It took two months to halt shipments of prepackaged salad mix that brought 576 cases of cyclospora to 19 states, at last count by the federal Centers for Disease Control through Thursday, notes Grumpy Editor.
The outbreak started in Iowa and Nebraska before spreading to 17 other states: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York (including New York City), Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Medical writers, essential staffers at one time before newsroom cuts became routine, probably could have cracked source and distributor in a matter of days.
First cases of cyclospora --- a single-celled parasite often associated with contaminated fresh produce --- turned up in early June. Shipments of Mexican-grown Taylor Farms salad mix were halted Aug. 9.
Reports circulated that some restaurant chains served the contaminated salad mix.
Cyclospora symptoms can take several days or weeks to appear and include diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue, nausea and stomach cramps.
J-school grads take 6-8 months to land jobs
It’s been a tough time for journalism graduates to line up jobs pronto.
A University of Georgia’s Grady College survey found about 66 percent of 2012 journalism graduates took six to eight months after graduation to line up full-time positions. That was up from 62 percent in the prior year.
The J-school graduates were going into a market where thousands of newsroom jobs have been slashed at both large and small publications.
“Employers might be shedding senior-level jobs, but there’s always pressure to hire entry-level jobs,” said Lee Becker, University of Georgia journalism professor and co-author of the report. He noted there was an increase in start-up online publications.
The median salary for new hires hasn’t been earth-shaking: $32,000 in 2012, edging up from $31,000 a year earlier.
In case you missed these…
Celebrity scandals or Egypt riots? A new Rasmussen Reports national survey found 81 percent of Americans think fellow Americans pay too much attention to celebrity news and not enough attention to other developments that have real impact on their lives. In allied action, Rasmussen tallied 58 percent of those surveyed, when given the choice, preferred to read printed versions of newspapers rather than online material, while 29 percent gave the nod to online versions of papers --- and 12 percent were undecided.
Rick Folbaum, from Fox News Channel, joined Miami’s WFOR-TV (known as CBS4) as co-anchor of the station’s weeknight 5 and 11 newscasts. He goes on air next Monday…Also in Miami, demolition is under way at the former Miami Herald headquarters by the Genting Group which paid nearly $240 million for the site on Biscayne Bay. Genting plans a condominium and hotel project on the property and is seeking approval to incorporate a casino…Sports makes way for classical music beamed from California’s Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz radio station KYZZ
Chris Roush at Talking Biz News uncovered a busy business editor at the Statesboro (Ga.) Herald. He pointed out Jan Moore, along with editing business items for the daily, also is a psychologist for the local school system and is running for mayor of Statesboro.
The city, with a population of about 28,000 is in Bulloch County, southeast Georgia.
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