Florida

Gulf storm may dump 15 inches of rain

A growing tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico spawned heavy rain Thursday across Florida, further dampening areas already soaked by one of the wettest summers in years.

As much as 15 inches of rain was expected during the weekend as the depression, likely to become a tropical storm, moves across the state toward the Atlantic Ocean.

“It’s just raining. It hasn’t kicked up yet,” said Charles Norwood, an employee at the Sea Hag Marina at the mouth of the Steinhatchee River, about 125 miles north of Tampa. “I hope that’s all we get — wet.”

The tropical depression was expected to build into Tropical Storm Henri by the time it hits the coast late today in the Cedar Key area and begins its slosh through the Florida Peninsula, forecasters said.

NEW YORK City

Judge puts an end to McDonald’s lawsuit

For a second time this year, a federal judge threw out a class-action lawsuit Thursday that blamed McDonald’s for making people fat.

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet said the plaintiffs failed to show that the fast-food chain misled consumers into believing its food was nutritious and part of a healthy diet.

Sweet tossed out an earlier version of the lawsuit in January that claimed McDonald’s food causes health problems in children.

Thursday he rejected a request that the plaintiffs be permitted to file a new version, which claimed that McDonald’s violated New York’s consumer protection laws and engaged in deceptive advertising.

PHILADELPHIA

Legionnaires outbreak blamed on heavy rains

Investigators say heavy rains are a likely reason that cases of Legionnaires disease have more than doubled this year in several East Coast states.

The most noticeable increase in the sometimes deadly disease came in May and June after heavy spring rains, and it started to taper off by the end of August, said Dr. Daniel Feiken of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

“There’s potential that, if there were more nutrients in the water because of runoff from overflooded rivers … it may lead to a bloom in legionella,” Feiken said.

People contract Legionnaires’ disease after inhaling mists from a water source contaminated with the legionella bacteria, which thrives in warm, stagnant water.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

FBI says al-Qaida remains top danger

The al-Qaida presence in the United States is small and mainly involved in support for possible future attacks, but the terror network remains the most severe threat to Americans, the FBI’s top counterterrorism official said Thursday.

The FBI has not detected any individuals or cells that appear to be actively planning attacks like those almost two years ago that killed some 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Instead, most of the al-Qaida operatives in the United States are here to provide logistical support such as travel documents, recruitment and fund raising, said Larry Mefford, who heads FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence.

“My view is, it’s very small but it does exist,” Mefford said of the al-Qaida presence. “We do have evidence of it.”

ATLANTA

CDC: 8.6 million in U.S. have smoking illnesses

About 8.6 million Americans have chronic illnesses related to smoking, according to the government’s first estimate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that about 10 percent of current and former smokers have chronic smoking-related diseases. The figures come from a national telephone survey in 2000.

Half of the ill current smokers said they had chronic bronchitis and a quarter said they had emphysema. Only 1 percent said they had lung cancer.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

CIA seeking to recruit more linguistic experts

The CIA is starting a recruitment drive aimed at attracting linguists to teach Arabic, Chinese and other languages.

Ads will begin appearing in major newspapers this weekend, agency spokesman Mark Mansfield said Thursday. The campaign will continue for at least a month. The ads bear the headline “Intelligence speaks many languages.”

Languages of particular interest are Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Pashto, Korean, Farsi and Thai, Mansfield said.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Senators ask Bush to tap oil reserves

A group of senators sent President Bush a letter on Thursday asking him to release 15 million barrels of oil from the domestic petroleum reserves unless Saudi Arabia increases its oil exports.

Charging that the recent spike in gasoline prices is due to the decrease in Saudi oil exports, the 32 senators said the higher costs were hindering U.S. economic growth.

By tapping the reserves, they said, “the United States can protect its economic stability and force oil producers from the Middle East to engage in fair production and export policies.”

According to the Energy Department, Saudi oil exports dropped by 500,000 barrels a day in early August.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Pentagon OKs device to ‘play’ taps at funerals

Chronically short of musicians for military funerals, the Pentagon has approved the use of a push-button bugle that plays taps by itself as the operator holds it to his lips.

Only some 500 buglers are on active duty on any one day, but about 1,800 people with military service die across the country each day and are eligible for honors ceremonies, Air Force Lt. Col. Cynthia Colin said.

So the Defense Department worked with private industry to invent the “ceremonial bugle,” which has a small digital recording device inserted into its bell to play the music.

A member of the honor guard simply presses a button on the device. A five-second delay gives the guard time to raise the instrument to his lips as if he were going to play it.