The first patient to receive a kidney transplanted from a genetically modified pig has fared so well that he has been discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, just two weeks after the groundbreaking surgery.

The transplant and its encouraging outcome represent a remarkable moment in medicine, scientists say, possibly heralding an era of cross-species organ transplantation.

Two previous organ transplants from genetically modified pigs failed. Both patients received hearts, and both died a few weeks later. In one patient, there were signs that the immune system had rejected the organ, a constant risk.

But the kidney transplanted into Richard Slayman, 62, is producing urine, removing waste products from the blood, balancing the body’s fluids and carrying out other key functions, according to his doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“This moment — leaving the hospital today with one of the cleanest bills of health I’ve had in a long time — is one I wished would come for many years,” he said in a statement issued by the hospital. “Now it’s a reality.”

He said he had received “exceptional care” and thanked his physicians and nurses, as well as the well-wishers who reached out to him, including kidney patients who were waiting for an organ.

“Today marks a new beginning not just for me, but for them as well,” Slayman said.

The procedure brings the prospect of xenotransplantation, or animal-to-human organ transplants, significantly closer to reality, said Dr. David Klassen, the chief medical officer for the United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the nation’s organ transplant system.

“Though much work remains to be done, I think the potential of this to benefit a large number of patients will be realized, and that was a question mark hovering over the field,” Klassen said.

High court upholds Uganda’s anti-gay law

Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday largely upheld a sweeping anti-gay law that President Yoweri Museveni signed last year, undermining the efforts of activists and rights groups to abolish legislation that drew worldwide condemnation and strained the East African nation’s relationship with the West.

The legislation, which was signed into law by Museveni in May, calls for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in gay sex. Anyone who tries to have same-sex relations could face up to a decade in prison.

Uganda has faced international consequences for passing the law, with the World Bank suspending all new funding and the United States imposing sanctions and visa restrictions on top Ugandan officials.

Idaho laws target LGBTQ+ community

Idaho lawmakers have passed a series of bills targeting LGBTQ+ residents this year, including two this week that prevent public employees from being required to use someone’s preferred pronouns and redefine gender as being synonymous with sex.

On Wednesday, the Senate approved a bill allowing people to sue schools and libraries over books deemed harmful to minors, sending it to Republican Gov. Brad Little. Another bill that Little signed into law last week prevents public funds — including Medicaid — from being used for gender-affirming care.

Argentina sacks 15,000 state workers

Argentina said Wednesday that it had cut 15,000 state jobs as part of President Javier Milei’s aggressive campaign to slash spending, the latest in a series of painful economic measures that have put the libertarian government on a collision course with angry protestors and powerful trade unions.

Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni announced the job cuts in a press conference Wednesday, describing them as key to Milei’s promised shake-up of Argentina’s public sector.

Calif. deputies fatally shoot troubled teen

Southern California sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a 17-year-old boy with mental health issues after he armed himself with a knife and locked himself inside a bathroom at a home, authorities said Wednesday.

The teen was being transferred from a hospital, where he had been treated after cutting himself, to a mental health facility when he escaped on Tuesday, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said.

The boy, a foster youth who lives in Hesperia, later showed up at a home in Victorville where his sisters live in foster care, Dicus said.

The teen, who had a knife, locked himself in a bathroom, and deputies tried to get him to come out for about a half hour, according to the sheriff. But when the boy threatened to harm himself, deputies kicked down the door.

A video and still images of the encounter showed the teen holding a knife and one deputy’s hand was reportedly sliced.

The teen was backed into a bathtub, where he was shot, Dicus said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Easter cash heist in Calif. nets $30 million

Thieves stole as much $30 million in an Easter Sunday burglary at a Los Angeles money storage facility in one of the largest cash heists in city history, police said Wednesday.

The burglary occurred Sunday night at an unnamed facility in the Sylmar area of the San Fernando Valley where cash from businesses across the region is handled and stored, L.A. Police Department Commander Elaine Morales told the Los Angeles Times.

The burglars were able to breach the building as well as the safe where the money was stored, Morales said.

The operators of the business, whom police did not identify, did not discover the massive theft until they opened the vault on Monday.

The Times said the total surpassed any armored-car heist ever in the city.

The thieves haven’t been caught.

— From news services