WASHINGTON (AP) – A Missouri firm is recalling its Happy Apple brand caramel apples because of the potential that they could be contaminated with listeria.

The recall comes after at least three deaths and at least 29 illnesses in 10 states have been linked to an outbreak of the deadly bacteria.

Happy Apple Co. of Washington, Missouri, said in a statement Wednesday that one of the apple suppliers to its California facility reports that there may be a connection between the listeria outbreak and the apples it had supplied. The recall covers 31 states.

The Food and Drug Administration is continuing to advise consumers not to eat prepacked, commercially produced whole caramel apples.

BERKELEY (AP) – Demonstrators have taken to the streets for a second night after a white police officer in Berkeley, Missouri, killed a black 18-year-old who police said pointed a gun at him.

Dozens of protesters held a vigil Wednesday night at the gas station in the St. Louis suburb where Antonio Martin was shot the night before. Then they marched to Interstate 170, at times blocking traffic, before returning to the station.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports about 75 people staged a peaceful protest outside of a church early Christmas morning. Police in riot gear were present.

The actions were calmer than a night before, when about 300 people gathered at the gas station, throwing rocks and bricks in a scene reminiscent of the sometimes-violent protests that followed the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson.

SARA BURNETT, Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Unions across the U.S. are reaching out to immigrants affected by President Obama’s recent executive action in hopes of expanding their dwindling ranks by recruiting millions of workers who entered the U.S. illegally.

Labor leaders say the action will give new protection to workers who’ve been reluctant to join for fear of retaliation. The action curbs deportation and gives work permits to some 4 million immigrants.

Service Employees International Union Local has announced a website where immigrants can learn about the action. The AFL-CIO says it’s training organizers to recruit eligible workers. Other unions are partnering with community groups to reach out to immigrants.

Opponents meanwhile are working to undo the action, saying it will hurt American workers. Some labor experts are skeptical immigrants will feel safe enough to unionize.

RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell says health care sign-ups are off to an encouraging start, but a lot of work is still needed to make the second open enrollment season for the federal insurance market a success.

Burwell says 1.9 million new customers have picked a plan through the federal market as of Dec. 19. It serves 37 states.

Another 4.5 million have renewed existing coverage, with most automatically re-enrolled.

The numbers don’t include states running their own insurance exchanges.

Burwell said Tuesday the administration will release a full 50-state report next week.

With the HealthCare.gov website running much better this year, the administration has set a goal of 9.1 million customers signed up and paying premiums in 2015.

Open enrollment ends Feb. 15.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Larry Ruthi is the Meteorologist In Charge at the National Weather Service in Dodge City.

He’s been in the business for 36 years.

Ruthi said growing up on a farm in rural Osborne County where he “watched thunderstorms develop” sparked his interest in becoming a meteorologist. His degree is from the internationally-reknown School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma.

When he first started, “forecasting the weather was 70 percent art and just 30 percent science,” Ruthi recalls.

Now with improved technology worldwide, weather forecasting is much more accurate, but “it’s not an exact science,” he cautioned.

“If you put five meteorologists in a room with the same information, they’ll come up with five slightly different forecasts. There’s a lot of room for interpretation, depending on (the person’s) experience.

“The forecasts we put out at the National Weather Service are kind of generic. Anybody can look at the forecast and use it or adjust it as he sees fit. We’re kind of the base meteorological support,” Ruthi said.

The five Doppler radars scanning the sky across Kansas that can be seen on forecasts by meteorologists at Wichita televisions are NWS Doppler radars. The satellite pictures come from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellites.

“If we were to take away all the government support, all the NOAA support for the radars, the numerical models, the satellites, the observations–a lot of which are NWS or FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) supported–we wouldn’t have a whole lot to talk about.

“On the other hand, the news media are absolutely essential in communicating the weather information to the public–when you should take action, when you should take cover and what you should do.”

Ruthi believes “the whole process works extremely well when we’re working together.”

There are six National Weather Service bureaus covering Kansas among the 122 NWS forecast offices in the United States.

BERKELEY, Mo. (AP) — The attorney for a suburban St. Louis police officer who shot and killed an 18-year-old says his client is lucky to be alive.
The Berkeley, Missouri, officer, whose name has not been released, fatally shot Antonio Martin late Tuesday. Police say surveillance video shows Martin pointing a gun at the officer, who was questioning him about a theft at a convenience store.
Attorney Brian Millikan says the officer is shaken, but is absolutely certain he had no choice but to use lethal force.
Millikan says it isn’t clear why Martin didn’t shoot the officer.
The shooting, the fourth in the region since August involving a white officer who killed a young black man, led to a violent protest.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some northeast Kansas American Indian tribes say they need more information before making a decision on whether to grow and sell marijuana on tribal land after the federal government said it wouldn’t interfere with those who do.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Kickapoo Tribe spokesman Fred Thomas says he doesn’t see how legalizing marijuana on the reservation would benefit his tribe. Alan Kelley of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska says he sees no need for it, either.

Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Justice said Indian tribes can grow and sell marijuana on their lands as long as they follow the same federal conditions laid out for states that have legalized the drug.

But tribes have been taking a cautious approach as many questions remain unanswered.

PHILLIP LUCAS, Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say a lab technician is being monitored for possible exposure to the Ebola virus.

CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds says in an emailed statement Wednesday that the person working in a secure laboratory in Atlanta may have come into contact with a small amount of a live virus that was part of an Ebola experiment.

Reynolds says the potential exposure is under internal investigation and has been reported to Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell. Reynolds says additional employees have been notified, but none has required monitoring.

CDC Director Tom Frieden says he’s troubled by the employee’s potential exposure.

In June, at least 52 workers at the CDC took antibiotics as a precaution because a lab safety problem was thought to have exposed them to anthrax.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army says it has prosecuted about 1,900 cases of desertion since 2001.

However, tens of thousands of soldiers have fled the service in the face of deadly combat, long and multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and strains on military families.

The data reflects how rarely the military takes desertion cases to court.

And it underscores the complexities of such cases as a top military commander begins to review the investigation of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

Bergdahl left his Afghanistan post in 2009 and was captured and held by the Taliban for five years.

According to Army data, more than 20,000 soldiers have been dropped from the rolls as deserters since 2006. Totals for earlier years were not available, but likely include thousands more.