FBI Searches Spinach Companies for Evidence In Bacterial Outbreak

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif. — The FBI searched two produce companies yesterday for evidence of a crime in the nationwide E. coli outbreak that killed one person and sickened at least 191 others. Agents from the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration used warrants to search a Natural Selection Foods LLC plant in San Juan Bautista and a Growers Express plant in Salinas to determine whether they followed food safety procedures.The searches were the first indication that authorities suspect a crime may have been committed in the outbreak that killed a Wisconsin woman, sickened people in 26 states, and prompted the FDA to issue a two-week consumer warning on fresh spinach last month.

— Associated Press

Parents Force Daughter To Miss Her Wedding

SALT LAKE CITY — The parents of a bride-to-be told their daughter they were taking her on a shopping trip, but then they drove to Colorado and kept her there until she missed her wedding, officials said. Lemuel and Julia Redd have been charged with second-degree felony kidnapping. The Redds told their 21-year-old daughter they were taking her on a shopping trip August 4 and then drove 240 miles to Grand Junction, Colo., from Provo, according to police.

— Associated Press

School Board Is Asked To Ban ‘Harry Potter’

ATLANTA — A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools. A mother of four, Laura Mallory, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction books are an “evil” attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion. Board of Education attorney Victoria Sweeny said that if schools were to remove all books containing reference to witches, they would have to ban “Macbeth” and “Cinderella.”

— Associated Press