Nation in brief: TB carrier’s in-law to be investigated
A federal microbiologist, the father-in-law of the man quarantined with a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, will be investigated to see how he was involved in the case, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday.
Meanwhile, the CDC said it has withdrawn the federal isolation order for TB patient Andrew Speaker because a Denver health agency’s order to detain him at a hospital there is sufficient to protect the public’s health.
The action ends the first federal quarantine order since 1963.
Speaker has said he, his doctors and the CDC all knew he had TB that was resistant to some drugs before he flew to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon last month.
Robert Cooksey, whose specialty at the CDC is TB and other bacteria, and who attended his daughter’s wedding, has said he provided “fatherly advice” to Speaker about traveling with the illness.
Speaker said he was advised at the time by Fulton County, Ga., health authorities that he was not contagious or a danger to anyone.
Washington
Advocates protest immigration bill
Immigrant advocates staged a protest at the Capitol on Saturday to demand changes to the latest immigration proposal before Congress.
While most lawmakers were away on recess, protesters said they timed the gathering to ensure that immigration remains a top priority when the Senate reconvenes Monday.
“We wanted to send a message that people are watching,” said Eliseo Medina, international vice president of the Service Employees International Union.
“This is not one of those things that is going to go away. It’s only going to get worse.”
The afternoon protest on the Capitol’s west lawn drew about 5,000 people, fewer than expected, mostly Hispanic workers and their families.
Organizers said they received phone calls from many immigrants afraid to attend after recent workplace raids and violent clashes between protesters and police during an immigration rally in Los Angeles last month.
New York
Too-tall truck tears through tunnel
A truck driver whose rig was 6 inches too tall for the Lincoln Tunnel drove its entire 1.5-mile length, peeling the trailer’s roof completely and ripping off decorative ceiling tiles.
Flashing signs and officers using a loudspeaker had warned the driver, and it was unclear why he didn’t heed them, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the tunnel.
“He misjudged the height of the tunnel, and once he was inside it he didn’t realize the damage he was doing,” said Roy Guzman, the safety director of the trucker’s employer, U.S.A. Logistics Carriers of McAllen, Texas.
The driver, from Texas, was charged with nine misdemeanor moving violations.