Required tally of flu shots for health workers sought
Baltimore hospitals, doctors' offices and long-term care facilities would have to report the rates of influenza vaccination among their workers under new regulations being proposed by the city Health Department. Low vaccination rates among health care workers can contribute to flu outbreaks, and informal studies of Baltimore hospitals found vaccination rates varied from 35 percent to 71 percent, with none reaching the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendation for 80 percent coverage, according to the Health Department. If the regulation is approved, health care facilities would have to report on the percentage of employees who get vaccinated and the reasons that other employees declined to do so. The department will accept public comments on the proposal through Sept. 24. Written comments can be sent to: Dr. Laura Herrera, 210 Guilford Ave., 3rd Floor, Baltimore 21202.
Anti-abortion group sues Harford, Bel Air and police
The Alliance Defense Fund, a group founded 14 years ago with the stated mission of safeguarding Christian beliefs, has filed suit against Harford County, the town of Bel Air and seven local and state police officials in connection with an anti-abortion demonstration in the town last month. The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, claims that at least 12 police officers handcuffed 18 demonstrators Aug. 1 and would not tell them a reason for their arrests. Three young women were twice subjected to strip searches, the suit alleges, once at the Bel Air police station and again at the Harford County Detention Center. The women, who were not released until the next day, were denied permission to call relatives or contact attorneys, the suit says. The state dropped charges, which included loitering, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a lawful order, on Aug. 12. Town and county officials said yesterday that they had not seen the suit and would not comment on pending litigation. State police had no comment.
MARY GAIL HARE
Request withdrawn for new trial of Sifrit
ROCKVILLE: Benjamin Sifrit's attorney withdrew a request yesterday for a new trial for the former Navy SEAL convicted along with his wife of the 2002 killings of a pair of Ocean City tourists. Sifrit was handcuffed and shackled and said nothing during the short hearing in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville. When asked whether Sifrit now feels remorse, attorney Michael Lawlor said his client still feels he was at most an accessory after the fact. Sifrit and his wife, Erika, of Hollidaysburg, Pa., were convicted in separate trials in 2003. Prosecutors said Martha Crutchley and Joshua Ford of Fairfax, Va., were lured to a condo where they were shot. Their dismembered bodies were found days later in a Delaware landfill.
Associated Press
