Firetruck hits pickup, kills couple, 3 kids
THREE FORKS, Mont. -- A fire engine and a pickup collided on a Montana highway, causing an explosion and fire that killed a family of five and a volunteer fire chief, authorities said Friday. There were no survivors.
The fire engine driven by Three Forks Volunteer Fire Department Chief Todd Rummel was heading east on U.S. 12 when it collided with the westbound pickup about 10 miles east of Helena, forcing both vehicles into a ditch in a fiery blaze, authorities said.
Killed in the pickup were a Helena couple and their three young children, Montana Highway Patrol Capt. Gary Becker said. Their names and ages were not immediately released.
The Jefferson County sheriff's office sent the deceased to the state crime laboratory for identification and to determine the cause of death, Becker said. It will take some time to reconstruct what happened, he said.
New hands steering health care website
WASHINGTON -- Moving to prevent more insurance chaos when signups on healthcare.gov begin again this fall, the nation's new health care chief on Friday revamped the management of the federal website.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell appointed a new high-level operations manager to supervise closely the online portal for coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law. She also announced that she's hiring a chief executive officer and a technology leader to specifically handle all aspects of the health law's coverage expansion.
The Obama administration has said 8 million people have signed up for coverage through new markets offering subsidized private insurance. But last fall's open-enrollment launch was paralyzed by technology problems.
The new operations manager whom Burwell appointed Friday is a contractor who worked closely with management consultant Jeffrey Zients to turn the website around.
Andy Slavitt is a vice president of Optum, a technology company whose subsidiary built one part of healthcare.gov said to have worked well -- a federal data hub that helps verify the personal information of people applying for health insurance. Optum is owned by UnitedHealth, the nation's largest insurer.
Sex offenses bump general down 2 ranks
DURHAM, N.C. -- The Army has demoted Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair two levels in rank for sexual misconduct after his guilty pleas at a court-martial earlier this year, the Army secretary announced Friday.
Secretary of the Army John McHugh said Sinclair, once a rising star in the Army, will be forced to retire as a lieutenant colonel. Sinclair was fined $20,000 at his court-martial in March after pleading guilty to adultery, improper relationships with female officers, conduct unbecoming an officer, possessing pornography and misusing a government charge card.
Under terms of a plea deal, the government dropped charges alleging that Sinclair threatened to kill his lover and her family if she reported the affair; forced her to perform oral sex; and engaged in "open and notorious" sex with her.
The 27-year veteran of five combat tours had faced up to life in prison if convicted of the original charges against him. Sinclair was allowed to retire and retain benefits, rather than being dismissed from the service for his behavior.
McHugh said it was the first time in a decade that the Army has reduced a retiring general officer two ranks. The demotion will slash Sinclair's retirement pay.
Safety lapse causes CDC anthrax scare
At least 52 workers at federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention units are taking antibiotics as a precaution because of a lab safety problem that potentially exposed them to anthrax.
The federal agency on Friday raised its estimate of workers who may have been affected from 75 to 86, and said the number could rise again as additional workers such as janitors and support staff members go forward.
By Friday, the CDC's occupational health clinic had seen 54 out of 86 potentially exposed employees. Only two refused antibiotic treatment, which can cut the chances of infection after exposure to the deadly germ. The CDC said 27 of them also began receiving an anthrax vaccine. The others declined or were still considering the vaccine.
The safety lapse occurred when a high-level biosecurity lab failed to completely inactivate anthrax samples sent to three less-secure labs that were researching ways to detect the germs in environmental samples. Workers in the less-secure labs were not wearing adequate protective gear because they believed the samples had been inactivated.
-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS
A Section on 06/21/2014