McDonald's using millions to woo diners
McDonald's is investing $100 million to bring customers back to stores after an outbreak of E. coli tied to onions on the fast-food giant's Quarter Pounder hamburgers.
The investments include $65 million that will go directly to the hardest-hit franchises, the company said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said slivered onions on the Quarter Pounders were the likely source of the E. coli. Taylor Farms in California recalled onions potentially linked to the outbreak.
The illnesses were reported between Sept. 12 and Oct. 21. At least 104 people got sick and 34 were hospitalized, according to federal health officials. One person died in Colorado and four people developed a potentially life-threatening kidney disease complication.
The Food and Drug Administration has said "there does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak at McDonald's restaurants," but the outbreak hurt the company's sales.
McDonald's identified an alternate supplier for the 900 restaurants that temporarily stopped serving the burgers with onions. It recently resumed selling Quarter Pounders with slivered onions nationwide.
Election judge charged with violations
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. -- A man who served as a head election judge in a Minnesota township has been charged with two felony counts for reportedly letting 11 people vote even though they weren't registered.
Officials began investigating after Hubbard County Auditor Kay Rave could not find any completed voter registration forms among the ballots and other materials returned by Timothy Scouton, 64, of Nevis, who had been head election judge in the Badoura Township precinct, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
Another election judge told an investigator from the county sheriff's office that Scouton directed them not to use the registration forms, the complaint said, while another said Scouton told them that new voters needed only to sign the back of a book.
The complaint said the investigator then met with Scouton at the sheriff's office. He declined to make a statement and was placed under arrest, the complaint said.
Scouton was released Friday pending his next court hearing, set for Jan. 6. He did not immediately return a call seeking comment Saturday, and his attorney declined to comment on the case.
Illinois sheriff's office faces scrutiny
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The U.S. Justice Department is demanding records related to the shooting of an Illinois woman who was killed in her home by a sheriff's deputy as it investigates how local authorities treat Black residents and people with behavioral disabilities.
The Justice Department wants to know if the Sangamon County sheriff's office has strategies when responding to people in "behavioral health crises," among many other requests listed in a letter to the Sangamon County sheriff's office, dated Thursday.
"The sheriff's office, along with involved county agencies, has engaged in discussions and pledged full cooperation with the Department of Justice in its review," Sheriff Paula Crouch said Friday.
Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was killed in July when deputies responded to a call about a possible prowler at her home in Springfield, Ill. She was shot three times during a confrontation with officer Sean Grayson, who is white.
Grayson was fired and has pleaded innocent to murder and other crimes.
1st case of new mpox in US confirmed
NEW YORK -- Health officials said Saturday that they have confirmed the first U.S. case of a new form of mpox that was first seen in eastern Congo.
The person had traveled to eastern Africa and was treated in northern California upon return, according to the California Department of Public Health. Symptoms are improving and the risk to the public is low.
The individual was isolating at home and health workers are reaching out to close contacts as a precaution, the state health department said.
Mpox is a rare disease caused by a virus that's in the same family as the one that causes smallpox.
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of mpox in Africa that was spread through close contact including through sex. But in cases that were identified in travelers outside the continent, spread has been very limited, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 3,100 confirmed cases have been reported since late September, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority of them have been in Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Since then, cases of travelers with the new mpox form have been reported in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom.
The current outbreak is different from the 2022 global outbreak of mpox where gay and bisexual men made up the vast majority of cases.