Puerto Rico finds aid supplies cache
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico's Health Secretary Lorenzo Gonzalez said Saturday that officials discovered a cache of urgently needed personal protective equipment at a hospital in the nearby island of Vieques that remains closed since the Category 4 storm hit the U.S. territory in September 2017.
He said the equipment includes face masks, gloves, gowns and face shields that were in good condition and would be distributed to health institutions.
"They're very useful at this moment," said Gonzalez, who became the island's newest health secretary this week, the third in the span of two weeks.
He also said officials recently located a warehouse with medicine and medical equipment worth $4 million donated during Hurricane Maria, and that nearly all of it had expired. He did not provide details about what specific items were found.
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Puerto Rico has reported 18 deaths related to covid-19, including that of a nurse, and more than 450 confirmed cases, including several police officers who join health workers in demanding more personal protective equipment.
Georgia officer shot; suspect arrested
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. -- The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called in to look into a shooting Saturday that left an officer injured and a murder suspect in custody.
Gerald Walker, a spokesman for College Park, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, said one of the city's officers was shot while chasing a murder suspect, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The chase began when a license plate reader spotted a vehicle believed to have been driven by the suspect and alerted police, Walker said.
Officers from East Point and Hapeville department and Georgia State Patrol troopers were also involved.
The authorities contacted the suspect near an intersection, and it was "during this encounter that College Park Sgt. Charles Landrum suffered a gunshot wound to the neck," Walker said.
Police said Landrum's injury doesn't appear to be serious. Doctors at Grady Memorial Hospital removed the bullet and he's expected to remain hospitalized overnight for observation, the newspaper reported.
The suspect, whose name was not released, was taken into custody. He's being treated at Grady Memorial hospital, but authorities did not say how he was injured or the extent of his injuries. Details of his alleged crime were not immediately released.
Tennessee election law changes signed
NASHVILLE -- Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed several election law changes that lawmakers passed before they recessed because of the coronavirus, including one that scales back voter registration drive restrictions that a federal judge blocked and another that details voting options during disasters.
The changes to voter registration penalties were hailed as a win by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the leaders in lawsuits in which a court blocked the harsher restrictions passed last year. The new law removes misdemeanor penalties for not completing certain administrative requirements and eliminates fines for submitting too many incomplete registration forms.
The now-removed 2019 restrictions were likely to stay blocked through the November elections because of the April 2021 trial date.
"Voter registration drives are essential to ensuring that historically disenfranchised groups -- including students, people of color, immigrants and senior citizens -- can exercise their right to vote," ACLU of Tennessee legal director Thomas Castelli said in a statement. "We are pleased that our lawsuit succeeded in restoring voter registration and expanding access to the ballot box in Tennessee."
Another new law includes felony penalties for intentionally passing on false information about voter registration or when and where to vote.
State forming emergency medical team
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri is asking medical professionals who are not working to join a specialized state team that responds to critical health emergencies.
"We are calling on all available medical professionals to support the effort to fight the virus by joining a critical reserve unit now focusing on providing care in high need areas across the state," Gov. Mike Parson said in a news release Saturday. "Their efforts can help save the lives of their fellow Missourians."
Selected medical workers would become part of the Missouri Disaster Medical Assistance Team. The state is asking health care students, retired health care workers and those whose professional registrations recently expired to apply online for the team.
Individuals are needed with backgrounds in medicine, nursing, allied health, dentistry, biomedicine, laboratory science, logistics and communications.
Medical personnel from the team have already deployed to augment staffing at Golden Valley Hospital in Clinton and Western Missouri Medical Center in Warrensburg.
A Section on 04/05/2020