In brief: Army trims plans for cuts to bases

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Army is curtailing plans to cut what it spends on running its bases worldwide after concerns from soldiers and Congress that services for military families might suffer.

Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey Jr. announced the step Friday in a statement. McHugh said the Army will add $500 million to its budget for base operations and will not “shortchange our soldiers and their families.”

“We were working to get more efficient with using our base support funds, but as we looked at it, we went too far,” Casey said during a visit with troops Friday at Fort Campbell, Ky. “So what we are doing is restoring about a third of what we took out.”

Student, 14, shot, killed at school

MADISON, Ala. – A ninth-grader was shot to death by another student during a class change Friday at a north Alabama middle school, authorities said.

Todd Brown, 14, was shot about 1:45 p.m. and taken by ambulance from Discovery Middle School to Huntsville Hospital, where he died, said hospital spokeswoman Kristen Bishop.

The suspected shooter was arrested inside in the school, where police are regularly stationed.

Police did not release the name of the alleged shooter, also a ninth-grader, citing their ongoing investigation. No one else was injured and it wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the gunfire.

Pilots didn’t know of bomb attempt

DETROIT – The pilots of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 didn’t immediately know that a passenger had tried to ignite a bomb on the Christmas Day trip from Amsterdam to Detroit, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The cockpit said it had a problem when the flight landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt told a House subcommittee.

“There was (a) communications gap between the cabin and the flight deck crew,” he said Thursday. “The flight deck crew reported they had someone who had attempted to set firecrackers off, so it didn’t elevate to anyone – whether it was the cockpit or air traffic control – to anything of great seriousness at that point.”

Technician took photos of females

TIFFIN, Ohio – A medical center technician secretly captured dozens of photos and videos of women and girls undressing during exams and recorded hundreds of more women at stores, playgrounds and high school sporting events, authorities said.

Investigators have identified 59 women and 13 children in the photos taken at the medical center where Jaime Aguirre, 43, worked as an ultrasound technician, said Kevin Reinbolt, a detective with the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office. They’ve been unable to determine the identities of another 200 women and children in the thousands of photos found on the man’s home computer.

“Wherever he saw an opportunity, he took photos. He had pictures at playgrounds, at stores, in line at counters,” Reinbolt said.

Aguirre is charged with illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material and voyeurism.