Miami:Airport job applicants arrested in sweep

Twenty-nine people were arrested on federal charges of lying or offering false papers to get jobs at three South Florida airports.

Friday’s arrests included workers from the West Palm Beach, Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports.

Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne said seven other suspects were at large because the addresses they provided to their employers did not exist.

Those taken into custody gave false names or Social Security numbers, lied about their criminal records or attached false documents to applications to get jobs or access to secure areas, prosecutors said.

“Millions of Social Security numbers have been issued to noncitizens,” said James Huse, inspector general of the Social Security Administration. “This creates a possible homeland security risk.”

Washington: Homeless man escapes alleged sex slavery

A 47-year-old homeless man from Seattle was held as a sex slave for eight days in a middle-class home equipped with a torture chamber, authorities said.

Shackled hand and foot, the man escaped Thursday by climbing out a window and running to neighbors for help, he told Clark County sheriff’s officers.

Charged Friday with first-degree kidnapping, rape and assault were Michael Aaron Wilson, 45, and William Joseph Fritsch, 22, both of Brush Prairie.

“In 35 years in this business, this is the most bizarre scene I have ever been at,” Clark County Sheriff Garry Lucas told The Columbian.

Wilson and Fritsch were held on $250,000 bail each.

According to court papers, the two men confirmed the Seattle man’s account of events in the house, but contended it was consensual sexual role-playing.

Virginia: Malaria cases worry health officials

Two Virginia teenagers have contracted malaria, a rarity because neither traveled abroad, health officials said.

Loudoun County health officials are trying to figure out how the 15-year-old boy and 19-year-old woman contracted the disease last month. Both are receiving antibiotics and recovering.

Of the estimated 1,200 cases of malaria in the United States each year, most are found among immigrants from countries where malaria is common.

Malaria is contracted when a person is bitten by an infected mosquito. It is possible that someone who had the disease was bitten by a mosquito in Virginia that passed it on to the two teens, who live a mile apart.

Houston: Texas bayou added to Superfund list

A polluted waterway that flows into the Houston Ship Channel and is home to a wide range of wildlife has been added to the list of federal Superfund hazardous waste sites requiring priority cleanup.

Patrick Bayou, surrounded by petrochemical plants near Deer Park, was one of 19 sites added to the Superfund National Priorities List last week.

With the new additions, the priorities list now contains 1,238 cleanup sites, the Environmental Protection Agency said.