NATION
12 Thursday, April 30, 2009
WWW.BGVIEWS.COM
Swine flu claims life of one toddler By Juan A. Lozano The Associated Press
HOUSTON — A Mexico City toddler who traveled to Texas with family to visit relatives is the first confirmed death in the U.S. from swine flu. The boy, who was nearly 2 years old, arrived in the border city of Brownsville with “underlying health issues” on April 4 and developed flu symptoms four days later, the Texas Department of State Health Services said. He was taken to a Brownsville hospital April 13 and transferred to the following day to a hospital in Houston, where he died Monday night. Texas Health Services Commissioner Dr. David Lakey said it is “highly likely” the child contracted the illness in Mexico, though that hasn’t been confirmed. The boy is one of 16 confirmed swine flu cases in Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry has issued a disaster declaration and schools have shut down across the state out of fear of the virus. The cause of the boy’s death was pneumonia caused by the flu virus, Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos said. Texas
Children’s Hospital, where the boy died, said in a statement he was suffering from “acute respiratory illness.” Officials did not specify what underlying health issues the boy had before arriving in the U.S. State health officials declined to identify the boy or his family, citing privacy concerns, medical confidentiality and “the absence of an obvious health threat from the boy to the public at large.” State health officials said the boy would not have been infectious when he flew from Mexico City to Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville. None of his close contacts have developed symptoms. President Barack Obama said he wanted to extend his “thoughts and prayers” to the child’s family. Health officials in Brownsville are trying to trace his family’s trip to find out how long they were in the area, who they visited and how many people were in the group, Cascos said. The boy’s family members “are healthy and well,” Houston’s health director, Dr. David Persse, said at a news
Gun control issue insights anger in Montana By Kahrin Deines The Associated Press
HELENA, Mont. — Montana is trying to trigger a battle over gun control — and perhaps make a larger point about what many folks in this ruggedly independent state regard as a meddlesome federal government. In a bill passed by the Legislature earlier this month, the state is asserting that guns manufactured in Montana and sold in Montana to people who intend to keep their weapons in Montana are exempt from federal gun registration, background check and dealer-licensing rules because no state lines are crossed. That notion is all but certain to be tested in court. The immediate effect of the law could be limited, since Montana is home to just a few specialty gun makers, known for high-end hunting rifles and replicas of Old West weapons, and because their out-of-state sales would automatically trigger federal control. Still, much bigger prey lies in Montana’s sights: a legal showdown over how far the federal government’s regulatory authority extends.
“It’s a gun bill, but it’s another way of demonstrating the sovereignty of the state of Montana,” said Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who signed the bill. Carrie DiPirro, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, had no comment on the legislation. But the federal government has generally argued that it has authority under the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution to regulate guns because they can so easily be transported across state lines. Guns and states’ rights both play well in Montana, the birthplace of the right-wing Freemen militia and a participant in the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s and ‘80s, during which Western states clashed with Washington over grazing and mineral extraction on federal land. Montana’s leading gun rights organization, more hardcore than the National Rifle Association, boasts it has moved 50 bills through the Legislature over the past 25 years. And lawmakers in the Big Sky State have rebelled against federal control of everything from wetland protection to the national Real ID system.
HARRY CABLLUCK | AP PHOTO
COMFORTING: Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during a news conference.
conference yesterday. The toddler was about 2 years old. Houston officials said he was 23 months old, but state officials said he was 22 months old and could not immediately explain the discrepancy. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the death earlier yesterday. The news came as two young brothers in Massachusetts became the first to test positive in the state for swine flu, health officials confirmed yesterday. The boys, ages 8 and 10,
who became sick after a vacation to Mexico, are from Lowell — about 35 miles northwest of Boston. Neither child attended school after returning home from the trip. Nevada confirmed its first case yesterday — a 2-year-old girl from the Reno area who was not hospitalized and is recovering. Children, especially those younger than age 5, are particularly vulnerable to flu and its complications, and every year children die from seasonal flu. According to the CDC, more than 20,000 children younger than age 5 are hospitalized every year because of seasonal flu. In the 2007-08 flu season, the CDC received reports that 86 children nationwide died from flu complications. Authorities have confirmed at least 93 swine flu cases in the United States. In addition to the 16 in Texas, they’ve identified 51 cases in New York, 14 in California, three in Maine; two inKansas,twoinMassachusetts, and one each in Indiana, Ohio, Arizona and Nevada. The CDC also said Michigan had two, but state officials maintained only one was confirmed.
Conspirator sentenced to life By Geoff Mulvihill The Associated Press
CAMDEN, N.J. — A man who was the “epicenter of the conspiracy” to kill military personnel was sentenced to life in prison and a fellow plotter was sentenced to 33 years as a judge yesterday finished sentencing five Muslim immigrants who contemplated an attack on Fort Dix. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler had sentenced the three others involved in the plot to at least life in prison. Overall, Kugler seemed to accept the position of prosecutors that the plot was one of the most frightening homegrown terrorism plots ever hatched in the U.S. Under federal law, none of the four men given life sentences will be eligible for parole. With each of the four, Kugler cited their actions in the plot, their run-ins with the law — either before the investigation began or in the federal detention center in Philadelphia — and what he called their radical Islamist ideology. Yesterday, Mohamad Shnewer, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen born in Jordan, received a
sentence of life plus 30 years. Kugler said the sentence reflected his position as “the epicenter of the conspiracy” by frequently suggesting ways to kill military personnel. The judge dismissed the young man’s contention that he was talking about violence only because Mahmoud Omar, an FBI informant, pushed him into it. “I might have spoken like a jihadist,” said Shnewer, a former Cherry Hill resident who drove a cab and worked in his family’s food market. “But I don’t have what it takes to be a jihadist.” Like the families of the other men, relatives of Serdar Tatar spoke in court, describing the Turkish-born 25-year-old as a loving man who helped his stepson with homework. They said he was not interested in violence and cried about the shootings at Virginia Tech two years ago. “I believe that everything that’s going on is happening in some horrible dream,” said his wife, Halide Mirayeva, as she spoke on the couple’s third wedding anniversary. Unlike the other men, who wore stoic expressions or even smiled during the sentencing proceedings, Tatar was sullen.
REED SAXON | AP PHOTO
ASSURES: Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of public health for the County of Los Angeles, speaks about swine flu at the county hall of administration in downtown Los Angeles.
Southern California Marine infected with Swine Flu By Pauline Jelinek The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said yesterday a Marine based in Southern California has been confirmed to be ill with swine flu and is under quarantine, along with about 30 other Marines. A Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, Maj. David Nevers, said the sick Marine was doing well and his condition continued to improve. Nevers said approximately 30 other Marines who had been in contact with the sick Marine at the Twentynine Palms base will be held in quarantine for five days as well as to see whether they show symptoms. Officials earlier had said 37 Marines who had come into contact with the sick Marine were being restricted from going to the mess hall and troop formations. It wasn’t immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting numbers. The sick Marine’s roommate also was in quarantine but was not showing any symptoms of swine flu. The ill Marine suffered from vomiting and other flu-like symptoms, Gen. James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, said at a Pentagon briefing before the Marine was confirmed with the flu.
But, he added, “He’s doing fine. He’s up and about, he says he feels pretty good. ... There appears to be no threat him in terms of loss of life.” The Pentagon would not identify the Marine. His roommate and the other Marines were receiving Tamiflu, Conway said. But the ailing Marine was not because “Tamiflu would not help him at this point.” The Marine first complained of being sick on Saturday. It’s not clear how he may have contracted the virus. Conway said the Marine had not been to Mexico, but had traveled around the San Bernardino Valley area of Southern California. Conway said no additional doctors or medications have been needed at the base so far. The military has 7 million doses of Tamiflu and other anti-viral treatments stockpiled for its troops. “Our concern is the obvious exposure to other people and the potential spread,” Conway said. “And I’m confident we have a very aggressive doctor out there that is going by the book and being a little aggressive even beyond that, in terms of making sure that Marines are not exposing themselves to other Marines.”
MEHGAN MURPHY | AP PHOTO
MR. LONELY: This photo provided yesterday by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. shows Happy the hippo, the National Zoo’s solitary male Nile hippopotamus.
‘Happier’ times expected for hippo WASHINGTON (AP) — Happy the hippo could soon be a lot happier. The National Zoo’s solitary male Nile hippopotamus is heading to the Milwaukee County Zoo, where his new home will include a pool, a sandy beach and two potential girlfriends, Puddles and Patty. Zoo officials say they’re sad to see Happy go, but that Milwaukee will offer him a
great life. Happy is 28 and weighs about 5,500 pounds. He has to leave the National Zoo because his home is being eliminated for the expansion of the zoo’s elephant exhibit. The Milwaukee zoo, meanwhile, is beginning a roughly $10 million expansion of its hippopotamus exhibit, part of which will allow visitors to watch hippos swimming underwater.
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