Nation briefs 3/8/04

Drug-coated stents show promise in tiny arteries

NEW ORLEANS -- Tiny clogged arteries in the heart that have long bedeviled cardiologists' attempts at repair can now be kept flowing smoothly with new drug-coated stents that have already revolutionized treatment of larger vessels. Research released Sunday suggests these tiny wire coils should solve one of the major problems of treating people with chest pain caused by buildups in the arteries that feed their hearts. While fat arteries are relatively easy to fix, about two-thirds of patients undergoing angioplasty suffer from blockages in very skinny ones -- under two millimeters in diameter.

Boy Scouts in snow caves buried by Utah avalanche

SALT LAKE CITY -- A huge wall of snow collapsed and buried the entrances to a series of manmade caves where more than three dozen Boy Scouts and their leaders were sleeping during a winter survival camping trip, but everyone was rescued unharmed. The scouts had carved the caves deep into the snow on a ridge in northern Utah's Logan Canyon, at an elevation of 7,400 feet. After the 39 scouts and scout leaders went to sleep Friday night, wind gusting to 64 mph piled snow into a huge cornice hanging over the slope where the scouts dug their caves. The 500-foot cornice collapsed just before 4 a.m. Saturday, burying the entrances to the caves under 6 to 8 feet of snow. Insulated by the thick snow around them, the scouts were unaware of the problem.

Slaughter, quarantine ordered after bird flu found

POCOMOKE CITY, Md. -- The discovery of avian influenza in Maryland compelled the slaughter of 328,000 birds on a huge commercial chicken farm, nearly four times the number killed when two Delaware farms were infected last month. The cases in Delaware and on Maryland's Eastern Shore are from the same H7 strain, which is not harmful to humans, authorities said Sunday. Maryland agriculture officials immediately ordered a quarantine that covers eight farms within a two-mile radius of the infected farm, which grows chickens on a contract basis for Mountaire Farms of Selbyville, Del.

Bush stokes regular-guy image with NASCAR, rodeo

CRAWFORD, Texas -- Until last month, President Bush hadn't been to a NASCAR race since he was governor of Texas and running for president. Today, he goes to a rodeo and livestock exhibition in Houston -- again, for the first time since he was governor. Such appearances at sporting events this election year help Bush shore up his standing with his core supporters: white men. They also show him as a plain-talking boots-wearer with Middle America tastes -- an image Bush has cultivated for years to counter his background as an Ivy Leaguer from an old, wealthy, New England-based family. That comes in handy particularly this year, as the president will almost certainly face Democratic Sen. John Kerry, a wealthy Northeasterner the Bush campaign aims to paint as out of sync with much of the country.

-- From wire reports