Ailing ex-Bush aide cancels appearance

ASHLAND - Former White House press secretary Tony Snow, 52, diagnosed with cancer three years ago, canceled a speaking appearance at Ohio's Ashland University because of an unspecified illness, the university announced yesterday. The university said Snow's doctors have told him he cannot travel. (AP)

NEW YORK - The number of Americans hospitalized with a drug-resistant intestinal superbug doubled over five years, to about 300,000 in 2005, according to a report. Death rates from the dangerous germ also almost doubled, to 2.3 percent in 2004 from 1.2 percent in 2000, according to the report yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The infection, known as Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, is caused by bacteria found in dirt, air, water, human and animal feces, and on most other surfaces. (Bloomberg)

CHICAGO - A train operator apparently made two key errors in quick succession to cause a derailment that left passengers perched more than 20 feet above the ground and sent several to hospitals, the Chicago Transit Authority said yesterday. The operator failed to heed a red signal, said Noelle Gaffney, agency spokeswoman. After the four-car train went through the signal, it automatically activated a trip, which stopped the train. But the operator moved the train forward again. (AP)

VIRGINIA BEACH - A former Navy SEAL trainee testified yesterday that he alone killed a Georgia college student, a crime that sent him and a friend to prison. Billy Joe Brown testified in Virginia Beach Circuit Court as part of Dustin Turner's bid to get his conviction overturned. The two were stationed at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base when premed student Jennifer Evans disappeared from a Virginia Beach bar in June 1995. Turner and Brown were convicted of killing her in separate jury trials. (AP)

While cities are hot spots for global warming, people living in them turn out to be greener than their country cousins. Each resident of the largest 100 largest metropolitan areas is responsible on average for 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year, 14 percent below the 2.87 ton US average, researchers at the Brookings Institution say in a report being released today. (AP)