Ex-mayor begins 10-year sentence

Ex-mayor begins 10-year sentence

NEW ORLEANS

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin reported to a federal prison in Texarkana, Texas, on Monday to begin serving a 10-year sentence.

Nagin arrived at the facility shortly before noon. New Orleans television stations showed images of Nagin hugging family members in a parking lot before he entered the lockup. The Bureau of Prisons operates a low-security prison there with an adjacent minimum- security camp. Bureau spokesman Chris Burke said Nagin reported to the minimum-security camp.

In February, Nagin was convicted on 20 counts including bribery, conspiracy and money laundering stemming from his two terms as mayor, including the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

Respiratory illness hits hundreds of kids

CHICAGO

Hundreds of children in more than 10 states have been sickened by a severe respiratory illness that public-health officials say may be caused by an uncommon virus similar to the germ that causes the common cold.

Nearly 500 children have been treated at one hospital alone — Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, Mo. — and some required intensive care, according to authorities.

The suspected germ, enterovirus 68, is an uncommon strain of a very common family of viruses that typically hit from summertime through autumn.

The virus can cause mild coldlike symptoms including runny noses, coughing and wheezing, but Mark Pallansch, director of the viral diseases division at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said this summer’s cases are unusually severe and include serious breathing problems.

4th American with Ebola heads to US

ATLANTA

A fourth American who contracted Ebola in West Africa was expected to arrive in the U.S. for care today and will be treated at an Atlanta hospital where two other aid workers successfully recovered from the disease, the hospital said Monday.

Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. James Wilson said the patient, as in past cases, would be flown into Dobbins Air Reserve Base outside Atlanta. Emory University Hospital said in a news release that the patient would be treated in its isolation unit but cited confidentiality in not releasing more information about the person.

Iraq parliament OKs partial Cabinet

BAGHDAD

Iraq’s parliament officially named Haider al-Abadi the country’s new prime minister late Monday and approved most of his proposed Cabinet amid calls by the Arab League for its members to combat the Sunni militant group violently advancing across Iraq and Syria.

Lawmakers approved all of the candidates proposed for Iraq’s new government, with the exception of a few posts, namely the defense and interior ministers. Al-Abadi requested an additional week to name them.

2 charged with imprisoning woman

INDIANAPOLIS

An Indiana couple accused of holding a woman captive for two months, often locking her in a small wooden cage, was charged Monday with rape, criminal confinement, kidnapping and other felonies in a case one officer likened to “modernized slavery.”

Ricky Roy House Jr., 37, and his girlfriend, Kendra Tooley, 44, were formally charged during a hearing in Posey Circuit Court in Mount Vernon, where a judge appointed public defenders for the pair and entered not-guilty pleas on their behalf. They were ordered held on $50,000 cash-only bonds.

Associated Press