Cross Country
A Cold Snap's Harsh Costs
After an unusually mild December, winter returned with a vengeance to the area around Fresno,Calif., where freezing mid-January temperatures destroyed up to 70 percent of the state's citrus crop, a loss of nearly $1 billion. Worse, the late frost might have damaged the orange buds that will bloom next year. "It could easily take almost two years for our industry to recover," says Keith Nilmeier, an orange grower and board member of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in 10 counties and was seeking federal aid as well. Nationwide, winter storms snarled traffic, closed schools, and were blamed for at least 70 deaths, including 23 in Oklahoma alone. In McAlester, Okla., most of the city's 18,000 residents spent days without power.
A Frightening Tale of Abductions
The saga surrounding two missing boys grew ever more bizarre as new details emerged about the children, who were found in the Kirkwood, Mo., apartment of pizzeria manager Michael Devlin. Authorities looking for 13-year-old William "Ben" Ownby, who had disappeared from a rural community an hour outside St. Louis on January 8, also found 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck, who'd been missing for more than four years, in the same apartment. Neighbors said Hornbeck had lived there for years and was often seen riding his bike. Police had interacted with the boy at least three times when he wasn't at Devlin's side.
Experts say the incident shows the power abductors have over captives. Hornbeck's parents told Oprah Winfrey they suspected he was sexually abused. Craig Akers, Hornbeck's stepfather, said the youngster would have come home if he could. Devlin pleaded not guilty to kidnapping Ownby. Police are now investigating him in connection with the 1991 disappearance of an 11-year-old boy.
Sobering Crash Report
The final analysis won't be in for months, but new data on the first major commercial U.S. aircraft crash in almost five years was more than a little alarming. Reports on the August crash of a Comair jet in Lexington, Ky., which killed 49, said that minutes before the accident, pilots were discussing another pilot, potentially violating federal rules barring "nonessential conversations" in the cockpit.
The pilots used the wrong runway, their fatal error. Documents showed they were directed to the proper runway, 7,000 feet long. It's "weird with no lights," first officer James Polehinke remarked of the 3,500-foot runway they were actually on just moments before impact. The lone air traffic controller on duty had turned away, and the taxiways at the airport had been reconfigured a week before, although charts in the Comair plane didn't indicate it.
Insiders Trying to Look Like Outsiders
Given President Bush's approval ratings and the throw-the-bums-out midterm elections, it's no wonder some '08 presidential hopefuls are painting themselves as Washington outsiders. In forming his presidential exploratory committee this month, Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama made clear his campaign would be headquartered in his adopted hometown of Chicago. Meanwhile, Republican Mitt Romney-the former Massachusetts governor-is basing his operation in Boston.
Some say running from outside the beltway has advantages beyond appearance. "It requires a personal and professional investment that yields a valuable return for Governor Romney," says an aide on his exploratory committee.
Of course, for Arizona Sen. John McCain and former first lady and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the outsider shtick is a tougher sell. Both contenders are expected to headquarter their campaigns in Washington.
In a Pickle Over the Burger's Birthplace
Taking a break from, ahem, meatier issues, state lawmakers in Texas and Wisconsin are dueling over the origin of the hamburger. Wisconsin state Rep. Tom Nelson introduced a resolution last week declaring Seymour, Wis., the burger's birthplace. Not so, says Texas state Rep. Betty Brown, who began promoting a resolution in November attributing the invention to Athens, Texas. Both moves came as a surprise to residents of Akron, Ohio, and New Haven, Conn., who argue that their cities gave the hamburger its start. New Haven Mayor John DeStefano even took to the airwaves to defend the city's own Louis' Lunch, where the great-grandfather of the current owner was said to have sold the first burgers. Back in Wisconsin, Nelson said the other claimants were "trying to rewrite history." Nelson traced the meal's origins to a man named "Hamburger Charlie" Nagreen at an 1885 county fair.
With Will Sullivan, Angie C. Marek, Dan Gilgoff and Associated Press
This story appears in the January 29, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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