In brief: Bacon preservative tested as hog poison

NEW ORLEANS – A preservative used to cure bacon is being tested as poison for feral hogs.

Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture say sodium nitrite may be the best chance for controlling the big, prolific animals, which cost the U.S. about $1.5 billion a year – including $800 million in farm damage.

Sodium nitrite is more toxic to pigs than people. It’s used to kill feral swine in Australia and New Zealand.

USDA scientists say sodium nitrite tests are a top priority in a new $20 million control program.

Poor weather led to heir’s plane crash

NEW YORK – Investigators say bad weather and poor visibility may have been factors in a New York plane crash that killed a great grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday that Richard Rockefeller was flying in dark, rainy and foggy conditions June 13 when his Piper Meridian crashed just after takeoff from Westchester County Airport. It narrowly missed a house in Purchase, New York.

The NTSB said clouds were about 200 feet above the ground and visibility was limited to a quarter-mile.

Rockefeller was the only person aboard. He was returning home to Maine after celebrating father David Rockefeller’s 99th birthday.

Trump visiting Chicago namesake

CHICAGO – Donald Trump is coming to Chicago to see his name in lights.

“I want to see it,” the billionaire developer told the Associated Press on Friday of his visit, planned in about two weeks, to view the 20-foot-tall letters that spell T-R-U-M-P on his skyscraper along the Chicago River. “People are loving it and I am going to look at it.”

Trump has been in a spat with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel over the installation of the giant sign, with the mayor calling it “architecturally tasteless” and Trump saying the “world-class sign” is a valuable addition to the Chicago skyline.