"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

What experts worry about in the meningitis outbreak

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 03:41 PM PDT

CDC Ups Figure in Meningitis OutbreakThe widening outbreak of fungal meningitis that has infected 184 Americans and killed 14 people is a new phenomenon for doctors, who typically only see such infections in patients with compromised immune systems. When people do develop fungal infections, they normally get them from breathing in fungal spores, which can cause infections in the lungs of vulnerable patients, such as those who have had organ transplants. From the lungs, the infection can spread to the blood, and in rare cases to the central nervous system. ...

Budget deficit tops $1 trillion for fourth straight year

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 02:35 PM PDT

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2011 fie photo the U.S. Capitol building is seen in Washington. Fresh off a five-week vacation, lawmakers return to Washington on Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, for a brief pre-election session in which Congress will do what it often does best: punt its problems to the future. At issue is a six-month temporary spending bill to finance the day-to-day operations of the federal government. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)The United States government reported a budget surplus for the final month of the 2012 fiscal year, but the tiny bump in revenues did not prevent the country's deficit from exceeding $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row. The 2012 budget gap was $1.089 trillion, narrower than last year's deficit of $1.297 trillion because of higher corporate income tax receipts and less spending, the Treasury Department said on Friday. The deficit equaled 7.0 percent of U.S. economic output, down from 8.7 percent last year, the department said. ...

Video: Two tales of dogs saving dogs

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:57 PM PDT

Here are two dogs that deserve to take a bow-wow-wow. In an amazing video making its way through YouTube, a black Labrador retriever comes to the rescue of his two furry friends who are stranded on a canoe in a swift, swirling river. The video starts with two dogs whimpering aboard a human-less boat as [...]

The world’s most expensive cocktail will set you back $8,824

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 02:43 PM PDT

Famed cocktail bartender Salvatore Calabrese has broken the Guinness World Records mark for creating the most expensive cocktail in history. "I'm not only going to make the most expensive cocktail in the world but surely the world's oldest cocktail," Calabrese says in a video documenting the eponymous "Salvatore's Legacy" at the Playboy Club London. He [...]

Police: Body identified as missing Colorado girl

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 03:32 PM PDT

This image provided by the Westminster Colorado Police Department shows Jessica Ridgeway. Authorities looking for the 10-year-old Colorado girl who disappeared days ago after leaving for school are planning to finish scouring open fields and resume searching the fifth-grader's suburban Denver neighborhood on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Westminster Colorado Police Department)Police in Westminster Colorado today officially confirmed that a body found Wednesday belongs to missing 10-year old Jessica Ridgeway. "We recognize there is a predator at large in our community," said Westminster, Colo., Police Chief Lee Birk. The girl had been missing since Oct. 5....

U.S. warning reflects fears of Iranian cyberattack

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 02:55 PM PDT

FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2012, file photo, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaks at a news conference with U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, not pictured, at the Pentagon, in Washington. A former U.S. government official says American authorities firmly believe that Iranian hackers, likely supported by the Tehran government, were responsible for recent cyberattacks against oil and gas companies in the Persian Gulf and that they appeared to be in retaliation for the latest round of U.S. sanctions against the country. The former official spoke to The Associated Press shortly before Panetta, in a speech to business leaders in New York City Thursday night, Oct. 11, 2012, became the first U.S. official to publicly acknowledge the computer-based assaults. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's pointed warning that the U.S. will strike back against a cyberattack underscores the Obama administration's growing concern that Iran could be the first country to unleash cyberterrorism on America.

Authorities: Body is that of missing Colorado girl

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 03:26 PM PDT

Police walk the streets looking for clues in the search for ten-year-old Jessica Ridgeway near her home in Westminster, Colo., on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. The youngster has been missing since she left her home Friday morning on her way to school. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)Authorities say a body found in a suburban Denver park is that of missing 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway.

Secret Service officer arrested after passing out

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 02:17 PM PDT

President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event at the University of Miami, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)In the latest embarrassing spectacle for the Secret Service, one of its officers was found passed out and apparently drunk on a Miami street corner less than 12 hours after President Barack left the city following a day trip to campaign, police in Florida said.

Bullied teen leaves behind chilling video

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 07:36 AM PDT

Bullied Teen Leaves Behind Chilling VideoAmanda Todd, 15, Chronicled Years of Bullying, Cutting and Struggling in a Video

Record-breaking supersonic skydive attempt set for Sunday

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 01:18 PM PDT

Daredevil's Record-Breaking Supersonic Skydive Attempt Now Set for SundayAn Austrian daredevil aims to leap from the stratosphere Sunday (Oct. 14) in a supersonic plunge that would break the world record for the highest-ever skydive — a benchmark that has lasted more than half a century.

Nearly 7 years for sinus doctor in medical fraud

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 03:09 PM PDT

A federal judge sentenced Chicago sinus surgeon Mark Weinberger this afternoon to nearly seven years in federal prison for insurance fraud in Hammond, Ind.

Biden fans raising money to buy VP a Trans AM

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:26 PM PDT

A parody of Vice President Joe Biden from the satirical news outlet The Onion has apparently morphed into an honest-to-goodness political reality. Some supporters of Biden have started a fundraising page to buy the country's second-highest-ranking political figure a vintage Trans Am sports car. "In order to let Vice President Biden know just how much [...]

Was Joe Biden too mean for ‘Iowa nice’ voters?

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:07 PM PDT

2012 Vice Presidential Debate"I thought Joe did a great job, but I wish that he didn't interrupt so much."

VIDEO: Watch Jim Lehrer really moderate a debate

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 11:50 AM PDT

Moderator Lehrer speaks to the audience at the start of the first presidential debate between President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Romney in DenverWonder how a more forceful Jim Lehrer might have restrained Obama and Mitt Romney during the first presidential debate?

Meningitis outbreak expands to 12 states, 184 cases

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 11:19 AM PDT

This photo provided Oct. 9, 2012, by the Minnesota Department of Health shows shows vials of the injectable steroid product made by New England Compounding Center implicated in a fungal meningitis outbreak that were being shipped to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta from Minneapolis. About 17,700 single-dose vials of the steroid sent to 23 states have been recalled. The outbreak involves 10 states, including Minnesota. (AP Photo/Minnesota Department of Health)The number of deaths from the outbreak linked to injections of steroid remained at 14 on Friday, the CDC said.

Drew Peterson 'loyalty' at center of defense lawyers' spat

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:36 PM PDT

Drew Peterson backed his longtime attorney in court today after a legal skirmish by another defense team to intervene in his post-trial motions.

VP debate tees up closing issues for Romney, Obama

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 08:32 AM PDT

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, and President Barack Obama, left, walk on stage at the end of their first debate at the University of Denver, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012, in Denver. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)Obama and Romney will try to answer questions that their running mates posed during Thursday's hard-fought debate.

Clinton: Precise details of Benghazi attack still unclear

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 10:30 AM PDT

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton speaks during Security Council meeting in New YorkAs Republicans heap criticism on Vice President Joe Biden for claiming "we weren't told" about requests for extra security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday the precise details of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the compound in Libya still remain unclear.

Slideshow: Your photos of Endeavour's last journey

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Slideshow: Your photos of Endeavour's last journey

CPS: Mouse droppings found in nachos, 2 students sickened

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 10:35 AM PDT

Two students at Hirsch Metropolitan High School on the South Side were taken to the hospital this week after eating pre-packaged nachos in school lunches that had been contaminated by mouse droppings, officials said.