Woodruff, cameraman show improvement after bombing
Landstuhl, Germany – ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were showing signs of improvement Monday after being seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq.
Woodruff briefly opened his eyes Monday and responded to stimuli to his hands and feet, the network said. The men may be flown back to the United States as early as today.
A spokeswoman for Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in western Germany said that “They are showing early signs of reaction, signs of slow improvement.”
Col. Bryan Gamble, commander of the medical center, described Woodruff and Vogt on Monday as “very seriously injured but stable,” with injuries “typical of victims of improvised explosive devices.” Gamble said their body armor likely saved them.
It was not immediately clear whether shrapnel had penetrated Woodruff’s brain or if he was suffering from a concussive injury, said former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, a Woodruff family friend.
“The doctors had told them once they arrived that the brain swelling had gone down. In Bob’s case, that had been a big concern. Yesterday they had to operate and remove part of the skullcap to relieve some of the swelling,” Brokaw said on NBC’S “Today” show.
Vogt was filming a standup report with Woodruff, and both were standing in the open hatch of an Iraqi military vehicle Sunday when a bomb went off.
Vogt’s injuries were less serious, and he was talking and joking with colleagues on Monday.
SEATTLE
Northwest slides block roads, tracks
Avalanches and mudslides closed a major highway overnight and blocked Amtrak train service Monday amid the latest in a series of storms that have drenched the Northwest since December.
The storm that hit on Sunday also knocked out power and phones in northwest Oregon.
Interstate 90, Washington state’s main east-west artery, was closed Sunday evening by two snowslides in the area of 3,022-foot Snoqualmie Pass. Nearly 40 inches of snow fell at the pass in four days.
Mudslides during the night north of Seattle halted Amtrak passenger service and Sounder commuter trains between Seattle and Everett, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad spokesman said.
DEDHAM, Mass.
Dominatrix acquitted in death; body gone
A dominatrix was acquitted of manslaughter Monday in the death of a man who prosecutors say suffered a heart attack while strapped to a replica of a medieval rack.
Prosecutors said 53-year-old Michael Lord suffered a heart attack in 2000 in a makeshift “dungeon” in the condominium of Barbara Asher, 56, and that Asher did nothing to help him for fear authorities would find out about her business.
Prosecutors said that Asher had her boyfriend chop up the body of the 275-pound man and that they dumped it in Maine, but it has never been found.
Police say Asher confessed but the confession was not taped. Asher’s lawyer said there was no body, no blood and no DNA to prove Lord was even dead.
GREAT FALLS, Mont.
Student kills himself after getting to school
A student shot himself to death in a high school bathroom Monday, just moments after getting off the bus.
Surveillance cameras at C.M. Russell High School captured the junior getting off a bus, then walking into a bathroom just inside the school doors.
The principal, who was outside the bathroom door, heard a shot, ran in and found the boy.
ROME
Nun’s recovery may be deemed miracle
A nun’s apparently inexplicable recovery in France from Parkinson’s disease, the same affliction suffered by Pope John Paul II, looks very promising as the miracle needed to beatify the late pontiff, a Polish cleric said.
But Vatican officials cautioned Monday that any decision about the healing would take time. A miracle is required for beatification, the last formal step before a person is considered for sainthood. A second miracle is needed for someone to be declared a saint.
ABUJA, Nigeria
4 foreign hostages released by rebels
An American and three other foreign oil workers held hostage for two weeks were released Monday after a secessionist leader appealed to their captors, who had demanded southern Nigerians benefit more from their region’s energy wealth.
The kidnappings were among a rash of recent attacks signaling that violence is on the rise in the Niger Delta, which remains impoverished despite its oil reserves.
The four men – Louisiana native Patrick Landry, Briton Nigel Watson-Clark, Bulgarian Milko Nichev and Honduran Harry Ebanks – appeared alongside Nigeria’s president after being brought to the capital from southern Nigeria.
MEXICO CITY
Bullring faces upgrade after bull leaps barrier
Officials said Monday they planned to reinforce Mexico City’s most famous bullring after a 1,108-pound bull jumped into the stands during a fight, injuring several spectators before it was killed.
City officials were meeting with specialists to determine the best way to reinforce the stadium.
