WASHINGTON

Ebola-positive American admitted to special unit

An American health care worker who tested positive for the Ebola virus while volunteering at a treatment center in Sierra Leone was admitted to a special unit at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on Friday.

The unidentified patient is the second Ebola victim to be brought to the NIH’s Special Clinical Studies Unit. In October, Dallas nurse Nina Pham was treated there after she became infected caring for a Liberian man.

NIH officials said Friday the new patient was “transferred from Sierra Leone via private charter medevac in isolation” and admitted at 4:44 a.m. He or she is in serious condition, the NIH said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday afternoon that another U.S. citizen who “had potential exposure” to the NIH patient was being brought by charter to the Atlanta area to be near Emory University Hospital..

Officer fatally shoots man ‘trespassing’ in subway tunnel

A transit police officer fatally shot a man officials said was found trespassing in a Washington subway tunnel, and police were investigating Friday but did not specify what kind of threat the man posed.

The Metrorail Operations Control Center reported an “unauthorized person” on the tracks Thursday night outside of the Potomac Avenue station, about two stops from the U.S. Capitol, just before 9 p.m. A train operator first saw the man in the tunnel, and that track was taken out of service, Metro officials said.

Metro Transit Police officers responded.

“Shots were fired by the officer using a department-issued service weapon” and the man, identified as Bobby Gross, 35, was pronounced dead at the scene, Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said.

Officials declined to say Friday whether the man was armed.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

PETA seeks cancellation of Iditarod dog sled race

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Friday said in a statement that the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race should be permanently canceled.

PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch cited the death Thursday of Wyatt, a 3-year-old male on four-time champion Lance Mackey’s team, as the latest casualty in a long list of dogs that have died in the race’s 43-year history.

PETA also cited the use of a blind dog on another team.

A message left with the Iditarod’s top official, Stan Hooley, wasn’t immediately returned Friday.

– From news service reports