Dayton, Ohio – Records buried in a landfill used for radioactive waste may be dug up to determine whether cancer-stricken workers from a defunct nuclear-weapons plant qualify for compensation, a federal official said.
At least a dozen pallets of cardboard boxes, six 55-gallon drums and 11 safes containing classified records from the Mound weapons plant in Miamisburg, Ohio, were buried in underground shafts of the landfill at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in 2005.
Nobody knows the records’ condition, and the U.S. Department of Energy says it could take up to 18 months and cost as much as $9 million if the decision is made to unearth and decontaminate them.
Larry Elliott, the director of compensation analysis for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said the records could help officials get a clear picture of the hazards workers faced at the weapons plant. Elliott’s office oversees a method of estimating workers’ exposure to harmful radiation and chemicals to determine whether the worker qualifies for federal cash and medical benefits.
Mound began making triggers and detonators for nuclear weapons in 1949 and employed more than 2,000 workers at its peak. The Department of Energy ended production at the plant in 1996.
Additional nation/world news briefs:
ATLANTA
Salmonella outbreak tied to peanut butter
A salmonella outbreak that has slowly grown to nearly 300 cases in 39 states since August may be linked to tainted peanut butter, federal health officials said Wednesday.
It is believed to be the first salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter in U.S. history, said officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 20 percent of the 288 infected people have been hospitalized, but none has died, said Dr. Mike Lynch, a CDC epidemiologist. How salmonella got into peanut butter is still under investigation, he said.
The largest number of cases were reported in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
Death certificates proposed for fetuses
Legislation introduced in Tennessee would require death certificates for aborted fetuses, which likely would create public records identifying women who have abortions.
Rep. Stacey Campfield, a Republican, said his bill would provide a way to track how many abortions are performed.
The number of abortions reported to the state Office of Vital Records is already publicly available. The identities of the women who have abortions are not included in those records, but death certificates include identifying information such as Social Security numbers.
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia
Police commander quits after clash
The commander of the U.N. police in Kosovo resigned Wednesday, days after violent clashes between the police and demonstrators left two protesters dead and another critically injured. The commander, Stephen Curtis, a former British police officer, resigned under pressure from the mission’s most senior official, Joachim Ruecker.
On Tuesday, autopsy reports showed the two protesters had been killed by rubber-coated bullets. Television pictures of the demonstration Saturday in the center of Pristina, the regional capital, showed members of a Romanian riot squad attached to the United Nations firing rubber bullets into the crowd. A third man is being treated in a military hospital and remains in critical condition, U.N. officials said.
Ruecker said the commissioner’s resignation “would follow the principle of political accountability.”
He also appointed an international prosecutor to head the investigation into the men’s deaths.
The U.N. mission has come under substantial pressure to accept responsibility for the handling of the demonstration, which was held in protest of terms set out in a U.N. plan for Kosovo. Under the proposal, Kosovo would be granted de facto statehood but it would still be protected by NATO and overseen by the international community for the indefinite future.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil
Samba group leader killed by gunmen
Violence cast a shadow over Rio’s famed Carnival early Wednesday when gunmen killed a leader of one of the premiere samba band groups, police said.
Guaracy Paes Falcao, 42, vice president of the Salgueiro samba band, was shot before dawn while leaving the group’s headquarters. His female companion was also killed, police spokesman Renato Barone said.
The city’s samba schools kick off the traditional carnival parade Sunday.
Police did not suggest a motive yet for Falcao’s death and do not have any suspects.
SãO PAULO, Brazil
Students robbed, tossed into well
Two students endured more than 60 hours without food and water after being robbed and thrown into an abandoned well, authorities said Wednesday.
Aline Terumi Kariyazaki, 21, and Felipe Yoshikazu Era, 18, were found Tuesday afternoon by a man walking near the well. Police spokesman Roberto Paschoal said authorities did not have any suspects.
The two said they were in front of Kariyazaki’s house in Mogi das Cruzes when two armed men forced them into a car late Sunday and took them to an abandoned factory. The robbers stole the pair’s belongings and threw the two into the 26-foot dry well before fleeing.
