Washington, D. C.

3 Navy facilities added to closure list

The government’s military base closure panel added three major Navy facilities in Maine, California and Virginia to the chopping block Tuesday.

Anthony Principi, chairman of the cost-cutting Base Realignment and Closure Commission, stressed that the panel’s action was not final but intended to provide its nine members with time for closer scrutiny of the base structure through public hearings and on-site visits before they make their final decisions in August.

“Our deliberations today may add more bases for further consideration, not because we have determined that we need to close more bases than the secretary of defense has recommended, but because we want to make sure the best possible closure or realignment choices are made,” Principi said.

The three major Navy facilities added to the hit list by the commission are the Brunswick, Maine, Naval Air Station; the Oceana Naval Master Jet Base in Virginia; and the Navy Broadway supply and headquarters complex in San Diego.

Washington, D.C.

Anti-smoking activists rally for regulation

Activists pushing for federal regulation of tobacco used 1,200 empty pairs of shoes to drive home the dangers of smoking at a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

“People know the statistic – 1,200 people die a day from tobacco – but it didn’t mean anything until now,” said Kassie Hobbs of Bettendorf, Iowa, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’ National Youth Advocate of the Year. “Everyone wears shoes. But 1,200 people can’t wear them today because they died from tobacco use.”

The campaign held the rally to promote bills in the House and Senate that would allow the Food and Drug Administration to restrict tobacco advertising, ban candy-flavored cigarettes and require ingredients to be listed on cigarette packages.

“We must regulate this product,” said Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa. “It is long overdue.”

The Senate passed similar legislation twice in 2004 but it met resistance from the House leadership. With the recent introduction of Camel’s new Winter Mocha Mint and Twista Lime flavored cigarettes, advocates are hopeful that bipartisan support this year will push through the measure, which now sits in committee.

Washington, D.C.

FDA warns of risk with abortion pill

The government warned doctors Tuesday to be on the lookout for rare but deadly infections in women using the abortion pill RU-486, citing two more deaths after its use.

At least five U.S. women have died after taking the pill since it began selling in 2000, although the Food and Drug Administration stressed that it could not prove the drug was to blame.

But the four deaths caused by bloodstream infections, or sepsis, all occurred in women who didn’t follow FDA-approved instructions for a pill-triggered abortion, said agency drug chief Dr. Steven Galson.

“We don’t know that this off-label use has caused the deaths,” he cautioned.

Still, the FDA issued a public health advisory warning doctors of the possible link and urging them to be on the lookout for infections in women who have used the Mifeprex abortion pill.

Florida

Boy, 8, charged in death of baby sister

Prosecutors charged an 8-year-old boy with aggravated manslaughter Tuesday for kicking and punching his infant half sister and then hitting her in the face with a two-by-four, killing her.

If convicted, he could be held in a juvenile facility until his 21st birthday.

Jayza Laney Simms was 7 months old when she was killed in the May 22 attack. The boy, who isn’t being identified because of his age, was visiting his father, his father’s girlfriend and their two daughters – Jayza and a toddler – at their home in east Tampa.

The adults were outside talking with friends after putting the children to bed when the boy came out and said the baby was bleeding, authorities said. By the time the parents could get her to an emergency room, Jayza was dead.

The boy initially denied beating the baby. But he confessed later; authorities said he was jealous of the attention showered on the baby and angry that night because she wouldn’t stop crying.