Minneapolis

Kansas included in refried bean recall

General Mills Inc. on Wednesday added Kansas to the list of states where the food maker is recalling 4,080 cans of Old El Paso Traditional Variety Refried Beans because of the potential for contamination of the bacterium that can cause botulism.

The Golden Valley-based company said routine testing found that the beans might have been underprocessed and could be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. No illnesses have been reported, the company said.

The cans being recalled in the six states are labeled with the UPC code 4600082121 and production date code beginning with the first six characters of H2FF15.

The recall does not include other flavors of Old El Paso refried beans.

California

Biologists stunned at third condor death

Stung by the loss of the first California condor chicks born in the wild in 18 years, biologists said Wednesday they would step up their vigilance of future newborns, including the possible use of video cameras to monitor the young endangered species.

The last of the three chicks was found dead Tuesday in the Los Padres National Forest, saddening biologists working to bring back the vulture species from the brink of extinction. All three birds died just before they were expected to take flight for the first time.

The chicks were a milestone in the condor program; no other birds had been hatched in the wild since 1984.

California condors, the largest birds in North America, nearly became extinct as they lost habitat and suffered from human intrusions.

In 1982, their numbers dipped to 22 birds. There are now 201 birds currently in captivity and in the wild in Arizona, California and Mexico.

Baltimore

Father dies of injuries suffered in arson fire

A father critically burned in an arson fire died Wednesday, a week after his wife and five children were killed in the blaze. Police say it was set in retaliation for the family’s efforts to rid their neighborhood of drugs.

Carnell Dawson Sr., 43, was burned over 80 percent of his body in the fire Oct. 16. He jumped out of an upper-story window as the fire gutted the family’s rowhouse.

Dawson died Wednesday at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, said Susan Davis, a hospital spokeswoman.

A funeral was scheduled for today for Angela Dawson, 36, and the children: LaWanda Ortiz, 14; Juan Ortiz, 12; Carnell Dawson Jr., 10, and twins Kevin and Keith Dawson, 9.

Police said the man charged with setting the fire, Darrell Brooks, was retaliating for Angela Dawson’s calls to police to clear her block of drug dealers.

Alaska

Strong quake causes only minor damage

A strong earthquake rocked a broad swath of Alaska on Wednesday, waking people up hundreds of miles from the epicenter and knocking items off shelves but causing no major damage or injuries.

The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7, hit at 3:27 a.m. and was centered about 30 miles southeast of Denali National Park.

It was felt as far as 350 miles away, said Bruce Tanner, a seismologist with the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer.

In Healy, just north of the park, Grandview Bed and Breakfast co-owner Shelly Acteson said the quake knocked just about everything off the walls and shelves.

“Usually they kind of roll, you can kind of hear them coming,” she said. “This one sounded like it was kind of mad boom, boom, boom.”

The quake was felt by residents in Fairbanks, 85 miles north of the epicenter and Anchorage, 170 miles to the southwest.