In Brief

Military warns soldiers working with electricity

WASHINGTON: The U.S. military has started a media campaign to educate soldiers about working with electricity as part of an effort to prevent future electrocutions in Iraq. The deaths of at least 18 U.S. service members and contractors in Iraq are under investigation as possible electrocutions. Gen. David Petraeus revealed details of the information campaign and other efforts such as the creation of a baseline electrical code for the war zone in a letter to Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey. One of the soldiers killed was Green Beret Sgt. Ryan Maseth of Pittsburgh, who was electrocuted while showering in his barracks in Iraq. Petraeus wrote the letter before stepping aside as the top commander in Iraq.

Iowa girl, 14, is left at Neb. 'safe haven'

OMAHA, Neb.: Health officials say a 14-year-old Iowa girl has been abandoned at an Omaha hospital under Nebraska's safe-haven law. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said the girl is from Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri River from Omaha. She was left at Creighton University Medical Center yesterday. She is the 17th child overall and the first from another state to be abandoned since the law took effect in July. It was meant to protect the lives of infants by letting a parent leave them at a hospital without fear of prosecution. The law doesn't have an age limit, and many children left to date have been teenagers or preteens.