In brief: Distributor issues hazelnut recall

Los Angeles – A Los Angeles-based nut distributor has recalled hazelnuts it sold late last year after federal and state health officials linked them to seven cases of E. coli contamination in the Midwest.

The hazelnuts recalled were packaged in their shells by DeFranco & Sons and sold under the brand names Sunripe, George Packing, Firestone Farms and Northwest Hazelnut.

The California Department of Public Health warned consumers who still had any of the recalled nuts to dispose of them.

All of the nuts were grown at farms in Oregon.

Results are pending of government lab tests of samples taken at DeFranco’s facilities. The company said Friday there was no evidence so far of E. coli in its facilities or its products.

Arquette ‘OK’ after collision

Beverly Hills, Calif. – David Arquette’s Cadillac crashed head-on with another vehicle in Beverly Hills on Friday, but the actor was not seriously hurt.

Arquette, 39, was “OK” after the crash, and was on his way to being treated, publicist Cindy Guagenti told the Associated Press in an e-mail.

Arquette said that he was headed to the airport to catch a plane to Las Vegas for a friend’s restaurant opening at the time of the crash on Doheny Drive just north of Santa Monica Boulevard along the West Hollywood and Beverly Hills city limits.

Arquette and the other driver were the only two people involved, Beverly Hills police and fire officials said. There was no immediate word on what caused the collision.

Both were taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with injuries that were not considered serious.

‘East Coast Rapist’ suspect arrested

New Haven, Conn. – Federal and local authorities said Friday they have arrested a suspect in the so-called “East Coast Rapist” case for attacks on at least 17 women in Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island and Virginia.

Members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force arrested Aaron Thomas, 39, “without incident” at his home in New Haven, police spokesman Joseph Avery said.

U.S. Marshal Joe Faughnan said a lead from authorities in Virginia directed them to Thomas.

Thomas was not formally charged and was being held by police for questioning, Avery said. But “he has been identified as the East Coast Rapist,” Avery said.

The attacks began in 1997. The cases were linked by DNA.

Car salesman charged in crash

Lancaster, Pa. – Pennsylvania police say a used-car salesman who had alcohol and pot in system took a man and his son on a test drive at about double the speed limit, swerving around a truck and flipping the car, killing one of the passengers.

Michael Hershey, of Landisville, was charged Friday with vehicular homicide, driving under the influence of a controlled substance, reckless endangerment and driving at an unsafe speed.

The December crash killed Jon Christian Jensen, of Leola, and injured his 20-year-old son.

A witness says the car had been traveling about 85 mph in a 35 mph zone when the driver lost control.