Phoenix

Standoff gets inmate sixteen life sentences

An inmate who took two prison guards hostage in one of the longest prison standoffs in the nation’s history was sentenced Friday to 16 consecutive life sentences.

Ricky Wassenaar, 42, was convicted last month on 19 charges including kidnapping, sexual assault and aggravated assault for his role in last year’s 15-day hostage standoff at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis.

The standoff began Jan. 18, 2004, after Wassenaar and another inmate, Steven Coy, overpowered guards and staff in the prison’s kitchen using makeshift knives.

Wassenaar put on an officer’s uniform and tricked guard Jason Auch into letting him into an armed watchtower. Coy was let in later. The inmates released Auch after a week.

The second guard, Lois Fraley, was held during the entire standoff. She has publicly said she was raped by both inmates.

Coy pleaded guilty last year to kidnapping, assault, sexual assault and other charges. He is serving seven life sentences in Maine.

Pennsylvania

Tylenol’s maker recalls children’s products

The maker of Tylenol said Friday it voluntarily was recalling several children’s products because label information might be confusing and could lead to overdosing.

McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals said it was recalling all lots and all flavors of:

¢ 80-milligram Children’s Tylenol Meltaways packaged in bottles and blisters.

¢ 80-milligram Children’s Tylenol SoftChews packaged in blisters.

¢ 160-milligram Jr. Tylenol Meltaways packaged in blisters.

In 80-milligram products, the recall was triggered by concerns that blister packs containing two pills in each compartment would lead some consumers to think that the two tablets contained a total of 80 milligrams of acetaminophen; each tablet contains 80 milligrams.

As for bottled products and the 160-milligram product, the company said labeling on the front panel of the carton could confuse consumers on proper dosages. The spokeswoman said McNeil was changing wording on the front of the package to say that each “tablet” contains the given strength of acetaminophen rather than each “dose.”

Washington, D.C.

White House downplays missing weapons report

The White House on Friday played down a report in which U.N. weapons inspectors documented additional materials missing from weapons sites in Iraq.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the Bush administration had taken steps to ensure sites were secured, and he suggested it was doubtful the looted material was being used to boost other countries’ weapons programs.

In a report this week to the U.N. Security Council, acting chief weapons inspector Demetrius Perricos said satellite imagery experts had determined material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons and banned long-range missiles had been removed from 109 sites, up from 90 reported in March.

The sites have been emptied of equipment to various degrees, with the largest percentage of missing items at 58 missile facilities.

Miami

Court: Pharmacists can be liable for drug risks

A pharmacist can be held responsible for failing to warn about a medication’s risks, even when filling a doctor’s prescription, a Florida appeals court ruled.

The 4th District Court of Appeal said the duty to warn about using drugs repeatedly or in harmful combinations was based in the requirement that pharmacists have “general knowledge” of medicines they dispense and the risks they present.

The ruling this week lets Robert Powers pursue claims of negligence against two pharmacies – Your Druggist and The Medicine Shoppe – that filled his wife Gail’s prescriptions for neck and back pain. She died of an overdose in October 2002.

The pharmacies said they planned to appeal.

Gail Powers, a 46-year-old waitress, had been taking six drugs, including painkillers OxyContin and Percocet and the anti-anxiety drug diazepam. These drugs can be harmful if taken together and some are highly addictive with long-term use, according to the Food and Drug Administration.