Washington, D.C.

Tests show cattle don’t have foot-and-mouth

Cattle the United States quarantined after noticing they had blisters in their mouths do not have foot-and-mouth disease, preliminary tests by the Agriculture Department indicate.

Peter Fernandez, associate administrator for the department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, made the announcement late Friday after the quarantine led Mexico to close the U.S.-Mexico border to livestock trade.

He said scientists at the department’s laboratory in Plum Island, N.Y., were still checking for other diseases. Final results were to be released today.

Mexico closed its borders to livestock trade with the United States Friday morning, a day after U.S. officials isolated the 40 cows for testing. The animals, held at the border in Nogales, Ariz., do not have a fever — a key symptom of disease, Fernandez said.

Colorado

Academy approves anonymity for victims

The Air Force Academy will give confidentiality to cadets who report that they have been sexually assaulted, reversing an earlier decision that conformed to the service’s policy on all crimes, the secretary of the Air Force said Friday.

Confidentiality has been a key issue in the school’s assault scandal, with civilian investigators led by former Rep. Tillie Fowler saying it will encourage victims to come forward and help solve a problem that has plagued the academy for years.

“We are convinced the Fowler committee has a good point,” Air Force Secretary James Roche told the Board of Visitors, the only civilian panel charged with overseeing the prestigious school.

He said commanders knew things must change because some female cadets would not report sexual assaults to a superior out of fear.

Utah

5-year-old found; kidnap suspect arrested

A 5-year-old boy who was kidnapped on his way home from school was found bound and gagged in a campground four hours later, and police arrested a suspect early Friday after the boy said his abductor drove a green pickup.

Robert Allen Kartchner, 20, was arrested for aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted aggravated assault in the Thursday incident, Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Spencer Cannon said.

Police did not know a motive, but Cannon said there were no signs of sexual abuse. The boy had stab wounds but was not seriously injured.

He was kept overnight in a hospital and released to his parents.

The boy disappeared after school Thursday in the five blocks between his elementary school and his home in Mapleton. He was found in Spanish Canyon, about 15 miles away.

Police did not immediately know how the boy got away.

Baltimore

Governor’s wife sorry for Britney Spears joke

The wife of Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich apologized for saying she would shoot pop singer Britney Spears, but reiterated her message about the difficulty of raising girls in a society saturated with sexually provocative images.

Kendel Ehrlich made the remark Oct. 3 while speaking in Frederick at a conference on domestic violence.

Ehrlich, 42, talked about the need for “educating our women to get as much schooling as possible, to not become dependent on anyone else.”

“It is incredibly important to get that message to young women. You know, really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would,” Ehrlich said, laughing. “I hate to say that, but you know, like I said, I’m raising a boy … and I think, ‘Oh my goodness, what would I do if I had a daughter who is seeing these images and having peer pressure?'”

After the story broke this week, a spokeswoman for Ehrlich said she “inadvertently used a figure of speech.” A day later, Ehrlich apologized to Spears.

Florida

Judge won’t block removal of feeding tube

A federal judge declined to intervene Friday in the case of a severely brain-damaged woman whose feeding tube is scheduled to be removed next week.

Denying a request for an injunction filed by Terri Schiavo’s parents, U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara said he had no jurisdiction in the case.

Schiavo, 39, has been in a persistent vegetative state for 13 years after suffering a heart attack. Her husband and parents have been in a long legal battle over whether Schiavo has any chance for recovery.

Michael Schiavo contends that his wife never wanted to be kept alive artificially. The woman’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, filed the federal lawsuit seeking to have Michael Schiavo removed as her guardian and have therapy ordered for her. The feeding tube is scheduled to be removed Wednesday.

The Florida Supreme Court has twice rejected hearing the case and the U.S. Supreme Court also has declined.

Washington, D.C.

University violated animal safety laws

The government has determined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign failed to comply with safety laws when it allowed offspring of animals used in a genetic experiment to be sold as food.

The Food and Drug Administration discovered in February that 386 pigs born from pigs used in a study might have entered the food supply. The pigs in the experiment had genes from different species, but the university said the offspring didn’t. The FDA determined there was no health risk.

In two similar letters sent last week to university officials, FDA stressed that it had never allowed genetically engineered animals into the food supply.