WASHINGTON – Spinach found in the refrigerator of a person sickened by E. coli was contaminated with the bacteria, the “smoking gun” that investigators have sought for the origin of the deadly outbreak, health officials say.
Federal and state investigators focused their hunt Wednesday to nine farms in California’s greater Salinas Valley, said Dr. Mark Horton, the state public health officer.
The tainted bag came from a refrigerator in New Mexico, said health officials in that state.
A person who ate some of the leafy greens became one of 146 people in 23 states sickened by the outbreak. One person has died.
MORE NATION / WORLD BRIEFS
Cancer patients lobby Congress on funding
WASHINGTON – More than 3,300 cancer patients, survivors, friends and relatives fanned out across Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby Congress for more money for cancer research and detection.
President Bush’s proposed budget for fiscal 2007 would cut the National Cancer Institute’s budget by $40 million.
Wendy Selig, the American Cancer Society’s vice president for legislative affairs, said the institute needs a 5 percent increase – $240 million – in its $4.8 billion budget this year just to keep pace with inflation.
MADRID, Spain
Storm downgraded near Spain, Portugal
Tropical Storm Gordon, downgraded from a hurricane Wednesday, faded as it approached Spain and Portugal.
Gordon was expected to be absorbed by a weaker cold front by today, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Spain and Portugal may see rain and gale-force winds associated with Gordon but not tropical-storm-strength winds, hurricane expert Jack Beven said.
KABUL, Afghanistan
Karzai: Outside forces spark country’s chaos
Clashes and bombings killed 34 Taliban fighters and one policeman in Afghanistan while President Hamid Karzai told the United Nations on Wednesday that terrorist sanctuaries elsewhere must be destroyed to eliminate the violence engulfing his country.
In a clear reference to neighboring Pakistan, Karzai told the U.N. General Assembly in New York that “terrorism does not emanate from within Afghanistan” but that his country “is its worst victim.”
“We must destroy terrorist sanctuaries beyond Afghanistan, dismantle the elaborate networks in the region,” he said.
PROVIDENCE, R.I.
Just one owner to get jail in 2003 club fire
The owners of a nightclub where a 2003 fire killed 100 people will plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges, and only one will have to serve prison time, their lawyer said Wednesday. Victims’ relatives were outraged.
Kathleen Hagerty said brothers Jeffrey and Michael Derderian will enter the pleas more than 3 1/2 years after pyrotechnics ignited foam soundproofing as Great White, a 1980s heavy metal band, started playing at The Station nightclub.
