Federal probe into E. coli cases starts
LITTLE ROCK — The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is again investigating an outbreak of foodborne illness potentially linked to romaine lettuce sold in Arkansas.
The public health agency and its sister agency, the Food and Drug Administration, looked into three separate, similar outbreaks at the end of 2019.
In the current outbreak, 12 people were sickened across six states with a strain of E. coli bacteria that regulators also found in single-head romaine lettuce sold by Tanimura & Antle. Five people were hospitalized.
However, there is not enough information yet to know if the lettuce caused the illnesses, according to an investigation report.
Tanimura & Antle recalled the lettuce “out of an abundance of caution.” As well as Arkansas, the greens were distributed in several other states including Texas, Tennessee, Missouri and Oklahoma.
No sicknesses have been reported in Arkansas or its bordering states. Symptoms of E. coli infection include stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and a low fever.
Health experts say it’s not clear why romaine is involved in recalls so often, but it could be because it’s often eaten raw, or because of the way it’s processed, which mixes together chopped lettuce from several growers.
— ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Employees in line for $750 bonus
TEXARKANA — All full-time Miller County employees who have been working for the county at least a year will get $750 more by the end of this year.
The Quorum Court agreed during a special meeting Nov.17 to pay all 164 of the full-time county employees a $750 retention bonus before the year ends.
Currently, the county is set to receive $1.4 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds, which will not only help pay for the retention bonuses, but also help bolster the county’s overall finances going into next year.
After the unanimous vote in favor of the bonuses by the nine justices of the peace, present at Tuesday’s meeting, the members started some preliminary discussion on the county’s fiscal 2021 budget.
This budget calls for $18,674,963 in projected expenditures. Of that amount, at least $7,204,740 would be in county general funds. Some of these funds would go to the county clerk’s, sheriff’s, judges’ and circuit clerk’s offices.
The remaining $11,470,223 would be for the road department, which will need $3 million or $4 million of it, with the rest going to finance the county’s health department, as well as help fund the prosecutor’s office, court secretaries, courthouse maintenance and other expenditures.
— TEXARKANA GAZETTE
Infusion center opens at UAMS
LITTLE ROCK — A new infusion center opened at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ campus in Little Rock, the system announced in a news release.
The 50-patient center at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute is for patients receiving chemotherapy. It will mostly serve patients with blood cancers, such as multiple myeloma, leukemia and lymphoma.
It’s also for patients participating in clinical trials, and will house the state’s first Phase I Clinical Trial Unit. Those trials test new drugs in a small group of patients to review dosages and side effects.
“I expect patients to come to the Cancer Institute from across the country to gain access to these therapies,” Dr. Michael Birrer, the institute’s director, said in a statement.
UAMS is pursuing recognition as a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, a status its leadership hopes to gain in the next few years. It would be the first such facility in the state. If earned, the status would expand access to more treatments through studies and offer fresh funding, officials have said.
— ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Pedestrian in Little Rock killed; driver flees
LITTLE ROCK — A 45-year-old man died recently after he was struck on South University Avenue in Little Rock by a driver who fled the scene, troopers said.
Michael Gildemeister was walking east across the road shortly before 10:25 p.m. when he was struck by a vehicle heading south, according to a report by the Arkansas State Police. Troopers said the motorist did not stop after striking the man and continued traveling south.
Gildemeister was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. Nov. 14, according to the Pulaski County coroner’s office.
— ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Five districts’ charter school plans OK’d
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Board of Education recently gave final approval to school-district-run conversion charter school plans in five districts across the state for operations to begin in the 2021-22 school year. Approved were:
• Driven Virtual Academy in the Pulaski County Special School District to provide a 100% virtual academic program to as many as 900 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
• Cave City Middle School Career and Collegiate Preparatory that will offer a traditional/hybrid program and an online program for as many as 376 pupils in grades six through eight.
• Batesville Charter High School that will highlight career pathways for as many as 2,000 students in grades nine through 12.
• Academies at Rivercrest High, which will feature a freshman academy as well as academies in agriculture, technology, general education and online learning for as many as 500 students in grades nine through 12.
• Vilonia Pathways Academy, which will offer an online core content curriculum in addition to service learning instruction and differentiated pathways to develop workplace skills for as many as 700 students in kindergarten through 12th grades.
— ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE