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WIC program adds fruits, veggies, tofu

By Times Wires
Published December 7, 2007

The Department of Agriculture added fruits, vegetables, whole grains, soy beverages and tofu to a nutrition program aimed at low-income women and their children. The changes to the Women, Infants and Children program, which the department calls the first major revision in 30 years, also include reduced amounts of milk, cheese, eggs and juice. The changes will be effective in February, and state agencies will then have 18 months to implement them. The program's 8-million recipients typically have diets deficient in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and there is a high rate of obesity, a WIC official said.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

Data stolen on visitors to U.S. lab

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory revealed Thursday that a "sophisticated cyber attack" over the last few weeks may have allowed personal information about thousands of lab visitors to be stolen. The assault appeared "to be part of a coordinated attempt to gain access to computer networks at numerous laboratories and other institutions across the country," lab director Thom Mason said in a memo to the 4,200 employees at the Department of Energy facility. Oak Ridge officials would not identify the other institutions affected by the breach. "There was no classified data of any kind compromised," lab spokesman Bill Stair said Thursday. The lab has the second-fastest supercomputer in the world, known as "Jaguar," and about 3,000 researchers visit the facility annually.

NEW YORK

Journal's Gigot joins Pulitzer panel

Paul Gigot, the editorial page editor and vice president of the Wall Street Journal, has been elected to the Pulitzer Prize board, Columbia University announced Thursday. He replaces Paul Steiger, a former managing editor of the Journal who left the newspaper to help start a journalism venture called ProPublica. Gigot has been at the paper nearly three decades, joining in 1980 as a reporter in Chicago, and hosts a weekly half-hour news program, the Journal Editorial Report, on Fox News.

Elsewhere

Chaplain sentenced: An HIV-positive Navy chaplain was sentenced at the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia to two years in prison after pleading guilty to forcible sodomy and other charges. Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Lee, 42, admitted having sex with an Air Force officer without disclosing that he had HIV and forcing himself on a midshipman.

Student vaccines: After a mumps outbreak, the University of Southern Maine began notifying 400 students that they are banned from campus for failing to meet the latest vaccination requirements.

No ballot change: A California ballot measure that could have given Republicans an edge in next year's presidential election by changing the way California awards electoral college votes won't make the June primary ballot, backers said Thursday. GOP activists ran out of time and money to qualify the measure for June and are now aiming for the November ballot.

Episcopal split: The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, Calif., is poised to become the first full diocese to split with the denomination over what its bishop sees as decay in the church. A vote is expected by Saturday.

[Last modified December 7, 2007, 02:24:35]