Security breach at U.S. Capitol grounds
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Washington police have arrested a man who crashed his car through a barrier around the U.S. Capitol building Monday morning.
The unidentified man was taken into custody just after 8 a.m., after running into the building, WRC-TV, Washington, reported.
Authorities locked down the building for about 45 minutes, and the east grounds, where the car was abandoned was sealed off as part of the investigation, the report said.
U.S. tainted spinach toll rises to 109
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The number of people affected by E. coli bacteria from eating California spinach rose to 109 Monday, with one death reported in Wisconsin.
Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer with the federal Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, part of the Food and Drug Administration, indefinitely extended the recommendation not to eat any fresh spinach or products that contain, or are packaged with spinach that have a sell-by date of Aug. 17 through Oct. 1.
The fatality was a 77-year-old woman, while 55 of the others required hospitalization in 19 states, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Joe Pezzini, chairman of the Central California Grower-Shipper Association, told the Chronicle the spinach harvest has come to a costly standstill, as spinach is a nearly $200 million business in Monterey County, Calif.
Officials said canned and frozen spinach are not included in the warning.
The strain of E. coli can cause bloody diarrhea and cramps and can trigger a rare complication leading to kidney failure, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Drug mix-up kills 2 Indianapolis infants
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Indianapolis police say there was no criminal element to the weekend overdoses of six infants in a hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, two of whom died.
The overdoses at Methodist Hospital happened Saturday and the deaths of two girls, one 2 days old an then other 5 days old, followed that night, the Indianapolis Star reported.
At a Sunday news conference, hospital President Sam Odle said indications were that someone in the pharmacy a vial of the wrong concentration of the anti-coagulant drug heparin in the unit.
"Multiple" staff members were involved in the "procedural errors," Odle said.
One of the surviving infants was being monitored for possible surgery and the three others remained at Methodist and were listed in stable condition, Odle said.
Indianapolis Police spokesman Sgt. Matthew Mount told the Star detectives dropped the case when it became apparent the overdoses were accidental, the newspaper said.
Heparin is used for premature and very sick babies to ensure blood does not clot in the intravenous needles and tubes used to administer drugs to them, the report said.
Search on for abducted Missouri newborn
LONEDELL, Mo., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The FBI has freed 100 National Guardsmen from a search for an abducted 9-day-old girl in rural Missouri, and is concentrating on tips to locate the child.
A woman armed with a knife abducted Abby Woods from her mother at home in Londell, southwest of St. Louis, on Friday, slashing the mother's throat. The mother, Stephenie Ochsenbine, 21, was released from the hospital Sunday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Saturday, Guard troops searched woods near the home.
At a Sunday news conference, Franklin County (Mo.) Sheriff Gary Toelke said several pieces of evidence have been found, but he would not elaborate any further, KSDK-TV, St. Louis, reported.
About 55 FBI agents are working on the child's abduction, and Toelke said they have checked out about 60 percent of the 160 tips they have received.
Residents have been asked to report if they've seen a baby with a strawberry-colored birthmark on her forehead or a woman fitting the description of the abductor: white, 30 to 40 years old, 5 feet, 8 inches, weighing about 200 pounds, with dark or black hair pulled under a baseball-style cap with a worn brim, the reports said.
Report says suicide bombing kill troops
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Afghan officials say four NATO troops were killed and 10 others along with 25 civilians injured in a suicide bomb attack Monday in Kandahar province.
The BBC reported that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force had not identified the nationalities of those killed and wounded in the blast in Panjwayi district.
There have been numerous clashes recently between the troops and the Taliban in the area, part of the biggest NATO offensive against the insurgents.
