Nation briefs

FLORIDA

Two cleared of MERS virus

Two employees tested negative for a rare virus days after coming into contact with a Saudi resident infected with the second confirmed MERS case in the United States, an Orlando hospital said yesterday. One employee tested after showing symptoms of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome was hospitalized Monday, said Katie Dagenais of Dr. P. Phillips Hospital. The other was discharged the same day. The hospitalized patient, a woman, was expected to be released. Test results were awaited on 18 other health care workers being monitored for potentially having the virus. Despite an increase in cases, the virus' spread in the Middle East and beyond isn't a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

ARKANSAS, IDAHOConfusion on gay marriages

The Arkansas Supreme Court refused yesterday to put on hold a ruling that overturned the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage, but the short-lived ability for same-sex couples to wed in the state still came to a halt amid confusion about what comes next. The justices offered no direction to the state's county clerks, some of whom had pointed to another ban against gay marriage that is written into an aspect of state law and questioned whether it remained in effect. In Idaho, meanwhile, a federal magistrate judge rejected the governor's request to put same-sex weddings on hold while he appeals her ruling from a day earlier that struck down the state's ban. U.S. District Magistrate Judge Candy Dale wrote that the appeal is unlikely to succeed so there's no reason to keep the state from granting marriage licenses to gays starting tomorrow.

WASHINGTON

Transfer of Manning disputed

The Pentagon is trying to transfer national security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison where she can get treatment for a gender-identity condition. But her lawyer said yesterday that a move from a military prison would make Manning choose between treatment and her safety. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel gave approval last month to try to work out a plan to transfer Manning from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to a federal prison, Pentagon officials said. Manning entered the Army as a man named Bradley.