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Peaches death: 'Heroin likely factor'
5/1/2014 7:04:39 PM
- Forensic experts concluded "there was recent use of heroin," police officer says
- The 25-year-old TV presenter and model was found dead at her home last month
- Her husband, rock musician Thomas Cohen, found her body, police officer tells inquest
- The couple's younger son, Phaedra, was in the house at the time, he says
London (CNN) -- Heroin is likely to have played a role in the death of Peaches Geldof, the daughter of musician Bob Geldof and the late Paula Yates, an inquest hearing heard Thursday.
The 25-year-old TV presenter was found dead last month at her home in Wrotham, Kent, southeast of London.
Her sudden death prompted shock in the entertainment world.
Geldof, who was married with two sons under the age of 2, was only 11 years old when her own mother died of a drug overdose.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham told the inquest hearing in Gravesend, Kent, that forensic experts concluded that "there was recent use of heroin and that the levels identified were likely to have played a role in her death."
Fotheringham, of the Kent and Essex Police Serious Crime Directorate, also gave an account of the final hours of the model and TV personality's life.
He said Geldof's body was found by her husband, rock musician Tom Cohen, on April 7 after he became concerned when he couldn't contact her.
The couple's younger son, Phaedra, was in the house at the time, having been dropped off by Cohen's father on Sunday afternoon. The musician had taken both the children to spend the weekend at his parents' home.
Having driven to the house with his mother and the couple's elder son, Astala, Cohen found Geldof in a spare bedroom, Fotheringham said.
"It was obvious to him that she was deceased. She was located on the edge of a bed with one leg hanging down to the floor with the other leg tucked underneath her; she was slumped forward across the bed," he said.
"Thomas called for his mother and they quickly located Phaedra and called the emergency services."
Fotheringham said the last known contact between Geldof and anyone else was 7:45 p.m. on April 6, when she spoke by phone with a friend. She had spoken with family and friends throughout the day.
"All of the friends and family who had contact with Peaches during this period describe how she seemed her normal self and was making plans for the future, including booking a family outing for her sons the following weekend. There was no cause for any concern," the police officer said.
There is an ongoing police investigation into the circumstances of Geldof's death on behalf of the local coroner's office.
Tributes flood in for 'beloved' Peaches Geldof
CNN's Isa Soares and Brooke Bowman contributed to this report.
L.A's NAACP head quits over Sterling
5/2/2014 6:39:59 AM
- Chapter under fire for plans to present lifetime achievement award
- Jenkins says he's stepping down because of "negative exposure" he caused
- The chapter presented the award to Sterling in 2009
(CNN) -- The Donald Sterling scandal has claimed collateral damage: the president of the NAACP's Los Angeles chapter.
Leon Jenkins resigned Thursday, after the civil rights group came under fire for its plans to present a lifetime achievement award to the Los Angeles Clippers owner.
The NAACP chapter rescinded its offer Monday after Sterling's racist remarks came to light.
But the damage was done. The backlash the group faced was brutal.
"Please be advised that the legacy, history and reputation of the NAACP is more important to me than the presidency," Jenkins said, in announcing his resignation.
He said he was stepping down to separate the organization from the "negative exposure I have caused."
Group's highest honor
The lifetime achievement award is the NAACP's highest honor.
The L.A. chapter presented Sterling with the award in 2009, and was planning to do so again this month. Sterling had donated a substantial amount of money to the chapter in the last few years. Some reports put it around $45,000.
Earlier this week, the NBA's commissioner came down hard on Sterling, ordering him out of his team's business and pushing to force him to sell over the racist remarks that caused a firestorm since becoming public days ago.
The inflammatory sentiments came packaged in a 10-minute recording that TMZ said occurred during an April 9 conversation between Sterling and girlfriend V. Stiviano.
On the recording, a man and woman argue about photos posted to Instagram in which she appears with African-Americans. The man says he doesn't want the woman bringing any black people to games with her.
The sports website Deadspin posted five additional minutes of what it said was part of the same audio recording.
'Giving away integrity'
"The first time Sterling was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the group was in the midst of a lawsuit for housing discrimination based upon race," said LZ Granderson, a CNN contributor and lecturer at Northwestern University.
"To decide to honor him with the award a second time, after he had paid millions to settle multiple discrimination suits ... is not selling out. Selling out makes financial sense. No, considering what $45,000 means to a man of Sterling's wealth, honoring him with awards is just giving integrity away."
The billionaire real estate mogul has found himself in hot water in the past, denying in court accusations of discrimination tied to the NBA team and to property he owns.
A 'social price' to pay
Soon after the scandal broke, Jenkins didn't seem inclined to cut ties with Sterling.
"At some point when there has been proof, I think that would be a legitimate time for the NAACP to sit down with Sterling and try to work out how and why he did what he did and what is he going to do in the future," he said.
"God teaches us to forgive. And the way I look at it, after a sustained period of just proof to the African-American community that those words don't really reflect his heart, I think there's room for forgiveness."
By Monday, Jenkins had changed course.
"The revelation that Mr. Sterling may have made comments in a phone conversation that were reminiscent of an ugly time period in American history that contained elements of segregation and racial discrimination demands that the Los Angles NAACP intention to honor Mr. Sterling for his lifetime body of work must be withdrawn, and his donation to the Los Angeles NAACP returned," the group said Monday when it withdrew its invitation.
"There is a personal, economic and social price that Mr. Sterling must pay for his attempt to turn the clock back on race relations."
CNN's Dave Alsup contributed to this report
Ferry survivors return to school
5/2/2014 3:44:12 AM
- NEW: Coast guard: The death toll rises to 226, with 76 missing
- About 70 survivors from the ferry visit Danwon High School in Ansan
- The school sent 325 students on a field trip; scores have died at sea
- South Korea's president apologizes for the initial response to the ferry sinking
Ansan, South Korea (CNN) -- They left school two weeks ago on a field trip with hundreds of classmates.
They came back Wednesday without the scores of students who died at sea.
About 70 survivors from the sunken South Korean ferry visited a memorial at the Danwon High School in Asnan -- the high school that sent 325 students on a field trip to Jeju Island.
Inside the hallways, it didn't take long for the tears to flow. Many students sobbed as they walked past images of their classmates and hurried back onto waiting buses.
For these students, school will never be the same.
Losing hope
The ferry, en route from Incheon to Jeju, sank April 16 on the country's southwest coast.
Any hope for survivors largely hinged on the possibility of air pockets within the sunken ship, which was carrying 425 people.
Hundreds of relatives camped out near a harbor in Jindo, waiting for news. But after officials said there were no more air pockets, the grim reality set in.
"All we are asking for is bring the dead bodies out," a father wailed Tuesday. "We know they are not alive now."
Videos capturing ferry's final moments fuel fresh outrage
Images of ferry captain abandoning ship are shocking
Lots of blame, no answers
As the web of blame widens, even the country's president is apologizing for the disaster that has killed at least 226 passengers. Another 76 people are missing, the South Korean coast guard reported early Friday.
"I am losing sleep as there is no news about saving more lives and because there are many families who don't know whether their loved ones are dead or alive still," President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday.
"I am at a loss for words for an apology that can be enough to console the pain and suffering even for a little while over insufficiency in efforts made to prevent the accident and also in the initial response to the accident," she added.
"We'll fix the problems and change our practices so we'll have safer nation and won't let them die in vain," Park said.
South Korean authorities arrested have arrested three people on suspicion of destroying evidence connected to the ferry sinking. Investigators also raided a Coast Guard office in a probe of how officials handled the first emergency call from a passenger.
The director and two other people with the Korea Shipping Association's Incheon office were arrested and accused of destroying evidence related to the probe of Chonghaejin, the company that owns the ferry.
The Korea Shipping Association is a trade group that promotes the interests of the country's shipping industry.
The site raided was the Coast Guard building in Mokpo, which includes the South Jeolla province emergency center -- a facility that provides 119 services, akin to the 911 emergency service in the United States.
Investigators are looking into possible dereliction of duty.
Ferry disaster's toll on South Korea's national psyche
Andrew Stevens reported from Ansan; Holly Yan reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Steven Jiang and Stella Kim also contributed to this report.
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