Virginia: Hotel scrubbed down after virus outbreak

A hotel at Washington Dulles International Airport remained closed and was being scrubbed Sunday after 60 guests at two wedding parties contracted the same intestinal illness that has sickened hundreds of people on cruise ships.

Tests confirmed that the guests at the Hyatt Dulles in Herndon were infected a week ago with the highly contagious norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea.

The hotel closed to new guests so staff could begin scrubbing it with a chlorine-based cleaner. The virus can be spread through person-to-person contact and through contaminated food and surfaces.

The origin of the virus has not been determined, health officials said. No hotel employees are known to have become sick.

Illinois: Skydiving center owner dies at own facility

The owner of a skydiving center, whose business had been criticized for a high number of fatalities and who once served time for drug smuggling, has died in a parachuting accident at his own facility.

Roger Nelson, 48, was jumping Saturday with another man who bumped into Nelson and caused his parachute to collapse, investigators in Ottawa said.

Nelson fell about 50 feet to the ground, and was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

The other parachutist, Todd Fey, 43, of Fargo, N.D., was being treated at a hospital.

Nelson’s death was the 14th at Skydive Chicago since the facility opened in 1993.

Eleven of those deaths occurred in the past five years, making the center’s fatality rate eight times the national average.

Colorado: Arts director’s firing puts funding at risk

Colorado could become the first state to lose funding from the National Endowment for the Arts after slashing funding for the state arts council and firing its director.

The council staff has been cut from 11 employees to just one, following Friday’s firing of director Fran Holden. Gov. Bill Owens had ordered the council to whittle annual payroll and operational expenses down to $40,000.

The NEA requires that states have functioning arts councils before it disburses money.

Colorado’s legislature, facing a $1 billion revenue shortfall, cut the council budget from $1.04 million last year to $200,000 this year.

Even before the latest cut, Colorado spent less money on arts than any other state as measured against personal income.

The NEA had planned to give Colorado $613,600 this year. The organization has been allowing the Colorado council to use some of its grant money for operations.

North Carolina: Student electrocuted on concert stairway

Authorities are investigating the death of a college student who was electrocuted while walking barefoot on a wet stairway during a concert by Snoop Dogg and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Ashley Faris, 26, was pronounced dead at a hospital Friday, police said. A passer-by who tried to help him was treated at the hospital for electric shock, but was released Saturday.

Police said Faris, a UNC Charlotte student, was walking Friday night on a lighted, concrete stairway with metal edges at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre when he was electrocuted.

Verizon officials have declined to answer questions about the incident, providing only written statements.

“We are working with local authorities and investigators to determine how the incident took place,” a statement released Saturday said.