Warning urged for diabetes drug

The widely used diabetes drug Avandia should remain on the market because its benefits outweigh the risks, but it should carry a strong warning about an increased risk of heart disease, a federal advisory panel said Monday.

The committee concluded that the evidence is suggestive of an increased heart disease risk associated with its use, but that the evidence is not sufficiently strong to remove the drug from the market.

The Food and Drug Administration generally follows the recommendations of its advisory panels but is not obligated to do so.

RIDGECREST, Calif.

Man killed after shooting in hospital

A 75-year-old man walked into a medical building Monday and started firing a shotgun but was killed by a highway patrolman, authorities in this Mojave Desert community said.

The man fired one shot on the grounds of Ridgecrest Regional Hospital and entered a medical office building, where he fired several other shots, Police Chief Mike Avery said. No one was injured in the shooting. He also struck a female employee with the butt of his gun; her condition was unknown. Employees and patients escaped through the back door.

Officers told the man to drop his gun, but he refused and pointed it at them, authorities said.

WASHINGTON

House approves bill to help injured vets

The House took steps Monday to improve counseling and care for the tens of thousands of military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder.

The bill, one of four veterans bills passed by the House, requires the Veterans Affairs Department to provide outreach and mental health services to veterans of the two campaigns.

The VA in April reported that one-third of veterans of the two wars have sought VA health care since fiscal 2002, and that mental disorders made up 37 percent of possible diagnoses among recent battlefield veterans.

From wire reports