Colorado

Children presumed dead in lodge explosion

Three children missing since a powerful blast leveled a secluded mountain lodge in western Colorado are presumed dead, the sheriff said Monday as searchers began combing the rubble for their bodies.

The three children — ages 3, 12 and 16 — were from the same extended family that owned the Electric Mountain Lodge, Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee said.

Sixteen other people were injured in the blast. Names of the victims were not released.

Officials had not determined what triggered Saturday’s explosion but said it might have been caused by propane gas used for heat. The explosion left only two chimneys and smoldering rubble, witnesses said.

Washington, D.C.

CDC says rubella eradicated in U.S.

Rubella, a virus known to cause birth defects, miscarriages and stillbirths, has been eliminated in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday.

“This is an achievement … but the story is not done yet,” said Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the Atlanta-based CDC. “There are still parts of the world where immunization is not common or not common enough to prevent children from developing congenital rubella.”

Also known as German measles, rubella is a mild infectious disease. The disease is most dangerous for pregnant women who, if they contract the illness, risk miscarriage, stillbirth or birth defects in their child.

Florida

Murder charges brought against slaying suspect

A convicted sex offender was formally charged Monday with capital murder and other crimes in the abduction and death of a 9-year-old Florida girl.

John Evander Couey, 46, was also charged with burglary, kidnapping and sexual battery on a child under the age of 12, officials said. His arraignment is set for today.

Authorities said he confessed to kidnapping and killing Jessica Marie Lunsford after taking a lie-detector test in Georgia. The girl’s body was found Saturday, more than three weeks after she vanished from her Florida bedroom.

Sheriff’s officials and the girl’s father, Mark Lunsford, have said they will urge prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

San Diego

Illegal immigration still rising, report shows

The tightening of homeland security since 2001 has not stemmed undocumented immigration into the United States, with a report released Monday showing the number of illegal immigrants growing by roughly 485,000 people a year.

An analysis of government data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a private research group in Washington, showed an estimated 10.3 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States last year, an increase of about 23 percent from 8.4 million in 2000.

“The numbers are astounding,” said Cathy Travis, a spokeswoman for Rep. Solomon Ortiz, a Texas Democrat who has pressed for greater funding for border security and immigration control.

Baltimore

Researchers compare diabetes risk indicators

A man’s waist size seems to be a stronger indicator of diabetes risk than the body-mass index, new research suggests.

Johns Hopkins scientists reviewed data from 27,270 men tracked over 13 years and put them into five groups according to their waist size; 884 of the men had diabetes.

Compared with those in the group with the smallest waists, 29-34 inches, men with larger waist sizes were at least twice as likely to have diabetes. Those with the largest waist size — 40 inches and above — were up to 12 times more likely to have Type 2 diabetes, the kind associated with obesity.

When the men were divided into groups based on their body-mass index — a formula based on weight and height — or waist-hip ratio, the level of risk wasn’t as pronounced.

Michigan

Fire, explosion injure 12 at steel complex

Spilled molten steel caused a fire and explosion Monday at a Michigan steel plant, injuring 12 people, officials said.

A transport vehicle that can carry up to 400 tons of molten steel was backing into a building at the sprawling River Rouge industrial complex when some of its high-temperature cargo sloshed out, said William Hornberger, a spokesman for Severstal, the Russian company that owns the plant.

The molten steel hit two of the vehicle’s 8-foot tires, setting them afire and causing them to explode minutes later while Dearborn firefighters were battling the flames, Hornberger said.