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(09/18/06 2:46am)
LOS ANGELES -- Shoppers changed their buying habits Saturday as spinach was pulled from grocery store shelves because of the outbreak of E. coli bacteria that had killed one person and sickened more than 100 others.\nThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat fresh spinach, as Natural Selection Foods LLC recalled its packaged spinach throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. The move came as a precaution after federal health officials said some of those hospitalized reported eating brands of prepackaged spinach distributed by the company.\nThe officials stressed that the bacteria had not been isolated in products sold by the holding company, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif., and known for Earthbound Farm and other brands. As the investigation continues, other brands might be implicated, officials said.\nAt a Safeway grocery in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood, many of bagged produce shelves were empty Saturday. Anna Cairns said she had to settle for bags of iceberg green lettuce and Caesar salad, instead of her normal salad mix, which contained spinach.\n"I have a bag of spinach in my refrigerator I need to throw away," said Cairns, 59, of San Francisco.\nMarina Zecevic, 49, of West Los Angeles, shopping at a Trader Joe's, said she made the mistake of serving creamed spinach to her kids the day the story broke.\n"My sons started accusing me of premeditated murder," she said.\nShe felt the contamination issue was overblown.\n"The minute we get the all clear, the spinach is back on the table," she said.\nThe spinach, grown in California, could have been contaminated in the field or during processing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\nAbout 74 percent of the fresh market spinach grown in the United States comes from California, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation. There have been previous bacterial contamination outbreaks linked to spinach and lettuce grown in the state.
(11/20/03 5:34am)
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson on multiple counts of molesting a child and asked the pop superstar to turn in his passport and surrender, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.\n"At this point in time, Mr. Jackson has been given an opportunity to surrender himself to the custody of the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department within a specified period of time," Sheriff Jim Anderson told a news conference. "We are currently working with Mr. Jackson's legal representation on this matter.\n"I believe he's willing to cooperate with us," Anderson said, adding that bail for Jackson would be set at $3 million.\nDistrict Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon Jr. said he wouldn't release details about the alleged crimes except to say that there was only one victim and that the victim was cooperating.\nIn 1993, Jackson had faced a child molestation investigation that never resulted in criminal charges because the child refused to testify. Jackson reportedly paid a multimillion dollar settlement in that case but maintained his innocence.\nThe arrest warrant Sneddon discussed Wednesday was for violation of a California law that prohibits lewd or lascivious acts with a child under age 14. A conviction carries three to eight years in prison.\nSneddon said an affidavit outlining details of the case will be sealed for 45 days. He would not say how many charges Jackson would face.\nAs many as 70 law enforcement officials served a search warrant at Jackson's Neverland Ranch on Tuesday and searched for evidence for more than 12 hours. The $12.3 million Neverland Ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley has a mansion, its own zoo and amusement park, and has often been the site of children's parties.\nSearch warrants also were served for two other locations in Southern California, Anderson said. He did not disclose the other two locations.\nEarlier Wednesday, a spokesman for Jackson, Stuart Backerman, told The Associated Press that he was consulting with attorneys and planned to issue a statement later in the day.\nHe declined further comment, saying neither he nor Jackson knew the details of the investigation.\nJackson, who reportedly was in Las Vegas when the search warrant was served, denounced media coverage in a statement earlier released to The Associated Press by Backerman.\n"I've seen lawyers who don't represent me and spokespeople who do not know me speaking for me. These characters always seem to surface with dreadful allegations just as another project, an album, a video is being released," the Jackson statement said, referring to Tuesday's release of a greatest hits album, "Number Ones."\nThe Jackson family was aware of the arrest warrant, said Steve Manning, a family spokesman.\n"It's very unfortunate. They feel very bad about it, but they support him wholeheartedly," Manning said.\nIn a television documentary broadcast on ABC earlier this year, Jackson said he had slept in a bed with many children. "When you say bed you're thinking sexual," the singer said during the interview. "It's not sexual, we're going to sleep. I tuck them in. ... It's very charming, it's very sweet."\nJackson caused an international uproar last year when he displayed his baby, Prince Michael II, to fans by dangling him briefly from a fourth-floor balcony in Germany. Jackson called the incident a "terrible mistake," and Berlin authorities said the actions were not punishable.\nThe singer had international hits with the albums "Thriller" (1982), "Bad" (1987) and "Dangerous" (1991), but saw his career begin to collapse after the 1993 allegations.\nHis last studio album, "Invincible," sold about 2 million copies in the United States -- great for most artists, especially veteran stars, but only so-so for the man who bills himself as the King of Pop.
(06/02/03 12:31am)
LOS ANGELES -- An anti-smoking group said Saturday that youngsters are seeing too much smoking when they watch commercials for many popular movies.\nTobacco use was found in 14 percent of the movie trailers that appeared on television and were studied by the American Legacy Foundation. They included trailers for some of the biggest hits of 2001, including the Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind," the group said.\nThe foundation estimated that during the year-long period studied, more than 90 percent of all U.S. youngsters 12 to 17 years old had seen at least one trailer with smoking.\nFoundation President and CEO Cheryl Healton stopped short of claiming that tobacco producers were paying to have their products placed in the movies. That practice is banned under a 1998 lawsuit settlement between big tobacco producers and 46 states.\nThe agreement also forbids the participating manufacturers from directly or indirectly targeting youth in advertising, marketing and promotion of tobacco products.\nTobacco giant Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro, said it complies fully with "the letter and the spirit" of the agreement.\n"Our policy ... since the early 1990s is that we do not provide product or permission to anyone who is seeking to use our brand names in films," company spokesman Brendan McCormick said from New York.\nThe foundation said it examined all 216 movies that were advertised on TV between August 2001 and July 2002. It found that 67 percent depicted smoking, including more than a third of those rated PG. That rose to 85 percent in R-rated films.\nHealton and other critics said Hollywood continues to portray smoking as glamorous. Movies that show branded cigarettes, especially, "tend to put them in the hands of movie stars," she said.\nWhile in real life the number of smokers in the U.S. has plummeted, the use of tobacco in movies has risen sharply even since 1990, and the on-screen appearance of brand names also has increased, said Stanton Glantz, a University of California, San Francisco, professor and founder of the Smoke Free Movies campaign.\nExamples include the Winston brand in "A Beautiful Mind," which won the Oscar for best picture, he said.\nA call seeking comment from Ron Howard, who directed "A Beautiful Mind," was not immediately returned Saturday.\nAt the "World No Tobacco Day" news conference Saturday, public health and anti-smoking groups called on the industry to stop showing tobacco brands on screen and anti-tobacco ads before films with any tobacco presence.\nThey also would like any movie depicting any scene with smoking to earn an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America to keep youngsters away.