Midday Roundup: Hospital paid $17,000 ransom to hackers

E-siege. After being locked out of patient files and other computer-based systems for about a week, a Los Angeles-area hospital paid hackers $17,000 for a decryption key to unlock the ransomware installed on its servers. The as-yet unidentified hackers installed the software sometime last week, shutting down all forms of electronic communication and recordkeeping. By Friday, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center administrators declared a state of emergency, shutting down the radiation and oncology departments and diverting hundreds of patients to nearby hospitals. “The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key,” hospital president and CEO Allen Stefanek said. The hospital has not provided any other details about how the hackers gained access to the system, but the FBI is investigating.

Counterattack. Turkish officials are blaming Syrian Kurdish militias for yesterday’s suicide bombing in Ankara that killed 28 people. They vowed to strike back at the groups in both Iraq and Syria and launched an airstrike overnight against a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) base in northern Iraq. The PKK has waged a long-running insurgency against Turkey in a bid for its own state. The YPG, another Kurdish group, is one of the Syrian militias backed by the United States in its fight against Islamic State (ISIS) fighters. Disagreement over the legitimacy of Kurdish groups has been an ongoing wrinkle in the otherwise tight alliance against ISIS. The Kurds deny any involvement in the Ankara attack, claiming Turkey is using it as an excuse to escalate the fighting in northern Syria.

Historic Havana visit. President Barack Obama will visit Cuba next month, the first U.S. president to set foot in the communist nation in 88 years. The president’s visit is not unexpected after the announcement in 2014 that the United States and Cuba would re-establish diplomatic ties. Secretary of State John Kerry attended a ceremony last year to mark the official reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana. Two frontrunners in the Republican presidential field with ties to Cuba, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, both slammed the president for his ongoing attempts to cozy up to the Castro regime. Rubio said if he were president, he would only visit a “free” Cuba. Cruz also criticized Obama for giving credibility to a totalitarian regime that represses its people.

Big backers. Rubio picked up another major endorsement in South Carolina ahead of Saturday’s primary. “We say that every day is a great day in South Carolina,” Gov. Nikki Haley said during an endorsement event Wednesday night. “Ladies and gentlemen, if we elect Marco Rubio, every day will be a great day in America!” Haley’s endorsement is a big pickup for Rubio, who already has the support of two popular South Carolina GOP lawmakers, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy. An average of recent polls has Rubio virtually tied for second place in the Palmetto state with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Both candidates are polling at about 17 percent.

Bathroom bill. South Dakota’s state Senate passed a bill this week that requires transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their biological sex. South Dakota will be the first state in the nation to have such a law if Gov. Dennis Daugaard signs it. Advocates say the bill protects the privacy of all students. Opponents, including the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice, have sided with transgender students. They say the bill violates Title IX, even though it includes a reasonable accommodations such as single-occupancy bathrooms.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard contributed to this report.