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CDC says US flu season starts early, could be bad
by MIKE STOBBE
NEW YORK—Flu season in the U.S. is off to its earliest start in nearly a decade—and it could be a bad one.
Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five Southern states, and the primary strain circulating tends to make people sicker than other types. It is particularly hard on the elderly.
"It looks like it's shaping up to be a bad flu season, but only time will tell," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The good news is that the nation seems fairly well prepared, Frieden said. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and the vaccine formulated for this year is well-matched to the strains of the virus seen so far, CDC officials said.
Higher-than-normal reports of flu have come in from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. An uptick like this usually doesn't happen until after Christmas. Flu-related hospitalizations are also rising earlier than usual, and there have already been two deaths in children.
Hospitals and urgent care centers in northern Alabama have been bustling. "Fortunately, the cases have been relatively mild," said Dr. Henry Wang, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Parts of Georgia have seen a boom in traffic, too. It's not clear why the flu is showing up so early, or how long it will stay.
"My advice is: Get the vaccine now," said Dr. James Steinberg, an Emory University infectious diseases specialist in Atlanta.
The last time a conventional flu season started this early was the winter of 2003-04, which proved to be one of the most lethal seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths. The dominant type of flu back then was the same one seen this year.
One key difference between then and now: In 2003-04, the vaccine was poorly matched to the predominant flu strain. Also, there's more vaccine now, and vaccination rates have risen for the general public and for key groups such as pregnant women and health care workers.
An estimated 112 million Americans have been vaccinated so far, the CDC said. Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older.
On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.
Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.
A strain of swine flu that hit in 2009 caused a wave of cases in the spring and then again in the early fall. But that was considered a unique type of flu, distinct from the conventional strains that circulate every year.
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_22115275/us-flu-season-starts-early-could-be-bad
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Los Angeles
Did 'Knock-Knock' burglars hit you? See on Web if LAPD has your stuff
by Bob Strauss
Victims of knock-knock burglary crews -- or those who think they might have been -- can search for their stolen jewelry on a Los Angeles Police Department website.
Since busting some 70 gang members and their fences in September, the police have itemized and photographed more than 10,000 purloined pieces.
"Now, we've moved into the prosecution phase of this case, and in the process of doing that we'd like to identify more victims -- and see if we can return some of the stolen jewelry to their rightful owners," explained Detective Joe Esquivel of the Valley Bureau.
To identify your jewelry online, follow these steps:
Go to www.lapdonline.org. Click on "newsroom". Under "Top Stories," scroll down to 11/19/12, "LAPD Knock-Knock Task Force..." Double click. Scroll down a bit, click on "Click here for pictures of stolen items."
That uploads a dropbox gallery of some 4,000 pictures, so it's going to take a long time. Be patient and let it load; it will freeze up if you try to mess with it before it's finished, Esquivel said. When that process is completed, to enlarge a photo, right click on it and open it up as a new link or window.
Document the page number and the item number, call 818-644-8091 and leave a message or e-mail the information to lapdvctf@lapd.lacity.org
You should describe your item(s), mention the name listed as "victim" and number on your burglary report if you have one, date and address of the burglary and a contact phone number.
Then have more patience.
"Right now, these items of jewelry are being held over by a judge under court order," Esquivel noted. "We'll have to wait until after the case has been adjudicated before we'll be able to release anything."
Overall, though, this digital dropbox approach should make it more convenient for victims to identify their property than having to attend a physical display of the items. And the cops won't have to man the latter for days as people trickle in for a look.
"We're trying to identify more victims in connection to the items that were recovered," Esquivel said. "That's the whole goal."
http://www.dailynews.com/crime/ci_22118548/did-knock-knock-burglars-hit-you-see-web
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Arizona
Sick girl sought after mom takes her from hospital
by BRIAN SKOLOFF
PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities are looking for an 11-year-old girl with leukemia and a heart catheter who they say could die in a matter of days if she isn't brought back to a hospital after her parents inexplicably took her out of the facility last week.
Authorities say the girl, Emily, had been receiving chemotherapy at Phoenix Children's Hospital for about a month, Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Martos said Monday.
An infection forced doctors to amputate her right arm and insert a catheter in her heart. The device was set to be taken out before her mother removed an IV from the girl, changed her clothes, and walked her out of the hospital Wednesday night.
Police said if the catheter is left in too long, it could lead to a deadly infection.
"If she contracts an infection, it really could just be a matter of days that could result in the young girl's death," Martos said. "It's pretty serious."
Authorities had been stymied by health privacy laws that kept them from releasing the parents' names, but police said Monday that U.S. Border Patrol stopped the girl's father, Luis Bracamontes, 46, as he crossed into Arizona from Mexico over the weekend.
Martos said the man provided no clues to the girl's whereabouts and denied having any involvement in removing her from the hospital. Police released his name, along with that of the girl's mother, Norma Bracamontes, 35, in hopes it will help locate the child.
Neither parent is charged with a crime yet, but authorities want the child brought back to the hospital before it's too late, Martos said.
He said the family lives a "nomadic" life without a permanent residence, but they have relatives in Arizona, California and Mexico, none of whom have been able to provide police with information about their whereabouts.
The girl's father is a Mexican citizen with a U.S. resident alien identification card. The child and her mother are U.S. citizens, Martos said.
Phoenix Children's Hospital spokeswoman Jane Walton declined comment, citing health privacy laws.
Authorities don't know why the child's parents took her from the hospital, but speculate they might have been concerned with paying the bill.
Surveillance footage shows the mother pushing an IV stand through a hospital hallway. The girl with her right arm removed above the elbow and wrapped in a bandage is seen walking beside her.
"We just don't know what their intent was," Martos said. "But this could become extremely serious if she contracts an infection ... Our primary concern is she get the proper medical care so we can prevent obviously the worst case scenario here."
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Sick-girl-sought-after-mom-takes-her-from-hospital-4088679.php
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Florida
George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin case update, bloody nose photo:
New photo shows bleeding Zimmerman
by CNN Wire Staff
A photo posted online Monday shows George Zimmerman with blood on his nose and lips. His attorneys say it was taken the night unarmed teen Trayvon Martin was killed in Sanford, Florida.
Zimmerman says he shot Martin in self-defense. Martin's attorneys say he was shot and killed "in cold blood."
Prosecutors have charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder for the February 26 killing.
The picture, posted Monday on Zimmerman's defense website, was taken by a police officer, Zimmerman's attorneys wrote.
The state had previously provided a black-and-white copy of the image, the attorneys wrote on the website. "This high resolution digital file was finally provided to the defense on October 29."
A police report from the night of the incident said Zimmerman was "bleeding from the nose and back of his head."
The 28-year-old volunteer neighborhood watchman was driving through his gated community when the incident occurred. Martin was walking through the neighborhood to his father's girlfriend's house.
Zimmerman has claimed that after the two exchanged words, Martin charged at him, knocked him to the ground and banged his head repeatedly against a concrete sidewalk.
Martin's family says Zimmerman attacked the teen, who had done nothing wrong.
Martin's death sparked nationwide protests and inflamed public passions over race relations and gun control, as well as Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law, which allows the use of deadly force when a person perceives a threat to safety.
In August, a new judge was named to oversee the case, after an appeals court agreed to a request from Zimmerman's defense team. The attorneys had argued the previous judge had made remarks putting Zimmerman in reasonable fear of an unfair trial.
http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/national/george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin-case-update-bloody-nose-photo-new-photo-shows-bleeding-zimmerman
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Ohio
Ohio town helps post office keep Rudolph postmark
by Associated Press
RUDOLPH — The most famous postmark of all has been saved, thanks to volunteers in the northwest Ohio village of Rudolph.
Thousands of letters flood the village post office every December so they can be stamped with a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer postmark. But the tradition was in danger of ending when the post office staff was cut down to one person, and the work became too much to handle.
“I struggled with it for a little bit, but then I just realized no matter what I wanted, it couldn't be done by me alone,” said Charlotte Lamb, who is in charge of the Rudolph post office.
When word spread, pleadings from local politicians and townsfolk persuaded the U.S. Postal Service to allow volunteers to stamp the special Reindeer Station postmark on the 80,000 letters and cards that come in from across the country.
Almost 75 people, including a few retired postal workers, have signed up to work daily shifts.
“I'm retired, and I always thought this was a great service,” said Mace Brumbaugh, who brought her own bag of Christmas cards to mail.
Some people drive for hours with bundles of mail to get the postmark. But most out-of-towners send their cards, letters and packages to Rudolph by mail.
No one seems to remember when the tradition started. The post office got permission in the early 1990s to add a drawing of the famous reindeer to its postal cancellation every December.
http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/viewart/20121204/NEWS01/312040014/Ohio-town-helps-post-office-keep-Rudolph-postmark 
