TALLAHASSEE -- A 78-year-old Marion County resident contracted West Nile virus, the ninth person to do so this year in Florida, state health officials said Tuesday.

The patient developed encephalitis, a potentially fatal swelling of the brain, from the mosquito-borne disease. The person's identity and condition were not released.

West Nile, discovered for the first time in the United States three years ago, has struck more than 2,400 people and caused 117 deaths this year in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No victim has yet died in Florida.

Marion is one of 24 counties in Florida under a medical alert for the disease.

People "must diligently continue to take precautionary measures to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes," said state Health Secretary John O. Agwunobi.

Man convicted of hiding steak knife in carry-on bag

WEST PALM BEACH -- A jury convicted a Wisconsin pharmacist on Tuesday of concealing a steak knife in airline carry-on luggage.

James Kobs, 40, of Wauwatosa, Wis., could be sentenced to a year in jail and fined $1,000 for the first-degree misdemeanor. A sentencing hearing is Friday.

Kobs was arrested March 16 at Palm Beach International Airport when a baggage screener found the knife packed in his shoe. Kobs, who had been visiting his parents in Delray Beach, said his mother gave him the steak knife and he intended to put it in checked baggage but misplaced it.

But an airport screener testified that the knife was hidden under the sole of a sneaker. "That's no accident," Assistant State Attorney Jack Hill said. "Knives don't just end up under the sole of a shoe by accident."

Kobs represented himself during the trial. He turned down a plea bargain that would have left the conviction off his record if he pleaded guilty, wrote a 1,000-word essay on airport safety and did 20 hours of community service.

Elsewhere . . .

HARASSMENT SUIT: Centennial Imports of Pensacola is accused in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of failing to stop supervisors and other employees from harassing black workers by using racial slurs, jokes and epithets and displaying a hangman's noose in a work area. EEOC officials said the suit was filed after unsuccessful efforts to reach a voluntary settlement with the auto dealership.

PORN COSTS COPS JOBS: Three veteran Kissimmee police employees will be fired, and five more face other discipline for passing around a picture of a woman they mistakenly thought was a fellow officer engaged in a sex act. Officials said Sgt. Walter Thomas and dispatcher Howard Herskowitz downloaded the picture off the Internet and e-mailed or showed it to dozens of other officers. The officer erroneously identified as the subject found out about it and reported it to superiors. Also facing termination is Investigator Joseph Guilino.

SHARK DRAGS SURFER UNDER: An Ormond Beach surfer was grabbed by the hand by a large shark and dragged underwater for more than a minute Monday. Matt Crawford, 47, of Ormond Beach finally pulled his right hand out of the shark's mouth and resurfaced in the shallow water, the Volusia County Beach Patrol said. Crawford underwent eight hours of surgery at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach and was listed in satisfactory condition Tuesday. The day before, Indialantic surfer Dave Fogelberg, 32, needed about 70 stitches on his left hand after a shark bit him near Sebastian Inlet.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk