Kim Barker

No new cases of E. coli have been traced to the downtown YMCA day-care center. Eight cases of the sometimes fatal bacteria have been linked to the center, but only one child has been hospitalized. The 23-month-old girl remained in fair condition Thursday at Deaconess Medical Center. Investigators from the Spokane Regional Health District again looked at food-handling at the day-care center Thursday.

The E. coli outbreak appears to be isolated to the downtown YMCA day-care center, health officials said Wednesday. Eight children linked to the center have been diagnosed with E. coli. Only one has been hospitalized, and her condition has been upgraded from serious to fair. More than 100 people will be tested for the bacteria. That includes all center staff members, all children with symptoms, family members with symptoms and all children cared for in the same three rooms as the sick children.

Signing on Sacred Heart nurses wave signs as they conduct informational picketing outside the hospital on Monday. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

The Spokane health district is asking the state for almost $1 million to help vaccinate schoolchildren and jail inmates against hepatitis A. Dr. Kim Thorburn, health officer for the Spokane Regional Health District, said the move could help stem the hepatitis A epidemic and prevent another one from occurring years from now. Thorburn also announced that the district has run out of immune globulin, the medicine that can prevent the onset of hepatitis A if given within 14 days of exposure.

Contract talks between nurses and management at Sacred Heart Medical Center have broken down. A federal mediator ended negotiations at midnight Tuesday after 15 hours of talks. No more bargaining sessions are scheduled. Nurses are preparing for a rally and informational picketing next week.

People who had drinks or doughnuts at a Spokane Valley supermarket in the past month might have been exposed to hepatitis A. A bakery worker at the U-City Rosauers store, 10920 E. Sprague, is the latest in a string of Spokane and North Idaho food-service workers to test positive for the virus during the hepatitis A epidemic.

The state has indefinitely suspended the medical license of a 53-year-old Spokane Valley psychiatrist who had sex with two patients. The Medical Quality Assurance Commission had suspended the license of Dr. Arthur Leritz even before holding a disciplinary hearing Dec. 23. On Friday, the commission announced that the suspension would continue indefinitely.

Nurses at Sacred Heart Medical Center will renew contract negotiations with management next Tuesday. The more than 1,100 hospital nurses have been working without a contract since Dec. 31. Last week, nurses overwhelmingly voted to reject what management had called its final offer. If management and nurses don't reach an agreement after next Tuesday's session, the nurses said they will stage informational pickets Feb. 23 and 24. They will continue to work their scheduled shifts.

This year's flu vaccine doesn't cover the major flu strain that's bugging the Inland Northwest and the rest of the country. The vaccine is made every year to protect against the three strains expected to cause the worst illness. This year, scientists chose the Type A Wuhan, Type A Bayern and Type B Beijing strains. At the time, they didn't know about the Type A Sydney bug, a cousin of the Wuhan strain discovered in Australia last June.

The results of the procedure allow June Shepherd to resume her beadwork. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

Nurses at Sacred Heart Medical Center overwhelmingly rejected the final contract offer from hospital management this week. It still isn't clear whether the nurses will strike, picket or go back to the bargaining table.

A group of Spokane kidney doctors routinely overbilled the federal government and ignored the poor medical judgment of a founding partner, according to a civil lawsuit unsealed by the federal government Friday. The lawsuit accusing the doctors at Northwest Nephrology Associates of Medicare fraud had been sealed since a whistleblower filed it under the False Claims Act in July 1995. The government intervened in the lawsuit Jan. 14. That essentially means the government is taking over the case, although Dr. Stephen Fox, who filed the lawsuit, will share in any money recovered.

FOR THE RECORD: 1-28-98 Nurse layoff correction: The licensed practical nurses laid off at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute in August were not replaced by less-skilled personnel. A story in Sunday's paper indicated otherwise. Hospital belt-tightening concerns nurse Linda Fadeley. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Nurses at Sacred Heart Medical Center will consider the most recent contract offer from hospital management for the next two weeks before deciding what to do. On Feb. 4 and 5, the nurses will decide whether to accept the contract, ask management for more negotiations, begin informational picketing or go on strike.

Shot in the arm. It was a long Wednesday morning waiting in the Health District Clinic for C.J. Cornell, 6, and parents Chris and Debra. They arrived at 7:45 and didn't reach the check-in desk until noon for their chance to get an immune globulin shot. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

FOR THE RECORD (January 16, 1998): Definition wrong: An LPN is a licensed practical nurse. A story in Wednesday's paper said otherwise.

The Spokane Regional Health District, dealing with its largest hepatitis A outbreak in almost 10 years, is out of the medication that prevents the onset of the virus. And the Panhandle Health District in North Idaho is holding tight to its dwindling supply.

A former Spokane doctor under investigation for Medicare fraud has pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor for interfering with Sacred Heart Medical Center. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped a more serious felony harassment charge against Dr. Mark Frazier, once a well-respected doctor who helped perform the city's first kidney transplant in 1981. Frazier, 51, was sentenced Wednesday to 362 days in jail and fined $250. The jail sentence was suspended.

1. Kari Halborson dances at the Brookside Country Club before the Rose Bowl. Photos by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Smoking his "Coug-ar" at the Rose Parade, Eric Nyberg of Kennewick says, "I've got my game face on." 3. Rose-laden Richard Rush of Bellevue peers down on the action through rose-colored glasses. 4. Christian Vedder, cousin of Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, works his way through the crowd as they try to steer clear of his body paint. 5. Todd Stroschein of Seattle, center, celebrates a Cougar run for yardage. 6. Proud mom Cheryl Feazell cheers on her son, Michigan defensive end Juaquin Feazell, as the Wolverines took control of the game. 7. Cougar fan Kelly Stroschein agonizes when referees declared the game over when fans thought there was time remaining on the clock.

Washington State fans without game tickets go crazy as they see the Cougars score a touchdown on the big screen television outside the Rose Bowl. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

Dylan Ramey, 4, and Ari Hutchinson, 3, try on their dads' Cougar hats in the tent their families pitched on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

1. Rose Bowl baby. "It took me 67 years to get here," says Stew Brown, born in 1930, the last time WSU made it to the Rose Bowl. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review 2. Butch, the Cougar mascot, bodysurfs the crowd at ABC Entertainment Center in Century City on Tuesday.

1. WSU alumni and college sweethearts Nita and Bill Alverson set up camp outside the Rose Bowl. They drove down from Olympia to see the Cougars take on Michigan on New Year's Day. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Vickie Walker, foreground, works on the Auto Club float with Kathy Koepplin and Claudia Owen on Monday in Pasadena.

The Tournament of Roses started in 1890 to celebrate California's mild climate. It initially was a modest procession of flower-covered carriages followed by a major battle of foot races, tug-of-war contests and sack races. My, how things have changed.