Manufacturer suspends production of salad
DES MOINES, Iowa – A Mexico processing facility voluntarily suspended production of salad mix that’s been linked to the outbreak of a stomach bug in Iowa and Nebraska, a California company announced Monday.
Salinas, Calif.-based Taylor Farms said its Mexican branch, Taylor Farms de Mexico, will not resume production and shipping of any salad mix as well as lettuce and other salad mix components without approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Company officials said the suspension, which is expected to last several weeks, allows Taylor Farms de Mexico to assist federal authorities in their investigation into the cyclosporiasis outbreak, a stomach illness that has sickened more than 500 people in 18 states.
Israel prepares to free Palestinian prisoners
JERUSALEM – Israel on Monday published the names of 26 Palestinian prisoners, most of them held for deadly attacks, who are to be released this week as part of a U.S.-brokered deal that led to a resumption of Mideast negotiations.
Israelis and Palestinians are to launch talks in Jerusalem on Wednesday, following a preparatory round two weeks ago in Washington. The prisoner release, expected today, is part of an agreement to restart the talks after a five-year freeze.
The fate of Palestinian prisoners stirs strong emotions on both sides, highlighting the competing narratives of their conflict. The upcoming release is particularly sensitive because many of those to be freed were involved in killing Israelis.
“It’s painful to pay such a heavy price just as a concession for talks,” said Pini Rotenberg, after he learned that one of the killers of his father, Isaac, would be freed. The elder Rotenberg, a Nazi death camp survivor, was 69 when he was killed with an axe.
Stop-and-frisk policy illegal, NYC judge says
NEW YORK – The nation’s largest police department illegally and systematically singled out large numbers of blacks and Hispanics under its stop-and-frisk policy, a federal judge ruled Monday while appointing an independent monitor to oversee major changes, including body cameras on some officers.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would appeal the ruling, which was a stinging rebuke to a policy he and the New York Police Department have defended as a life-saving, crime-fighting tool that helped lead the city to historic crime lows.
“The city’s highest officials have turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner,” U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin wrote in her ruling.
Associated Press
