Md. soldier reported killed in Afghanistan
The Pentagon says a soldier from Maryland has been killed in Afghanistan. Spc. Rodrigo A. Munguiarivas, 27, of Germantown died Sunday in Bagram of wounds suffered when his unit was attacked by indirect fire. Munguiarivas, a vehicle driver, was assigned to the 710th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), in Fort Drum, N.Y. Fort Drum officials said he joined the Army in April 2008 and was deployed in January. He is survived by his mother and stepfather.
- Associated Press
Montgomery Co. crews end search for missing swimmers
An extensive search for two Leesburg, Va., cousins who disappeared Sunday afternoon while swimming in the fast-moving Potomac River near Cabin John in Montgomery County was called off Monday afternoon in the belief they have drowned, said a spokesman for the county fire and rescue service. The men's names were not released. Capt. Oscar Garcia, the spokesman, said no sign of the pair has been found along a mile-long search area in water whose bottom is full of debris. About 4:40 p.m. Sunday, the missing men, believed to be in their early 20s, were part of a group of six people who went into the river off Purple Horse Beach, Garcia said. He said authorities received a phone call from a woman who saw the men in the river yelling for help. Four were able to swim to the shoreline and rescue teams from the county and Virginia's Fairfax County looked for the missing men for more than two hours Sunday by the shoreline, by boat and helicopter. Garcia said Monday's ground and water search for the pair was called off about noon. Garcia said a note from authorities telling the men to contact them was placed on the windshield of their car parked near the river and was still there Monday.
- Richard Irwin and Brent Jones
Business, health leaders pledge $11M to 17 colleges
Maryland business and health industry leaders have pledged $11 million to 17 state colleges to help ease the state's nursing shortage, the Maryland Hospital Association announced Monday. The grants will help colleges expand enrollment and add faculty at their schools and are part of a larger campaign to double the number of nursing graduates statewide in five years. Maryland's nursing shortage is expected to reach 10,000 by 2016, according to the hospital association. So far, donors have raised $15.5 million. The campaign aims to raise $60 million in the effort to combat the shortage. The state's colleges have struggled to hire enough teaching professionals to meet demand. As a result, schools have had to turn away nearly half of all qualified applicants in recent years.
- Kelly Brewington
