MORE than 900 volunteers were involved in a search for a missing 20-year-old nursing student in west Tennessee today, as authorities revealed they have received more than 250 tip-offs but have no suspects in the abduction mystery.
Holly Bobo, from the small community of Parsons, Tennessee, was last seen by her brother Clint, 25, about 7.30am on Wednesday. He told police he saw her walking into the woods with a man he only saw from the back and incorrectly assumed to be her boyfriend.
It was only after finding blood outside that he was prompted to call police - sparking a major investigation into what is believed to be a kidnapping.
A reward of $25,000 for information leading to Ms Bobo's return and the arrest of her kidnapper was announced last night.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent John Mehr said neither Ms Bobo's brother or boyfriend were suspects in the case, the Mason County Daily News reported. Authorities today said they had no leads on the identity of Bobo's abductor.
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- Hunt for would-be child kidnapper Herald Sun, 26 Jan 2011
- Troops and kidnappers in firefight The Daily Telegraph, 8 Jan 2011
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Encouraged by input so far, law enforcement officials held a press conference today to urge the community, of just a couple of thousand residents about 70km west of Jackson, to provide any information that could help find Ms Bobo, FOXNews.com reported.
Much of the investigation appears to be focused on trying to identify a vehicle that may have been used during the incident.
The suspect may have cleaned out his car or reported the car or ATV stolen, said Kristin Helm, a public information officer for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. She noted that the kidnapper may have also changed the vehicle's tires.
The kidnapper's movement and travel in the community has led authorities to believe that Ms Bobo and the kidnapper are in a vehicle.
"He's most likely a resident in this community," Ms Helm said. "And this is a tight-knitted community where people know each other."
Hundreds of Parsons community volunteers have searched the woods for Ms Bobo, and found her lunchbox and other unspecified belongings about 12.8km from her house yesterday.
"You can imagine when you have 900 people volunteering here yesterday [on Saturday local time] that they are going to find a lot things, some that's trash, some that's related to the investigation," Ms Helm said. "We do believe there are other things related, but we will not disclose them at this time."
Law enforcement officials said they have received 250 leads that are currently being investigated.
Today Ms Bobo's cousin, rising country star Whitney Duncan, took to microblogging site Twitter to appeal for the safe return of her family member, RadarOnline reported.
"Lord, lead us to Holly today," she posted.
"Still searching … we CANNOT give up y'all!!!!"
"We are offering a $25,000 reward to anyone with info leading to the safe return of Holly," she wrote. "Please help us. Thank u."
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Abduction of nursing student sparks major hunt, as star cousin appeals for information | Herald Sun
Tornadoes, Storms Hit South and Midwest Leaving 45 Dead - ABC News
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At least 45 people have been confirmed dead after a furious storm that has reportedly spawned over 100 tornadoes during the past week tore through the Midwest and moved on to southern states, ravaging parts of North Carolina and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, according to the Associated Press.
Rescue workers are searching for victims across hard-hit areas of North Carolina, where ten people were confirmed dead in Bertie County, according to county manager Zee Lamb.
People in large patches of the Midwest and the South had to contend with flash floods and hail the size of softballs as the storm that has been described as "hell on earth" pushed through their communities.
In Raleigh, N.C., apartment buildings had entire roofs torn off while three family members died in a mobile home park, according to Wake County spokeswoman Sarah Willamson-Baker.
"It's like a bomb literally went off in my yard," Sonya Kirby, a Raleigh homeowner told ABC News.
In Wake County, N.C., one man found himself sandwiched inside his car between flying debris after a roof was stripped off of a building and sent a power line straight through a van.
"The building came down on the car and I just got on the floorboard on the passenger side and hoping the glass wasn't going to break out," the man said.
Forty miles south of Raleigh in the town of Sanford, half of a Lowe's home improvement store was pulverized by the storm. 70 frightened customers were inside at the time, but were rushed to the back of the store. No one was injured in the incident.
"Everybody was kind of on the ground crouched and by that time, the roof was kinda coming off as we were running," Lowe's employee Mike Hollowell told ABC News.
Thousands across North Carolina are still without power as of Sunday, and Governor Beverly Perdue has declared a state of emergency.
Perdue has said that state emergency management officials told her that more than 20 have been killed since the storm bore down on North Carolina, but the emergency management agency said it had reports of 22 deaths, and the National Weather Service claims 23 died in the state.
Radiation Detected In Drinking Water In 13 More US Cities, Cesium-137 In Vermont Milk - Jeff McMahon - The Ingenuity of the Commons - Forbes
Radiation has reached the EPA's maximum contaminant level in some milk samples (Royalty-free image collection via flickr)
• Unusual Reading At Chatanooga Nuclear Plant
• Milk Contamination At EPA Maximum
• Highest Levels Yet In Boise Rainwater
[UPDATED 4/11 with FDA's Derived Intervention Level]
Radiation from Japan has been detected in drinking water in 13 more American cities, and cesium-137 has been found in American milk—in Montpelier, Vermont—for the first time since the Japan nuclear disaster began, according to data released by the Environmental Protection Agency late Friday.
Milk samples from Phoenix and Los Angeles contained iodine-131 at levels roughly equal to the maximum contaminant level permitted by EPA, the data shows. The Phoenix sample contained 3.2 picoCuries per liter of iodine-131. The Los Angeles sample contained 2.9. The EPA maximum contaminant level is 3.0, but this is a conservative standard designed to minimize exposure over a lifetime, so EPA does not consider these levels to pose a health threat.
[UPDATE: The FDA's Derived Intervention Level for iodine-131 in milk is much higher: 4700 picoCuries per liter.]
The cesium-137 found in milk in Vermont is the first cesium detected in milk since the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear accident occurred last month. The sample contained 1.9 picoCuries per liter of cesium-137, which falls under the same 3.0 standard.
Radioactive isotopes accumulate in milk after they spread through the atmosphere, fall to earth in rain or dust, and settle on vegetation, where they are ingested by grazing cattle. Iodine-131 is known to accumulate in the thyroid gland, where it can cause cancer and other thyroid diseases. Cesium-137 accumulates in the body’s soft tissues, where it increases risk of cancer, according to EPA.
Airborne contamination continues to cross the western states, the new data shows, and Boise has seen the highest concentrations of radioactive isotopes in rain so far.
A rainwater sample collected in Boise on March 27 contained 390 picocures per liter of iodine-131, plus 41 of cesium-134 and 36 of cesium-137. EPA released this result for the first time yesterday. Typically several days pass between sample collection and data release because of the time required to collect, transport and analyze the samples.
In most of the data released Friday the levels of contaminants detected are far below the standards observed by EPA and other U.S. agencies.
But the EPA drinking-water data includes one outlier—an unusually, but not dangerously, high reading in a drinking water sample from Chatanooga, Tennessee.
The sample was collected at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Sequoyah nuclear plant. A Tennessee official told the Chatanooga Times last week that radiation from Japan had been detected at Sequoyah but is “1,000 to 10,000 times below any levels of concern.” The 1.6 picocures per liter reported by the EPA on Friday is slightly more than half the maximum contaminant level permitted in drinking water, but more uniquely, it is many times higher than all the other drinking water samples collected in the U.S.
[UPDATE: EPA released new data Saturday revealing higher levels than reported here in Little Rock milk and Philadelphia drinking water]
The EPA released this new data through a new interactive open-data system it quietly launched on the EPA website Wednesday. The new interface is to be regularly updated, replacing EPA’s periodic news releases and pdf data charts. Here are more details of the data released Friday:
Drinking Water
Radioactive Iodine-131 was found in drinking water samples from 13 cities. Those cities are listed below, with the amount of Iodine-131 in picocuries per liter. The EPA’s maximum contaminant level for Iodine-131 in drinking water is 3 picocuries per liter.
- Oak Ridge, TN collected 3/28: 0.63
- Oak Ridge, TN collected at three sites 3/29: 0.28, 0.20, 0.18
- Chatanooga, TN collected 3/28: 1.6
- Helena, MT collected 3/28: 0.18
- Columbia, PA collected 3/29: 0.20
- Cincinatti, OH collected 3/28: 0.13
- Pittsburgh, PA collected 3/28: 0.36
- East Liverpool, OH collected 3/30: 0.42
- Painesville, OH collected 3/29: 0.43
- Denver, CO collected 3/30: 0.17
- Detroit, MI collected 3/31: 0.28
- Trenton, NJ collected 3/31: 0.38
- Waretown, NJ collected 3/31: 0.38
- Muscle Shoals, AL collected 3/31: 0.16
Precipitation
In the data released Friday, iodine-131 was found in rainwater samples from the following locations:
- Salt Lake City, UT collected 3/17: 8.1
- Boston, MA collected 3/22: 92
- Montgomery, Alabama collected 3/30: 3.7
- Boise, ID collected 3/27: 390
As reported above, the Boise sample also contained 42 pC/m3 of Cesium-134, and 36 of Cesium-137.
Air
In the most recent data, iodine-131 was found in air filters in the following locations. In the case of air samples, the radiation is measured in picoCuries per cubic meter.
- Montgomery, AL collected 3/31: 0.055
- Nome AK collected 3/30: 0.17
- Nome AK collected 3/29: 0.36
- Nome AK collected 3/27: 0.36
- Nome AK collected 3/26: 0.46
- Nome AK collected 3/25: 0.26
- Juneau AKcollected 3/26: 0.43
- Juneau AK collected 3/27: 0.38
- Juneau AK collected 3/30: 0.28
- Dutch Harbor AK collected 3/30: 0.14
- Dutch Harbor AK collected 3/29: 0.11
- Dutch Harbor AK colleccted 3/26: 0.21
- Boise, ID collected 3/27: 0.22
- Boise, ID collected 3/29: 0.27
- Boise, ID collected 3/28: 0.32
- Las Vegas NV collected 3/28: 0.30
- Las Vegas, NV collected 3/30:: 0.088
- Las Vegas, NV collected 3/29: 0.044
No other types of isotopes were found in the most recent data from air samples, even though EPA is also on the lookout for barium-140, cobalt-60, cesium-134, cesium-136, cesium-137, iodine-132, iodine-133, tellurium-129, and tellurium-132.
In older samples, isotopes of cesium and tellurium were found in Boise; Las Vegas; Nome and Dutch Harbor; Honolulu, Kauai and Oahu, Hawaii; Anaheim, Riverside, San Francisco, and San Bernardino, California; Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida; Salt Lake City, Utah; Guam, and Saipan on the Marina Islands.
Some of these locations had not been previously reported in EPA news releases.
The EPA has said it will continue to monitor radiation levels in air, precipitation, drinking water, and milk even if the budget impasse shuts down the government next week.
There is more discussion of maximum contaminant levels and health concerns in the related links below and their associated comments:
Related Posts:
How To Remove Iodine-131 From Drinking Water
Three Sites Where You Can Monitor U.S. Radiation Levels
First US Drinking Water Samples Show Radiation from Japan
Debt limit: Tim Geithner says Republicans support raising debt limit - latimes.com
I heard them say that to the president," Geithner said in a morning broadcast of NBC's "Meet the Press.
Witnesses: Dozens wounded at Yemen protests - CNN.com
(CNN) -- Dozens of protesters were injured Sunday by Yemeni security forces as thousands packed into anti-government demonstrations, witnesses and medical personnel said.
In Sanaa's Change Square, Yemeni security forces shot live ammunition at protesters, injuring 11, witnesses and field medical teams said.
All 11 had gunshot wounds, witnesses said. Two of the injured are in serious condition, medical staff at the square said.
FAA Announces Controller Scheduling Changes - ABC News
Changes to air traffic controller scheduling that will allow for more time for rest between shifts were announced on Sunday by Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Randy Babbitt.
Storms barrel north, leaving trail of destruction and dozens of deaths - CNN.com
(CNN) -- A violent series of fast-moving storms churned north Saturday, ripping off roofs, toppling trees and killing nine people in North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service and a state representative.
The deaths pushed the storm's three-day death toll to 26 as possible tornadoes moved into the mid-Atlantic states.
Seven people were killed in Alabama, officials said. Two other deaths were previously reported in Oklahoma and seven in Arkansas.
In Mississippi, one death and six injuries were reported, officials said.
More than 100 twisters were spotted across the region, according to the National Weather Service.
In North Carolina, three people in Raleigh were killed when their mobile homes were destroyed, the weather service said.
Julia Jarema, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, said the state suffered multiple fatalities, but declined to give a specific number.