Boulder – Wardenburg Health Center officials expect to find out today whether an E. coli case at the University of Colorado at Boulder is related to a national outbreak of the disease.
The health center’s director said a CU graduate student in his early 20s came into the center last week saying he’d eaten spinach three days earlier. The director said the incubation period for E. coli falls within three to four days.
CU officials are waiting for lab tests from the state health department to confirm whether his illness to connected to the outbreak. Tests for a second student also were expected today, officials said.
CU removed spinach from dining halls and dining facilities, as recommended by federal health officials.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has started an Atlanta-based emergency operations center to help state health agencies test spinach samples and stool samples of those who have been infected, spokeswoman Lola Russell said Sunday.
At least 109 people nationwide have been sickened, and a 77-year- old woman has died. In Ohio, health officials said they were investigating the death of a 23-month-old girl who was sickened by E. coli.
FRUITA
Drowned woman’s body recovered
Rescuers on Saturday recovered the body of a Colorado woman who drowned at Lake Powell after the boat she was riding in sank.
The body of Nancy Hoff, 40, of Fruita was found about 12:30 p.m. Saturday 387 feet below the surface, said National Park Service spokesman Kevin Schneider. She was located by a rescue team in an underwater craft. Hoff’s boat was about 40 feet from where rescuers found her body, Schneider said.
Hoff and another person were crossing the lake in a boat traveling about 55 mph, when they tried to pass another boat, Schneider said. Investigators believe the impact of hitting the second boat’s wake split the hull of Hoff’s boat, causing it to sink.
Hoff disappeared and her companion was rescued by the Desert Odyssey tour boat, he said.
Hoff was on a company retreat at the time of the accident.
The death is the third drowning and fifth fatality of the year at the Glen Canyon National Recreation area, Schneider said.
EVANS
Accidental gunshot to head kills man
A man who accidentally shot himself in the head while practicing his quick-draw with a loaded .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol has died.
Brycien Reyes, 19, was practicing the maneuver in front of a mirror in the basement of his home Friday when the gun discharged, Evans Police Spokesman Lt. Gary Kessler said.
He died Saturday, said Mark Ward of the Weld County Coroner’s Office.
BOULDER
Scientists say El Nino may bring more snow
El Nino is back, federal scientists reported last week, and that could mean a snowier spring in Colorado’s mountains.
The weather phenomenon, characterized by a warm pool of water in the tropical Pacific, can change weather around the globe, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association reported. In Colorado, El Nino years typically mean generally warmer temperatures, and wetter springs.
El Nino already appears to be drying up Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, which usually see the first El Nino effects. The weather phenomenon may also partly explain why this hurricane season has been less active than expected, NOAA reported.
PARKER
Library holding free lecture about Iran
A free lecture and discussion about Iran’s nuclear ambitions is set for today at 7 p.m. at the Parker Library.
Sasha Breger, an expert on Iran at the University of Denver’s School of International Studies, will discuss Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the geopolitical consequences, the future of international monitoring and U.S.-led negotiations, as well as the threat of armed intervention.
The library is located at 10852 S. Crossroads Drive. For more information call 303-841-3503.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M.
Newspaper sues for school district records
A newspaper and an open-government watchdog group have sued the Los Alamos School District to obtain documents about the school board president trying to improve her son’s grade.
The Los Alamos Monitor and the Foundation for Open Government sued for the documents in June.
“I think it’s important that public officials not intimidate their underlings to the benefit of their children or anything else,” Bob Johnson, executive director of the foundation, said in the lawsuit.
School board president Louise Janecky said last week that she did not pressure her son’s teacher to get him a better grade.
