percent of managers saying they think that happens commonly.

 Sixty-eight percent of men frequently use their cellphones to access blocked websites in the office compared to 43 percent of women.

 OfficeTeam’s survey included responses from more than 600 workers employed in office environments and senior managers at U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.

 Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others.

 © 2017 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. |||||


Write a summary based on this article:

Sunday August 7, 2016 09:39 PM

 A neighbor describes Facebook exchanges with Megan Short, in which she hinted at abuse, her plan to move out the day of the murder-suicide.

 Counseling was made available Sunday and will be again Monday, Aug. 8, at the school where the Shorts' eldest daughter Liana would have been a third-grader this school year. Wilson School District Superintendent Curtis Baker, in a robo call message, asked district parents to include the Short family in their prayers, saying the tragic event has shaken the Wilson family. He said counselors were made available from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. They also will be available today starting at 9 a.m. at Green Valley Elementary School, 270 Green Valley Road, Sinking Spring, for parents or their children who feel they would benefit from speaking to a counselor or caring adult.

 Sinking Spring, PA —

 Megan Short reportedly made no secret of the fact that she planned to leave her husband.

 About a week ago, Short posted on Facebook that she needed a few people to help her move from her Brookfield Manor home Aug. 6, according to Angie Burke, who resides on the same Sinking Spring street as Short.

 Burke said she met Short through neighborhood events such as the annual Christmas ornament exchange or Halloween parties, and they kept in contact, mostly through Facebook.

 Burke wasn't able to help with the move because she was planning to host a birthday party for her husband and had family coming in from out of town.

 On the way back from the bakery with the birthday cake, Burke saw emergency vehicles in front of the Short home, and her heart sank.

 "I drove past the house about 4:15 in the afternoon, and I saw firefighters and police activity at her house and I just got sick," she said Sunday morning. "I walked down there to see if anybody had any news. Then I came back here and tried to put on my happy face."

 The bodies of Megan Short, 33; her husband, Mark Short, 40; and their children Liana, 8, Mark, 5, and Willow, 2, were found by borough and Spring Township police in the home in the first block of Winding Brook Drive, according to investigators with the Berks County district attorney's office.

 All died of gunshots in what investigators said appears to have been a murder-suicide.

 Investigators said a gun was found near one of the adults, but they did not specify which one.

 Police also found a handwritten note. They did not reveal its contents but described it as a "murder/suicide" note.

 Police learned from a family member that Megan Short missed a lunch date and could not be contacted on her home or cellphone, Chief County Detective Michael J. Gombar said Sunday.

 The family member contacted police, who later revealed that Megan and Mark Short had had "domestic issues," investigators said.

 No one at the residence answered when police arrived for a welfare check, so officers broke into the home and found the five bodies, as well as the body of a dog that had been shot to death.

 Berks County Deputy Coroner Joel Bonilla pronounced the Shorts dead shortly after 6 p.m. An autopsy for Mark Short is scheduled for this afternoon. No autopsies are planned for Megan Short or the children, Assistant Chief Deputy Coroner Michael Fizz said.

 The scene Sunday morning in the quiet development of large homes off Reedy Road on the edge of the borough was far different from Saturday afternoon after the bodies were discovered. Nearly a dozen marked and unmarked police and coroner vehicles filled parts of Winding Brook Drive and part of Brook Hollow Drive on Saturday.

 On Sunday, motorists and bicyclists crept through the block, scanning the two-story home and staring at the news crews assembled across the street from it.

 Neighbors express sadness

 Neighbors close to the Short home declined to comment Sunday morning, other than to express horror and sadness over the tragedy.

 Sophie Zientek, 18, of Wernersville drove by the home after learning about the murder of a young girl she knew to be quiet but joyful.

 "I knew the little girl, Liana, through Wilson (School District) cheerleading camp," said Zientek, a recent Wilson graduate. "She was a beautiful, sweet girl."

 Zientek said she didn't know Liana well but still felt the need to pay her respects.

 Burke said she had a sense that Megan Short was unhappy in her relationship. Megan Short attended most social functions without her husband, but Burke figured that perhaps he was uncomfortable at social functions.

 "I can't say I spoke much to Mark, maybe waved," she said. "He would pull the kids in a wagon, and you would never know. But that's the thing, you don't know."

 She planned to leave

 On July 23, Megan Short commented on a link to an online article by Leigh Stein titled, "He didn't hit me. It was still abuse," that Burke posted on her Facebook page. The author, who has a forthcoming memoir, described the degradation, fear and humiliation she suffered at the hands of an ex-boyfriend who used manipulation and isolation to keep her a virtual prisoner.

 Burke's Facebook account shows that Megan Short commented, "It really does a number on your mental health for sure."

 Short commented later, "This is why I am leaving my marriage Angie. 16 years."

 Burke provided screen grabs that showed another part of the July 23 conversation:

 Angie Burke: "Oh Megan (includes middle and last name) I didn't know you were leaving but suspected something was up! I'm so very sorry and please call me if you need somebody to lean on! I can help you out with whatever you need! Big hugs sweetie!!! You are strong and I commend you for taking this big step!!!"

 Megan Short: "Thank you. I found a rental today. Hoping I get approved. Hard being a stay at home mom."

 Angie Burke: "Are you staying in the area?"

 Megan Short: "No. Yardley, hopefully."

 Angie Burke: "Well I do hope you get it and everything works out."

 Burke said she was in a past long-term emotionally abusive relationship when she was in her teens to early 20s and finally found the courage to leave after someone shared a flier describing the cycle of abuse in domestic violence.

 "I wasn't that close with her (Megan Short), but I knew her probably from Facebook as much as anything else," she said. "I knew she was an eloquent writer and a big advocate for organ donation - she was very outspoken that way. So I followed her on Facebook, and that was, you know, predominantly our relationship, so when she commented on this article I posted it really struck a chord for me."

 Illness spurred action

 Megan Short was active in raising awareness for congenital heart disease, regularly promoting it on her Facebook page.

 Willow's story was shared in local and national news.

 Megan wrote for Phillyheart.com, a website associated with the nonprofit Mended Hearts Inc., that shares the stories of families battling congenital heart defects.

 She once described having to deal with the post-traumatic stress of having her daughter undergo a heart transplant after only six days of life.

 The family was featured in an October 2014 story in the Reading Eagle. Willow, then 5 months old, had undergone a heart transplant at 1 week old, and her condition had been improving.

 The page Willow's Heart Journey tracked Willow's progress after the transplant. The most recent post - May 27 - celebrated that Willow received a zero rejection grade for her heart transplant.

 The profile picture shows Willow dressed in a Minnie Mouse dress and ears, and a Minnie Mouse cake for her second birthday.

 'Luckiest guy in the world'

 On Facebook, Mark and Megan shared dozens of photos of their children with friends and family. Mark's cover photo is a side-by-side with his wife.

 "She's still the most beautiful girl that I've ever met," Mark wrote in a comment on the picture. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her as my wife and the mother of my three amazing children!"

 Many of the posts on Willow's Heart Journey appear to be written by Megan, and while the page was meant to inspire hope, it also captured Willow's hardship.

 Posts tracked days in the hospital, the fear of a parent whose child is sick and the daily burden on the family's shoulders.

 The New York Times published a feature story on the family in July 2015. It detailed the family's struggles with specialty pharmacies and obtaining anti-rejection medication for Willow.

 Burke, who is also a stay-at-home mom, would wave or chat with Megan Short as they walked their children to the nearby playground for the summer playground program.

 "A lot of kids in this neighborhood have grown up together," she said. "They may not have been close friends, but they saw her (Megan Short and her children). It's another thing: How do you explain this to a child?"

 The Shorts were parishioners at St. Ignatius Loyola Parish, the church's pastor, the Rev. Thomas Bortz said during Masses on Sunday, asking prayers "for the holy repose of their souls."

 Contact Steven Henshaw: 610-371-5024 or shenshaw@readingeagle.com. ||||| SINKING SPRING, Pa. — As the end of each month nears, Megan Short frets. Her 1-year-old daughter, Willow, cannot afford to miss even a single dose of a drug she takes daily to prevent her body from rejecting her transplanted heart.

 Because of stringent rules from her drug plan and the pharmacy she is required to use, Ms. Short cannot order a refill until her monthly supply is three-quarters gone. Yet processing a refill takes about seven days, making it touch and go whether the new shipment will arrive before the old one runs out.

 “You just feel like every month, you’re hoping that they don’t mess it up,” said Ms. Short, who lives in this town about 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

 Ms. Short is not dealing with her corner drugstore but with a so-called specialty pharmacy, a new breed of drug dispensary that has arisen to handle the exploding number of medicines that cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and are used to treat complex or rare diseases like cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia and H.I.V.

 Photo

 Such specialty medications, as they are called, now account for one-third of all spending on drugs in the United States, up from 19 percent in 2004 and heading toward 50 percent in the next 10 years, according to IMS Health, which tracks prescriptions.

 The trend has led to a corresponding boom in the specialty pharmacy business, which by one estimate grew to $78 billion in sales last year from $20 billion in 2005. Insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, hospitals, retail drugstores — even supermarkets — are scrambling to start or acquire specialty pharmacies or to expand the ones they have.

 And the pharmacies have an alluring pitch: They promise to help save health plans money by teaching patients how to inject their medicines when necessary, helping them deal with side effects and ensuring the drugs are not wasted. Some studies, usually paid for by the pharmacies themselves, show that patients served by specialty pharmacies are more likely to keep taking their medicines and have better health outcomes than those dealing with a retail pharmacy.

 “We generally find that people have high satisfaction rates with any specialty pharmacy, and a lot of that is because they’re getting very hands-on, personalized care,” said Dr. Alan M. Lotvin, an executive vice president at CVS Health, whose specialty pharmacy Ms. Short uses.

 But as specialty pharmacies proliferate, questions are emerging about their role and business practices.

 Interviews with patients, patient advocates and doctors suggest that specialty pharmacies do not always live up to their billing. There can be onerous refill policies that require hours on the phone, shipments that are delayed or error-ridden, and difficulty reaching a pharmacist or other representatives.

 Moreover, many patients are limited to one specialty pharmacy — often one owned by their insurer or pharmacy benefit manager and requiring delivery of drugs by mail. That leaves patients without options if they are dissatisfied.

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 Consumer Watchdog, a consumer advocate group, has sued four insurance companies over their policies of restricting the pharmacies that patients can use to obtain drugs for H.I.V. Three of the companies — Anthem Blue Cross of California, UnitedHealthcare and Aetna — have since changed their policies to provide more options for H.I.V. patients. The most recent of the lawsuits, against Cigna, was filed in April.

 There are also questions of potential conflicts of interest, since many of the bigger specialty pharmacies are owned by insurers or pharmacy benefit managers like CVS and Express Scripts. Pharmacy benefit managers, or P.B.M.s, are supposed to help health plans control drug costs. But will they have the zeal to do that if they are making money dispensing these expensive medicines?

 “Forcing people to use a P.B.M.’s own specialty pharmacy creates a situation where the fox is guarding the henhouse,” said David Balto, an antitrust lawyer in Washington. He represents independent specialty pharmacies, some of which claim that insurers and pharmacy benefit managers funnel business to their own pharmacies, even if others may provide better service.

 Yet another issue is that some drug companies are choosing only a few specialty pharmacies to handle their products. That could give pharmacies an incentive to position themselves as allies of the manufacturer more than of the patient or health plan.

 Federal prosecutors are seeking as much as $3.3 billion in a whistle-blower lawsuit against the drug maker Novartis, saying it provided financial incentives to specialty pharmacies to keep patients on two of its drugs, or to switch them to a Novartis drug. The prosecutors say that nurses hired by the specialty pharmacies to call patients read scripts that neglected to mention certain serious side effects of one of the drugs, Exjade, which is used to treat iron overload in the blood.

 Accredo, the specialty pharmacy owned by Express Scripts, agreed in April to pay $60 million to settle civil fraud charges in this matter. BioScrip, a smaller specialty pharmacy, settled previously for $15 million. Novartis disputes the charges, saying incentives were to help the pharmacies do a better job in patient care, one aspect of which is to help patients stay on their medicines. It says that doctors, not the pharmacies, decide which drugs patients should get and how long they should take them.

 Diplomat Pharmacy provides a glimpse into the explosive growth and financial workings of the industry because, unlike many specialty pharmacies, it is publicly traded and not part of a bigger company. Started as a single drugstore in Flint, Mich., in 1975, Diplomat now is a nationwide business with $2.2 billion in revenue last year and a stock price that has nearly quadrupled since its initial public offering in October.

 The average prescription Diplomat fills cost nearly $2,800 in 2014, up from about $1,300 in 2011, in part because of drug price inflation. Of the $2,800, it kept $167, the difference between what it paid for the drug and what it sold it for. That is about 10 times the gross profit of a retail pharmacy, according to Adam J. Fein, of Pembroke Consulting, an expert on drug distribution.

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 However, most of that money was absorbed by the cost of services, like nurses, that Diplomat provided. In the end, its overall profit margin was not that much different from that of a retail pharmacy, Mr. Fein said.

 Executives at the specialty pharmacies say their surveys show more than 90 percent customer satisfaction. They say their pharmacists and nurses, who specialize in particular diseases, are more knowledgeable about those conditions than general pharmacists and nurses.

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 They say the health plans often require patients to use a single specialty pharmacy to keep costs down, just as health plans are limiting the choice of doctors, hospitals and drugs. They also say it is often the health plans that restrict early refills, so that the expensive drugs are not wasted.

 Photo

 “You don’t want people to be stockpiling drugs in their house,” said Dr. Lotvin of CVS. But he added, “None of us want people to get down to their last dose.”

 Still, executives concede there is room for improvement. Many specialty pharmacies are going through a voluntary accreditation process to demonstrate that they meet certain standards for patient care, such as providing 24/7 customer service.

 Dr. Lotvin said CVS was working to allow nearly everyone to renew prescriptions online. CVS also has started to allow customers to pick up their specialty drugs at a nearby CVS retail pharmacy rather than have them delivered by mail. Some patients prefer that because they do not want to wait at home for delivery and do not want a package worth thousands of dollars left on their porch if they are away. CVS has found that offering a choice made patients more likely to keep taking their medicine compared with mail delivery only.

 Mariah Leach of Louisville, Colo., said she would have preferred to pick up Enbrel, the drug for her rheumatoid arthritis, at her grocery store pharmacy, along with all her other prescriptions. But her insurer required her to get that one drug by mail from a specialty pharmacy. She said she did not need the hand-holding provided by specialty pharmacies. “I feel that’s really more my rheumatologist’s job,” she said.

 Ms. Leach recently switched to a drug that does not require her to deal with a specialty pharmacy. But when she did, she said, she was constantly frustrated by the inability to reach people on the phone or by errors in shipments or billing.

 “Too bad my insurance forces me to get my Enbrel though this particular pharmacy, otherwise I’d have ditched this place after strike two,” she wrote in a blog post in October 2013. “By my count, we are on about strike six, but I have no choice but to stick with them.”

 Some customers, however, praise the service they receive. Susan Day, a fourth-grade teacher in Williamsport, Md., has been using Accredo for more than 15 years for her son, John, who has pulmonary arterial hypertension and needs a drug pumped into his lungs.

 Accredo sent a nurse to the Days’ home to teach Ms. Day and her husband the complicated process of mixing her son’s medication and putting it into the pump. It also helped set up a plan with John’s school when he entered kindergarten.

 “This is life-sustaining medication,” said Ms. Day, who spoke to a reporter at the request of Express Scripts. “I want someone who knows this medication inside and out.”

 Ms. Short, meanwhile, continues to struggle with CVS Health. Last month, after she filled syringes of Willow’s medication, Ms. Short discovered that the pharmacy had mistakenly sent enough for only 14 days, not 30. CVS mailed some overnight, but the experience left Ms. Short rattled.

 “Every single month it seems like it’s something,” she said. ||||| Mark Short with his wife, Megan, and their children, Liana, Mark and Willow.

 Five family members, including a 2-year-old toddler, were found dead in their home in a small Pennsylvania town in what authorities are describing as an apparent murder-suicide.

 Authorities discovered the bodies Saturday afternoon in the family's home in the Berks County town of Sinking Spring, about 70 miles north of Philadelphia, according to the Berks County District Attorney's Office.

 The victims, who all died of gunshot wounds, were identified by the District Attorney's Office Sunday as Mark Short, 40, his wife, Megan, 33, and their children Lianna, 8, Mark Jr., 5, and Willow, 2. Officials say the family dog was also shot and killed.

 According to officials, police discovered a handgun near one of the deceased adults. A handwritten "murder-suicide" note was also found in the home. Officials also say their investigation revealed there had been "domestic issues" between Megan and Mark Short.

 Police did not release any information on who fired the shots.

 Police say they went to the home to check on the welfare of the family after receiving a call from a relative concerned that Megan Short had not shown up for a lunch date.

 On Dec. 20, Mark Short posted a picture of the couple on his Facebook page.

 "She's still the most beautiful girl that I've ever met," he wrote. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her as my wife and the mother of my three amazing children."

 But neighbors told a different story.

 The Reading Eagle reported that neighbors said the couple was having marital trouble and Megan Short planned to leave her husband and move to Yardley.

 She and a neighbor, Angie Burke, exchanged comments on Facebook on a July 15 Washington Post opinion piece about emotional abuse in a marriage.

 "Burke's Facebook account shows that Megan Short commented, 'It really does a number on your mental health for sure,' " the newspaper reported

 "Short commented later, 'This is why I am leaving my marriage Angie. 16 years.' "

 According to a 2015 report by the New York Times, Willow had a heart transplant when she was just a week old. The family struggled to get the drugs necessary to keep her from rejecting the new heart.

 One month, Megan Short discovered that her pharmacy had mistakenly sent only enough medication for Willow for just 14 days, not the 30 she was supposed to receive, leaving the mother rattled.

 "Every single month it seems like it's something," she told the Times.

 In a "Philly at Heart" blog post in April, Megan Short wrote about her experience dealing with post traumatic stress disorder throughout her ordeal with Willow.

 She wrote that she suffered from "anxiety and nightmares" triggered by smells, hallways or even the beeping sound of a phone.

 On the website, which is devoted to families dealing with congenital heart issues, she also wrote that she experienced "survivor's guilt" when children with similar problems from other families passed away.

 "I don't think PTSD ever truly goes away but, with therapy, medication, and the right support, I have begun to loosen its grip on me," she wrote. "As I work on my own mental healing, I wanted to share my experience so that other heart parents know they are not alone."

 Staff writer Mari A. Schaefer contrubited to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press. ||||| In the wake of a family's murder-suicide that claimed the lives of three children, people are wondering what could've led to such a tragedy. NBC10's Drew Smith talked with a social worker about the pressures the family may have faced that led to the deaths. (Published Monday, Aug. 8, 2016)

 UPDATE: Relatives of Mark Short spoke with NBC10, giving some insight into the couple's relationship. Read that story here.

 A family of five, including three small children, was found dead in their Berks County, Pennsylvania, home on Saturday along with what authorities described as a handwritten "murder-suicide note."

 Police in Sinking Spring, just outside Reading, responded to the family's home on Winding Brook Drive at about 2 p.m. Saturday after a concerned relative asked them to make a welfare check on the family, according to the Berks County District Attorney's Office.

 Inside the home, police found 40-year-old Mark Jason Short Sr., his wife, Megan L. Short, 33, and the couple's three children, 8-year-old Liana, 5-year-old Mark Jr. and 2-year-old Willow, all dead of gunshot wounds. A dog was also found dead. Authorities said Megan Short was supposed to meet a relative for lunch Saturday, but never showed up and never answered her phone.

 A neighbor who did not want to be named confirmed that this photo, posted on Mark Short's Facebook page, shows Megan and Mark Short, along with their children Liana, Mark and Willow.

 Photo credit: Facebook

 The district attorney's office also said Sunday morning that responding officers discovered what appears to be a handwritten "murder-suicide" note in the home, as well as a handgun "near one of the deceased adults."

 Authorities have not said what the note contained or who they think was the shooter, but noted that an investigation revealed the couple had been having "domestic issues." The family had also been grappling with a child's illness and post-traumatic stress.

 A recent photo posted on Mark Short Sr.'s Facebook page shows him with his three children.

 Photo credit: Facebook

 Articles in The Reading Eagle in 2014 and The New York Times in 2015 profiled the family after Willow, the youngest of their three children, underwent a heart transplant as an infant. The news stories detailed the family's difficulties obtaining anti-rejection medication for Willow.

 A blog post Megan Short wrote in April about her family's ordeal treating Willow's heart condition sheds some light on the struggles they faced.

 In a post titled "Learning to Heal: My Experience with PTSD" on the Philly at Heart blog, Megan Short wrote of watching her daughter undergo heart surgery as a baby, and of the lasting impact the traumatic experience left on her.

 "There are very few moments when you can clearly see your life as separated into the before and after," Megan Short wrote. "Having a child born with a severe congenital heart defect has been the most significant shift of my life."

 Family Dead in Berks County Murder-Suicide

 NBC10's Matt DeLucia is on the scene at a murder-suicide in Berks County. Five people, including three children, were killed inside their home in on Winding Brook Road in Sinking Spring. (Published Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016)

 In the post, Megan Short recounts not being able to hold Willow until three days after she was born, before sending the baby to surgery.

 "I can still feel the emotions and fear as the doctors told me that she would not survive the massive bleeding she was experiencing post-surgery," the mother wrote. "I still see her tiny heart beating through the dressing used to cover her open chest and all the tubes and wires and machines as I wondered if they would be able to keep her alive until a donor heart became available."

 The mother chronicled the heartbreaking struggles she and her family faced as Willow underwent treatment for her heart condition and eventually came home, and she wrote about the affect it had on her as a mother and as a person.

 "I have anxiety and nightmares. Certain smells and hallways trigger memories every single time ... None of this ever got easier," she wrote, adding that she began taking medication and going to therapy for PTSD.

 "As I work on my own mental healing, I wanted to share my experience so that other parents know they are not alone," Megan Short wrote. "Sometimes you will feel even worse during the process, but keep going. It is worth it."

 Despite the family's struggles, Mark Short's Facebook profile shows the couple and their three blond-haired children smiling in dozens of photos.

 In another picture of him with his wife that he posted in December, the two grin in black and white.

 "She's still the most beautiful girl that I've ever met," Mark Short Sr. wrote in a comment on the photo. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her as my life and the mother of my three amazing children."

 The Associated Press contributed to this story.

 If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

  ||||| Sunday October 19, 2014 12:01 AM

 - Treatment of HLHS typically requires open-heart surgery to redirect oxygen-rich blood and oxygen-poor blood in a series of three reconstructive operations known as staged reconstruction. In Willow's case, the right side of her heart was also weakened. Following the first stage of the reconstruction, doctors deemed a transplant her only long-term hope.

 - The aortic valve, which separates the left ventricle and the aorta, is too small or completely closed. In Willow's case, the left chamber was enlarged instead of closed off.

 Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a severe congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is underdeveloped. The heart's left side has the job of pumping oxygenated blood into the aorta, the large artery that carries blood to the body. In a typical HLHS case: - The mitral valve, which separates the two left chambers of the heart, is too small or completely closed. - The left ventricle (the lower, pumping chamber) is very small.

 Few parents would call listening to a baby's cries one of the blessings of child rearing.

 But for Megan and Mark Short, hearing daughter Willow's early whimpers develop into occasional screams over the last five months has been nothing short of a dream come true.

 The Sinking Spring couple found out nearly halfway through Megan's pregnancy that they would likely lose their baby in the womb. Their little girl's heart wasn't fully formed and couldn't pump blood efficiently, threatening her brain, her vital organs and her life.

 But weekly, doctor's visit after doctor's visit, the baby surprised the experts. She outlived a virtual death sentence with heart and lungs strong enough to deliver a lusty cry at her birth at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on May 6.

 The crying calmed quickly, however, as Willow was placed on oxygen and multiple monitors then whisked off to the cardiac intensive care unit. Before she turned a day old, she was intubated and connected to a ventilator.

 "She would cry, but you couldn't hear her because of all the tubes," Mark recalled. "There was a while where we weren't sure we would hear that sound again."

 Willow's prognosis remained grim.

 First surgery

 Doctors performed the first stage of a three-part surgery when Willow was 3 days old, hoping to repair her left ventricle and redirect her circulation.

 While her tiny chest was open, they found an additional tunnel defect, adding to the complexity of her case. After the procedure ended, 8-pound, 9-ounce Willow bled enough to require 16 transfusions.

 The medical team was able to stem the bleeding, but Willow wouldn't be a candidate for the follow-up procedures. Doctors placed her on a heart-and-lung bypass machine and again prepared her parents for the worst.

 Added to the national transplant list, Willow's survival depended on the all-too-rare donation of another baby's heart.

 "Her heart was very sick going in," said Dr. Joseph Rossano, the cardiologist who managed Willow's treatment. "We weren't sure we could keep her alive to get a transplant."

 Heart becomes available

 As Willow entered her seventh day of life, Dr. Robert Shaddy called Megan and Mark as they slept fitfully at the hospital. Upon hearing the cellphone, the couple's first thoughts were that Willow had died.

 Instead, Shaddy told them a heart had become available, and Willow would be wheeled into surgery at daybreak.

 On May 13, Willow Rose became one of just three babies to have a heart transplant this year at CHOP by July 31, the latest available data.

 American doctors have successfully transplanted new hearts into babies within hours of their births since the mid-1980s, but such procedures remain few and far between.

 Only 64 babies under age 1 had received a heart transplant through July 31, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Another 56 were waiting for a new heart as of Oct. 3. Rossano acknowledged that many will die while waiting for help because donor organs simply aren't available.

 Willow suffered from a variation of hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS. It is a rare and complex congenital birth defect. Though it sometimes runs in families, doctors don't know the cause.

 First sign of trouble

 The first sign of trouble for Willow came during a routine ultrasound at 19 weeks on a snowy day that left Megan home with children Mark Jr., 3, and Liana, 6.

 Having had two routine pregnancies, she sent Mark into work and trudged into the imaging office with the kids in tow. A few minutes into the process, the technician grew quiet. When Megan prodded her, she would only say that she was getting a better view of the heart.

 Afterward, trying to stem the tears for her children's sake, Megan dialed Mark and told him they'd been referred to Hershey Medical Center. A Philly native, Megan opted to see specialists at Children's Hospital, ranked No. 3 for pediatric cardiology by U.S. News and World Report.

 On Jan. 2, the Shorts learned their then-unnamed baby had a dysplastic aortic valve, which allowed blood to leak out of and flow back into the chamber. It was enlarging her left ventricle, and the right side of her heart also appeared weak.

 "They told us she very likely would be stillborn, probably within the next three weeks," remembers Megan, who had begun to feel her baby move after that scary ultrasound. "That made it that much harder."

 In the official paperwork, doctors described Willow as having "severe fetal un-wellness with significant risk of demise."

 "They didn't have much hope at all," Mark said.

 Forming a bond

 Over the next few weeks, the Shorts worked hard to bond with Willow. They learned her gender and named her, choosing Willow because of the tree's flexibility and strength and Rose for the flower adored by St. Therese. They had 4-D ultrasound photos taken.

 As the days and weeks trickled by, Megan turned increasingly to her faith, knowing that family members, friends and strangers were praying for her family.

 "I started to feel like maybe God was listening to those prayers," said Megan, who moved to Philadelphia with her mom at 37 weeks pregnant.

 Doctors now seemed more optimistic that Willow would live until a scheduled C-section, but Megan would need to be close to the hospital in case she went into labor before then.

 "We still didn't know what was going to happen when she was born," she remembered. "She may or may not even breathe."

 Back at home

 Back at home, Liana and Mark Jr. knew only that their little sister was having trouble growing. Telling the children that Willow might not survive was unimaginable.

 On delivery day, Megan's mom stayed with the children so Mark and Megan could be together as Willow entered the world.

 "I just wanted her to cry, and she did, she screamed," said Megan, sharing her memory of the day with a wide-eyed Willow on her lap.

 While Megan recovered, Mark went with the baby to the ICU.

 The next day, their siblings came to the hospital. A Child Life specialist used a doll to demonstrate how Willow would look attached to wires and machines. Neither child seemed fazed.

 "Liana was just in love," said Megan. "She talked to her. She held her hand."

 But like her parents, she would have to wait to hold Willow.

 No one could pick her up until just prior to the first surgery. The wait had been agonizing, and now they were snuggling their little girl knowing she might not come back from the operation.

 "Bringing her to the surgery, it's the worst moment of your entire life," said Megan, who watched the gurney until her baby was out of sight.

 In three days, they would do it all again.

 Though Willow struggled after her first surgery, the transplant was a remarkable success. Having the two surgeries so close together added some risk, but it also meant doctors could access Willow's chest cavity more easily.

 "We knew we might not get another opportunity," Rossano said.

 The Shorts had been prepped for a long day. A chaplain stayed with them in the waiting area, with nurses bringing regular updates from the operating room. What was supposed to be a four- to five-hour surgery took just three hours.

 A noticeable change

 Neither Mark nor Megan recalls the exact words the doctor used to describe how well the transplant had gone. But neither can forget how their daughter changed once she had a fully functioning heart.

 Even on a ventilator and paralytic medication, she was more alert and healthier looking than ever.

 "It was amazing how different she was," Megan said. "She was so pink compared to how blue she was just hours before."

 By May 29, Willow's heart was working so efficiently that doctors removed her from oxygen.

 Some irregular heartbeats required catheterization, during which doctors removed a microscopic piece of her heart, to check for inflammation or antibodies. But Willow showed no signs of rejection.

 Rossano said that's common in babies because their immune system is still developing. Their bodies don't have the same instinct to fight off a foreign organ. Most infants who die following transplants do so because their bodies were already so ravaged, their other organs and systems compromised by lack of blood or oxygen and dependence on strong medications.

 Doctors OK'd Willow's release on June 26, after she finally began gaining weight. She'll be monitored for developmental delays that could have been caused by a lack of oxygen in utero, and there's a chance medications could permanently damage her kidneys.

 Susceptible to illness

 The immunosuppressant she needs for the rest of her life also makes her susceptible to common illnesses. Keeping germs out of the house is challenging when the children, and two big dogs, look for opportunities to touch (or lick) their sister.

 In September, Willow came down with viral pneumonia. Add that to teething, general congestion, outpatient clinic visits and physical and occupational therapy appointments, and it's enough to leave her mom exhausted.

 But when you know the baby you're comforting has beaten the odds, perspective changes. Monthly heart monitoring, multiple daily injections and vats of hand sanitizer are just reality for the Shorts.

 "You have to laugh," Megan said. "Otherwise, you would cry."

 In addition to her new heart, Willow brought home several gifts from the hospital. Among them were a pink, knitted blanket with the words "Heart Warrior" and a lengthy necklace filled with beads of courage. Each bead represents a procedure such as a transfusion or the transplant itself (a big red heart). One day Willow will be able to use it to share her story with others.

 As Mark explained its significance, Liana went from wearing it to removing beads. Chaos reigned during a photo session, completely normal for a family of five.

 At moments like these, Megan thinks of the family who made her joy possible.

 "Someone else's child died so that my child could live," she said. "I know they're in so much pain. I am so thankful."

 Contact Kimberly Marselas: life@readingeagle.com.

 Organ donor advocates

 The Shorts have been advocates for organ donation since 2012, when Megan lost an uncle who waited months for a new liver.

 Megan's extended family has participated in the Dash for Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness benefiting the Gift of Life, a nonprofit organization serving eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware.

 Though they've used a Tasmanian Devil theme in the past, Megan plans to walk in honor of her uncle and Willow next spring under the name “Willow's Tasmanian Angels.”

 Megan also hopes to create an event around the anniversary of Willow's transplant to celebrate the donor who made her daughter's life possible and urge others to consider making the gift of life.

 One in 100 children are born with a heart defect. Most do not need new organs, but when they do, the wait is agonizing for their families.

 As of Oct. 3, 180 people, 19 of them children, were waiting for heart transplants in Pennsylvania, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, or OPTN. Nationwide, 1,896 minors are candidates.

 In all, 123,762 Americans are in need of a transplant, with 79,255 actively waiting and eligible on Oct. 7.

 OPTN estimates 21 people die each day while waiting for a donation.

 In Pennsylvania, adults can register to become a donor by adding a designation to their driver's license. There's no need to wait until renewal: The process can be done online at anytime. Use the driver's license/photo identification link at www.dot4.state.pa.us. |||||

– In May of 2014, Willow Short received a heart transplant when she was just six days old. On Saturday, she was found shot to death along with the rest of her family in what police believe was a murder-suicide. The bodies of Mark Short, 40, Megan Short, 33, and children Willow, 2, Mark Jr., 5, and Lianna, 8, were found in their home in Sinking Spring, Pa., on Saturday afternoon when a relative called police after Megan didn't show up for a lunch date. Cops haven't revealed which parent they believe was responsible for the unfathomable crime, but they say a handwritten suicide note was found in the home and a handgun was found near the body of one of the adults, NBC Philadelphia reports. Police say the couple had "domestic issues," and a friend in the neighborhood tells the Reading Eagle that Megan was planning to leave Mark and had been open about it, posting on Facebook that she needed people to help her move out on Friday. In 2014, the Eagle reported on Willow's struggle to survive her first week of life. In 2015, the Shorts and their struggle to obtain anti-rejection medicine for Willow were featured in a New York Times story. In April, Megan wrote a blog post about dealing with PTSD after Willow's illness, saying she still suffered from anxiety and nightmares and it had taken her two years to realize how badly she had been impacted by the ordeal, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.