A University of Virginia student was hospitalized this week with what family members believe was an E. coli infection he contracted after eating a salad made from bagged mixed greens purchased in a local grocery store.
C’ville Market tells the Progress that one of their suppliers called them and had them put all of their spinach in a trash bag, and the supplier event sent somebody out to pick it up. This national outbreak of spinach-related E. coli just seems to be getting worse.
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on four six and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #
Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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Unless people are completely oblivious to the news, or that this person caught E. coli before the news started to spread, I want to know how anyone could be getting it from spinach at this point. Aren’t most people aware of it? Shouldn’t stores have been pulling all of this stuff over the last few days?
In the end, I am sure this student will be fine unless he has some pre-existing issues. Most people who die from E. coli are infants and senior citizens. Decent hospital treatment and he’ll be out soon enogh.
From the story:
Everyone seems to be forgetting that this isn’t the first outbreak of ecoli in “bagged greens.” A several years ago bagged lettuce was the subject of a similar warning. The news back then suggested that the sealed environment of the bag provided an ideal environment for the harmful bacteria to multiply. And with bagged greens a lot of people skip the step of “washing” that they might not skip with non bagged produce.
That’s interesting. A few months ago I read or heard on the radio an expert say that bagged greens were safer than other produce because they were washed in a weak chlorine solution.
By the way, the most frustrating thing about “RadioIQ” is the endless parade of shills, paid by think tanks or the gov’t. Only the most dogged interviewers seem to even care about this problem of excessive b.s. I would rate as the best: BBC, Diane Rehm and To The Point (KCRW). I think Diane’s about to blow a fuse as every year the shills come on her show more full of crap than last year. They must see it as a challenging warmup session for the easier TV talk shows. Those are the best shows. The worst are the shows out of NPR’s Washington studios.
FYI: Food Lion in Louisa isn’t selling bagged spinach at all, until they hear otherwise from the FDA. Smart policy.
I imagine that’s the policy everywhere. While I haven’t specifically noticed anywhere other than Whole Foods, if a store HASN’T pulled their spinach, I imagine we’d have heard of them by now.
I’m glad my childhood determination to never eat my veggies has finally paid off.
I love To The Point – Warren Olney is fantastic! Even though it’s similar to the competing talking head format of TV, he does a good job of getting very knowledgeable people who argue pretty truthfully. I think he’s got a really good research outfit, and asks pretty pointed questions. It’s also obscure enough that people aren’t too afraid of being heard.