New York

Doctor issued warnings before anthrax attacks

Dr. Kenneth Berry was sounding alarms about bioterrorism well before the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people, and he advocated gas masks for Americans at a 2001 EPA-sponsored conference.

He called for anthrax vaccines in 1997, and he won a patent in March on a tracking device for biological, chemical and nuclear attacks.

In recent days agents have searched Berry’s home and former apartment in Wellsville, his parents’ summer home on the Jersey shore and a car Berry reportedly kept at an airport in rural southwestern Pennsylvania. An FBI spokesman said the searches were part of the bureau’s investigation of the unsolved 2001 anthrax attacks.

Berry told police that he had nothing to do with anthrax, Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., Police Chief Daniel DePolo said in a news conference Friday.

California

Gorilla Koko requests dentist

When Koko the gorilla used the American Sign Language gesture for pain and pointed to her mouth, 12 specialists, including three dentists, sprang into action.

The result? Her first full medical examination in about 20 years, an extracted tooth and a clean bill of health.

About a month ago, Koko, a 300-plus-pound ape who became famous for mastering more than 1,000 signs, began telling her handlers at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside she was in pain. They quickly constructed a pain chart, offering Koko a scale from one to 10.

When Koko started pointing to nine or 10 too often, a dental appointment was made. And because anesthesia would be involved, her handlers used the opportunity to give Koko a head-to-toe exam.

“She’s quite articulate,” volunteer Johnpaul Slater said.