Nation digest 05/24/05

200 dead cats found at animal worker's home

EAST ORANGE, N.J. -- A woman who founded a "no-kill" animal shelter was charged with health code and animal welfare violations after 200 dead cats were discovered rotting in garbage bags in her backyard. Marlene Kess had 48 cats inside her house, including 38 in one room, authorities said. Out back, 200 vermin-infested cat corpses were stuffed into garbage bags and apparently were going to be buried in a large hole that had recently been dug, said Sgt. Joseph Bierman of the state's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Kess, 56, said the cats died of natural causes. State SPCA spokesman Matt Stanton said an investigation is "ongoing."

Rodent virus kills three transplant recipients

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Three transplant patients have died of a rodent virus after receiving contaminated organs from the same donor, the state Health Department said Monday. Health officials said it is only the second documented case anywhere in the world in which the viral infection LCMV, which is associated with exposure to rodent waste, has been transmitted through an organ transplant. The patients received lung, kidney and liver tissue, officials said. The infection was traced to an organ donor from Rhode Island, who died of unrelated causes. The virus usually only produces flu-like symptoms in humans. In this case, the patients had received large doses of medication that suppressed their immune systems, allowing the virus to grow.

11 immigrants die in Arizona desert

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The sudden onset of triple-digit heat led to a rash of deaths among illegal immigrants over the weekend in the Arizona desert, with 11 people reported dead between Friday and Monday. Scores more were saved in nearly 50 rescue operations, said U.S. Border Patrol spokesmen. The deaths were scattered along Arizona's border with Mexico.

Four teens shot in W.Va.; two had attended prom

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Police brought several people in for questioning and searched for clues Monday in the shooting deaths of four teenagers on the morning after the prom. The teenagers were killed early Sunday in the front yard of the apartment house where one of the victims lived. Police believe that man, Dante Ward, may have been the intended target and the other three were killed to prevent them from identifying the shooter, police Capt. Steve Hall said. No immediate arrests were made, but nine people were brought in for questioning, five of whom were from Detroit, Hall said. Two were later released.

Senate briefly recesses after airspace violation

WASHINGTON -- The Senate recessed for a brief period Monday night after an unidentified plane entered Washington's restricted airspace, two weeks after another airplane caused emergency evacuations of the White House and Capitol. The pilot of the earlier plane has now lost his license as an "unacceptable risk to safety," the Federal Aviation Administration said earlier in the day. There was no evacuation on Monday. The private Cessna was intercepted by military jets and later landed in Gaithersburg, Md., north of the capital, the Transportation Security Administration said.