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Nancy reagan hospitalized after falling

By Times Wires
Published February 18, 2008

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan was hospitalized Sunday after falling in her home in Bel-Air but was doing well, her spokeswoman said. Reagan, 86, was taken to St. John's Health Center, where doctors determined that she did not break a hip as feared, spokeswoman Joanne Drake said.

Drake said Reagan was doing well and would stay the night in the same room where former President Ronald Reagan stayed after he broke his hip at home in 2001. He died June 5, 2004.

The former first lady is "joking and visiting in her room," Drake said. Reagan's family doctor recommended the overnight stay as a precaution, she said.

CHICAGO

College shooter had called his girlfriend

The girlfriend of Steven Kazmierczak said Sunday that he called her to say goodbye the night before he stormed a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University Thursday with four guns and opened fire, killing five students and then himself.

Speaking to CNN from her home, Jessica Baty, 28, said she had no indication he was planning anything.

Investigators still haven't determined why Kazmierczak, 27, opened fire in a lecture hall at his and Baty's alma mater, and she shed no light on a motive Sunday.

Police said that he had gone off prescribed medications in the weeks prior and that he had been acting erratically.

Elsewhere

KANSAS CITY, Mo.: Snow and slush closed the Kansas City International Airport on Sunday for nearly six hours, officials said. Dozens of flights were canceled.

ATLANTA: A nationwide study has found that the uninsured and those covered by Medicaid are more likely than those with private insurance to receive a diagnosis of cancer in the late stages of the disease, often diminishing their chances of survival. The study is to be published online today in the Lancet Oncology.

SAVANNAH, GA.: Dust that collected in a piece of safety equipment caused a small explosion at a sugar refinery weeks before the blast that killed nine workers, a federal investigator said Sunday. Stephen Selk, investigations manager for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, had few details about the previous blast at the Imperial Sugar refinery. He could not say whether it contributed to the massive explosion Feb. 7.

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, COLO.: The military is shutting down the Air Force Academy's emergency room and its hospital's inpatient services. Two nearby civilian hospitals will take over its more than 100,000 patients, authorities said.

Times wires

[Last modified February 18, 2008, 00:05:47]