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Tornadoes strike Alabama; 1 killed
AP
Photo
Storms continue to brew as I-20 is shut down after a morning tornado downed power lines and overturned cars and trucks Friday, April 15, 2011 in Clinton, Miss. A state of emergency has been declared for 14 Mississippi counties after spring storms swept across the state, spawning suspected tornadoes that left many homes and businesses destroyed and at least three people critically injured. AP Photo/The Clarioni-Ledger, Brian Albert Broom)
Tornadoes strike Alabama; 1 killed
MONTGOMERY, Ala.
Officials say tornadoes have touched down in six Alabama counties, killing one person and causing multiple injuries.
The severe weather was part of a system that already has slammed the South and killed nine people in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said Friday night that one person was killed in Marengo County in the west-central part of the state. No further details on the death or the injuries were immediately released.
The storms began late Thursday in Oklahoma, then pushed into Arkansas. By late Friday, tornadoes had also been reported in Mississippi, and strong winds knocked down trees in Georgia.
Study: Half of meat may have staph bug
ATLANTA
Half the meat and poultry sold in the supermarket may be tainted with the staph germ, a new report suggests.
The new estimate is based on just 136 samples of beef, chicken, pork and turkey purchased from grocery stores in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Flagstaff, Ariz., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Proper cooking kills the germs, and federal health officials estimate staph accounts for just 3 percent of foodborne illnesses, far less than more common bugs such as salmonella and E. coli.
The new study found more than half the samples contained Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria that can make people sick. Worse, half of those contaminated samples had a form of staph that’s resistant to at least three kinds of antibiotics.
Arizona passes ‘birther’ legislation
PHOENIX
Arizona, a state that has shown little reluctance in bucking the federal government, is again plowing controversial political ground, this time as its Legislature passed a bill to require President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove their U.S. citizenship before their names can appear on the state’s ballot.
If Gov. Jan Brewer signs the proposal into law, Arizona would be the first state to pass such a requirement — potentially forcing a court to decide whether the president’s birth certificate is enough to prove he can legally run for re-election. Hawaii officials have certified Obama was born in that state, but so-called “birthers” have demanded additional proof.
Opponents say Arizona’s bill gives the state another black eye after lawmakers approved a controversial immigration-enforcement law last year, considered legislation asserting state rights and made it illegal to create “human-animal” hybrids by fertilizing human eggs with nonhuman sperm and vice versa.
Abducted woman’s lunchbox found
PARSONS, Tenn.
Searchers have found a lunchbox belonging to a western Tennessee nursing student who was abducted from her home by a man wearing full hunting camouflage, authorities said Friday.
Holly Bobo, 20, was last seen early Wednesday morning as she walked into the woods with an unknown man, but Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent John Mehr said authorities do not believe she went willingly.
“We feel she was in fear of her life, so she was complying with his commands,” Mehr said.
TBI officials have said Bobo’s 25-year-old brother Clint saw his sister outside the house with a man before she was kidnapped around 7:30 a.m. But he only saw the man from the back, and he thought he was her boyfriend.
Associated Press