Washington, D.C.

Souped-up wheelchair wins FDA approval

Stairs are about to become less of an obstacle for some of the nation’s 2 million wheelchair users.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a wheelchair that literally can go up and down steps — as well as shift into four-wheel drive for grassy hills and elevate its occupant to standing height.

Called the iBOT Mobility System, the wheelchair uses sensors and gyroscopes to navigate stairs while balancing on two wheels. Doctors have said the technology is potentially revolutionary. But it is so complex that the FDA has decided the wheelchair will require a doctor’s prescription and special training to drive.

The iBOT costs $29,000, less than some top-of-the-line models for the severely impaired but far more than basic wheelchairs. The maker, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Independence Technology, is negotiating with Medicare and other insurers but could not say Wednesday if payment to users was likely.

Sales will begin by year’s end, a J&J spokesman said.

New York

Four camp counselors drown in river

Four teenage camp counselors drowned at a popular swimming hole in the Adirondacks after one fell into the water and three friends dived in to try to rescue him from the raging current.

Authorities recovered one body Tuesday and the other three Wednesday. Using drop cameras on long poles, they found the three bodies trapped under a ledge in a small pool about 20 feet deep.

The four disappeared Tuesday at Split Rock Falls, a series of waterfalls and pools on the Boquet River near Elizabethtown, 110 miles north of Albany.

“This time of year with this much rain, it’s a dangerous place to be,” State Police Capt. Bruce Dunning said. “It’s completely whitewater today.”

The four teens had been among about 20 counselors from Camp Baco in Minerva who were spending their day off at Split Rock Falls, said Don Jaquish of Essex County emergency services.

“The force of the water cannot be underestimated,” Forest Ranger Ed Russell said.

Tennessee

Mayor convicted in child porn case

A federal jury convicted a small-town mayor of possessing and sending child pornography on the Internet after they got a look at his e-mail records and his computer screen name: “Young Wanting.”

The judge allowed Robert Thomas, 62, to remain free on $50,000 bond pending a Dec. 1 sentencing. The conviction carries a maximum 25 years in prison.

Thomas, a grandfather, said afterward that he would probably step down as mayor of Copperhill, an eastern Tennessee town of 511 residents and the former hub of a copper mining operation.

The jury deliberated less than two hours. The panel had stacks of government evidence — hundreds of photos of nude children — that prosecutor Gary Humble said were copied from records of the mayor’s e-mail account.

Thomas, who became mayor after the 1999 resignation of a predecessor accused of corruption, did not testify but has said that he was framed by his political enemies.