Tainted Wheat

NEW YORK (APA) May 19 -- During a short press conference, an official from the US Agriculture Department announced that a fungal toxin might taint large percentages of the nation’s wheat. The Food and Drug Administration says that the toxin may create some shortfalls of US-produced wheat this year, but that there will be no food shortages because uncontaminated wheat can be imported.

"The American consumer may be paying nearly twice as much for a loaf of bread this year," a spokesman said. "But prices should drop back to last year’s level after our next crop is in."

How the wheat became contaminated remains a mystery. Officials at the FDA refused to rule out possible wide-scale sabotage of wheat in grain elevators in the Midwest and offered no comment on reports that the Middle Eastern terrorist group "Memory of Osama" had taken credit for spreading the fungus.

"We doubt that the terrorists have the technology to mount such an attack," an anonymous source told APA. "However, we are looking into such a possibility."

Plague In Detroit

Chicago, IL (APA), June 10 -- Plague has hit a major US city for the second time in this century, just a few days after the first outbreak was discovered in Miami. Spread by fleas from infected rats, the disease has killed at least 24 people in Miami and possibly as many as 80 in Detroit where it is threatening to spread out of the poor neighborhoods. Authorities advise residents in both the Detroit and Miami areas to remain calm as all infected areas are presently quarantined behind police and National Guard roadblocks.

Bubonic plague, which ravaged 14th-century Europe, was first detected two days ago in Miami. Since then, a more fatal strain of the disease has erupted in the west end of Detroit as well as Florida.

"We are baffled by the sudden outbreaks," Dr. Fran Goffle of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta admitted. "How the same strain could have erupted in two such widely separated geographic locations is hard to explain. Also troubling is the fact that the disease appears to be resistant to most antibiotics."

The outbreak in Miami has killed at least 24 people, a health commissioner said Thursday. More than 100,000 people have fled eastern Florida in panic, according to the Press Trust of Miami news agency.

"People should remain where they are to prevent the spreading of this disease," Dr. Goffle told the press. "Trash and garbage or other material that attracts rats should not be allowed to pile up near homes."

Officials have sealed roads out of affected neighborhoods in both the Detroit and Miami areas, but according to officials some people were still managing to sneak past patrols. Meanwhile, the government has closed schools, colleges, theaters, and parks in both cities in an effort to halt the disease's spread. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll in Miami at as high as 60.

The CDC has ordered all hospitals nationwide to stock up on antibiotics. The CDC also has urged bus and airport authorities to do everything they can to prevent a mass exodus from Miami and Chicago, fearing possible spread of the disease to other large cities.

The situation in Miami "has us a little worried," Dr. Samuel Ramon, a top official in the Health Department, said in a telephone interview. Thousands of commuters as well as tourists travel in and out of Miami every day in crowded conditions. There is no official word, but it is rumored that all plague victims in both Miami and Detroit have died within two days of contracting the disease.


The news accounts failed to capture the panic and sheer terror those in the cities felt. Many sat helpless and watched loved ones die and then succumbed themselves, alone in their homes. Whole sections of cities burned to the ground when firefighters refused to travel into plague-infested areas. The government suppressed many of these stories and in the interest of national security the press complied. Even so, it didn’t take much reading between the lines to see what was happening.

Denver Fails To Contain Plague

Denver, CO (APA) June 30 -- Fearful residents jammed interstate 70 and mobbed ticket sellers at the Denver National Airport, Saturday, desperate to join some 200,000 residents who have fled a plague outbreak that has killed possibly as many as 8,000.

Hospitals said Saturday thousands of people were being treated for pneumonic plague in the downtown area of the city. The government has not confirmed newspaper reports that thousands have died during the last three days.

At 3 AM, it looked like morning rush hour north and east of Denver as cars and vans, many with suitcases and other belongings strapped to their roofs, jammed the roadways and squeezed out of the city. Rumors of traffic jams and shoot-outs between nervous drivers remain unconfirmed.

The federal government airlifted 8,000 troops from Ft. Carson, CO, to Denver in an effort to curb the violence and panic as well as protect pharmacies and hospitals that had been besieged for drugs. Meanwhile, hospitals required everyone entering them to cover their faces with handkerchiefs or dust masks.

Health authorities at the Centers for Disease Control confirmed the diagnosis of pneumonic plague in Denver. This disease is a more deadly strain than the bubonic plague that at first had been mistaken in both Miami and Chicago as the rat-spread strain.

Authorities are concerned that fleeing plague victims could carry the disease from Chicago, Miami, and Denver across the US. Meanwhile, many European and Asian countries are refusing to let passengers on planes from the US to disembark. Planes are being refueled on runways and ordered back to America.

Pneumonic plague victims often suffer from colds, coughs and respiratory infections, sometimes spitting out blood. Bubonic plague leaves its victims with tumors in their armpits and groins. Although most strains can be cured with antibiotics, the outbreaks in the US appear to be highly resistant to all available treatments.

Caller Claims Plague Spread By Foreign Agents

Kansas City, MO (APA) July 3 -- A radio caller in Kansas City today claimed that the recent outbreaks of pneumonic plague were spread by foreign agents. Meanwhile, a Washington State Department spokesman would neither confirm nor deny that the recent outbreaks of this deadly disease nationwide might have been the work of Islamic extremists.

The caller, speaking on the "Ralph Waldon Show", claimed that members of the Islamic American Jihad had spread deadly plague spores from low flying aircraft that had passed over several US cities. "And this is only the beginning," the man added, speaking with a thick accent. "Soon we will be hitting more and more of your cities until the Great Satan is brought to its knees." The caller added that a strain of Ebola disease, similar to that which recently swept through Afghanistan, would also be introduced shortly.

Meanwhile, many Americans aren’t taking any chances that the plague, whether natural or man-made, may spread. Authorities in all 48 continental American states report a spontaneous mass exodus from most urban areas despite attempts by the police and National Guard units to keep citizens in their homes.

More Drivers Join US Truckers' Strike

CBD News, WebPosted Tue Nov 7 08:23:38 2000 ET

San Francisco, CA - In a show of support for truckers involved in what US Department of Transportation officials claim is an illegal strike, 3,000 truckers representing 21 major container terminals walked off the job Monday. The employees, who handle about 70 per cent of the containers moved from US ports and transported across the US, demanded that state and federal governments make it safe for them to travel US roadways.

"We can’t deliver our loads when we have to worry about some looter or terrorist putting a bullet through our head," Bob Freeman, President of the United Truck Drivers of America told reporters, referring to the incidents in which numerous drivers have been found dead along America’s highways. "The President can issue as many executive orders as he wants, but we aren’t going back on the roadways until it’s safe."

Asked if he was concerned about reports that many people were starving due to the strike, Freeman replied, "We ain’t going to get food to them if we’re dead. That’s what we’re apt to be, if we go out with the roads like they are now."

In Washington, officials are discussing the possibility of creating military convoys to either take over the duties of truckers or give them protection. "We’re not going to let Americans starve to death here in the US," Senator Glee Miller announced late Friday.

However, it may be that food will continue to be scarce, especially since the union of independent truck drivers is now discussing joining in the strike and defying court orders to move food along US highways.

Also on Saturday, Transportation Secretary Guy Cory accused some truckers of bullying others trying to work. "Much of the trouble isn’t being caused by foreign terrorists, but rather elements in the truckers’ union who are attempting to blackmail American businesses to pay higher transport costs." Cory noted that the strike is paralyzing what are normally the busiest ports in North America.

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