Federal health officials are investigating a growing outbreak of salmonella that has sickened 90 people in 19 states and the District of Columbia, according to a Food and Drug Administration memo. The outbreak is “rapid and expanding in number of cases,” with seven hospitalizations reported, according to a memo distributed to FDA staff Tuesday morning. No deaths have been reported to date. The salmonella may be linked to sushi and investigators are focusing on spicy tuna rolls as “highly suspect.” Reports of the foodborne illness have mainly come from the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast, though cases have been reported as far west as Missouri and Texas. Investigators are focusing on six clusters of restaurants in Texas, Wisconsin, Maryland, Rhode Island and Connecticut. FDA spokesman Curtis Allen would not confirm or elaborate on the information, saying the memo “contains numbers of cases and hospitalizations that cannot be confirmed at this time.” “It is too early to speculate on the cause of the outbreak,” Allen said. The FDA is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state officials to identify the source of the outbreak. Investigators conduct interviews with sick patients about what they’ve eaten and analyze menus and food ingredients to trace the path of the bacteria. HuffPost

When you want to hide something, people often say you should put it where no one else would expect it to be. So if you happened to have a winning lottery ticket worth more than $100million that 15 of your McDonald’s coworkers claim to own a share of, where else would you hide it but at McDonald’s? Mirlande Wilson, 37, from Baltimore, Maryland, who claims to be one of the three lucky winners of Friday’s Mega Millions had previously refused to say where she had hidden her ‘winning ticket’, and would only reveal it was ‘some place safe’. Now she has told the New York Post it is hidden somewhere in the McDonald’s restaurant where she works. Despite the fact her coworkers, who claim the ticket was among a pool they organized to split the jackpot, are out for her blood and are more than likely searching the Milford Mill branch from top to bottom for the golden ticket, Ms Wilson assures they will not find it. ‘I left my ticket there and it’s somewhere safe that only I know about,’ she told the Post, though revealed it was not in the company safe along with those bought for the workplace pool. ‘I’m waiting for things to calm down so I can go back to McDonald’s and get it. the people there are too excited. I want their heads to cool down before I go back.’

Barack Obama has boldly gone where no president has gone before. He has given the Vulcan salute in the Oval Office. Actress Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura on the popular television series “Star Trek,” tweeted a photo of herself alongside Obama, flashing the hand signal made famous by the character Mr. Spock. The photo was taken in late February, when Nichols visited the White House and later headed to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Both Obama and Nichols smile widely in the photo, Obama reaching his arm around the actress’ shoulder as they posed in front of his desk. Nichols wore a necklace bearing the show’s Starfleet insignia, and captioned the image, “Live Long & Prosper,” the words traditionally said after the Vulcan salute. At the time of her visit, Nichols tweeted her excitement about meeting the president. In the past, Obama has revealed that he had a crush on Nichols as a kid, as she was one of the first black women to have a major role on a television series. “I was honored to get a chance to meet with Pres Barack Obama today in the White House. He was as charming and handsome as I had expected,” Nichols wrote. “Months ago Pres Obama was quoted as saying that he’d had a crush on me when he was younger. I asked about that & he proudly confirmed it! President Obama also confirmed for me that he was definitely a Trekker! How wonderful is that?!” This is not the first time Obama has expressed his enthusiasm for “Star Trek.” In 2010, Leonard Nimoy — who played Spock — told reporters, “I do believe that President Obama means it when he says that he is 100 percent interested in space. I know for sure he’s a ‘Star Trek’ fan.” He shared that when he met the president, he was also greeted by the iconic salute. NY Post

Poco duraron, pero generaron mucho ruido. Incluso, la aventura los siguió hasta Londres donde RiRi tuvo la premiere mundial de su película Battleship. Aquella vez, la cantante se enojó cuando le preguntaron si podía esperarse un viaje de Ashton a la isla del norte de Europa para visitarla. “Estoy soltera y feliz, si es lo que quieres saber”, dijo la cantante. Pues no habrá viajes ni espacadas. Ashton Kutcher y Rihanna terminaron su relación. ¿Qué pasó? Según publica la revista OK!, a la estrella de Two and a Half Men no le gustó que Rihanna hubiera sido fotografía el 20 de marzo cuando llegó a su casa durante la noche. “No puedo confiar en tí”, fueron sus palabras de acuerdo a una fuente de OK!. “Al llegar a la casa, no le dije que había sido fotografiada y él había sido muy claro al pedirle que se asegurara que no era seguida. Según Ashton, ella lo arruinó o peor aún, lo hizo a propósito”. Como era de esperarse, semejante acusación no le cayó en gracia a la originaria de Barbados: “Lo acusó de haber sido él quien llamó a la prensa. Desde su punto de vista, él tiene más para ganar con  la relación que ella” E Online

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A gay student whose southwest Ohio high school prohibited him from wearing a T-shirt designed to urge tolerance of gays is suing the school for violating his freedom of expression rights. The mother of 16-year-old Maverick Couch filed the federal lawsuit on his behalf against Wayne Local School District and the principal of Waynesville High School, northeast of Cincinnati. Couch is a junior at the public school. His lawsuit says he has been threatened with suspension if he wears a shirt bearing the message ‘Jesus Is Not a Homophobe.’Couch, who said he has been the victim of teasing and name-calling at school, wanted to wear the shirt on April 20 to show support for the Day of Silence, a national event that draws attention to the silencing of gay and lesbian students through bullying. He claimed he tried to wear the T-shirt last year on the same day, and on several other occasions, but school Principal Randy Gebhardt repeatedly rejected his request.

The school photograph is meant to be a cherished memento which lets families remember their child’s formative years. But when this class of second grade elementary school students in Florida look at their class picture, they are unlikely to enjoy the memories quite so much. Their group picture became an ‘offensive and degrading’ photograph when one of the pupil’s heads was bizarrely replaced with a brown cartoon face. The unidentified pupil at Sawgrass Elementary School in Broward County, Florida, was subjected to the ‘humiliating’ Photoshop treatment instead of being removed from the picture. Photographer David Claussen’s company Broward County Pictures were commissioned to take the school picture, but were told shortly after by the local PTA that two children had to be removed from the image as their parents had not signed a consent form. Mr Claussen told Florida’s Local 10 News that he was able to remove one child completely from the picture, but could not do so with the other student as he was sat on the front row. The Parent Teacher’s Association instead amazingly advised him to obscure the child’s identity by placing a brown ‘smiley face’ over his head. The resulting image has been branded ‘offensive’ and ‘degrading’, with one parent at the school telling Local 10 the boy would have felt ‘humiliated’ by the picture. School officials would not confirm whether the pupil still attended Sawgrass Elementary. A district spokeswoman in Broward County told Local 10 the picture was an ‘oversight’, but would not confirm who was to blame for the image. Claussen and school officials said incidents do occasionally occur when children have to be removed from pictures after they are taken when it transpires their parents have not signed consent forms.

La oficina del fiscal estatal en Orange-Osceola presentó cargos por abuso infantil contra el boxeador Héctor “Macho” Camacho, quien se entregó a las autoridades. Camacho, de 49 años, ha sido acusado de levantar a su hijo por el cuello, tirarlo al piso y pisarlo repetidas veces durante un incidente ocurrido el 22 de marzo del 2011. Un reporte de la oficina del Sheriff del condado de Orange indica que el altercado ocurrió en la residencia de la ex esposa de Camacho. El boxeador aparentemente estaba molesto debido a un dinero que estaba en una bolsa que había dejado en la casa en días anteriores. El niño le dijo a las autoridades que Camacho le gritó, lo tiró al piso y lo pisó en el pie. Cuando un oficial de la policía le preguntó por las razones de la molestia de su padre, el muchacho habría dicho “él [Camacho] estaba drogado”, según el reporte policial. Debido a las versiones contradictorias del incidente, el caso fue transferido a la oficina del fiscal estatal. Documentos de la corte indican que los fiscales presentaron los cargos contra Camacho en noviembre y que el boxeador se entregó en la Cárcel del condado de Orange este lunes. El Nuevo Herald