NEWS OF THE DAY
_ 1 Prescriptions: It’s going to be more difficult to refill prescriptions for the most popular painkillers starting Monday, when new federal rules move products with hydrocodone into a stricter drug class reserved for the most dangerous and addictive substances. In approving the change, the Drug Enforcement Administration cited the 7 million Americans who abuse prescription drugs and the 100,000 overdose deaths from painkillers in the last decade. But many doctors and patients say the changes effectively punish people suffering from pain conditions because a small minority abuses the drugs. The changes mean: prescriptions for hydrocodone painkillers can be only for a 30-day supply; no refills will be allowed; each prescription must be handwritten by a doctor; only doctors can write the prescriptions, not nurse practitioners or physician assistants.
_ 2 Helicopter crash: Two people aboard a helicopter-like aircraft were killed when it crashed into a river in western Colorado, authorities said Sunday. The aircraft went into the Colorado River on Saturday evening near the town of Loma, the Mesa County Sheriff ’s Department said. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the aircraft was a Xenon gyroplane. Agents from the FAA and the National Transportation Board are investigating the cause of the crash.
_ 3 School shooting: The 26th and final playground built in memory of the Newtown school shooting victims opened Sunday in Connecticut. Volunteers and relatives of Dawn Hochsprung gathered in Watertown on Sunday to dedicate the playground. Hochsprung was the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School, where she, 20 first-graders and five other educators were shot to death in December 2012. There are now playgrounds for each of the 26 victims. They were built under the Sandy Ground Project, which constructed them in areas of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey affected by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
_ 4 Ailing congressman: The oldestever member of the U.S. House remained hospitalized Sunday after being injured in a weekend car accident in Trenton, Texas. A spokeswoman for Medical Center of Plano said Texas Republican Ralph Hall was in fair and stable condition. The 91-year-old was airlifted to the hospital Saturday after suffering a hip injury and minor cuts when a car turned in front of his vehicle. Hall lost a primary challenge in a Republican runoff election in May and is scheduled to leave office in January.
5 _ Missing student: The police chief in Charlottesville, Va., said Sunday that an anguished statement from the parents of a missing University of Virginia student has given investigators fresh resolve to carry on with the difficult search of hundreds square miles of countryside. Chief Timothy Longo said law officers are still aggressively searching for Hannah Graham, who disappeared on Sept. 13. On Saturday, her parents made an emotional plea for help.