Nation briefs 10/6/16

Marine gets double arm transplant

BOSTON -- A Boston hospital successfully performed a double arm transplant on a former Marine who lost his limbs in an explosion in Afghanistan. Sgt. John Peck lost his legs and left arm when he stepped on a homemade bomb in May 2010. He later lost the other arm because of an infection. He was in a coma for three months, and it took him two years to recover. Peck is originally from Illinois and now lives in Virginia. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, hand and arm transplants have been performed on more than 85 people around the world. A team of three doctors performed the procedures.

Veep debate seen by 37 million viewers

NEW YORK -- More than half of the 84 million viewers who flocked last week to the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton found something else to do when their respective running mates faced off Tuesday night. A total of 37 million viewers watched GOP vice presidential hopeful Mike Pence debate Democratic rival Tim Kaine on nine networks measured by the Nielsen company. NBC was on top with 7 million viewers, followed by CBS, ABC, Fox News Channel (the most-watched cable outlet), CNN, MSNBC, Fox broadcasting, PBS and Fox Business Network. The number was down sharply from the estimated 50 million viewers who saw Republican challenger Paul Ryan debate Vice President Joe Biden in 2012.

Hurricane to delay hot-car death trial

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- The trial of a Georgia man charged with murder after his toddler son died inside a hot SUV will go into recess as Hurricane Matthew heads toward the southern region of the U.S. Judge Mary Staley Clark said before testimony began Wednesday the trial will be put on hold starting at noon today and will reconvene Friday, according to news-media outlets. The trial is being held in coastal Brunswick, Georgia, which is expected to be in the path of the hurricane. The case was moved 275 miles from the Atlanta suburbs because of pretrial publicity. Prosecutors said Justin Ross Harris intentionally killed his 22-month-old son, Cooper, by leaving the child for seven hours in a vehicle parked outside the father's Cobb County workplace. Harris' defense lawyer Maddox Kilgore told the jury in his opening statement Tuesday that Harris is certainly responsible for his son's death, but insisted it was an accident and Harris committed no crime.

Student apologizes for lynching remark

JACKSON, Miss. -- A white University of Mississippi student is withdrawing from school and publicly apologizing for his Facebook post about lynching people who were protesting the killing of a black man by North Carolina police officers. The post prompted protests Sept. 23 on the Oxford campus, and chancellor Jeffrey Vitter condemned it as "racist, offensive and hurtful." Ole Miss officials sent out a statement to students and faculty Wednesday notifying them Jordan Samson is withdrawing from classes but will work on "restorative-justice activities" with the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation.

-- From wire reports