pileofcrapola

Bisphenol-A, commonly referred to as “BPA,” is a chemical that’s a common component of plastics, existing in everything from the thermal paper receipts are printed on to the linings of metal cans. Four years ago, the Campbell Soup Company, a major seller of things in cans, promised to remove the controversial subtance from its product packaging, and announced that it will phase the substance out by the middle of next year.

While the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t seen fit to ban BPA from food containers in the United States, except for infant formula (where it had already been phased out before it was banned)

Finding a product to line cans is trickier than you might think, since a replacement for plastics containing BPA needs to fit a few important requirements. The replacement material would have to be safer than plastics containing BPA, staying inert when paired with acidic foods like tomatoes.

“We have tested and conducted trials with hundreds of alternatives to BPA lining,” the company’s program manager for packaging said in a statement, “and believe the acrylic and polyester options will ensure our food remains safe, affordable and tastes great.”

The company initially ammounced that it would phase out BPA-containing plastics back in 2012, but doing so turned out to be more complex than the company had anticipated. A replacement had to be relatively inexpensive, but also tested for long-term food storage of 600 recipes or so.

Earlier this year, Campbell Soup announced that it would voluntarily label any products containing genetically modified ingredients distributed nationwide, and not just in any states that require GMO labeling. The company came out in support of mandatory nationwide labeling.

Campbell to Remove BPA from Packaging by Mid-2017 [Business Wire]

Thousands of doctors are investigated and disciplined for egregious errors and ethics violations by their state medical boards each year. While the chances are that your doctor isn’t one of them, you’d have a difficult time actually finding that out. 

A new, in-depth report from our colleagues at Consumer Reports explores the difficulty of obtaining information about doctors that have been disciplined by their state medical boards for things like sexual misconduct, overprescribing controlled substances, their own addiction issues, and various other documented examples of unprofessional or dangerous doctoring.

As part of the investigation, CR filed public records requests with the California medical board to obtain a list of doctors on probation as of late September 2015. While that information is now available on CR’s Safe Patient Project website, the details related to some of those investigations are eye-opening.

In all, about 500 doctors in California are on probation, with offenses ranging from dangerous doctoring or unprofessional behavior, with offenses ranging from practicing medicine under the influence of illegal drugs to sexual misconduct with patients.

There was the family practice physician and her cardiologist husband who ordered more than four million doses of hydrocodone in 15 months, but could only account for a small fraction of the drugs. Or the urologist arrested for a DUI while on-call.

Several cases also involve doctors who have been charged with negligence leading to bungled surgeries and even the wrongful deaths of patients.

One OB/GYN removed the wrong ovary. The issue was only discovered when the patient, still in pain, returned to the hospital. Additionally, there was an orthopedic surgeon was so inattentive to his patient that the man’s fractured thigh-bone resulted in a leg amputation.

These are just a few of the cases that CR highlights in its report. While they may differ in severity, each of the violations and disturbing actions have something in common: most patients don’t know about them.

That’s because, according to Consumer Reports, only hospitals, doctors, law enforcement officials, insurance companies, and select others have access to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) — the database that collects information on malpractice payouts and certain levels of disciplinary actions for the millions of doctors practicing in the U.S.

An analysis of NPDB data done for Consumer Reports by patient-safety advocate Robert E. Oshel, the former associate director for research and disputes at the NPDB, found that fewer than 2% of the nation’s doctors have been responsible for half of the total malpractice payouts since the government began collecting malpractice information in 1990.

In total, nearly $85 billion has been paid out in malpractice cases during that period.

Again, patients wouldn’t know if their doctor has contributed to that figure. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to know.

A survey from Consumer Reports found that 82% of Americans are in favor of requiring doctors to tell their patients if they are on probation and why. And 66% lean toward barring doctors from seeing patients until their probationary period ends.

Still, state medical boards and the American Medical Association have opposed efforts to create greater transparency around physicians’ disciplinary actions.

Consumer Reports petitioned the California medical board last fall to require that doctors inform their patients when they are on probation. The board rejected the idea, saying it would put too much of a burden on doctors and damage the doctor-patient relationship.

“You can find out more about the safety record of your toaster and whether or not it’s going to catch on fire than you can find about your physicians,” Oshel tells Consumer Reports.

Consumers determined to find out more information about their doctor’s records can look to their state medical board website.

Even that can be hit or miss, as Consumer Reports explains that the websites vary from state to state, with some important information buried in the minutes of board meetings, while other states may have a separate page detailing actions against doctors.

As part of its report, Consumer Reports investigated the state medical board websites in all 50 states and rated [PDF] them from best to worst. California, New York and Massachusetts websites ranked the highest, with Hawaii, Indiana, and Mississippi bringing up the rear.

“The onus shouldn’t be on patients to investigate their physicians,” said Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumer Reports’ Safe Patient Project, said in a statement. “Doctors on probation should be required to tell their patients about their status, and explain the reasons behind it.

“The system of disciplining physicians needs to be more transparent, reliable and accessible for patients. Consumers need quick and easy access to this information to make educated choices about the physicians they see and the health of themselves and their families.”

To that end, Consumer Reports is working with consumers, medical boards, and government agencies to make it easier for patients to learn about their doctors’ disciplinary history.

More information on doctors’ disciplinary actions and probation, and how Consumer Reports and other organizations are working to ensure patients are informed of these details can be found in Consumer Reports’ May cover story and the organization’s Safe Patient Project.

If you want to boost your professional value and build a better career, you’ll want to diversify and hone your skills. Personal finance writer David Carlson suggests periodically searching job postings to learn which skills are in demand.

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An emergency fund is fundamental to getting your finances in order. However, some argue it’s a shame to let that much money sit in a low-yield savings account. At the same time, investing it is risky, because you need your funds to be liquid. One financial planner offers a solution: short-term bond funds.

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Dark clothing can fade quickly, but you can keep it at bay by washing them on a short cycle, always washing them inside out, and hanging them to dry—among some other tips in this video from Consumer Reports.

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Easter has passed and the bunny has come and gone, but the candy remains. You may have some leftovers, or you may—in your infinite wisdom—have hit up the clearance aisle to stock up on peanut butter eggs and hollow chocolate rabbits. Either way, here are some of the most delicious things you can do with your sweet haul besides just eating it.

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Google Photos has a ton of awesome ways to edit your pictures . However, when you make a change, the app makes you save a copy to preserve the original. Now, Photos can make changes and preserve the original without clogging up your albums.

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LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — A man described as “psychologically unstable” hijacked a flight Tuesday from Egypt to Cyprus and threatened to blow it up. His explosives turned out to be fake, and he surrendered with all passengers released unharmed after a bizarre six-hour standoff.

As more became known about the motive of the 59-year-old Egyptian who was taken into custody, authorities characterized the commandeering of the EgyptAir jetliner not as an act of terrorism but more like a “family feud” with his former wife.

The aviation drama ended peacefully on the tarmac of Larnaca airport on the island nation’s southern coast with the surrender of a man identified by Cypriot and Egyptian authorities as Seif Eddin Mustafa.

The incident was likely to renew concerns about Egyptian airport security months after a Russian passenger plane was blown out of the sky over the Sinai Peninsula in a bombing claimed by the Islamic State group.

But Egyptian officials stressed that their security measures were not to blame, and there was praise for the EgyptAir flight crew. Pilot Amr Gamal told The Associated Press: “We rescued all the people and the man got arrested.”

EgyptAir Flight 181 took off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria for a 30-minute hop to Cairo with at least 72 people aboard, Cyprus police said, including about two dozen foreigners.

At some point, the hijacker claimed to have explosives in his belt and forced the pilot to fly the Airbus 320 to Cyprus, Egyptian authorities said.

Egyptian passenger Farah el-Dabani told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiyah TV network that the hijacker was seated in the back of the aircraft and that it was the crew who told passengers that the plane was being hijacked.

“There was panic at the beginning, but the crew told us to be quiet. They did a good job to keep us all quiet so the hijacker does not do anything rash,” she said in a telephone interview.

After the jet landed in Larnaca about 9 a.m., the hijacker asked to speak to his Cypriot ex-wife, who was brought to the airport, and he sent out a letter from the aircraft to give to her, said Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides.

The foreigners on board included eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch, two Belgians, a French national, an Italian, two Greeks and one Syrian, the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry said. The nationalities of three other foreigners could not be determined immediately.

Most of the passengers were freed, and they calmly walked down a set of stairs from the plane, carrying their hand luggage and boarding a bus. But he kept on board seven people: four members of the flight crew and three passengers.

Mustafa later asked to speak to European Union representatives, and among his demands were the release of female inmates held in Egyptian prisons.

“It was one demand he made, then dropped it and made another,” Kasoulides said. “His demands made no sense or were too incoherent to be taken seriously.”

From the start, “it was clear that this wasn’t an act of terrorism,” he added.

“Despite the fact that the individual appeared to be dangerous in terms of his behavior, we understood that this was a psychologically unstable person,” he said.

Hussein Abdelkarim Tantaway Mubarak, Egypt’s ambassador to Cyprus, said the whole affair “looks like it was a family feud.”

“As far as I know, I think he has a family problem, probably with members of his family, probably his ex-wife or something,” Mubarak added.

A Cypriot police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give out details of the investigation said the hijacker and his wife were divorced in 1994, and the couple had four children.

The hijacker eventually realized there was “no chance” any of his demands would be met, Kasoulides said, and he left the plane, where he was immediately arrested by anti-terrorism police. The belt of explosives turned out to be “telephone cases” made to look like they were explosives.

Just minutes before the arrest, several people were seen also getting off the aircraft, and a crew member — later identified as Ahmed el-Qaddah — climbed out of the cockpit window and slid down the side of the plane in accordance with his training for such emergencies.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said the hijacking was “not something that has to do with terrorism.”

Anastasiades, appearing alongside European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Nicosia, was asked by reporters whether he could confirm that the incident was about a woman. “Always, there is a woman,” he replied, drawing laughter.

But the mood aboard the hijacked aircraft was anything but light-hearted.

A veiled female passenger told Egyptian TV upon arrival back in Cairo: “We were terrified but cooperating.”

The woman, who was not identified, said she thought the explosives had been real.

“I felt like the man can just press the button, and we will be gone,” she said.

A middle-aged male passenger who also didn’t identify himself told the broadcaster, “The situation was very hard, more than anyone can imagine.” He also praised the flight crew, saying they “were like a psychiatrists to the hijacker.”

The flight crew and passengers who returned to Cairo on Tuesday night broke into tears while hugging and kissing their waiting families.

Mustafa is to appear in court Wednesday, where authorities will ask that he be held on a number of unspecified charges, said police spokesman Andreas Angelides.

Mubarak said “it’s amazing” how the hijacker managed to convince passengers and crew that he had a belt of explosives strapped to him when he actually had no weapons.

Police in Cairo questioned Mustafa’s relatives, said Sharif Faisal, the police chief for the industrial suburb of Helwan.

Islam Magdy, a taxi driver who lives in the same five-story house as Mustafa’s sister, described him as “a mysterious person,” with police inquiring about him.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry released surveillance video that it said showed Mustafa being thoroughly searched at the Alexandria airport. It said his hand luggage held items that he later used to “give the impression that he is wearing an explosive belt.”

Aviation expert Philip Baum said the EgyptAir crew “seems to have responded to this incident in an exemplary fashion.”

“The idea that the air crew should have taken steps to overpower the hijacker is, I believe, wrong,” said Baum, author of “Violence in the Skies: A History of Aircraft Hijacking and Bombing.”

Flight attendant Nihal el-Barqouqi played a role in convincing the hijacker to free the passengers once the plane landed in Cyprus, Egyptian TV reported.

“We managed with diplomacy … to get the passengers out,” co-pilot Ahmed el-Qaddah told the broadcaster.

Security at Egyptian airports has been under scrutiny since the Oct. 31 crash of a Russian jetliner in the Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for St. Petersburg, Russia. All 224 people on board were killed.

Russia later said a bomb brought down the aircraft, and the Islamic State group took responsibility. Russia suspended all air links to Egypt after the revelations about the bombing, dealing a major blow to the Egyptian tourism industry.

___

Michael reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Hamza Hendawi, Mariam Mazen and Sam Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

The post Hijack drama ends in Cyprus with arrest of ‘unstable’ man appeared first on WTOP.

One reason for China’s rise as a money-laundering hub is that years of grinding enforcement have made traditional havens for hiding money less appealing.

Western countries led by Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States froze $1.4 billion in stolen assets in the two and a half years ending in June 2012 — more than they froze during the four years from 2006 to 2009, according to a study by the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, an effort led by the World Bank and U.N. to fight money laundering and corruption. That initiative was founded in 2007. One year later, the U.S. launched a crackdown on hidden offshore accounts, targeting some of Switzerland’s largest banks.

“London and New York aren’t as safe as they used to be,” said Bill Majcher, a former financial crimes investigator for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and founder of founder of EMIDR Ltd., a cyber-security consultancy in Hong Kong. “Where is another location where there are large banks, but an opaqueness for Western banks and courts to seize my savings?”

China is the answer to that question for con men, criminals and drug lords from around the world, The Associated Press showed in an investigation this week.

The post As Chinese money laundering rose, other nations cracked down appeared first on WTOP.

LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus official says hijacker of EgyptAir plane has been arrested and the situation is “over”

The post Cyprus official says hijacker of EgyptAir plane has been arrested and the situation is “over” appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — A small earthquake rattled part of central Virginia over the weekend.

The U.S. Geological Survey says that a 2.3 magnitude earthquake hit about 8 miles south of Louisa, in Louisa County, around 4 a.m. on Easter Sunday.

No injuries have been reported.

In August 2011, a magnitude-5.8 earthquake in Louisa County was felt from Georgia to Canada.

The post Small earthquake hits central Virginia appeared first on WTOP.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s term-limited Gov. Nathan Deal took a stand against his own party and averted threatened boycotts by major corporations on Monday by announcing his veto of a “religious freedom” bill.

“I do not think that we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia,” the Republican governor declared.

Religious conservatives had campaigned hard for Deal’s signature, but the industries he has recruited to Georgia also applied pressure.

The NFL warned that Atlanta’s bid for the 2019 or 2020 Super Bowl could be in jeopardy. Technology firms, led by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, asked for Deal’s veto. The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Studios and dozens of Hollywood figures vowed to take projects elsewhere, despite Georgia’s generous tax credits for the film industry. Multimillion-dollar events and investments were threatened.

Lawmakers around the nation are advancing “religious freedom” measures, which have passed at least one chamber in ten states: Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. But Deal said only the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution can protect people of faith — along with everybody else.

“If indeed our religious liberty is conferred by God and not by man-made government, we should heed the ‘hands-off’ admonition of the First Amendment to our Constitution,” Deal said. “When legislative bodies attempt to do otherwise, the inclusions and omissions in their statutes can lead to discrimination, even though it may be unintentional. That is too great a risk to take.”

Deal’s veto stands in sharp contrast to North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s signature last week on a law that prohibits local anti-discrimination ordinances and obligates transgender people to use restrooms matching their birth certificates. The outcomes highlight the increasing conflicts between the twin pillars of the GOP’s power structure — religion and business — in legislatures where Republicans have overwhelming majorities.

McCrory, a 59-year-old Republican seeking a second term in Raleigh, must mobilize his party’s core voters in November. Deal, now 74 and not planning to run again for office, is relatively immune to such pressures. Neither did Deal dwell on social issues in his re-election campaign; instead celebrating Georgia’s ranking as the “No. 1 state for business.”

Emboldened by the boycott threats that forced Indiana to revise its “religious freedom” law last year, Georgia’s business community formed a coalition of more than 500 companies, including Cola-Cola, Delta Air Lines and other top employers, to counter the measure.

Many have large operations in Atlanta, a city proud of the pragmatic, “too busy to hate” image it fostered in the civil rights era. Back then, Coca-Cola’s Robert Woodruff, former mayors William Hartsfield and Ivan Allen and other civic leaders wanted to avoid unrest that might spook companies deciding where to locate their regional headquarters.

But their efforts were focused within the city. The legislature is more unwieldy, with lawmakers representing a blend of urban newcomers and rural southerners.

Georgia legislators had sparred for three years over protecting people whose religious beliefs clash with state and local laws. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing gay marriage, proponents pushed even harder. Legislative leaders finally drafted what they considered a compromise, and only 11 GOP lawmakers joined every Democrat in opposition.

House Speaker David Ralston said he respects Deal’s “thoughtful consideration” but doesn’t believe the bill permits discrimination.

The measure included language modeled on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. People claiming their religious freedoms are burdened could force state and local governments to prove a “compelling” interest in enforcing laws that conflict with their beliefs. It also would have protected clergy who decline to perform gay marriages, businesses that turn away customers for religious reasons, and churches and affiliated religious groups that cite faith as a reason for refusing to serve or hire someone.

But Deal said he could “find no examples that any of the things this bill seeks to protect us against have ever occurred in Georgia.”

Supporters touted language that the bill did not permit discrimination prohibited by federal or state law. But since Georgia law lacks protections for LGBT people, opponents said the bill would strike local ordinances that do prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Georgia’s General Assembly has adjourned for the year, but the issue is sure to come up again when lawmakers return in January.

“We’re not going to quit,” said Mike Griffin, spokesman for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. “We definitely don’t want to have Gov. Deal listening to Wall Street and Hollywood over the citizens of the state of Georgia who expect him to support religious liberty.”

Some Republican strategists hope those efforts will attract less attention to the state.

“Maybe there can be some constructive conversations that take place when the legislature’s not in session,” said Eric Tanenblatt, who served as chief of staff to former Gov. Sonny Perdue. “From an economic development standpoint, it was not helpful having news stories across the country talking about this issue in Georgia.”

___

Contributors include Associated Press writers Bill Barrow and Ryan Phillips in Atlanta and Russ Bynum in Savannah.

The post Georgia Gov: We don’t need to discriminate to protect faith appeared first on WTOP.

TOMBSTONE, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona authorities say they won’t prosecute an actor who shot and injured another performer during a mock gunfight in Tombstone.

A report from the Cochise County Attorney’s office said evidence shows the shooting was accidental and that performers in Tombstone need better protocol for ammunition checks, according to the Sierra Vista Herald (http://bit.ly/1URmhhm).

Tom Carter and Ken Curtis were in a fake standoff on Oct. 18 when Carter fired a live round. The actors are members of the Tombstone Vigilantes, a group that puts on public re-enactments.

Curtis was struck in the groin. He has since recovered from his injury. Investigators said Carter had failed to go through a weapon’s check before the skit and was carrying six live rounds in his gun, five of which were fired before the show was stopped. The bullets struck businesses and a bystander was grazed by a bullet fragment.

“The suspect and the other participants in these shows need a better protocol to check ammunition being used and to do so right before each show,” Tombstone Marshal Bob Randall in a news release.

Tombstone has since passed a law requiring businesses to obtain permits to conduct shooting re-enactments. Immediately after the shooting, Mayor Dusty Escapule stopped all street shows but they resumed in January after the new regulations were passed.

City Attorney Randy Bays said the new ordinance is a balancing act between keeping people safe and honoring the city’s tradition of putting on gunfights from the Old West.

“I believe this ordinance puts the least amount of restrictions necessary to protect the public from this extraordinary type of entertainment, which people come from all over the world to see,” he said.

Some Tombstone residents said the new regulations are chasing business away.

“All the gunfight groups backed out of Wild West Days because of the ordinance, thus there were no gunfights last weekend,” said Tombstone resident and business owner Mike Carrafa, who once owned a business that held gunfight shows. “Furthermore, anyone who can’t tell the difference between a blank and a live round recoil has no business ever having a gun in his hand again,” he added.

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Information from: Sierra Vista Herald, http://www.svherald.com

The post No charges in shooting during Tombstone gunfight skit appeared first on WTOP.

DALLAS (AP) — The joke has shown up on some police department Facebook pages: Anyone in possession of methamphetamine or other illegal drugs should stop by the police station for testing because the drugs might somehow contain Ebola.

In Granite Shoals, Texas, one such post, labeled a “Breaking News Alert” in block letters, was shared thousands of times. It even netted an arrest, which the local police department then reported on its Facebook page.

Police say threats about “Ebola meth” are a fun, harmless sting they set up to catch criminals in the act, even if the joke alludes to what was once an actual global public health crisis. But two good-government advocates said the posts run the risk of degrading trust in law enforcement and public health authorities.

And in the case of Granite Shoals, the local district attorney questioned whether the post might alarm people who don’t use drugs, but might think a deadly virus is present in their community.

“I think there’s some collateral issues that you have to consider before you use a sting,” said Sonny McAfee, the district attorney for Burnet County, Texas.

Mitch Bratton, the police chief in Grayson, Louisiana, which posted a similar item on Facebook, said several people in town did call to see whether any drugs were contaminated by Ebola.

“It opened the door for us to talk about the dangers of meth,” Bratton said in an interview Monday, adding that in his town, “meth is most definitely a lot bigger problem than any chance of Ebola.”

Some version of the threat of “Ebola meth” has shown up in at least four other states, according to the website Snopes, which tracks and debunks Internet hoaxes.

Ebola last caused global panic two years ago when an outbreak in West Africa killed more than 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. One person who fell sick in the United States died: a Liberian man who ended up in the hospital days after arriving in Dallas. Two nurses who treated him became infected but survived.

Disease experts say Ebola is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

Matt Simpson, senior policy strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, questioned what a department like Granite Shoals would do in the event of a real contaminated drug crisis.

“Are they going to run another Facebook ad that looks like this, only it’s designed to help people instead of ensnare people foolish enough to follow up?” Simpson said.

But the police in Granite Shoals urged people not to take their joke too seriously.

“We at the GSPD like to show all parts of the enforcement world on Facebook and that includes our sense of humor,” the department said in one post.

The department, which did not respond to several calls Monday seeking comment, posted that the “winner of the Facebook post challenge” was Chasity Hopson, a 29-year-old woman now charged with possession of less than 1 gram of a controlled substance.

Hopson was being held on $5,000 bond. She did not have a lawyer listed in court records who could comment on her behalf and several phone numbers listed for her were disconnected.

Clint McNear, a law enforcement consultant and retired police officer, compared “Ebola meth” posts to a tactic he once used: calling a person with an outstanding warrant to say someone had turned in a wallet full of cash with the person’s name on it.

“Clever ideas to catch criminals (are) not new,” McNear said. “And as the criminal evolves, law enforcement evolves with them.”

But Tom Smith, Texas director of the advocacy group Public Citizen, called tactics like the Ebola post “pure deception.”

“At a time when we’re having a crisis with growing heroin addiction, it’s outrageous that we would set traps for people instead of coming up with strategies to get them into treatment,” Smith said.

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Follow Nomaan Merchant on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nomaanmerchant.

The post Ebola meth? Police joke nets at least 1 drug arrest appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hackers crippled computer systems Monday at a major hospital chain, MedStar Health Inc., forcing records systems offline for thousands of patients and doctors. The FBI said it was investigating whether the unknown hackers demanded a ransom to restore systems.

A computer virus paralyzed some operations at Washington-area hospitals and doctors’ offices, leaving patients unable to book appointments and staff locked out of their email accounts. Some employees were required to turn off all computers since Monday morning.

A law enforcement official said the FBI was assessing whether the virus was so-called ransomware, in which hackers extort money in exchange for returning a victim’s systems to normal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss publicly details about the ongoing criminal investigation.

“We can’t do anything at all. There’s only one system we use, and now it’s just paper,” said one MedStar employee who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to speak to reporters.

MedStar said in a statement that the virus prevented some employees from logging into systems. It said all of its clinics remain open and functioning and there was no immediate evidence that patient information had been stolen.

Company spokeswoman Ann Nickels said she couldn’t say whether it was a ransomware attack. She said patient care was not affected and the hospitals were using a paper backup system.

When asked whether hackers demanded payment, Nickels said: “I don’t have an answer to that,” and referred to the company’s statement.

Dr. Richard Alcorta, medical director for Maryland’s emergency medical services network, said he suspects it was a ransomware attack, based on multiple ransomware attempts on individual hospitals in the state. Alcorta said he was unaware of any ransoms paid by Maryland hospitals or health-care systems.

“People view this, I think, as a form of terrorism and are attempting to extort money by attempting to infect them with this type of virus,” he said.

Alcorta said his agency first learned of MedStar’s problems about 10:30 a.m., when the company’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore called in a request to divert emergency medical services traffic from that facility. He said that was followed by a similar request from Union Memorial, another MedStar hospital in Baltimore. The diversions were lifted as the hospitals’ backup systems started operating, he said.

MedStar operates 10 hospitals in Maryland and Washington, including the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, along with other facilities. It employs 30,000 staff and has 6,000 affiliated physicians.

Monday’s hacking at MedStar came one month after a Los Angeles hospital paid hackers $17,000 to regain control of its computer system, which hackers had seized with ransomware using an infected email attachment.

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, which is owned by CHA Medical Center of South Korea, paid 40 bitcoins — or about $420 per coin of the digital currency — to restore normal operations and disclosed the attack publicly. That hack was first noticed Feb. 5 and operations didn’t fully recover until 10 days later.

Hospitals are considered critical infrastructure, but unless patient data is impacted there is no requirement to disclose such hackings even if operations are disrupted.

Computer security of the hospital industry is generally regarded as poor, and the federal Health and Human Services Department regularly publishes a list of health care providers that have been hacked with patient information stolen. The agency said Monday it was aware of the MedStar incident.

___

Dishneau reported from Hagerstown, Maryland.

___

Follow Jack Gillum on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jackgillum

The post FBI probing virus behind outage at MedStar Health facilities appeared first on WTOP.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A proposal that would seal police body camera footage from the public is gaining traction in the Tennessee Legislature as open records and civil rights advocates cry foul.

Supporters of the legislation say it protects bystanders, crime victims and officers as lawmakers and open government supporters come up with a law that all sides can agree upon. Those opposed worry that the measure will keep the public in the dark, possibly for years, in cases where there are serious questions about police brutality.

The proposal comes in the form of an amendment that would put a one-year moratorium on any video or audio recordings used by police.

The post Tennessee legislation would seal police body cam footage appeared first on WTOP.

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii lawmakers are asking how much marijuana a driver can safely consume before getting behind the wheel of a car.

It’s an issue they want to tackle now that Hawaii is setting up medical marijuana dispensaries. So Rep. Cindy Evans and 15 other lawmakers introduced a resolution asking the state Department of Health to study whether a person can safely drive while under the influence.

Marijuana is the illicit drug most frequently found in the blood of drivers who have been involved in accidents, including fatal ones, but the role marijuana plays in those accidents is often unclear because it can remain in the bloodstream for days and it’s often combined with alcohol, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says marijuana use impairs cognitive functions, lane tracking and other driving-related skills.

“I think that it’s really important that we do this now,” Evans said. “Hopefully this is the beginning of the discussion.”

For drunk driving, there’s a nationally recognized level of impairment, which is a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 grams per millileter. But there’s no federal rule or widespread consensus on what’s an acceptable limit for driving under the influence of drugs.

Hawaii law bans people from driving under the influence of a drug that impairs their ability to drive, but there isn’t a set threshold for how much marijuana — medically prescribed or not — is acceptable in the blood stream.

Several states have passed laws specifying how much marijuana in the blood stream is acceptable while driving, but set different limits for how much THC — the main psychoactive ingredient of cannibus — in the blood would be considered driving under the influence of drugs. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Colorado, Montana and Washington set the limit at 5 nanograms per millileter of blood, while Nevada and Ohio went with the lower 2 nanograms. Other states provide an exemption for medical marijuana patients.

The state Department of Health opposed the resolution, saying the department doesn’t have the capacity to study the complicated question, especially because the resolution didn’t include funding. The department’s director, Virginia Pressler, said in written testimony that The National Institute on Drug Abuse has been studying this issue for many years and hasn’t been able to establish a recommended level for driving.

Despite the opposition, the House Committee on Transportation passed the resolution Monday, sending it to the Committee on Health to keep the discussion going, Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Aquino said.

“It’s here, so we just wanted to make sure that we have some sort of scientific, some sort of data-driven study to being done to address this,” Aquino said.

The post Hawaii lawmakers ask how much marijuana is OK while driving appeared first on WTOP.

(MONTGOMERY, Ala.) — A 10-year-old Alabama boy is being hailed as a hero for jumping behind the wheel of a pickup truck after the truck’s elderly driver went into diabetic shock.

Christopher Wheeler Jr., of Montgomery, was riding along with his 70-year-old neighbor, whom the family calls “Big Mitch,” last Thursday when Big Mitch started losing consciousness and began swerving in traffic.

Eric Salvador, a special agent with the state’s attorney general’s office, happened to be driving behind the truck when it began to swerve on the crowded Interstate.

“I made a traffic stop, turned on my lights and sirens and the vehicle refused to stop,” Salvador told ABC News. “There was a bunch of material in the back of the truck so I had no idea who was inside.”

Salvador followed the truck for several miles as it turned off the Interstate. He turned on his police sirens again as the truck went into oncoming traffic, ran a red light and almost crashed head-on with several other cars.

“The truck slowly starts to get over and you see the brakes starting to be applied … it wasn’t a full slam on the brakes,” Salvador said of how the chase ended. “I approached the vehicle and as I’m going, I see Christopher in the passenger seat looking at me and he looks absolutely terrified.”

Salvador, who was joined at the scene by a state trooper, said he thought it could be a child abduction so he approached the vehicle with caution.

“Christopher turned off the truck and I still can’t see the driver’s hands,” Salvador said. “The driver isn’t complying so Christopher grabbed his hand and put it on the steering wheel so I could approach the car.”

“When I got to the truck, Christopher said, ‘I want to go home,’ and he jumped out of the truck and ran back to the trooper’s car,” he said.

The driver was found unconscious at the scene and treated by medical personnel, who transported him to a local hospital. Neither Christopher nor any other drivers were injured in the incident.

“I’ve been doing law enforcement almost eight years and I’ve never heard or seen anything like this happen,” Salvador said. “What Christoper did is nothing short of impressive.”

Christopher’s dad, Christopher Wheeler Sr., told ABC News he taught his son how to drive at a young age so he knew right where the brakes were.

“He thought quick,” Wheeler said of his son. “He said he was scared and his life was in danger.”

Christopher told Salvador and Walls that he wanted to be a police officer when he grows up, so the pair took a photo with him. The photo was posted on Facebook by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Walls took Christopher to a fast food restaurant for a snack until his family arrived to take him home.

“I’m just proud of him,” Wheeler said of his son.

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska volcano kept pumping out new ash Tuesday that could threaten aircraft, but it came in smaller amounts at lower heights, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Pavlof Volcano, 625 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Peninsula, erupted Sunday. The initial eruption continued for about 17 hours and put out an ash cloud that reached 37,000 feet.

The plume blew northeast and by Tuesday had reached Canada, but Dave Schneider, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist at the observatory, said activity had calmed from the continuous eruptive phase.

“Over the last six to eight hours the activity is more intermittent,” he said. “There are short duration, small explosive events that are occurring, as opposed to sort of a continuous plume.”

The original ash cloud crossed Bristol Bay, spread into interior Alaska, and stretched into northern Canada, said Don Moore, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service Alaska Aviation Weather Unit.

“The extent of the plume is certainly greater but the concentration of the ash is becoming less,” Moore said. “The plume is becoming thinner over time.”

Volcanic ash is angular and sharp and can cause a jet engine to shut down. Alaska Airlines canceled 41 flights within the state Monday, and 28 more Tuesday.

Sherry Keever has lived in Healy, Alaska, for only a year and was trying to get home from a vacation in California when ash from the volcano prompted the cancellation of her flight.

“I’m kind of new, and I wasn’t even aware there were volcanoes that could affect the flight patterns, and I’m OK with it,” she said while sitting in a waiting area of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, waiting to see if she could get her flight to Fairbanks on Tuesday.

The volcano in the 8,261-foot mountain is one of Alaska’s most active. It has had 40 known eruptions.

Pavlof eruptions in the past 20 years have not been as intense, but the current eruption is not unprecedented for the volcano, Schneider said.

The length of the eruption was a major factor in the size of the ash cloud, Schneider said. So were the winds and possibly the smaller size of the ash, which takes longer to fall out of the atmosphere.

The observatory took reports of ash fall, which can be hazardous to eyes, skin and breathing passages, from several communities.

USGS geologist Kristi Wallace said the most significant was in Nelson Lagoon, a village of 39 people about 55 miles northeast of the volcano. Residents reported one-eighth to two-thirds of an inch of ash.

Cpl. Barrett Taylor, a village public safety officer in Nelson Lagoon, saw ash falling early Monday.

“It was raining ash for a little bit,” Taylor said. “It turned everything black, the rooftops, the fuel tanks, homes.”

The ash was worse Tuesday, he said, because wind coming in off the ocean was whipping it around.

The community has put out a health advisory to stay inside until Wednesday. Taylor is hoping strong wind or rain will sweep some of the ash away.

“I actually saw an eagle land on the grass today, and as he landed, a big pile of ash came up and flew away,” he said.

Pat Walsh, a wildlife biologist for the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, saw ash 25 miles west of Dillingham as a gray haze as he tracked wolves from the air in the refuge. He could also see traces of ash in fresh wolf tracks and in the snow.

Tisha Christensen, a health aide at the clinic in Port Heiden, said gray ash mixed with snow fell Monday night in the community on the Bering Sea side of the Alaska Peninsula. It affected her 8-year-old son, who has asthma but tried going to school Tuesday.

“He didn’t even make it a half-hour and had to come home and have a nebulizer treatment,” she said.

Only trace amounts of ash had been reported from Pavlof eruptions since 1996.

In the past, the volcano has erupted intermittently over months or shut off abruptly.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage contributed to this report.

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ATLANTA (AP) — In a story March 29, The Associated Press reported that Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal does not plan to run for office again. The story should have made clear that Georgia limits governors to two terms, and that Deal cannot run again because he is in his second and final term.

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The Local Woof is a column that’s sponsored and written by the staff of Woofs! Dog Training Center. Woofs! has full-service dog training, boarding, and daycare facilities, near Shirlington and Ballston.

A reactive dog is a dog that reacts to specific things in their environment by becoming highly aroused and in most cases, barking and lunging. These dogs can appear to be aggressive, dangerous and “out of control.”

It is a scary situation for both passers-by and owners. Some reactive dogs are also aggressive, and some are not. Since it is impossible to know on the spot, it is best to give reactive dogs a wide berth. Reactivity is a serious issue and a major challenge, but there are a lot of techniques we can use to help reactive dogs.

To begin with, the earlier you start behavior modification, the better the success in changing the behavior. Reactive behaviors usually crop up in adolescence around 6 to 18 months of age and tend to get worse as the dog reaches social maturity around 2 or 3 years of age. Your pup will not “grow out of” this behavior. Seek help as soon as you notice an issue.

Second, never punish your dog when they start to growl, bark or lunge. This can be really hard, because a crazy dog at the end of the leash can be very embarrassing and we generally want to get the dog to stop the behavior as soon as possible. Unfortunately, even if punishment seems to get the dog under control in the moment, it does nothing to teach the dog an alternate behavior and can often cause the reactions to become worse.

Most reactivity is caused by fear or anxiety and the solution is to teach the dog to feel less anxious in the presence of the triggers. We use a program of systematic desensitization and counter conditioning to help the dog feel more comfortable. This involves exposing the dog to the trigger (people, dogs, cars) in very small amounts that do not trigger a response and then teaching the dog that good things (food, play, attention) happen when the trigger is present.

This can be a slow process, but the results are definitely worth it.

The final piece of the puzzle is teaching the owner what to do. Having a reactive dog is very stressful. It is important to make sure that the dog is wearing the appropriate equipment so that the hander feels confident in physically controlling the dog. Then we need to make sure that the owner can stay as calm as possible. A deep breath and a calm tone of voice can go a long way in keeping a reactive dog calm. Just like the dog’s training, this can take a lot of practice.

The good news is that with practice and a good training plan, reactive dogs can get much better.

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BALTIMORE (AP) — Officials say one person has been killed after a building collapsed on a car in west Baltimore.

The incident happened Monday afternoon.

Authorities say firefighters found the car buried under debris around 4:30 p.m. at the intersection of Payson Street and West Lafayette Avenue.

Crews cleared the rubble and removed the victim from the car. Firefighters say he was taken to a hospital, where he died.

The victim’s identity hasn’t been released.

It also remains unclear what caused the building to collapse.

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The elder ones among us may remember a time when you had to leave the house to see a movie, even if you were going to rent it at Blockbuster Video and watch it on your tiny 48″ TV. While the merciless VHS blight of 2013 killed off most of the remaining Blockbuster stores, a hearty handful remained, wandering the strip malls of America in search of sustenance. That’s why we’re sad to report that the Netflix diaspora now has four fewer among its ranks.

News reports out of El Paso rang the death knell for the city’s four Blockbuster stores, all of which shuttered after this weekend. They will — in the spirit of the season — experience a brief resurrection starting on April 2 for clearance sales.

Blockbuster had already seen thousands of stores close when satellite TV provider acquired the company in 2011. Hundreds of additional store closures followed, culminating in the Nov. 2013 decision to shutter all 300 remaining company-owned locations and kill off the Blockbuster disc-by-mail business.

However, Blockbuster franchisees who wanted to soldier on in the face of Netflix and numerous other newcomers, were free to do so, leaving around 50.

Border Entertainment LLC, which owns the El Paso stores, has been among those clutching on to the dream of those days when you’d wander the aisles unable to find anything to rent instead of scrolling through menus unable to find something worth watching.

“We opened our first El Paso stores back in 1992,” the owner of Border Entertainment tells ElPaso411.com. “It’s been a great run, but over the past few years more and more people have changed how they watch movies. This has caused a gradual decline in sales that has necessitated our decision to close the stores. We hope everyone will come visit us over the next few weeks so we can thank them for 24 wonderful years. It’s also the last chance to buy used movies and games from our very large inventories.”

Austin-based Border says it will continue to operate its Blockbuster stores elsewhere in Texas and in Alaska.

California is poised to become the first state to adopt a $15 an hour minimum wage. Over the weekend legislators in the state said they had reached a tentative agreement with labor unions that would see the state rollout the wage increase over the next six years.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the deal, which would first increase the minimum wage to $10.50 an hour in 2017, could be finalized by Gov. Jerry Brown by the end of the day.

While the deal is a big step for raising the statewide minimum wage in California, the measure still must be approved by the state legislature.

Sources tell the L.A. Times that the measure could be added as an amendment to a minimum-wage package that stalled last year and voted on by late next week.

If lawmakers pass the minimum-wage package the state would avoid taking the issue to a ballot vote in the fall.

“This is not a done deal,” Sen. Mark Leno, told The Associated Press. “Everyone’s been operating in good faith and we hope to get it through the Legislature. The governor and stakeholders have all been negotiating earnestly and in good faith for some time.”

Under the tentative deal, companies in the state would be required to gradually increase worker pay in intervals of $.50 to $1.00 until it reaches $15 an hour in 2022.

Specifically, the statewide minimum wage would increase from $10/hour to $10.50/hour in 2017, then increase another $.50 in 2018, followed by $1 increase for the next four years, the L.A. Times reports.

Not all businesses would be required to follow the increase, at least on the same schedule. The L.A. Times reports that businesses with fewer than 25 employees would have an extra year to comply, delaying their workers receiving a $15 hourly wage until 2023.

Additionally, any future statewide minimum wage increases would be tied to inflation, under the proposal.

The L.A. Times reports that while the proposed increase would affect the entire state of California, cities could boost wages — to any amount — prior to 2022.

Last year, the Los Angeles City Council approved a measure to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15/hour by 2020.

Under that plan starting in July, the hourly wage will increase to $10.50. Each year after would see increases to $12, $13.25, $14.25 and then $15.

Deal reached to boost California’s minimum wage to $15, avoiding ballot box battle [The Los Angeles Times]
California Raises Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour [The Associated Press]

Sure, you expect things to be competitive at an Easter egg hunt. When candy-maker Pez was planning their third annual free Easter egg hunt for people who live near their headquarters in Connecticut, they expected the event to grow, and planned to give out more candy. What they did not expect was parents who would swarm the fields before the official start time like a swarm of candy-crazed locusts.

Yep. The bad behavior of the parents got the event on Saturday canceled. Grown-ups ruin everything, right? The event was supposed to have staggered start times for different kids’ age groups according to age, and three different fields.

Maybe the crowd was too big, or maybe the instructions weren’t clear. The event was supposed to begin at 10:30 with staggered start times all morning, but instead, a group of early birds made their way through all three fields before the youngest kids were even supposed to start.

“The crowd moved to the 2nd field, waited for only a couple of minutes, and proceeded to rush the field without being directed to do so and before the posted start time,” the company explained in a statement. “The crowd then immediately moved to the 3rd field and took over, and removed everything well before the activity was to even start.”

“You could see the crowd of people almost like a swarm covering the field,” one mother told the Hartford Courant. “Just everywhere with no disregard that there were other people, children, and cars around them.”

While hunting for eggs was fun, the most important thing at an event like this is not sending any kids home empty-handed. Fortunately, the event was being held outside the Pez factory, where they have a visitors center and a gift shop, so running out of candy wasn’t really a possibility.

Many families weren’t told that there were more goodies waiting for people who hadn’t acted like a swarm of locusts, though, and did go home disappointed.

The company said that it had put 10,000 eggs out in the fields for visitors, which were all scooped up before the event was supposed to begin.

PEZ Easter Egg Hunt Canceled After Parents Cause Chaos [Hartford Courant] (Thanks, Naomi!)

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese police early Monday caught a 23-year-old man who had been sought since a teenage girl escaped his apartment after being held captive for nearly two years.

The girl’s disappearance from her hometown in Saitama, near Tokyo, when she was just 13, was major news in Japan at the time.

Police said the now-15-year-old girl escaped from suspect Kabu Terauchi’s apartment in downtown Tokyo on Sunday while he was shopping in Akihabara, a district known for technology and comic book geeks. Saitama police said the girl, whose name was withheld because she is a minor, told investigators that she escaped when her captor forgot to lock the door.

The girl was seen wearing a sweat suit and sandals in the cold weather when she called home from a pay phone at a train station in downtown Tokyo. Her mother reported the call to the police, who raided Terauchi’s apartment.

Investigators captured Terauchi in the early hours of Monday near a forest west of Tokyo. He was bleeding from the neck from a minor self-inflicted injury as a result of a failed suicide attempt.

Police plan to formally arrest him on suspicion of kidnapping.

Terauchi attended university during the years he allegedly had the girl in captivity. He graduated this month and even had a job offer.

Police quoted the girl as saying that she was confined in Terauchi’s apartment near his university in Chiba before moving to Tokyo last month. She was always locked inside and closely watched, but was not tied up or put in chains. He sometimes took her outside but always closely watched her, according to police.

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BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese dissident writer said Monday that police in his hometown are holding three of his siblings in retaliation for an article he wrote condemning the detention of a fellow writer linked to the investigation of an anonymous letter online calling for the Chinese president’s resignation.

Zhang Ping, better known by his penname Chang Ping, said by phone from his home in Germany that his two younger brothers and a younger sister were detained after they returned to the southwestern town of Duofu to celebrate their father’s birthday Sunday and pay respects at the tombs of their ancestors.

Zhang said police were demanding that he cease his political writing and give up his column on the website of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle. He said police also told family members that they want him to remove the critical essay about the detained writer from the website.

“It’s horrific that a local Chinese police station should stretch its arm toward German media and demand an article be removed,” Zhang said. “That’s interference with press freedom.”

Asked by phone about Zhang’s siblings, Duofu police said they were holding several people on suspicion of causing a fire while paying their respects to their ancestors but refused to give details. Zhang said it was common for people to set off fireworks when visiting ancestors’ tombs and believed there was no real damage. He said police were simply using that as a pretext to hold his brothers and sister.

Zhang had criticized the disappearance of writer Jia Jia over suspicions that he was linked to the posting of a letter that criticized President Xi Jinping’s rule and called for him to step down. The letter, signed by “loyal Communist Party members,” briefly appeared on the government-controlled news site Watching.cn in early March.

Beijing appears to have launched a concerted hunt for those responsible for the letter, in a reflection of the leadership’s anxiety about any form of dissent, including within the party itself.

Jia was later confirmed to be in police custody and released after 10 days. He has since declined to speak to the media about the case.

The president of Watching.cn, Li Wanhui, two top editors and two site technicians have also dropped from view for days and are believed to be under investigation. Nine other technicians working for a technology company that provides support to the site also are reported missing.

Similar to Zhang, another prominent overseas Chinese activist, Wen Yunchao, also has said that authorities in his southern Chinese home county of Jiexi have been holding his elderly parents and a younger brother since Tuesday in an apparent attempt to pressure him into admitting involvement in posting the letter. Wen has denied any ties to the letter.

The human rights group Amnesty International has urged Chinese authorities not to harass dissents’ family members, saying such actions undercut China’s claim to respect the rule of law.

On Monday, Zhang said he would not give up writing, but would distance himself from his family members back in China.

“To negotiate with the authorities is like negotiating with gangsters,” Zhang said. “It’s impossible for me to give up writing.”

“My relatives are innocent, and it’s against Chinese law to involve them over me,” he said.

Chinese authorities have in the past targeted him and his wife and child, but they started harassing his siblings about a week ago with phone calls and home visits, Zhang said.

“The intimidation apparently has escalated because of the anonymous letter,” he said.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Strong winds Monday pushed an ash cloud from an Alaska volcano into the heart of the state, grounding flights and limiting travel to western and northern communities off the road system.

Pavlof Volcano, one of Alaska’s most active volcanoes, is 625 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Peninsula, the finger of land that sticks out from mainland Alaska toward the Aleutian Islands.

The volcano in the 8,261-foot mountain erupted about 4 p.m. Sunday, spitting out an ash cloud that rose to 20,000 feet.

Lightning over the mountain and pressure sensors indicated eruptions continued overnight By 7 a.m. Monday, the ash cloud had risen to 37,000 feet and winds to 50 mph or more had stretched it over more than 400 miles into interior Alaska.

“It’s right in the wheelhouse of a lot of flights crisscrossing Alaska,” said geologist Chris Waythomas, of the U.S. Geological Survey, part of the Alaska Volcano Observatory, along with the University of Alaska and the state Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.

Alaska Airlines on Monday afternoon said it cancelled 41 flights affecting about 3,300 customers heading to Fairbanks, Bethel, Kotzebue, Nome, Barrow and Deadhorse. The airline said it will resume its 54 regularly scheduled flights on Tuesday if conditions improve.

Volcanic ash is angular and sharp and has been used as an industrial abrasive. The powdered rock can cause a jet engine to shut down. USGS geologists have compared it to flying into a sand blaster.

An eruption of Mount Redoubt in December 1989 sent out an ash cloud 150 miles that flamed out the jet engines of a KLM flight carrying 231 passengers to Anchorage. The jet dropped more than two miles before pilots were able to restart the engines and land safely.

“We just simply will not fly when ash is present,” Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said.

Waythomas had received no reports of ash falling in communities. The closest community, Cold Bay, is 37 miles southwest of the volcano, opposite of where the wind was blowing ash.

Geologists call Pavlof an open-system volcano, Waythomas said.

“The pathways that magma follows to the surface are pretty open in a volcanological sense,” Waythomas said. “They can convey magma and gas very easily. Magmas can move to the surface whenever they feel like it, more or less.”

The movement comes with little shaking of the ground, and the lack of earthquakes as an early warning of an eruption “makes us go crazy monitoring them,” Waythomas said.

The volcano, about 4.4 miles in diameter, has had 40 known eruptions. Its conical, nearly symmetrical shape indicates its eruptions tend to be less violent than the kind that blows tops off mountains.

“It can erupt for periods of hours to days or it can go on for much longer periods of time,” Waythomas said. “It won’t erupt continuously for many months or a year. It will be intermittent. But the eruption cycle could go on for a while, or it could abruptly shut off and be done tomorrow.”

The USGS raised the volcano alert to its highest level, which warns of hazards both in the air and on the ground.

___

This story has been corrected to show the volcano is on the Alaska Peninsula, not in the Aleutian Islands.

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Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday:

1. GOVERNMENT NO LONGER NEEDS APPLE’S HELP IN CRACKING IPHONE

Instead, the FBI says it was able to hack the phone used by the San Bernardino gunman itself, using a mysterious technique.

2. GUNFIRE SPREADS PANIC ON CAPITOL HILL

With spring tourists thronging Washington, police shoot a man after he pulls a weapon at a U.S. Capitol checkpoint.

3. WHICH STATE IS CONSIDERING SHARP HIKE IN MINIMUM WAGE

Lawmakers in California are poised to send a bill to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown that would raise the minimum wage to a nation-leading $15 an hour.

4. GAY, TRANSGENDER RIGHTS SUPPORTERS SUE NORTH CAROLINA OVER NEW LAW

The law, signed by the state’s Republican governor last week, obligates transgender people to use restrooms matching their birth certificates.

5. ALASKA VOLCANO SPEWS COLUMN OF ASH

Strong winds push the plume into the heart of the state, grounding flights and limiting travel in communities off the road system.

6. WHO’S CRITIQUING US DRIVE TO INCREASE BUSINESS WITH CUBA

Fidel Castro says in a long, bristling letter in state media that Cuba doesn’t “need the empire to give us any presents.”

7. SCIENTISTS SEE FRESH EVIDENCE OF GLOBAL WARMING

They say the growth of Arctic sea ice this winter peaked at the lowest maximum level on record.

8. FIRE RACES UP HIGH-RISE TOWER

It’s the latest in a series of skyscraper blazes in the United Arab Emirates, home to the world’s tallest building.

9. WHY MARRIOTT’S EXPANSION PLANS HAVE STALLED

The company’s bid for Starwood and its tony stable of hotels is trumped by a $15 billion offer from China’s Anbang.

10. ADVANCES SEEN IN DIAGNOSING HEAD TRAUMA

New research bolsters evidence that a simple blood test may someday be used to detect concussions.

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