Chris Townsend

Meat companies and grocers have been barred from selling ground beef tainted by the virulent strain of E. coli known as O157:H7 since 1994, after an outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants left four children dead. Yet tens of thousands of people are still sickened annually by this pathogen, federal health officials estimate, with hamburger being the biggest culprit. Ground beef has been blamed for 16 outbreaks in the last three years alone, including the one that left Ms. Smith paralyzed from the waist down. This summer, contamination led to the recall of beef from nearly 3,000 grocers in 41 states.

Tonight Picks....

You know sometimes I watch sports and the passion just isn't there like it used to be. It's true and this bothers me. I remember back in the day when the only time you got to see big league teams from opposite leagues was on the Game of the Week on NBC. It was Curt Gowdy, Tony Kubek, prehistoric graphics, one game a week and that was pretty much the gist of my exposure to the American league. There was a mystique with these teams and with sports that seems missing nowadays.