WASHINGTON, D.C.

Bush names FDA chief to oversee Medicare

President Bush named Mark McClellan, chief of the Food and Drug Administration, to run the agency that oversees Medicare and its new prescription drug benefits.

McClellan is a physician and economist and the brother of White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

If confirmed by the Senate, McClellan will be administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Scientist being watched for signs of Ebola

A scientist who works in a maximum containment laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., has been placed in isolation after she accidentally stuck herself with a needle Feb. 11 while working with mice infected with a weakened form of Ebola virus.

The woman, whom officials at the Army base declined to identify, has shown no symptoms of the deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever during eight days of medical observation in a special isolation facility, said Army spokesman Chuck Dasey. He said she was exposed to the Zaire strain of Ebola, the deadliest of the three types.

SALT LAKE CITY

Bill to eliminate firing squads sent to governor

Utah lawmakers sent Gov. Olene Walker a bill Friday to eliminate firing squad executions and deny killers the chance to die “in a blaze of glory.”

However, four death row inmates who have already chosen to die in a hail of bullets will get their way.

The House gave final approval to the bill, which would change Utah’s method of execution to lethal injection.