Nation, world briefs 3/30/16

Obama urges action on opioid abuse

ATLANTA -- The trajectory of opioid deaths in the United States is trending in the wrong direction and should be atop the federal government's radar screen along with the threat of terrorism, responding to natural disasters and promoting the economy, President Barack Obama said Tuesday. Obama said more people are being killed from opioid overdoses than from traffic accidents. "I think the public doesn't fully appreciate yet the scope of the problem," Obama told about 2,000 people at the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit. Obama's appearance came as his administration issued proposed regulations and announced new funding for states to buy and distribute the opioid overdose reversal drug, naloxone, and to train first responders and others on its use.

Mother's Day parade shooters sentenced

NEW ORLEANS -- Two men who admitted shooting into a crowd during a 2013 Mother's Day parade, wounding 20 people, were sentenced in federal court Tuesday in connection with that and other crimes involving years of drug and gang violence. Akein Scott, 22, and Shawn Scott, 27, were among four brothers sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. Akein and 31-year-old Travis Scott received life sentences; Shawn Scott and 24-year-old Stanley Scott each received 40 years. All pleaded guilty last year to charges arising from their involvement in the Frenchmen-Derbigny gang.

Lawsuit: Hospital flushed miscarriage

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A woman is suing a Florida hospital, saying an employee flushed the remains of her miscarried child down the toilet. Linda Gomez filed suit last week against Wellington Regional Medical Center in the southern city of Wellington. Her attorney, Kennan Dandar, said Tuesday she went to the hospital because she was experiencing bleeding 19 weeks into her pregnancy. Dandar said while waiting for a doctor, Gomez went into the bathroom and miscarried. She cut the umbilical cord after being unable to summon help. He said a worker eventually heard her screams, entered the bathroom and flushed the toilet, then told Gomez to return to the waiting room. Dandar said Gomez asked hospital officials to retrieve the baby so she could give the child a Christian burial, but they refused.

Foreign adoptions at lowest since 1981

NEW YORK -- The number of foreign children adopted by U.S. parents dropped by 12 percent last year to the lowest level since 1981, according to new State Department figures. The department's report for the 2015 fiscal year shows 5,648 adoptions from abroad, down from 6,438 in 2014 and about 75 percent below the high of 22,884 in 2004. The number has fallen each year since, to the frustration of many adoption advocates in the U.S. China accounted for the most children adopted in the U.S. Its total of 2,354 was up 15 percent from 2014, but below the peak of 7,903 in 2005. There was a sharp drop in adoptions from other countries that had been high on the 2014 list, including Ethiopia, Ukraine and Haiti.

-- From wire reports