Census Bureau guard is shot

Census Bureau guard is shot

SUITLAND, Md.

Police say a man who kidnapped his wife shot a guard at the U.S. Census Bureau headquarters in Maryland before leading police on a chase into Washington, D.C., that ended with the suspect and an officer wounded.

District Police Chief Cathy Lanier told a news conference Thursday night that shortly after authorities received a report of a kidnapping, a guard at the Census Bureau saw two people fighting in a car.

Lanier says when the guard approached the car, he was shot. Fire officials in Prince George’s County say he was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Nursing-home costs keep escalating

NEW YORK

The steep cost of caring for the elderly continues to climb. The median bill for a private room in a nursing home is now $91,250 a year, according to an industry survey out Thursday.

The annual “Cost of Care” report from Genworth Financial tracks the staggering rise in expenses for long-term care, a growing financial burden for families, governments and insurers like Genworth. The cost of staying in a nursing home has increased 4 percent every year over the past five years, the report says. Last year, the median bill was $87,600.

Gunman kills 3 in Milan court

MILAN

A real-estate developer on trial for fraudulent bankruptcy fired 13 shots inside the Milan Tribunal on Thursday, killing his lawyer, a co-defendant and a judge, eluding court security before being captured 25 miles away.

The shooting raised concerns about security at Italy’s courthouses, where much of the surveillance has been outsourced to private contractors, and about Italy’s ability to protect visitors during the Milan Expo 2015 world’s fair, which opens May 1 and is expected to attract 20 million visitors over six months.

Ebola patient released from NIH

BETHESDA, Md.

Officials say an American health care worker who contracted Ebola while volunteering in Sierra Leone has been discharged from a federal hospital.

The National Institutes of Health said in a news release Thursday that the patient, who arrived at the NIH hospital in Bethesda, Md., on March 13, was discharged in good condition and is no longer contagious to the community.

The patient was in critical condition at one point during his hospitalization.

The patient’s name and age have not been released. He was working with Partners in Health, a Boston-based nonprofit organization treating patients in Liberia and Sierra Leone since November.

The patient is the 11th person with Ebola to be treated in the U.S. and the second admitted to the NIH Clinical Center.

Okla. moves to allow nitrogen to execute

OKLAHOMA CITY

With U.S. death-penalty states scrambling for alternatives to lethal injection amid a shortage of deadly drugs, Oklahoma legislators believe they’ve found a foolproof and humane method — nitrogen gas hypoxia.

Without a single dissenting vote, the Oklahoma Senate gave final legislative approval Thursday and sent the governor a bill that would allow the new method to be used if lethal injection is ruled unconstitutional or if the deadly drugs become unavailable. Republican Gov. Mary Fallin supports the death penalty, but her spokesman declined to comment on the measure Thursday.

Associated Press