SCALPEL LEFT BEHIND
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – An Army veteran who says someone left a scalpel inside him after surgery is suing a Connecticut veterans affairs hospital. Bridgeport resident Glenford Turner says the scalpel was only discovered years later, after he suffered from long-term abdominal pain. He sued the VA in U.S. District Court last week, seeking unspecified compensatory damages. Court papers say Turner had surgery at the VA hospital in West Haven in 2013. Nearly four years later, he went back to the VA with dizziness and severe abdominal pain. An X-Ray showed there was a scalpel inside his body. Turner had to undergo surgery to remove the scalpel. His lawyer says doctors confirmed it was the same one. The lawyer calls it “an incomprehensible level of incompetence.” The VA said Monday it doesn’t typically comment on pending litigation.
KING BIRTHDAY NOTED
The birthday of slain civil rights leader Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior is noted in Norwich Monday with the annual march from Norwich City Hall to the Evans Memorial A-M-E Zion Church on McKinley Avenue, where a celebration service was held. Church leader, Reverend John Gentry, says America’s recent efforts to keep immigrants out can hurt the nation, making it less diverse. Speaking outside City Hall before the march, Norwich Free Academy junior Luckensley Paul says Doctor King’s message resonates with him as he pursues an engineering career. Several people, including many high school students, wore t-shirts that quoted Doctor King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. King Day observances also took place in New London.
FLOODING IN KENT
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – A Connecticut town has declared a state of emergency due to flooding caused by a mile-long ice jam. Officials in Kent declared the local state of emergency Monday, as waters from the Housatonic River rose and then froze, covering many of the town’s roads. The private boarding school the Kent School sent more than 500 students home on Monday after the waters rose onto campus and froze in place. The school’s ice rink was surrounded by frozen water. Officials say the ice jam is a mile long and estimated to be as thick as 12 feet in spots. Elsewhere, flooding is causing trouble in other communities, including along the Connecticut River and Shepaug River. Officials are warning people not to drive on flooded roadways.
PROVIDENCE PLACE SHOOTING
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – One person has been shot and wounded in a parking garage outside a Rhode Island shopping mall, leading to an evacuation of the mall and a search for any suspects. The shooting happened Monday afternoon on the second floor of the Providence Place mall parking garage outside a door to Nordstrom department store. Police say the 19-year-old man who was shot was targeted. He was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police say the mall was cleared out of an abundance of caution. No arrests have been made. Police are reviewing security camera footage and say the investigation is ongoing. The Providence Place mall is located in downtown Providence near the Statehouse.
