NPR 2011-10-02

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 A Northern California farm has broadened a recall to include nearly 15,000 bags of romaine lettuce¹. Bob Hensley of Capital Public Radio reports the produce has been distributed in 21 states.

 

True Leaf Farms of Salinas has launched the recall after a federal agency reported a random² sample tested positive for listeria, a potentially deadly bacterium³. Most of the suspect produce were sent to wholesale⁴ distributors in mid-September. The expiration⁵ date is September 29th. There haven't been any illnesses reported that are connected to the lettuce. California officials are conducting tests to try to determine how the produce became contaminated. Listeria is linked to a non-related case of canned cantaloupes that recently killed at least 13. Those at greatest risks from listeria infections include pregnant women, the elderly and those with weak immune systems. For NPR News, I'm Bob Hensley in Modesto, California.

 

There're now 15 known deaths linked to listeria-contaminated cantaloupes from a Colorado farm, and in Littleton, Colorado Janie Exley's 84-year-old father became very ill.

 

"My dad started having symptoms on August 22nd, when he developed tremors⁶ and chills, and then that subsided⁷, and then over the next, of course, the next couple days, he was feeling a little more fatigued⁸."

 

Jensen Farms of Holly⁹ Colorado has added Louisiana, Indiana and Wisconsin to its whole cantaloupe recall notification. The company says its products are sold to customers who resell the products, meaning that sometimes the final customer is not known. Customers should check stickers on the whole cantaloupe.

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has lifted restrictions¹⁰ on disaster spending. NPR's Tamara Keith has more.

 

In August, FEMA stopped paying for some long-term repairing and rebuilding projects to make sure it had money to help victims of new disasters as they came along. The agency did this because the balance in its disaster relief fund had gotten precariously¹¹ low. FEMA's lifting those restrictions because the fund was replenished¹² after Congress passed a temporary funding measure to keep the government running. In a blog post, a FEMA official says the agency is now on the process of working with state and local partners across the country to get these projects that had been on hold moving again. Tamara Keith, NPR News.

 

It will be something in the October 18th paychecks of Federal Aviation Administration workers who were caught in the crossfire¹³ of a congressional budget fight this summer. Nearly 4,000 workers furloughed in the two-week partial shutdown are getting back pay. The money will come from an aviation trust fund used to help pay for construction and safety grants to airports. The shutdown cost the FAA nearly 400 million dollars in uncollected airline ticket taxes.

 

This is NPR.

 

The Senate next week considers a proposal to impose higher tariffs¹⁴ on Chinese products as retaliation¹⁵ for perceived unfair trade practices. Authors of the bill charge that Chinese currency manipulation keeps its exports to the US cheap and make some American exports more expensive. The White House doesn't support the bill, arguing that diplomacy¹⁶ is the best way to change Chinese policy.

 

New analysis suggests climate change is going to become very expensive for Canada. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, it could reach more than five billion dollars a year within a decade and cost even more afterward¹⁷.

 

The study from the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy is considered groundbreaking. It says cost will continue to climb sharply, and by the 2050s it could go as high as 43 billion dollars a year. That's also depending on how much action is taken on reducing greenhouse gas emissions¹⁸ and how fast the Canadian economy and population grow. Researchers looked at the impact of warmer weather, forest fires, flooding and increased illness among the population, all with a raising price tag. The roundtable is made up of business leaders, academics and researchers, and it's an advisory¹⁹ body to the Canadian government. The group says Ottawa should invest in programs to help Canadians adapt, and that should also work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions around the world and not balk²⁰ at the initial costs. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

 

Across the Southeast, an outbreak of biting ants. They're known as hairy crazy ants, and they have the ability to short out industrial equipment. Extermination²¹ is expensive and tough because when one dies, it releases a chemical for the colony to attack.

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