1. Jay Natale had a good year in 1979.
The Steelers won the Super Bowl.
The Pirates won the World Series.
And Natale opened a sporting goods
store in the new Century III Mall in
West Mifflin.
“The first year was unbelievable,”
Natale, 70, of Elizabeth said, recall-
ing a mobbed grand opening at the
mall. “We hit the jackpot on that
one.”
The jackpot lasted for nearly 20
years.
Since then, the mall has spiraled
downward, losing customers, re-
tailers and property value, which
drained hundreds of thousands of
dollars in property taxes from West
Mifflin and its school district.
A new owner, Las Vegas-based
Moonbeam Capital Investments
LLC, pledged to revitalize Century
III, but malls have fallen on hard
times. Online shopping turned malls
across the country into ghost towns.
In March, Sbarro, a mall food court
stalwart, filed for bankruptcy for the
second time in three years, citing a
by AAROn AUPPERLEE
At35,CenturyIIIslidesintoretailabyss
Mall’s value falls more than
$100M in nearly a decade;
West Mifflin, school district
lose thousandsintaxdollars
CENTURY III · A6
Medical malpractice and other
foul-ups from the Legionnaires’ dis-
ease outbreak in the VA Pittsburgh
Healthcare System could cost the
government hundreds of thousands
— if not millions — of dollars in civil
settlements, lawyers predict.
Yet the Department of Veterans
Affairs won’t shell out a dime for
payments, which would come from
a little-known cash pool set aside
exclusively to cover large judgments
against federal agencies, according
to the Treasury Department.
Judgment Fund payouts for VA-
related issues ranged from $89.9 mil-
lion in 2011 to $189.6 million in 2012
and $100.3 million in 2013. Those
payments have no effect on the VA’s
budget, VA officials confirmed in
a statement.
The arrangement keeps payouts
from siphoning money from veter-
ans’ health care, but critics say it
illustrates a shortage of accountabil-
ity for VA executives, who are under
scrutiny for receiving five-figure
bonuseswhilethousandsof veterans
waited months for care.
“With a judgment fund paying
for the settlements, they’re put
on a pedestal where they can’t be
touched. They just protect them-
selves,” said Bob Nicklas of Adams,
whose father, William E. Nicklas,
87, of Hampton, was among at least
six veterans who died in the Legion-
naires’ outbreak from February 2011
to November 2012.
At least 16 others fell ill dur-
ing the outbreak, which internal
by AdAM SMELTZ
Treasury fund picks up tab for VA settlements
$380M paid from little-known cash pool since 2011;
critics say process illustrates shortage of accountability
VA · A6
An Iraqi security officer guards the Church of the Virgin Mary on Sunday in Bartala, east of Mosul. Some
security forces stayed in the town to protect its churches and the community from al-Qaida-aligned fighters.
AFP | GETTY IMAGES
KHAZER, Iraq — Kurdish soldiers in tan
camouflage, some with U.S. insignia, guard the
checkpoint here between Mosul, Iraq’s second-
largest city, and Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s
semi-autonomous Kurdish enclave.
Women and children are huddled in the bed
of an idling pickup truck with few belong-
ings. Ethnic Turkmen, they hoped to stay with
friends in Erbil.
“We are afraid ISIS will attack us,” said Saleh
Abdullah, 46, the truck’s driver, referring to the
brutal al-Qaida splinter group — Islamic State
in Iraq and Syria — that overran Mosul more
than a week ago.
“There is no government, no army, and we
don’t know if it is ISIS or thieves, but everyone
has guns,” he said.
Nearby, other Iraqis crammed their families
into blue United Nations tents.
Saddam Hazem, 38, was among the new ar-
rivals. “They want to kill me,” he said of ISIS.
A barber, Hazem had a shop near a military
checkpoint in Mosul where he cut the hair of
Iraqi soldiers. Those soldiers ran when ISIS
seized the city with help from Sunni Muslims,
who oppose the Shiite-dominated government
in Baghdad.
Hazem fled, too, but later returned to his
barbershop.
“There were several gunmen, and they
Iraqisdividedovermilitants’intentions
by bETSy HIEL
Someresidentsflee,fearingattacksby
al-Qaida splinter group; others hail
Islamist fighters as ‘revolutionaries’
ISIS · A6
“We walked
around 18
miles, and all
we saw were
burned-out
army vehicles.
It was
ghostly,” said
Iraqi barber
Saddam
Hazem.
IRBIL, Iraq — The United States
announced on Sunday that it was
removing an undisclosed number
of workers from the U.S. Embassy in
Baghdad in a tacit acknowledgment
that the situation in the Iraqi capital
had become unpredictable and that
violence seemed likely.
The announcement was made as
the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
claimed to have executed 1,700 Iraqi
soldiers, all of them Shiite Muslims
who had been captured last week.
In a statement, the State Depart-
ment did not reveal how many of
its workers were being moved out
of the embassy compound, saying
that “overall, a substantial major-
ity of the U.S. Embassy presence
in Iraq will remain in place.” But
even if a majority remains at the
compound, the evacuation could
mean the departure of hundreds of
workers.TheembassyinBaghdadis
the United States’ largest, with 5,300
federal government employees.
A separate announcement from
the Defense Department said the
evacuation of embassy personnel
was “being facilitated aboard com-
mercial, charter and State Depart-
ment aircraft as appropriate.” The
statement said U.S. military “airlift
assets” were “at the ready,” but sug-
gested that the State Department
had not requested military assis-
tance in the evacuation.
The statement by Pentagon
spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John
Kirby said the military had sent
a “small number” of Defense De-
partment personnel to assist “State
DepartmentsecurityassetsinBagh-
dad to help ensure the safety of our
facilities.”
Kirbysaidthemilitaryhas“airlift
assets at the ready” should the State
Department request them. A mili-
tary official said about 100 Marines
FROM WIRE REPORTS
U.S.EmbassyworkersexitBaghdad
Terrorists near
capital; military
airlifts at ready
IRAQ · A6
Casey Kasem
1932-2014
The legendary
radio broadcaster’s
style set the
benchmark
for Top 40 shows.
B5
GETTYIMAGES
WEATHER 86 · 66
Strong storms expected
throughout the day.
Details, A12
Advice D7
Bridge D7
Business B8
Classified E1
Comics D8
Crossword D7
Editorials A11
Fanfare D1
Horoscope D7
Living D1
Local B1
Lotteries A12
Movies D5
Obituaries B4
Sports C1
Television D6
INDEX
Vol. 126 · No. 134
Five sections
58 pages
WILDPARTY Hundredsjourneytozoo maginationUntamedcelebration D1
MONDAY,JUNE16,2014 HH
Worthy of Western Pennsylvania
© 2014
PRICEMAYVARYOUTSIDEPRIMARYMARKET
50¢
forI
Billions of taxpayer dollars
subsidize electric bills, building
depreciation and even trash col-
lection connected with scientific
research at universities, under-
scoring the high cost of research
as federal agencies such as the
National Institutes of Health,
which allocates about $30 billion
a year, are slashing grants.
Itputspressureonresearchers
to find enough money to cover
their scientific endeavors while
giving a substantial portion to
schools for overhead costs.
“The universities are trying to
expandthepiethattheyget,”said
Richard Vedder, director of the
Center for College Affordability
and an Ohio University econom-
ics professor. “They’re going to
claimthingsasoverheadexpens-
es that are questionable.”
At the University of Pitts-
burgh, which receives more
than $400 million a year in NIH
grants, officials say the govern-
ment monitors overhead costs
andtheyfallinlinewithnational
averages.
“Wehavetojustifyeverydollar
we get for indirect costs to the
federal government,” said Ken
Service,Pitt’svicechancellorfor
communications.
Federal agencies negotiate a
preset rate for overhead costs
with universities that receive
taxpayer-fundedresearchgrants,
by LUIS FAbREGAS
And AdAM SMELTZ
As feds slash grants,
university scientists vie
to secure more millions
Indirect
costsvex
schools’
research
RESEARCH · A10
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