Carbon monoxide sickens workers

Fremont County officials say carbon monoxide poisoning likely sickened seven workers at a small grocery store, with one complaining of heart fluctuations and the others reporting lightheadedness.

The workers were at Dave’s Jubilee grocery store in U.S. Highway 20.

Two compressors in the store were found leaking refrigerant and carbon monoxide, said Keith Richey, Fremont County’s emergency management coordinator and a fire department responder.

The fire department also detected traces of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic sewage byproduct, in the store’s piping. Responders filled the floor drains with water.

“If the drains go dry, the gas can come up through the sewage system,” Richey said.

Employee Alan Cody, who complained of irregular heartbeat, was taken to Madison Memorial Hospital. He was listed in stable condition.

The store was closed as fire officials monitored carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide levels.

Store owner Dave Jacobson blamed the illnesses on a propane-powered floor buffer machine, which Cody had been operating.

GOODING, Idaho

TV show features school for deaf

The Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind is one of nine sites around the country that will be featured this week in an episode of the animated PBS children’s show, “Maya and Miguel.”

The show coincides with Deaf Awareness Week, which starts Sunday, and is called “Give Me a Little Sign.” The school is presenting a screening of the episode Monday in its gymnasium.

The program focuses on twin 10-year-olds Maya and Miguel. In “Give Me A Little Sign,” another regular character, Tito, befriends a deaf boy who teaches the children sign language.

HELENA

Meeting addresses Montana’s climate

Research indicates Montana will continue to grow warmer through global climate change, but whether the state also will become drier is unclear, speakers said Saturday at a climate conference sponsored by groups as diverse as the Montana Logging Association and Defenders of Wildlife.

Wild ducks will be among the big losers if the climate becomes not just warmer but also drier, University of Montana wildlife biologist Dave Naugle said. Ducks will move east to the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, which cannot match Montana for landscapes unbroken by farming and other activity, Naugle said.

A fragmented landscape presents many challenges for ducks, including greater vulnerability to predators, Naugle said at the Helena conference titled “The Climate Challenge: Strategies for Montana’s Future.”

Climate studies in Western Montana show spring weather arrives about two weeks earlier than it did 50 years ago, said UM ecologist Steve Running, a climate-change authority. Mountain snowpack used to begin melting in early April, but now starts melting two to four weeks earlier, Running said.

SHERIDAN, Ore.

Boy faces charges in shooting accident

A 14-year-old Sheridan High School student who accidentally shot and injured two of his friends with birdshot is facing assault and reckless endangerment charges.

Police said Troy Goodwin and Jacob Hardaway, both 15, were injured in the incident. Goodwin received surgery for a thigh wound; Hardaway, who was hit in the arm, was taken to a McMinnville hospital for treatment, and then released.

Yamhill County sheriff’s Lt. Ken Summers said the shooting occurred on Friday morning.

The 14-year-old noticed a shotgun hanging on the wall, took it down, unknowingly racked a live round into the chamber, and discharged the gun.