Pennsylvania: Cornstarch mailings result in conviction

A Pennsylvania woman has been convicted of trying to mail anthrax hoax letters to government officials at the height of last fall’s anthrax scare.

The letters, which authorities say actually contained cornstarch, forced the Oct. 25 closure of a post office in Nanticoke and halted operations in the mail room at the Luzerne County Courthouse.

Rosemary Zavrel, 58, of Pittston, was convicted by a jury Friday of mailing threatening letters, aiding and abetting in mailing threatening letters and making false statements to the police.

Authorities said she and her former roommate, Emily Forman, mailed 17 letters filled with cornstarch to Bush, local judges and other authorities in an attempt to frame two teens who allegedly picked on Zavrel’s son.

Las Vegas: Trauma center reopens after 10-day shutdown

Nevada’s only top-level trauma center reopened Saturday morning, 10 days after it shut down because of soaring malpractice insurance rates.

The center closed July 3 after all but one of the medical center’s 58 orthopedic doctors resigned because they said they couldn’t afford rising malpractice insurance premiums.

To put the center back in business, 10 to 15 private practice orthopedic surgeons agreed to become Clark County employees for 45 days, meaning they will be covered by the hospital’s $50,000 liability cap.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said those 45 days will give him time to call a special legislative session to consider a law to cap jury awards in malpractice lawsuits.

Colorado: Firefighters sickened by illegal landfill fumes

Fumes from an illegal landfill sickened firefighters at a wildfire in southwest Colorado and could contaminate a river, officials said.

Firefighters found the dump two weeks ago under a dam on land owned by the federal Bureau of Reclamation.

Six firefighters were treated at a hospital after breathing yellow smoke from the dump, said Wano Urbonas, environmental health director for the San Juan Basin Health Department.

The firefighters were battling two blazes near Durango that burned 71,000 acres.