Midday Roundup: Former Subway pitchman pleads guilty to child porn charges

Guilty as charged. Former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle will plead guilty today to charges of child pornography and paying for sex with minors, according to a plea agreement and indictment released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Indianapolis. Fogle will serve between five and 12 years in prison for the crimes. Investigators raided Fogle’s Indianapolis-area home in July, two months after they arrested the head of his charitable foundation on federal child pornography charges. According to the indictment against Fogle, the former sandwich pitchman viewed videos shot secretly by Russell Taylor of minor girls showering and bathing in his home. Fogle reportedly knew the girls were minors. Subway suspended its relationship with Fogle after the July raid on his home and severed ties permanently after learning of today’s plea deal.

No vote. The Obama administration lost another key Democrat vote in its battle for congressional approval of the Iran nuclear deal. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey announced his intentions in a speech yesterday: “If Iran is to acquire a nuclear bomb, it will not have my name on it. It is for these reasons that I will vote to disapprove the agreement and if called upon will vote to override a veto.” Menendez said the agreement fails to meet the one goal negotiators set out to achieve—stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The administration avoided criticizing Menendez after the announcement. State Department spokesman John Kirby said his boss, Secretary of State John Kerry, simply disagrees with Menendez on whether the deal blocks Iran’s path to a bomb. Menendez is currently under indictment by the Justice Department on corruption charges.

Cheaters exposed. Hackers who stole user data from Ashley Madison, one of the most popular websites facilitating affairs for married users, made good today on their promise to release account information. The data dump includes names, addresses, and other personal information, although it’s not clear how much of it is real. The hackers say they targeted Ashley Madison and its parent company, Avid Life Media (ALM), because of its moral depravity. But they also took issue with what they call the company’s fraudulent practices. Although some users paid $19 to have their data deleted from the site, ALM continued to store the information on its servers. The hackers also ridiculed the company’s claims about who uses the site: “Keep in mind the site is a scam with thousands of fake female profiles. See Ashley Madison fake profile lawsuit; 90-95 percent of actual users are male. Chances are your man signed up on the world’s biggest affair site, but never had one. He just tried to. If that distinction matters.”

Pink Viagra? The Food and Drug Administration has approved a controversial new drug designed to increase a woman’s libido. Women’s rights activists, who lobbied the agency to fast-track the drug, cheered the approval as a victory for equality. But critics say Addyi is only minimally effective and has too many side effects, including low blood pressure, fainting, nausea, dizziness, and sleepiness. The so-called “pink Viagra” will only be available with a prescription. Pharmacists who dispense it must pass a test proving they are aware of the potential problems. Although popular interest helped get Addyi approved, drugmaker Sprout Pharmaceuticals has pledged not to launch a big marketing push to consumers for 18 months after the drug hits shelves in October.

Underreported. The Internal Revenue Service is taking heat for underreporting the size of its recent data breach. The agency now says the massive breach in which hackers stole personal taxpayer information is almost three times larger than originally disclosed. In May, the IRS said more than 100,000 taxpayers were potential victims. That number is now closer to 330,000. The tax agency is offering free credit monitoring services to those affected. But Claude Barfield of the American Enterprise Institute says it’s too little, too late: “The IRS is moving to try and protect them, but the data is already stolen.” Cybercriminals could now use the victims’ personal data to steal tax refunds and to empty bank accounts.

Taking responsibility. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) inspector general has launched an investigation of that agency’s role in causing a massive toxic spill into Colorado’s Animas River. Estimates to clean up the mess have topped $27 billion. But EPA Chief Gina McCarthy struck a positive tone this week: “I do want to reiterate that EPA is here to take responsibility. The very good news is that we see that this river is restoring itself.” Three million gallons of mustard-colored sludge poured into the river system after an EPA contractor broke a wall holding back toxic wastewater in a gold mine earlier this month. The EPA acknowledged it could take years to remove sediment pollution.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard and Jim Henry contributed to this report.