Nation in brief

Illness at Ohio resort extends to 510 cases

PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio - Health officials said Saturday that they have confirmed more than 100 additional cases of an illness that's causing cramps, diarrhea, nausea, fever and chills among visitors to this resort area.

The number of people suffering from the gastrointestinal illness has risen to 510, up from 378 documented cases Friday, Ohio Department of Health spokesman Jay Carey said Saturday. Interviews with 168 more people are pending, he said.

Investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are helping county and state officials in their attempt to pinpoint the cause of the illness on Lake Erie's South Bass Island, sometimes called the "Key West of the Midwest."

The Ohio Department of Health has confirmed cases of salmonella, norovirus and campylobacter among the victims, said spokesman Kristopher Weiss. All three germs have symptoms that match the outbreak.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge has sided with Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, in his six-year-old lawsuit against Rep. James McDermott, D-Wash., over an illegally recorded phone call.

Boehner sued McDermott after a Florida couple, using a scanner, found and recorded a 1996 conference call in which Boehner, then-Speaker Newt Gingrich and other House leaders discussed strategy involving the announcement of an ethics committee finding against Gingrich.

The couple gave the tape to McDermott, who was on the ethics committee at the time, and the contents ended up in news stories.

In his decision Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan ruled that McDermott "participated in an illegal transaction when he accepted the tape."

A statement from McDermott's office said the congressman disagrees with the ruling. It said he believed important public issues were involved, and that he had a right to release the tape to the media.

Calls to the office of Boehner were not returned Saturday.

HILLSBORO, Ore. - A couple face at least three years in prison for disciplining their young children by letting their part-pit bull dog attack them.

Joyce Hoskins, 47, and David Hoskins, 46, pleaded guilty Friday to three counts each of assault and were being held without bail.

Investigators said the couple disciplined their 8-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son by allowing their dog Nigel - a mix of pit bull terrier, Doberman pinscher, German shepherd and Labrador retriever - to attack them.

The attacks took place over two years and both children suffered bites that required treatment, investigators said. The children are now in foster homes and the dog has been euthanized.

APPALACHIA, Va. - A half-ton boulder crashed into a house, killing a 3-year-old boy as he slept in his bedroom, and state mining officials are trying to find out how it became dislodged.

The boulder rolled through the wall of Jeremy Kyle Davidson's bedroom in the Jefferson National Forest early Friday, sheriff's officials said.

The big rock then barreled into Jeremy's brother's bedroom, but he was not hurt.

Mining company A&G Coal Corp. is building a road nearby, but the state Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy ruled out the possibility the boulder came loose during blasting.

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