Walter Reed probes former aid director

Walter Reed Army Medical Center is investigating the former head of a program that aids injured soldiers. The probe involves the activities of Michael J. Wagner, who until last month ran the Army's Medical Family Assistance Center, Army spokesman Paul Boyce said yesterday. The center links businesses, charities, and other donors with wounded troops and their families. The Washington Post, citing documents and interviews with current and former assistance center staff members, said Wagner was soliciting donations for a Dallas charity at the same time he administered the Army program. Wagner is now a director of the Texas-based charity -- the Military, Veteran and Family Assistance Foundation, a nonprofit group. (AP)

Two months after his brain hemorrhage, South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson has left a Washington hospital and moved to a private rehabilitation facility, his office said yesterday. A spokeswoman refused to say whether the Democratic senator remained in Washington or was moved to a facility in South Dakota, citing family concerns about media scrutiny. (AP)

New Jersey

SOMERVILLE -- A man accused of roughing up Nobel laureate and Holocaust scholar Elie Wiesel at a San Francisco hotel this month was denied bail yesterday despite his lawyer's contention that the suspect needs mental help. Judge Robert Reed denied a request to move Eric Hunt, 22, to a psychiatric or medical facility so that he can continue an unspecified regimen of medication he was taking before his arrest Saturday. Hunt is accused of accosting Wiesel, 78, outside a Feb. 1 peace forum at the Argent Hotel. (AP)