Obama Security Advance Team Member Has Suspected Case of Swine Flu #breaking

Obama Security Advance Team Member Has Suspected Case of Swine Flu
A member of the security advance team for President Obama's recent trip to Mexico is suspected of having contracted swine flu.

News Alert
1:54 p.m. ET Thursday, April 30, 2009
Washingtonpost.com

Swine Flu = Public Health Emergency Declared

White House press brief going on now live, regarding SWINE FLU

http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/


public health emergency declared - planning to release drugs from the SNS for DoD personnel.

CDC Recommends planning for school closings.

No evidence of bio-terror, but they are still investigating.

Breakout occurred in Mexico City on the day that Obama Visited... Man who greeted Obama in Mexico City died a few days later....

GIBBS: Obama has not been treated with antibiotics at this time.

Airline Passenger's Paralysis Puts Focus on Turbulence, In-Flight Injuries

A Continental Airlines passenger suffered a broken neck and broken back on Saturday when a flight experienced serious turbulence over Texas. The 47 year-old female passenger was injured in the plane's lavatory at a time when flight attendants had instructed passengers to return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts, according to news reports.

ABC News is reporting that the unidentified woman "was one of two passengers and one crew member on Continental flight 511 from Houston to McAllen who were injured early Saturday morning in mid-flight." The woman is currently experiencing paralysis from her chest to her toes and is undergoing a second surgery, and her chances of making any degree of recovery are unknown.

According to CNN, federal aviation officials are investigating the "rocky Texas flight", and the seriously injured passenger has retained an attorney who states that "his client struck her head on the bathroom ceiling when the plane suddenly dropped during turbulence."

How Common are In-Flight Injuries? Serious in-flight injuries on major airlines are pretty rare. FAA statistics show that about 58 people in the U.S. are injured each year by turbulence, with 198 turbulence accidents causing 266 serious injuries and three fatalities from 1980 through 2004. According to the FAA, turbulence is the leading cause of in-flight injuries to passengers and flight attendants, and two-thirds of turbulence-related accidents occur at or above 30,000 feet. Learn more about Turbulence and Staying Safe.

By David Goguen on April 22, 2009 6:59 AM

Swine Flu - 60 Dead, 800 infected in Mexico, Schools Closed, Now 7 infected in USA

U.S. Swine Flu Cases Rise To 7 As Health Officials Investigate Mexico Epidemic

Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Health officials are investigating if an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico that has reportedly left nearly 60 dead has spread to the United States, where cases of a new strain of H1N1 virus has infected seven people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is investigating the five confirmed cases of swine influenza in California and two in Texas.

All seven people, including a nine-year old girl in Imperial County, CA, did not have contact with pigs. They have fully recovered but the virus that caused the infections "contain[s] a unique combination of gene segments that previously has not been reported among swine or human influenza viruses in the United States or elsewhere," the CDC said.

Swine flu is a rare among humans, and only 12 cases have been reported in the United States since 2005. Infections are usually among people who work in close proximity to pigs. Its symptoms include fever, coughing and a lack of appetite.

More than 800 people are believed to be infected with swine flu in Mexico, which canceled classes in all levels on Friday. Mexican officials have confirmed 20 deaths, but as much as 60 people are suspected to have died due to the epidemic.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has issued a travel advisory warning that people who recently returned from Mexico could be infected.

The World Health Organization has said the exposures in the Latin American nation was among healthy adults.

"Because these cases are not happening in the very old or the very young, which is normal with seasonal influenza, this is an unusual event and a cause for heightened concern," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told CBC.

AHN Story

CDC Release

News Round Up

Mayor who sent watermelon e-mail says he'll resign

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. (AP) — The mayor of a small Southern California city says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title "No Easter egg hunt this year."

Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose issued a statement Thursday saying he is sorry and will step down as mayor at Monday's City Council meeting.

Story

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Vegas casino sells 2-foot, 6-pound burrito at cafe

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas casino cafe is rewarding patrons who can put away a 2-foot, 6-pound burrito with a most logical prize — free unlimited rides on a roller coaster that runs in both forward and reverse.

The offer comes with a caveat, though: Those who accept the challenge but can't finish "The Bomb" burrito have to take a picture with an extra small, pink T-shirt that says "Weenie."

The NASCAR Cafe at the Sahara Hotel & Casino began selling the cheese-and-guacamole slathered burrito on Thursday for $19.95.

Those who can finish the monstrous entree get it for free, along with two unlimited coaster passes and a T-shirt proclaiming they "Conquered the Bomb."

Story
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Russian bomber neared Canada before Obama visit
By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian fighters planes scrambled to intercept an approaching Russian bomber less than 24 hours before U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Ottawa last week, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said on Friday.

The long-range Bear bomber did not enter Canada's Arctic airspace but the two CF-18 fighters had to order the plane to "back off", MacKay told a news conference.

Story
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Connecticut incentives may lure Jerry Springer from Chicago
Steve Wilkos, Maury Povich may also relocate this summer

By Phil Rosenthal | Tribune reporter
February 28, 2009

Connecticut incentives may lure Jerry Springer from Chicago
Steve Wilkos, Maury Povich may also relocate this summer

By Phil Rosenthal | Tribune reporter

Normally, it's the fights on "The Jerry Springer Show" that get the attention. Now attention is focused on the fight for "The Jerry Springer Show," as the nationally syndicated television show looks to be headed out of Chicago and to Stamford, Conn.

Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell on Friday said the state and NBC Universal are working on a deal to establish a television production studio in Stamford, about 30 miles from New York City.

Sources close to the negotiations said NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution, the company's syndicated television arm, plans to relocate "The Jerry Springer Show" and "The Steve Wilkos Show" from Chicago to the new facility this summer in time for the start of the 2009 television season. Maury Povich's syndicated NBC Universal program "Maury" also would move there from New York.

Springer's show has originated from NBC Universal's NBC Tower in Chicago since 1992, after making its debut a year earlier in Cincinnati.

Full Story

News of Interest

Library confrontation points up privacy dilemma
July 19 2008

By JOHN CURRAN
Associated Press Writer
RANDOLPH, Vt. (AP) -- Children's librarian Judith Flint was getting ready for the monthly book discussion group for 8- and 9-year-olds on "Love That Dog" when police showed up.

They weren't kidding around: Five state police detectives wanted to seize Kimball Public Library's public access computers as they frantically searched for a 12-year-old girl, acting on a tip that she sometimes used the terminals.

Flint demanded a search warrant, touching off a confrontation that pitted the privacy rights of library patrons against the rights of police on official business.

"It's one of the most difficult situations a library can face," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of intellectual freedom issues for the American Library Association.

Complete Story
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Invasion at Potters Field!?!


Alien ship crashes into Potters Field? Movie stunt, promo, invasion... no one is quite sure what the deal is with this 'exhibit' over in Potters Field in London.
Gizmodo report

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US Exclusionary Rule - Time for Modification?

The Times has an interesting article on the US exclusionary rule and its lack of counterpart in foreign legal systems, and how the US uniqueness in automatically excluding evidence could come to an end next year when the Supreme Court hears a case to challenge Mapp v. Ohio.

New York Times Article

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Across China, Security Instead Of Celebration
Police Crack Down on 'Hostile Forces,' Apply New Safety Measures

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 19, 2008; Page A01
YENGISHAHAR, China -- Shortly after dawn on July 9, the local government here bused several thousand students and office workers into a public square and lined them up in front of a vocational school. As the spectators watched, witnesses said, three prisoners were brought out. Then, an execution squad fired rifles at the three point-blank, killing them on the spot.

The young men had been convicted of having connections to terrorist plots, which authorities said were part of a campaign aimed at disrupting the Beijing Olympics by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an underground separatist organization here in the vast Xinjiang region of western China. The group has long fought for independence on behalf of the region's Muslim Uighur inhabitants.

The public execution of the men was a dramatic example of the massive, unforgiving security operation that has been mounted in China to protect the Beijing Games from what Communist Party authorities describe as an urgent threat of violence and anti-government protest.

Full Story