"For a man used to pomp and paparazzi, King Juan Carlos of Spain looked shaken, emerging from a hospital in Madrid Wednesday after hip surgery. 'I'm very sorry,' he said, blinking into the cameras, sheepish, and leaning on his crutches. 'I made a mistake, and it won't happen again.'"
Reporter Michael Booth's story resurrected the old issue of whether the public has a right to know the identity and source of foods in commerce that government agencies actually know may be causing fatal illness. The FDA refused to comment on the story.
"YAKIMA -- The U.S. will pay more than $1 billion to settle a series of lawsuits brought by American Indian tribes over mismanagement of tribal money and trust lands, under a settlement announced Wednesday. The agreement resolves claims brought by 41 tribes -- including some in Washington state -- to reclaim money lost in mismanaged accounts and from royalties for oil, gas, grazing and timber rights on tribal lands."
"WASHINGTON — Federal food safety inspectors said a proposal by the Agriculture Department to expand a pilot program that allows private companies to take over the inspections at poultry plants could pose a health risk by allowing contaminated meat to reach customers.""Currently, the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service inspectors are stationed along the assembly lines in poultry plants and examine the birds for blemishes, feces or visible defects before they are processed."
"Texas tornadoes that hit the Dallas area Tuesday resulted in no fatalities, in part due to timely warnings. But a new model could improve tornado warning times dramatically."
One sign of problems came when Interior's Inspector General office launched what seemed to be a ham-handed investigation, later dropped, into activities of the scientist who sounded the alarm on polar bears losing habitat to global warming. Now Interior has fired one of its scientific integrity officers — who is defending himself by saying he was just doing his job.
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