1,700 Yosemite visitors are at risk
1,700 Yosemite visitors are at risk
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — About 1,700 people who stayed in tent cabins at Yosemite National Park this summer were warned Tuesday they may have been exposed to a deadly rodent-borne virus blamed for the deaths of two campers.
Four people who spent time in Signature Tent Cabins at Curry Village around the same time in June have contracted hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, an illness spread by rodent feces, urine and saliva.
One of the people who died was from outside California. The Centers for Disease Control confirmed the death within the past few days. Two other people were infected and expected to survive.
The disease can incubate for up to six weeks before flu-like symptoms develop. It’s fatal in 30 percent of all cases, and there is no specific treatment.
“This is certainly an issue and we’re getting word out,” said park spokesman Scott Gediman.
Ryan opposed aid for disasters
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Hurricane Isaac bears down on the Gulf Coast, there should be plenty of money — some $1.5 billion — in federal disaster aid coffers, thanks, in part, to a new system that budgets help for victims of hurricanes, tornadoes and floods before they occur.
It’s a system that Paul Ryan, the Republican nominee-to-be for vice president, had hoped to scrap as a way to make his House GOP budget look smaller by about $10 billion a year. Politely, party elders told him no way, at least for now.
Capitol Hill Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana were the driving force behind the new disaster funding scheme and made it part of last summer’s hard-fought budget pact with backing from President Barack Obama. Prior to that, the president had given short shrift to budgeting for disasters before a spate of them early last year, including tornadoes that ripped through Missouri and Alabama.
Congresses and administrations, after all, always had been fairly forthcoming with whatever disaster aid was needed after the fact, though the rise to power of tea party Republicans contributed to delays in providing disaster money last year.
Man killed amid sasquatch hoax
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — A man dressed in a military-style “ghillie” suit and apparently trying to provoke reports of a Bigfoot sighting in northwest Montana was struck by two cars and killed, authorities said.
The man was standing in the right-hand lane of U.S. Highway 93 south of Kalispell on Sunday night when he was hit by the first car, according to the Montana Highway Patrol. A second car hit the man as he lay in the roadway, authorities said.
Flathead County officials identified the man as Randy Lee Tenley, 44, of Kalispell. Trooper Jim Schneider said motives were ascertained during interviews with friends, and alcohol may have been a factor but investigators were awaiting tests.
“You can’t make it up. I haven’t seen or heard of anything like this before,” Schneider said.
Ghillie suits are a type of full-body clothing made to resemble heavy foliage and used to camouflage military snipers.
Ill. gov. rejects gaming expansion
CHICAGO (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday rejected a bill to expand gambling in Illinois that would have made way for a land-based casino in Chicago, saying the proposal lacked sufficient regulatory oversight.
With his two immediate predecessors in prison, the Chicago Democrat said integrity must be a hallmark of the gambling plan, which also proposed establishing four new riverboat casinos and allowing slot machines at racetracks.
The most glaring omission from the bill “is the absence of strict ethical standards and comprehensive regulatory oversight. Illinois should never settle for a gaming bill that includes loopholes for mobsters,” Quinn said in a statement announcing the veto.
He urged legislators to work with him on its shortcomings, although the bill’s House sponsor said his attempts to meet with Quinn have been rebuffed. Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, predicted there would be enough House votes this fall to override Quinn’s veto.
At a suburban Chicago appearance late Tuesday morning, Quinn rejected that forecast.
“That veto will be sustained,” he told reporters. “I think I did the right thing.”
Supporters of the bill estimated the expansion could have brought in up to $1 billion a year, boost tourism and create 100,000 jobs for the state. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel supported the establishment of a city casino. Opponents meanwhile warned of market saturation and raised concerns about the social costs.
The proposal would have established a city-owned Chicago casino with spots for 4,000 people to gamble at once. It also would have added riverboat casinos in Danville, Park City, Rockford and an undecided location in Chicago’s south suburbs. Each riverboat casino would have had 1,600 gambling positions and allowed Illinois’ 10 existing casinos to grow.
Quinn, who isn’t opposed to gambling on principle, had said all along that he wanted a bill with stronger ethical protections. That includes barring the gambling industry from making political contributions. He said the proposal has “too many defects” for him to consider using his amendatory veto powers to change it.
“It’s one thing if you had to make some technical changes here and there,” Quinn said Tuesday. “This bill just falls way short of what the people of Illinois need when it comes to ethics in government.”
In his veto message, Quinn took aim at the proposed Chicago casino, claiming the bill would have allowed it to play by different rules. He said the Illinois Gaming Board wouldn’t have the same regulatory authority over the Chicago outlet as it holds over other casinos in the state and that the city casino would not have to follow the state’s procurement code in handing out contracts.
That would leave taxpayer-financed contracts “vulnerable to organized crime, unsavory influence and potentially overpriced vendors,” Quinn wrote.
In earlier responses to the governor’s critique, lawmakers offered follow-up legislation to address some of the concerns. However that wouldn’t be considered unless the initial law is signed, and Quinn has said he’d rather get all the legislation signed at once.
Lang said he would seek an override in the fall legislative session and dismissed the suggestion that Quinn might be open to discussing differences with the legislation’s authors.
“The bottom line is he doesn’t want to sign a gaming bill,” Lang said. “If he had language to propose, he would have proposed it.”
Quinn also criticized the legislation for providing too little support for public education. Past gambling expansions have been designed to bring in more revenue for public services such as schools, but the 1991 law that created riverboat casinos was intended to help economically depressed cities.