New York: USA Today Web site hacked; news replaced

Hackers broke into USA Today’s Web site and replaced legitimate news stories with phony articles, lampooning newsmakers and religions but also claiming Israel was under missile attack.

The bogus pages were viewable on USAToday.com for about 15 minutes before they were discovered shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday and taken offline, company spokesman Steve Anderson said.

Anderson said the site was shut down for three hours to upgrade security. The hackers appeared to have penetrated the Web server computers from outside company firewalls, he said.

Tennessee: Restaurant patron dies of salmonella poisoning

A man who was among at least 180 diners who became ill last month after eating at a Red Lobster restaurant has died, health officials said Friday.

The diner contracted salmonella poisoning, a food-borne illness caused by bacteria. Authorities were working to determine whether the illness, which is not often fatal, was the cause of his death.

Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department spokeswoman Judy Frank said there were 34 other confirmed cases of salmonella poisoning. Tests were pending in other cases.

New Orleans: Three hospitalized with West Nile virus

The hospitalization of three men with the potentially deadly West Nile virus the first human cases reported this year have experts alarmed at the infection’s rapid spread since it first appeared in New York in 1999.

The men, all living in towns east of Baton Rouge, were hospitalized with the mosquito-borne virus this week. A 78-year-old man was diagnosed Monday, and two more men, ages 62 and 53, were diagnosed Thursday.

Dr. Anthony Marfin with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the Louisiana cases were the first reported to the CDC in 2002.

San Diego: Witness in trial fired after drug testimony

A flight attendant who testified she had smoked marijuana with the parents of 7-year-old slaying victim Danielle van Dam said she was fired because of the airline’s anti-drug policy.

Denise Kemal, 28, said she was dismissed by Southwest Airlines on June 28, 2 1/2 weeks after testifying at the trial of David Westerfield, 50, a neighbor of the van Dams accused of kidnapping, murder and possession of child pornography. He has pleaded innocent and faces the death penalty if convicted.