CALIFORNIA
Suleman-case doctor expelled from group
BEVERLY HILLS — The Beverly Hills doctor who gave fertility treatments to octuplets mom Nadya Suleman has been expelled from a professional organization.
Dr. Michael Kamrava was kicked out of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine last month, group spokesman Sean Tipton said Monday.
Tipton said Kamrava has repeatedly violated the group's standards. He declined to provide details, but said Kamrava was not expelled because of his work with any single patient.
A message for Kamrava was not immediately returned.
Suleman has said Kamrava implanted her with six embryos — far more than national guidelines specify. Suleman gave birth to octuplets in January.
People are also reading…
The decision may be a blow to Kamrava's prestige, but it won't keep him from practicing medicine. Tipton says the nonprofit group has no such legal authority.
Nurses threaten strike over H1N1 policies
LOS ANGELES — A California nurses' union has threatened a one-day strike at 34 hospitals, accusing the providers of poor H1N1 flu preparedness.
As many as 16,000 registered nurses will strike on Oct. 30 if state and federal flu protection recommendations aren't written into their contracts, said California Nurses Association spokes-man Chuck Idelson.
Nurses have complained about poor access to protective N-95 masks since a 51-year-old Sacramento nurse died in July after contracting H1N1, or swine flu. The gear is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for use while treating swine flu patients.
The strike threat comes amid negotiations between the union and Catholic Healthcare West, the largest hospital system in California, which runs 28 of the 34 hospitals that would be affected by the walkout. Talks were ongoing Monday.
MINNESOTA
Tests show 3 pigs could have H1N1
MINNEAPOLIS — Preliminary tests show three pigs in Minnesota may have contracted the H1N1 flu virus, making them the first potential U.S. cases in swine, agricultural officials said Friday. They stressed the finding does not threaten food safety.
The samples were taken from pigs shown at the Minnesota State Fair between Aug. 26 and Sept. 1 as part of a university research project. Officials expect results next week to confirm whether the pigs were infected with H1N1 flu.
The Department of Agriculture's veterinary lab in Ames, Iowa, is conducting tests to confirm the results, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
In a conference call with reporters Friday, Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson said, "This is not an issue of food safety. Pork products are and continue to be safe to eat."
Authorities said they aren't planning special measures if the tests confirm the Minnesota pigs had the virus.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Defense Dept. scientist held on spy charges
WASHINGTON — A Maryland scientist who worked for the Defense Department, a White House space council and other agencies was arrested Monday on espionage charges.
The Justice Department said Stewart David Nozette, 52, of Chevy Chase, was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information to an individual he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer.
The complaint does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf violated U.S. law.
Nozette was arrested Monday by FBI agents. He is expected to make his initial appearance today in federal court.
In an affidavit supporting the complaint that was unsealed Monday, FBI agent Leslie Martell said that on Sept. 3, Nozette received a telephone call from an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer. The caller was an undercover FBI agent.
Nozette agreed to meet with the agent later that day at a hotel in Washington, and in that meeting the two discussed Nozette's willingness to work for Israeli intelligence. He agreed to provide regular, continuing information and asked for an Israeli passport, authorities said.
NEW YORK
Hedge fund suit vs. Biden kin tossed out
NEW YORK — A judge has thrown out a lawsuit against Vice President Joe Biden's youngest son and brother over their 2006 purchase of a hedge fund firm, saying an investor failed to be specific enough in claiming that they underhandedly cut him out of the deal.
Stephane Farouze didn't lay out his allegations against Hunter Biden and James Biden "with any meaningful degree of particularity," Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Bernard J. Fried wrote in an order filed Friday.
Farouze, now the London-based global head of fund derivatives for Deutsche Bank, filed his $10 million suit against the Bidens and a former associate in 2008. Farouze said they schemed to gain control of his interest in the investment concern, Paradigm Cos. LLC, without buying him out. The Bidens' camp said Farouze never really owned the roughly 31 percent share he offered to sell them.
NEW JERSEY
'Walk of Death' killer, who murdered 13, dies
TRENTON — Howard Barton Unruh, who killed 13 people as he walked the streets of Camden in a psychotic 1949 shooting spree that was the nation's worst mass murder at the time, died Monday. He was 88.
Camden County Prosecutor Warren W. Faulk said Unruh died at 3:35 p.m. in a Trenton nursing facility after an extended illness.
Unruh had been confined in a state psychiatric hospital since the killings, which became known as the "Walk of Death." Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, he confessed to the killings and was judged mentally competent but never tried for the Sept. 6, 1949, massacre.
Unruh, then a 28-year-old honorably discharged World War II veteran and pharmacy student, planned the killings for more than a year. He kept a meticulous journal on his intended victims. He killed five men, five women and three children.
