District of Columbia
Trader Joe's peanut butter linked to illness, recalled
WASHINGTON - The grocery store chain Trader Joe's is recalling peanut butter that has been linked to 29 salmonella illnesses in 18 states.
The Food and Drug Administration and the federal Centers for Disease Control said Saturday that the store's Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter, which is sold nationwide, is the likely source of the outbreak. The agencies are investigating whether any other items sold at the store could be contaminated.
More than three-fourths of those who became ill were children under the age of 18. No deaths have been reported.
The FDA issued a statement Saturday saying that the FDA, the CDC and the state of California briefed Trader Joe's on its investigation showing the link between the peanut butter and the illnesses on Sept. 20. The company then agreed to remove the product.
According to the individual states' health departments, three cases were in Massachusetts, one was in Rhode Island and one was in North Carolina.
Washington
Ex-CIA operative Wilson, once branded a traitor, dies
SEATTLE - Edwin P. Wilson, a former CIA operative who was branded a traitor and convicted of shipping arms to Libya but whose conviction was overturned after he spent two decades in prison, has died. He was 84.
Wilson died Sept. 10 in Seattle from complications from a heart-valve replacement surgery, said Craig Emmick, a director at Columbia Funeral Home in Seattle.
Wilson who set up front companies abroad for the CIA and posed as a rich American businessman was convicted in 1983 for shipping 20 tons of C-4 plastic explosives to Libya.
A federal judge threw out that conviction in 2003, saying the government failed to correct information about Wilson's service to the CIA that it admitted internally was false.
Wilson had been sentenced to 52 years in prison for selling arms and explosives to Libya in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and for other crimes.
He served more than 20 years in prison, mostly in solitary confinement, until he was released in 2004.
Alaska
Floodwaters recede to allow cleanup in Talkeetna
ANCHORAGE - Floodwaters receded Saturday from much of the tourist town of Talkeetna, giving residents a chance to begin cleaning the muddy mess left behind - but officials warned that the danger hadn't passed and advised that people boil their water.
About 200 miles south, in Cooper Landing on the Kenai Peninsula, the Kenai River had yet to crest and the National Weather Service extended a flood warning until Monday afternoon saying that the river will continue rising. Residents of one subdivision were told to be ready to evacuate.
Forecasters said rain would continue falling today, making it tough to predict how high waterways would rise on the peninsula and when they'll crest.
The outlook seemed a bit better in Talkeetna. Rivers and streams draining from the Talkeetna Mountains had crested and water levels fell steadily Friday night, the weather service said.
Oregon
Flight attendant arrested with passenger's iPad
OREGON CITY - Police say a Nevada man who lost his iPad on an airplane used an app called Find My iPad to locate it inside the Oregon home of a flight attendant.
Officers in Oregon City, outside Portland, arrested 43-year-old Wendy Ronelle Dye Friday evening.
The flight attendant for Horizon Air allegedly told officers that a passenger brought her the tablet saying it was found on a seat. She said she never used the iPad and planned to turn it over to airline officials, but police found some of her personal information on it including her husband's birthday.
Arrangements are being made to return the tablet to its owner in Reno. A spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines, which owns Horizon, says Dye was suspended.
Massachusetts
Officials: Law helps seniors save $76 million on drugs
BOSTON - Federal officials say the health-care law championed by President Obama and scorned by Republicans has helped Massachusetts seniors save more than $76 million on prescription drugs this year.
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services says the Affordable Care Act has enabled seniors in the Medicare's "donut hole" coverage gap save an average of $610 in the first eight months of this year.
The health-care law provides better Medicare coverage for seniors with high prescription costs, and no copayments for preventive care.
Nearly 519,000 Massachusetts residents have received at least one preventive service with no co-payments in the first eight months of this year.
Pennsylvania
Willie Nelson criticizes US policy on family farms
HERSHEY - Willie Nelson was in central Pennsylvania for Saturday's annual Farm Aid concert - but he said he wished that he didn't have to be doing the events.
Farm Aid exists because government agricultural policies too often tilt toward large corporate-owned farms rather than small farmers, the veteran country singer said.
"I'm very sorry that we have to be here because this problem should have been solved many years ago," he told The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News. "I wish the government would take better care of our natural resources, and that includes the family farmer."
Farm Aid has been held nearly every year since 1985 and has raised more than $40 million to help keep family farmers on their land.
The Associated Press
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