CHICAGO

Crowd holds largest protest ahead of weekend summit

Thousands of nurses and other protesters gathered Friday at a downtown Chicago plaza for a noisy but largely peaceful demonstration demanding a “Robin Hood” tax on banks’ financial transactions, before a smaller but more raucous crowd broke away and began marching through city streets.

Friday’s demonstrations were the largest yet ahead of a two-day NATO summit that is expected to draw even larger protests.

Members of National Nurses United, the nation’s largest nurses union, were joined by members of the Occupy movement, unions and veterans.

City officials have said the event could draw more than 5,000 because of a performance by former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, an activist who has played at many Occupy events. Early crowds did not appear to be that large.

NEW YORK

Psychiatrist apologizes for study about going straight

A prominent retired psychiatrist is apologizing to the gay community for a decade-old study that concluded some gay people can go straight through what’s called reparative therapy.

Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, formerly of Columbia University, now says he no longer believes his work showed that.

For the study, Spitzer interviewed 200 people who’d claimed some degree of change. The “fatal flaw” is that there is no way to judge the credibility of their accounts, Spitzer says in a letter he submitted last month to a journal that published his work in 2003.

The work made headlines when he presented it at a 2001 meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.

LIMA, Ohio

Infant dies hours after being attacked by dog

A 3-day-old infant died hours after she was attacked by a family dog while sitting in a swing at her grandmother’s home, police said.

The baby girl, Makayla Darnell, suffered a head injury at the home near Beaverdam in northern Allen County about 6:30 p.m. Thursday, said Chief Deputy Jim Everett of the Allen County Sheriff’s Office in Lima.

The grandmother, Janette Myers, 44, of Monroe Township, told investigators that the baby’s mother had put the infant in a swing while she prepared to feed her, Everett said. The mother, Audrianna Myers, 22, also of Monroe Township, and the grandmother apparently were in the kitchen when they heard a whimper from the infant, according to the deputy.

They took the baby to a nearby hospital, and she was then flown to a hospital in Toledo, where she died about 11 p.m.

GREENSBORO, N.C.

Edwards jury to continue deliberations on Monday

A jury deliberated for about five hours Friday in John Edwards’ campaign corruption trial involving money from wealthy donors that was used to hide his pregnant mistress during his 2008 White House bid. Talks will resume Monday, but the jury has already made several requests for evidence and office supplies, a sign they may be settling in for detailed discussions.

Edwards is charged with six criminal counts including conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, accepting contributions that exceeded campaign finance limits, and causing his campaign to file a false financial disclosure report. He faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted of all charges.

— From news service reports