State News-Friday, Dec. 15th

ATLANTA (AP) - In spite of the media attention drawn by the E. coli outbreak at Taco Bell, health officials say foodborne illnesses aren't increasing. Earlier this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that incidents of most forms of foodborne illness had dropped since the mid-1990s. That included the dangerous oh-one-five-seven strain of E. coli, which fell 29 percent. While there's been a decline in E. coli outbreaks involving ground beef, thanks to changes in the beef industry, E. coli illnesses involving leafy green vegetables have continued at a rate of one to five outbreaks a year. Health officials say lettuce likely caused the E. coli outbreak at Taco Bell, not green onions as was initially suspected.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board says he'll work with the agency's new chief executive even though he voted against the appointment. Jonathan Newman says he's received expressions of support following the two-to-one vote on Wednesday that made Joe Conti the administrative leader of the board. The P-L-C-B runs more than 600 liquor stores and licenses more than 20-thousand businesses that handle alcoholic beverages. Conti's appointment was pushed by Governor Ed Rendell, who says its growing expenses are a problem that Conti's hiring will help address.

LEWISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Lewistown Hospital will ban smoking and tobacco use on its campus next May. The policy will apply to employees, patients and visitors on all property owned or operated by the Lewistown Healthcare Foundation. The ban, which includes medical buildings, grounds and parking lots, takes effect May 3rd.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Some Home Depot employees noticed what a college student was buying, and now he is facing charges of keeping material for making pipe bombs in his dorm. Eighteen-year-old California University of Pennsylvania student Michael Blattner is charged with knowingly and unlawfully possessing firearms. Police say Blattner had bomb-making materials in his dorm and at his parents' home in Upper Saint Clair. Authorities say they began investigating Blattner after employees at Home Depot reported suspicious purchases. A federal judge in Pittsburgh ordered Blattner released on ten-thousand dollars unsecured bond.

SHELOCTA, Pa. (AP) - More than three-thousand dollars is missing from an A-T-M in western Pennsylvania after authorities say a suspected thief apparently found a way to trick the machine. State police are searching for that suspect. State police say the machine was altered to dispense 20-dollar bills as if they were one-dollar bills. So if someone requested forty dollars, the machine would dispense forty 20-dollar bills instead of two. Police say the suspect withdrew the money in less than an hour on December second from an A-T-M at a gas station near Shelocta.