Louisiana suspect shoots self in standoff
NEW ORLEANS — The suspect in the slayings of a police officer and a woman shot himself Friday after an hours-long standoff on a New Orleans bridge but is alive, a Louisiana state police spokesman said.
Trooper Dustin Dwight said the man identified as Sylvester Holt shot himself once in the chest Friday evening. Mr. Dwight said negotiators had been talking with Mr. Holt but he does not know what was said.
The self-inflicted gunshot wound brought an end to a chaotic day that began with the early morning shooting death of Westwego Officer Michael Louviere, 26, and Simone Veal, 32, of Marrero.
Bushes still hospitalized
HOUSTON — Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, remained hospitalized in Houston on Friday, a family spokesman said.
The 92-year-old former president is being treated for breathing difficulties stemming from pneumonia. He was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital last weekend for shortness of breath but was later moved to intensive care when physicians put in a breathing tube.
He remained in intensive care on Friday, family spokesman Jim McGrath said. No other updates were immediately available, but Mr. McGrath said on Thursday that he was hopeful the nation’s 41st president could be discharged from the ICU in a few days.
Fight for name change
ATLANTA — Two transgender men may legally change their names, a Georgia appeals court ruled Friday, overturning a judge’s orders that said the name changes could be confusing and considered a type of fraud.
Columbia County Superior Court Judge J. David Roper abused his discretion when he denied the name change petitions, the Georgia Court of Appeals decision said. The appeals court sent the two cases back to Mr. Roper and directed him to enter an order changing the names.
Sgt. Bergdahl trial
RALEIGH, N.C. — President Donald Trump’s scathing criticism of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will prevent the soldier from getting a fair trial on charges he endangered comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan, Sgt. Bergdahl’s attorneys said Friday.
In a motion filed shortly after Mr. Trump was sworn in Friday, defense lawyers asked a military judge to dismiss the charges against Sgt. Bergdahl and argued the Republican violated his due process rights and military law against unlawful command influence.
Mass. drug lab scandal
MASSACHUSETTS — The first of two massive scandals involving chemists at two Massachusetts drug labs took a major turn Wednesday when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected the idea of dismissing all 24,000 convictions in drug cases handled by a “rogue” chemist, but strongly urged prosecutors in eight counties around Boston to drop many of the cases so that a manageable number could be retried if needed.
Also in the nation ...
A television station has found the reason one central Pennsylvania town, Jersey Shore, smells like crop — it’s downwind from a field of decaying radishes.