PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan woman accused of leaving three children alone for years in a house of squalor pleaded no contest Thursday to child abuse in an agreement that carries a six-year prison sentence, authorities said.
Conditions at the Pontiac home were so offensive that police evidence specialists wore hazmat suits when the children were discovered in February 2025.
The kids, ages 15, 13 and 12, had lived on their own since 2020 or 2021, with occasional food drops on the porch and amid trash and feces, police said. Sheriff's deputies entered when a landlord said he hadn't been paid in months.
Kelli Bryant, 35, who was living elsewhere in Pontiac, pleaded no contest to abuse and will return to court in September for her sentencing. A message seeking comment from her attorney was not immediately returned.
“This plea will spare the children from testifying at trial and ensures Bryant remains incarcerated until they are all adults,” Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said. “I’m hopeful the children she victimized will continue to have the space and resources to heal from this abhorrent trauma.”
The father lost contact with the kids while in prison in an unrelated matter and was barred by their mother from seeing them when he was released, Sheriff Mike Bouchard said when Bryant was arrested.
FILE - An Oakland County Courthouse building is shown in Pontiac, Mich., Oct. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-its-kind pill that can drastically reduce cholesterol in a way that's previously only been available with expensive, injectable drugs.
The drug from Merck was OK'd on Thursday for patients with artery-clogging cholesterol that persists even after taking statins, the standard medications for cutting heart attack risk. Merck will market its pill under the brand name Lipfendra.
It's the first noninjectable medication that works by blocking a liver protein called PCSK9. That protein limits the body's ability to clear cholesterol from the blood, and biotech injectables targeting it have been available from Amgen and other drugmakers for more than a decade. But patient access has been stymied for years by high prices, insurance restrictions and limited prescribing by doctors.
Statins block some of the liver’s production of cholesterol and are the cornerstone of treatment. But even at the highest doses, many people need additional help lowering their LDL, or bad, cholesterol enough to meet medical guidelines.
Merck, which has headquarters in Rahway, New Jersey, won approval based on two studies in high-risk patients who added the company's pill to their standard treatment, including statins. In one study of 3,000 patients, those taking Lipfendra saw their levels of LDL cholesterol drop more than 55% after six months. In a second study, patients averaged a reduction of 59% compared with patients who received a dummy pill.
That benefit dropped only slightly over a year, and side effects — including dizziness and diarrhea — were similar between those taking the pill or a placebo, researchers found. One caveat: The pill must be taken on an empty stomach.
The FDA reviewed the drug under its program that promises ultra-fast reviews for promising medications that serve the public interest. The pathway was created by then-FDA chief Dr. Marty Makary, who resigned from the agency in May after months of pressure from drugmakers, patients and other outside groups.
Heart disease is the nation’s leading cause of death, and high LDL cholesterol, which causes plaque to build up in arteries, is a top risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. While an LDL level of 100 is considered fine for healthy people, doctors recommend lowering it to at least 70 once people develop high cholesterol or heart disease — and even lower for those at very high risk.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - The logo for Merck appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
