PICHER, Okla. — No government money will be awarded for rebuilding any of the 114 homes leveled by a deadly tornado that tore through one of the nation’s most polluted areas, state and federal officials said Tuesday on a tour of the region.
Saturday’s tornado was responsible for seven deaths in Picher, a fading lead and zinc mining town of 800 people. The severe weather killed another 20 people in the Plains and the Southeast.
The tornado struck the heart of a federal Superfund site, where a government buyout of homes is under way in an area beset with mine collapses, open shafts, acid water and mountains of lead-contaminated waste. Children have tested with dangerous levels of lead in their blood.
The buyout will not prevent federal disaster aid from going to the area, Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry said, but the aid will help people relocate, not rebuild homes in the area.
New Jersey: Half of Americans on medication for chronic conditions
For the first time, it appears about half of all insured Americans are taking prescription medicines regularly for chronic health problems, a study shows. The most widely used drugs are those to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol. The numbers were gathered last year by New Jersey-based Medco Health Solutions Inc., which manages prescription benefits for about one in five Americans.
Michigan: 32-year fugitive back behind bars
A woman who hid her teenage crime and became a California homemaker with three children returned to a Michigan prison Tuesday to serve at least 5 1/2 more years of her drug sentence. Susan LeFevre, who at 19 walked away in 1976 from a Detroit-area prison and her 10- to 20-year drug sentence, was arrested in April in San Diego after an anonymous caller tipped Michigan authorities to her new name, Marie Walsh. She raised three children with her husband of 23 years, Alan Walsh, who didn’t know of her past.
Texas: Sect mother of newborn is not a minor
Texas child welfare officials conceded Tuesday that a newborn’s mother, held in foster care as a minor after being removed from a polygamous sect’s ranch, is an adult, but they did not release her age. She gave birth April 29. Another sect member, who gave birth to a son Monday, also may be an adult, state officials have said. The woman had been held along with more than 400 children taken last month from a west Texas ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. State officials say the children were endangered by underage and polygamous spiritual marriages.
Florida: Wildfires said to be arson
Investigators searched Tuesday for one or more arsonists behind a string of stubborn wildfires that have destroyed or damaged more than 160 homes and buildings on Florida’s Atlantic coast. Firefighters in Brevard County were trying for the third day to contain fires that have scorched an estimated 10,000 acres, or more than 15 square miles, in and around the neighboring towns of Palm Bay and Malabar.
D.C.: Vote to let first responders unionize
The Senate on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would give police officers, firefighters and other first responders the right to unionize but take away their ability to go on strike. The Senate will vote to send the legislation to President Bush later this week. At least 22 states don’t fully protect collective bargaining rights for firefighters, police officers, corrections officers and emergency medical service workers, bill supporters said.
Israel: Bush doesn’t expect breakthrough during his visit
Ahead of a visit to the Middle East, President Bush expressed some optimism that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement would be struck before his term ends while holding out little hope for a major breakthrough when he arrives in Israel today. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday reaching such a deal within the next eight months “might be improbable but it’s not impossible.” Negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian officials are being conducted in secret.
India: Bombings in Jaipur kill 80
A series of bombs exploded across the ancient city of Jaipur on Tuesday, killing at least 80 people and transforming busy markets, a jewelry bazaar and a Hindu temple into scenes of carnage. Suspicion quickly fell on Islamic militant groups blamed for a string of attacks in India in recent years. Police said an eighth bomb was found and defused by police.
Vatican: It’s OK to believe in aliens
Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican’s chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday. “How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, “Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a brother,’ and ‘sister,’ why should we not talk about an ‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation.”
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
