Ohio to add area code

Ohio to add area code

COLUMBUS

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio says another area code will be added in some western and southern portions of the state.

The commission approved a plan Wednesday to add a 13th area code. The 326 code will officially take effect in March 2020 and be overlaid on top of the existing 937 area code that serves cities such as Dayton and Marysville.

The commission says all existing 937 area code users will keep their current numbers and area code.

Report: Jump in deliveries involving moms on opioids

NEW YORK

U.S. health officials say they found a dramatic rise in the number of women who are hooked on opioids and delivering babies in hospitals.

Opioid use during pregnancy can cause death of the mother or baby, preterm birth and infant withdrawal symptoms such as seizures, excessive crying and breathing problems.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied delivery hospitalizations in 28 states. It released its findings Thursday.

In 1999, 1.5 of every 1,000 women coming to a hospital to deliver depended on or abused opioids. That rose to 6.5 in 2014, the latest year for which data is available.

Tennessee executes girl’s rapist, killer

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Tennessee has executed its first inmate since 2009, putting a man to death for the 1985 rape and murder of a 7-year-old Knoxville girl he was baby-sitting.

Authorities say 59-year-old inmate Billy Ray Irick was pronounced dead at 8:48 p.m. Thursday after a three-drug injection at a state prison in Nashville.

The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday afternoon for the execution, denying Irick’s request for a stay.

Irick gave a brief statement to those watching. “I just want to say I’m really sorry and that, that’s it,” he said.

Faith leaders and death-penalty opponents led a protest rally earlier this week against Tennessee’s plans to put Irick to death.

Yemen rebels: Saudi airstrike kills 50

SANAA, Yemen

An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels hit a bus driving in a busy market in northern Yemen on Thursday, killing least 50 people including children and wounding 77, Yemen’s rebel-run Al Masirah TV said, citing rebel Health Ministry figures.

The Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, said it targeted the rebels, known as Houthis, who had fired a missile at the kingdom’s south Wednesday, killing one person who was a Yemeni resident in the area.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Twitter that its team at an ICRC supported hospital in Saada received the bodies of 29 children, all under 15 years old. It also received 48 wounded people, including 30 children, it said.

Puerto Rico: 1,400 died from hurricane

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is estimating in a report to Congress that Hurricane Maria killed more than 1,400 people, though an island official said Thursday that the confirmed toll remains frozen at 64, pending a scientific review due soon.

The government, relying on updated statistics it first reported in June, said in a report to Congress detailing a $139 billion reconstruction plan that there were 1,427 more deaths from September to December 2017 than the average for the same time period over the previous four years. The territory’s government said that the additional deaths resulted from the effects of a storm that led to “cascading failures” in infrastructure across the island of 3.3 million people.

Associated Press