Thursday, August 23, 2007

Heat Wave Takes Toll In Southeast and Midwest

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A fire at a power substation on Wednesday forced the nation's largest public utility to ask major industrial customers to reduce their electricity use as a heat wave continued.

The fire caused a partial shutdown at a Tennessee Valley Authority plant in Kentucky as temperatures were predicted to rise to near 100 degrees through Friday in the Knoxville-based utility's seven-state territory.

In Nashville, Tuesday marked the 12th day of 100 degrees or above this month -- the most recorded in any month for the city. Nashville set a daily record of 102 on Wednesday, while Memphis matched a 2000 record of 100.

Meanwhile, the regional heat wave's death toll grew Wednesday to at least 50, with one new death reported in Missouri and two in Alabama.

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· TRENTON, N.J. -- After a review driven by a brutal triple homicide, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram ordered state law enforcers to notify federal immigration officials whenever an illegal immigrant is arrested for an indictable offense or drunken driving. Milgram reviewed the state's policy in light of the killings of three Newark college students and the wounding of a fourth victim on Aug. 4. One of the six suspects is an illegal immigrant who had been granted bail on charges of child rape and aggravated assault without immigration officials being alerted to his presence.

· PITTSBURGH -- A doctor was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with administering a chemical treatment that state police say killed a 5-year-old autistic boy. The child, Abubakar Tariq Nadama, went into cardiac arrest at Roy E. Kerry's medical office immediately after undergoing chelation therapy on Aug. 23, 2005. Chelation is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating acute heavy-metal poisoning but not for treating autism. Some people who believe autism is caused by a mercury-containing preservative once used in vaccines say chelation may help autistic children. The boy's parents had moved from England to the Pittsburgh area to seek treatment for his autism. They have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Kerry, and the state is trying to revoke his medical license.

· ST. PAUL, Minn. -- In addition to heavy traffic, missing bolts and cracking steel, the failed interstate bridge over the Mississippi River faced a less obvious enemy: pigeons. Inspectors began documenting the buildup of pigeon dung on the span near downtown Minneapolis two decades ago. Experts say the corrosive guano deposited all over the Interstate 35W framework made the steel beams rust faster. Investigators have not identified the cause of the Aug. 1 collapse.

· KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine -- An 81-year-old houseguest suffered a fatal heart attack at the summer home of former president George H.W. Bush. John C. Jansing, the husband of Bush's cousin Shelley Bush Jansing, was taken by paramedics to the emergency room at Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford late Tuesday. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. The Jansings lived in Harbor Springs, Mich., and Hobe Sound, Fla.

· WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Florida's top police agency said its investigation into former congressman Mark Foley's lurid Internet communications with teenage boys has been hindered because neither Foley nor the House will let investigators examine his congressional computers. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says it hopes to conclude its investigation within 10 days. Foley resigned from Congress on Sept. 29 after being confronted with the computer messages he sent to male teenage pages who had worked on Capitol Hill.

-- From News Services