Report of shooting in hotel delayed

Compiled from news services

Mandalay Bay hotel officials didn’t notify police about a shooting in a hallway inside the Las Vegas high-rise until after Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd at a country music festival outside, a federal official told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The disclosure means there may have been a delay of some six minutes in summoning police to the scene of what became the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The official was briefed by law enforcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trucking firm closed

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Federal safety regulators have shut down a troubled Iowa trucking company that owned the semitrailer involved in a human trafficking case in which 10 immigrants died in Texas.

Pyle Transportation was placed under an “out-of-service order” Monday by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration after a review found the company’s safety rating was so unsatisfactory that it was unfit to remain in business, an agency spokesman said.

Dozens of immigrants were found inside a Pyle branded semitrailer in July in San Antonio. Eight were dead. Two others died later.

Equifax website down

WASHINGTON— Equifax Inc. took part of its website offline Thursday after code on the site redirected users to a URL urging them to download malware.

Also Thursday, a Republican congressman introduced a bill that would stop credit reporting companies such as Equifax from using Social Security numbers to verify Americans’ identities.

The moves come a month after Equifax revealed that a data breach exposed the Social Security numbers and birthdates of as many as 145.5 million Americans.

Gene therapy endorsed

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A potentially groundbreaking treatment for a rare form of blindness moved closer to U.S. approval Thursday, as federal health advisers endorsed the experimental gene therapy to treat an inherited condition that gradually destroys eyesight.

The panel experts to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously in favor of Spark Therapeutics’ injectable therapy, which aims to improve vision by replacing a defective gene needed to process light. The FDA has until mid-January to make its decision.

If approved, Luxturna would be the first gene therapy in the U.S. for an inherited disease and the first in which a corrective gene is given directly to patients.