State briefs 10/24/02

Illinois officials announce another West Nile case

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- A 44-year-old man diagnosed with West Nile virus is the first human case of the mosquito-borne disease identified in Hancock County, state health officials said Wednesday.

The man was diagnosed with West Nile fever, a milder form of the virus. He did not require hospitalization, the state Department of Public Health said.

With the addition of Hancock County, human cases of virus have now been reported in 48 of Illinois' 102 counties. The case brings to 706 the number of people infected in Illinois, the most in the nation.

The state also leads the country in deaths from the disease with 43.

Although temperatures have been at or near freezing in some areas of the state, the threat of exposure to the virus won't be snuffed out until the first hard frost -- 27 degrees or below, the health department said.

Illinoisans appointed to Vatican panel

CHICAGO -- Chicago Cardinal Francis George and Rockford Bishop Thomas Doran are among four Americans named Wednesday to a commission that will revise the U.S. bishops' sweeping zero-tolerance policy against clerical sex abuse.

The joint American-Vatican commission also includes Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco and Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn. Four Vatican representatives also will sit on the commission, which has been charged with bringing the bishops' plan in line with universal church law.

The plan was adopted last June in response to an outcry over hundreds of abuse claims revealed this year. It calls for removing a priest from his ministry, and in some cases from the priesthood, after a "credible" allegation is made.

UM to hold more presidential interviews

ST. LOUIS -- Curators of the University of Missouri hoped to finish interviewing candidates for the presidency of the four-campus system during a meeting today in St. Louis.

"I can't say for sure whether this is going to be the end or not, because I don't know how we're going to feel after completing meeting these candidates," board president John Mathes said. "It is my hope this will be the end of the interviews."

President Manuel Pacheco is scheduled to retire Dec. 31.

The board interviewed four candidates during its meeting in St. Louis on Oct. 3 and 4. Today and Friday, the board will interview a new group, Mathes said, though he declined to say how many.

Mathes said he wants to present the names of three or four finalists on Monday to the chair of faculty committee consulting on the search.

However, he left open the possibility the board will request interviews with additional candidates should it not be satisfied with the reduced pool.

Hallmark reduces size of sales staff

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hallmark Cards Inc. is reducing its sales staff by more than 12 percent, as part of what the company says is a reorganization of the sales force.

Hallmark has laid off 95 employees and eliminated 80 open positions, reducing its sales staff to 1,225.

Company spokeswoman Julie O'Dell said the reductions resulted from a reorganization of the company's sales force, which is spread throughout the United States.

O'Dell said she didn't know how many people or positions had been eliminated from the service side.

Kansas City-based Hallmark is the largest greeting card maker in the world. Last year it had sales of $4 billion, down 8 percent from the previous year.-- From wire reports