Nation briefs 3/16/16

Obama bars drilling off Atlantic coast

WASHINGTON -- In a major reversal, the Obama administration said Tuesday it will bar oil drilling off America's Atlantic Coast, a move cheered by environmentalists and consistent with the president's steps to combat climate change. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the decision "protects the Atlantic for future generations." She said the administration had listened to thousands of people in coastal communities from Florida to New England who said, "Now is not the time to start leasing off the Atlantic Coast." Business groups and most Republicans criticized it as an example of what they call executive overreach.

Guardian: Shooting suspect had disorder

WASHINGTON -- A man accused of shooting at a Maryland police station to provoke officers was diagnosed as bipolar and intermittently was homeless after his mother kicked him out of the house at age 16, his legal guardian said Tuesday. Michael Ford, 22, remained hospitalized after he was shot during the gunbattle with police Sunday afternoon outside a station in Landover, a Washington suburb. Prince George's County detective Jacai Colson, who was wearing civilian clothes when he began firing back at Ford, was killed inadvertently by one of his fellow officers, the county's police chief said. Ford's two brothers -- Malik, 21, and Elijah, 18 -- drove him to the police station and used cellphones to record video of the firefight, according to police.

CDC urgs curbs on prescribed painkillers

WASHINGTON -- Prescription painkillers should not be a first choice for treating common ailments such as back pain and arthritis, according to new federal guidelines designed to reshape how doctors prescribe drugs such as OxyContin and Vicodin. Amid an epidemic of addiction and abuse tied to these opioid drugs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging primary care doctors to try physical therapy, exercise and over-the-counter pain medications before turning to painkillers for chronic pain. Opioid drugs include medications such as morphine and oxycodone as well as illegal narcotics such as heroin. The new recommendations -- which doctors do not have to follow -- represent an effort to reverse nearly two decades of rising painkiller use that public-health officials blame for a more than fourfold increase in overdose deaths tied to the drugs. In 2014, U.S. doctors wrote nearly 200 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers, while deaths linked to the drugs climbed to 19,000 -- the highest number on record.

D.C. subway closed for inspections

WASHINGTON -- The entire Washington, D.C., subway system will shut down for at least 29 hours to inspect electrical components on the tracks, an official briefed on the decision said Tuesday, posing a potentially disastrous commute for hundreds of thousands of workers in the federal government and private sector alike. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to release the information ahead of a news conference Tuesday afternoon. The Metro subway system shut down at midnight Tuesday and will remain closed until at least 5 a.m. Thursday, which is the regularly scheduled opening time, the official said.

-- From wire reports