ALBANY, N.Y. - Rat poison was found in the pet food suspected of causing kidney failure that killed at least 16 cats and dogs, but scientists still don't know how it got there, state officials said Friday.

Saul Hansell, New York Times 3/19/07 Reports on Pet Food Mold
March 22, 2007 18:25

Pet Food Is Recalled After Link to Animal Deaths: "More than 60 million cans and pouches of dog and cat food sold under dozens of brand names were recalled on Saturday after being linked to the deaths of 10 animals. The food was manufactured by Menu Foods, of Streetsville, Ontario, which makes wet food sold as store brands for companies like Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway. The company also makes food on behalf of many brand-name pet food makers. Menu Foods said it had recalled some food made for the Iams unit of Procter & Gamble. Two other pet food companies - Nestlé Purina PetCare and Hills Pet Nutrition, the unit of Colgate-Palmolive that makes the Science Diet brand - recalled some of their products that were made by Menu Foods."

Lavonne Kuykendall, Wall Street Journal 3/20/07 Reports on Damage from Katrina
March 22, 2007 18:21

More Katrina Payouts Promised: "State Farm Insurance Co. agreed to reopen coastal claims in Mississippi related to Hurricane Katrina with a guarantee the property insurer will pay out at least $50 million in additional settlements, the state's insurance commissioner said. Separately, Allstate Corp. said it reached an agreement with the Louisiana Department of Insurance to contact about 4,000 customers in that state who received cancellation notices after the Northbrook, Ill., insurer inspected the homes late last year and found some in disrepair or uninhabited."

Lynne Duke, Washington Post 3/20/07 Reports on Contaminated Water
March 22, 2007 18:20

"Sheila Holt-Orsted sits on the edge of a sofa in her mother's living room, digging through the large translucent plastic bins arrayed at her feet. The Holt family's fight is in there -- the contaminated water, the cancers, the allegations of racism, the lawsuit. A family's seeming devastation, documented in those bins. Papers are everywhere, spilling onto the sofa, the floor. Holt-Orsted, 45, burrows in deep. But the document she's looking for can't be found. 'It might be in my bed,' she says in a voice always verging toward laughter, and she trots off to check. Her mom, Beatrice Holt, 61, just shakes her head. 'I'd wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning and she'd be in there writing something,' Mrs. Holt says. 'I worry about her, because she has breast cancer and stress is not good. I worry about her cancer coming back.' Holt-Orsted's father, Harry, had cancer too, and died of it in January at 67 after it grew in his prostate and his bones."

Where/How to Look For Mold
March 22, 2007 16:00

VISUAL SIGNS