The gunman who held intensive care unit staff hostage at UPMC Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania before killing a police officer and injuring five other people Saturday believed that more could have been done to save his wife, who was on life support for a terminal illness, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49, was removed from the hospital by security the previous night after becoming irate and emotionally overwrought following a diagnosis that there was no other treatment available for his wife. It is not clear whether she has died.
The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday fired another 1,400 employees amid outcry over a lack of transparency from the agency after 1,000 workers were axed earlier this month. The VA said the individuals dismissed were "non-mission critical" probationary employees who have served less than two years.
Hours before protesters were set to rally against her plans, Gov. Maura Healey on Monday night announced she's pausing her effort to close Pappas Rehabilitation Hospitals for Children and Pocasset Mental Health Center. Opponents of Healey's hospital closure plans planned to rally Tuesday morning on the State House steps and also oppose her plan to lay off 170 Department of Mental Health case managers. Organizers have also planned a legislative briefing and media availability with families and students from Pappas, and the delivery of a petition, signed by more than 17,500 people, to the governor's office.
Orlando Health's decision to close its Rockledge hospital just months after buying it has sent shockwaves throughout the Central Brevard County area long served by the hospital. "We're very disappointed," said Rockledge Mayor Tom Price, who was fielding many calls from city residents and hospital employees about the Orlando Health announcement that the hospital is closing and will be torn down. "It's a very big deal, because we're losing our hospital. It's not good for Rockledge and it's not good for Cocoa." Orlando Health said it is closing Rockledge Hospital on April 22, saying the 298-bed hospital is in bad physical condition and is too costly to repair. Four local outpatient facilities in Rockledge, Merritt Island and Suntree that have ties to the hospital also will close at that time.
A non–peer-reviewed study published on the preprint server bioRxiv suggests that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus shed in poultry droppings can be transmitted by the wind, a possibility that other experts say can't be ruled out but is also very difficult to prove. The report centers on a February 2024 outbreak of H5N1 avian flu among unrelated commercial poultry farms located about 8 kilometers (5 miles) apart in the Czech Republic during the 2023-24 HPAI season.
The discovery of a new bat coronavirus in China has sparked concerns about another pandemic. The virus, named HKU5-CoV-2, is similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in that it targets the same human receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2), according to a report in the South China Morning Post. HKU5-CoV-2 could potentially lead to human-to-human or even cross-species transmission, the researchers found.