OMAHA — A 13-year-old illegal immigrant who fled to his native Mexico amid a sex scandal with his schoolteacher could be eligible to return to the United States under a new visa the government started granting the week before he disappeared. The visa helps illegal immigrants who are victims of sex crimes.
If the boy, who spent most of his life in Lexington, Neb., qualifies, he could stay legally in the U.S. for four years and eventually apply for permanent residency. It also would extend temporary residency to his parents and unmarried siblings under 18, if they applied for it.
The boy and teacher Kelsey Peterson were found in Mexicali, Mexico, a week after they disappeared Oct. 26. Peterson, 25, remains in federal custody in El Centro, Calif.
More U.S. students studying abroad
Growing numbers of U.S. colleges and universities are sending more students abroad for international study opportunities, and to a wider range of countries.
More than 223,000 U.S. students studied abroad during the 2005-06 academic year, up 8.5 percent from the year before, according to the latest annual survey by the Institute of International Education, being issued today. The number who get academic credit for studying abroad is up 150 percent over the past decade.
Enrollment by international students rose 3 percent last academic year to about 583,000 – the first significant jump since 2001-02.
Staph infection causes immune cells to burst, study says
WASHINGTON — The aggressive antibiotic-resistant staph infection responsible for thousands of recent illnesses undermines the body’s defenses by causing germ-fighting cells to explode, researchers reported Sunday. Experts say the findings may help lead to better treatments.
An estimated 90,000 people in the U.S. fall ill each year from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. An aggressive community-associated strain, or CA-MRSA, can cause severe infections and even death in otherwise healthy people outside of health-care settings. It secretes a kind of peptide that causes immune cells called neutrophils to burst, eliminating a main defense against infection, researchers said.
The findings appeared in Sunday’s online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.
Crew held for questioning in Bay Area oil spill
SAN FRANCISCO — The crew of the cargo ship that sideswiped a bridge, causing San Francisco Bay’s worst oil spill in nearly two decades, was being held for questioning as part of a criminal investigation, a Coast Guard official said Sunday.
The Cosco Busan, which leaked 58,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil into the bay Wednesday, fouling miles of coastline and killing dozens of birds, was being detained at the Port of Oakland by the Coast Guard. Crew members will be free to go once federal investigators have questioned them, said Capt. William Uberti, the Coast Guard commander for the bay region.
