Nation briefs
BY Wire reports
Saturday, May 05, 2012
5/05/12 at 3:31 AM
Salmonella-tainted dog food sickens 14 people
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Fourteen people in at least nine states have been sickened by salmonella after handling tainted dog food from a South Carolina plant that years ago produced food contaminated by toxic mold that killed dozens of dogs, federal officials said Friday.
At least five people have been hospitalized because of the dog food, made by Diamond Pet Foods at its plant in Gaston, S.C., the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. No pets were sickened, according to the Meta, Mo.-based company.
"People who became ill, the thing that was common among them was that they had fed their pets Diamond Pet Foods," said CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell.
Three people were infected in Missouri and North Carolina; two people in Ohio; and one person each in Alabama, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the CDC said.
"Our folks are really wanting people to be aware of it. They want to be aware that this is causing people to get sick because they may have product in their homes. For every one that is reported, there may be 29 others," Russell said.
Humans can get salmonella by handling infected dog food, then not washing their hands before eating or handling their own food, health officials said.
The South Carolina plant temporarily was shut down April 8 and Diamond Pet Foods has issued four rounds of recalls for food made at the plant, located outside of Columbia, S.C., between Dec. 9, 2011, and April 7.
Woman allegedly lied about cancer for implants
PHOENIX - A Phoenix woman has been charged with fraud and theft after authorities said she told people she had breast cancer and needed treatment to get money from them to buy breast implants.
Police reports filed in Maricopa County Superior Court say 27-year-old Jami Lynn Toler told her former boss she needed a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction and was uninsured. She also told the tale to her mother and grandparents.
Toler helped organize fundraisers and collected more than $8,000, according to the report. Medical records obtained by Mesa police show she didn't have cancer and paid a plastic surgeon with the cash.
Toler was arrested Wednesday and released on electronic monitoring Thursday after a brief initial court appearance. A telephone message left for her Friday wasn't returned.
"They were just well-intentioned people standing by in support of an individual who needed it," said Carmen Klemis, who runs the hospice where Toler worked.
Toler's story started to unravel when she turned down an offer from a doctor to treat her breast cancer for free and Klemis turned her in, Mesa police Sgt. Anthony Landato said.
Rare white buffalo dies short of its first birthday
GREENVILLE, Texas - Authorities are investigating the death of a rare white buffalo on a North Texas ranch just days shy of its first birthday.
Lakota Ranch owner Arby Little Soldier says he found the buffalo, named Lightning Medicine Cloud, dead Monday. His mother was found dead the next day.
Last year, thousands attended a naming ceremony to celebrate the calf's May 12 birth.
According to Lakota Sioux lore, the goddess of peace once appeared in the form of a white buffalo calf.
Arby Little Soldier says the calf "was the hope of all nations." He said a birthday celebration planned this month will be a memorial instead.
Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks said his agency is working with the Texas Rangers to determine "whom or what killed Lighting Medicine Cloud."
Ancient vessel to bereturned to state tribe
BUFFALO, N.Y. - An Oklahoma Indian tribe is reclaiming what's believed to be ancient pottery that was dropped off at a Goodwill Industries donation trailer in western New York.
Officials with Goodwill Industries told The Buffalo News that the 7 1/2-inch tall vessel turned up at the organization's warehouse last month. When a photograph of the item was posted on Goodwill's online auction site, the group received emails identifying the vessel as ancient Indian pottery that could be 1,000 years old.
A note stuffed inside the pottery said it had been found in a burial mound near Spiro, Okla., in 1970. Spiro Mounds is a prehistoric American Indian archaeological site.
Goodwill officials say the pottery is being given to the Caddo Indian Nation, whose homelands include Oklahoma.
