In brief: Five infants at Illinois day care have measles

CHICAGO – Five infants who attend a suburban Chicago day care center have been diagnosed with measles and about 10 more children, including some also too young for vaccinations, could have been exposed to the disease, health officials said Thursday.

The Illinois and Cook County health departments said in a news release that lab tests confirmed measles in two infants who go to the KinderCare Learning Center on East Palatine Road in Palatine. Tests are pending for three others, but they have been diagnosed based on symptoms.

Officials had not identified the source of the infections at the center as of Thursday, but Dr. Terry Mason, chief operating officer for the county’s health and hospitals system, told a news conference there is no known link between the infants’ measles and a recent outbreak at Disneyland that sickened dozens of people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there have been at least 102 confirmed measles cases in 14 states in 2015, not including the Palatine cases. Of those 102, 94 were related to the Disneyland outbreak.

Coast Guardsman opens fire, sets ambush

BOURNE, Mass. – A Coast Guard member shot two colleagues at a Cape Cod condo complex early Thursday, lit a car on fire to hamper police, planted fake bombs and then opened fire on officers, authorities said.

The episode, which the police chief in the town of Bourne called “crazy and hectic,” left one woman dead, another woman and an officer wounded, and the suspect in custody.

Coast Guard spokesman Ross Ruddell said both women involved were stationed on Cape Cod, while the suspected shooter was a man stationed in Virginia. Ruddell said he could not disclose their names or how they knew each other.

Massachusetts authorities later identified the suspect as Adrian Loya, of Chesapeake, Virginia, who turned 31 on Thursday. He pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, armed assault, home invasion and assault and battery of a police officer during an arraignment Thursday afternoon in Falmouth District Court.

A judge ordered Loya to be held without bail and to undergo a mental health examination. He also ordered the file sealed.

Loya’s attorney, J. Drew Segadelli, didn’t discuss details of the case during the court hearing. Afterward, Segadelli said Loya and the two women had some type of relationship but said he couldn’t comment further because the file was sealed.

Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion survives

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation program using federal funds to buy private health insurance for the poor will survive another year after the Legislature reauthorized the program Thursday, despite an influx of new Republican lawmakers elected on a vow to kill the hybrid Medicaid expansion.

The Arkansas House voted 82-16 to reauthorize funding through June 2016 for the “private option” plan, which was crafted two years ago as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law. Arkansas was the first state to win federal approval for such an approach, touted as a compromise for Republican-leaning states.

The reauthorization now heads to Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who had called on lawmakers to continue the program while a proposed task force looks at alternatives for covering the more than 213,000 people currently in the program. The House approved a separate proposal setting up the task force, sending the bill to the Senate for a final vote.

Harvard to profs: No sex with undergrads

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard University has instituted a total ban on professors having sex with undergraduate students, strengthening language it said didn’t reflect its expectations on appropriate relationships between faculty members and students.

Harvard said in a statement released Thursday the change came as part of a formal review of its policy on Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in education.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences Committee on Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedures determined the university’s language on “relationships of unequal status” was not strong enough.

“Therefore, the Committee revised the policy to include a clear prohibition to better accord with these expectations,” Harvard said in its statement.

The university, which is based in Cambridge, just outside Boston, has about 2,400 faculty members and about 6,700 undergraduate students. Previously, its policy prohibited professors from having sex with students under their direct supervision. The policy now specifically bans professors and undergraduates from having any romantic or sexual involvements.