Don’t Miss This: Soldier’s death under investigation
Don’t miss these stories Tuesday at BND.com:
▪ A soldier’s death is being investigated after it occurred in a non-combat-related incident on Friday in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Wilbur was from Granite City.
Wilbur belonged to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, which is stationed in Fort Carson, Colo. His deployment to Afghanistan was his fourth tour. He had one earlier tour in Afghanistan and two in Iraq since late 2005.
▪ A new law in Illinois will strengthen the rights of sexual assault victims.
The new law, signed Friday by Gov. Bruce Rauner, was the result of changes proposed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan and came after a Belleville News-Democrat investigative report in February 2015 called “Violation of Trust.”
The new law provides victims of sexual assault stricter protections during the evidence collection process and ensures transfer of evidence from hospital to police in a timely manner. It also allows the state to hire forensic scientists to analyze evidence and addresses the decade-long rape kit backlog at state crime labs.
▪ Only one metro-east hospital received the top rating from a new federal hospital ranking system, but healthcare providers say the scores might be too simplified.
St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese received the top rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which released the new ratings system late last month. CMS ranked 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals on a scale of one to five stars.
Most hospitals in the metro-east received three stars. Two metro-east hospitals received a four-star rating — Memorial Hospital in Belleville and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Highland — and three local hospitals got a two-star rating: Gateway Regional Medical Center in Granite City, Touchette Regional Hospital and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Belleville.
This story was originally published August 16, 2016 at 6:52 AM with the headline "Don’t Miss This: Soldier’s death under investigation."