Nation digest 01/18/05

Utah avalanche may have killed only one

PARK CITY, Utah -- Authorities ended a large-scale search for victims of last week's massive avalanche Monday and said there is a good chance a body found over the weekend was the lone victim. The body of Shane Maixner, 27, of Sandpoint, Idaho, was found under 4 feet of snow, Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said. More than 150 rescue workers and 20 dogs were involved in the search. Friday's avalanche in Utah produced a 16-acre field of snow that measured up to 30 feet deep in spots, and eyewitness accounts of the slide initially led authorities to believe as many as five people may have been caught.

Head of bishops group takes Atlanta post

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. -- On the same day the nation honored the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the first black leader of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was installed Monday as archbishop in King's native city. Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, 57, was the first black president of the bishops conference when he was elected in November 2001. At the time, his election was seen by black Catholics nationwide as long-awaited recognition of their presence in the church. But the clergy sex abuse scandal quickly eclipsed Gregory's historic elevation. Before coming to Atlanta, Gregory served as bishop in Belleville, Ill. He left the diocese in rural Southern Illinois to become head of an archdiocese with 98 parishes and missions.

FDA OKs new vaccine for bacterial meningitis

WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration approved a new vaccine to protect people age 11 to 55 against bacterial meningitis, which is rare but potentially deadly and debilitating. A French company received approval from the federal agency to manufacture the vaccine Menactra to protect against the A, C, Y and W-135 strains of bacteria that cause meningococcal diseases. The CDC favors routine immunization for all adolescents and college freshmen living in residence halls. Close contact is among the risk factors for the ailment.

Common colorectal screening test often fails

PHILADELPHIA -- A common screening test failed to detect potentially cancerous colon growths 95 percent of the time, falsely reassuring patients and doctors, according to a new study. Researchers found that the digital, in-office test on stool samples was not as reliable as a six-sample test given to patients to do on their own at home -- although even that test detected potentially cancerous growths less than 24 percent of the time. "What we found is that it was pretty worthless," Dr. David Lieberman, one of the study's authors, said of the in-office test. The study, published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was conducted at 13 Veterans Affairs medical centers and involved 2,665 patients.

Northern Minnesota town hits 54 below zero

EMBARRASS, Minn. -- Temperatures plummeted across the eastern half of the nation Monday, approaching an all-time record in northern Minnesota. Thermometers registered a low of 54 degrees below zero at Embarrass. "You keep living, but it gets old after a while," said Christine Mackai, the town clerk for the community of about 1,400 people in northeast Minnesota. Minnesota's record is 60 below, set on Feb. 2, 1996, in Tower, about 10 miles north of Embarrass. Mackai said Embarrass had been prepared for bitter cold as early as last Thursday. "It only got down to 28 below, and that's nothing. That's no big deal," she said.