Groups question anti-abortion leader’s role on medical board

Groups question anti-abortion leader’s role on medical board

COLUMBUS

Groups representing doctors, consumers and women are asking the state medical board to remove the president of Ohio Right to Life as the board’s president because they say he can’t be impartial in abortion-related cases.

Organizations wanting Mike Gonidakis removed as medical board president include Common Cause Ohio, Doctors for Health Care Solutions, Democratic Voices of Ohio, the National Organization for Women and the liberal policy group ProgressOhio.

A letter dated Friday cited Gonidakis’ public statements against three Ohio abortion providers as evidence he has a conflict of interest when it comes to abortion matters. Gonidakis said Monday he had not yet read the letter to the board so he couldn’t comment.

Calif. firefighters are stretched thin

SACRAMENTO, CALIF.

California’s state fire department is stretched thin just as the bone-dry state enters the peak of its wildfire season, with vacancy rates exceeding 15 percent for some firefighters and supervisors. The vacancy rate is more than 10 percent for some fire-engine drivers, according to statistics provided to The Associated Press.

A five-year drought and changing weather patterns have transformed what once was a largely summertime job into an intense year-round firefight, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Janet Upton.

The shortage means that the state firefighting department is forced during weather conditions fanning large blazes to keep firefighters on duty for long hours as they do backbreaking, dangerous work trying to put out massive wildfires that have become bigger and more frequent in recent years.

Nearly 25 percent of departing employees over the last two years have told officials they quit for better-paying jobs with other firefighting agencies, according to the statistics provided to the AP by CalFire.

Coroner says man at water park drowned

FEDERAL WAY, WASH.

Authorities say a 32-year-old man has died in a drowning at a water park in Washington state.

The King County Medical Examiner said Monday that Vijayarengan Srinivasam died from asphyxia because of drowning.

Officials with Wild Waves Theme Park said in a statement Sunday that lifeguards pulled the man out of one of the activity pools Saturday evening. Lifeguards and first-responder teams began CPR.

South King Fire & Rescue says its crews arrived and performed CPR on the man, but they couldn’t revive him.

Officials with the park in the city of Federal Way, between Tacoma and Seattle, said they are helping authorities with the investigation.

Iran: Russia stopped using Iran base for strikes on Syria

TEHRAN, IRAN

Russia has stopped using an Iranian air base for launching airstrikes on Syria for the time being, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday, just hours after the Iranian defense minister criticized Moscow for having “kind of show-off and ungentlemanly” attitude by publicizing its actions.

Moscow, which had used the Shahid Nojeh Air Base to refuel its bombers striking Syria at least three times last week, confirmed that all Russian warplanes that were based in Iran have returned to Russia.

A statement issued by the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that as long as Iran agreed, Russia could use the Iranian air base again, “depending on the situation” in Syria.

Associated Press