NATION IN BRIEF

Three deaths have links to salmonella

Three deaths associated with a national salmonella outbreak occurred in Virginia and Minnesota, health officials confirmed Tuesday. Two adults in Virginia had salmonella when they died, though it’s not clear that the illness is what killed them, said Michelle Peregoy, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Health. Earlier, Minnesota health officials said an elderly woman in that state had the illness at the time of her death. Health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants to toss out specific containers of peanut butter linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 400 people in 43 states, including Georgia, and possibly to the deaths of three people. The recalled peanut butter —- distributed by King Nut Cos. of Solon, Ohio —- was supplied only through food service providers and was not sold directly to consumers. King Nut said it could not be the source of the nationwide outbreak since it distributes to only seven states.

Ban on black jurors may free white man

A white man on Texas death row for nearly 30 years could be freed because an appeals court has ruled that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from his jury in the belief that blacks empathize with defendants. Jonathan Bruce Reed, 57, was convicted and condemned for the November 1978 rape-slaying of Wanda Jean Wadle at her Dallas apartment. But now the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled Dallas County prosecutors improperly excluded black prospective jurors from Reed’s trial and ordered him released unless prosecutors choose to retry him quickly. Reed has been on death row since September 1979, making him among the longest-serving prisoners awaiting execution in Texas.

Tears, jail follow threat to kill Bush

A Louisiana man charged with threatening to kill President George W. Bush professed his innocence in a New Orleans courtroom, then started sobbing after a federal magistrate ordered him jailed. A social worker told Secret Service agents that Gregory Broussard, 44, of Hammond was being treated in a hospital emergency room on Dec. 29 when he threatened the president and to blow up the White House. The Secret Service said it searched Broussard’s home and car and found a rifle, a digital camera with photos of the U.S. Naval Academy and a lease for an apartment in Annapolis, Md.

Midwest shivers; 37-below recorded

Residents of the upper Midwest bundled up or just stayed inside as a wave of bitterly cold air barreled south out of the Arctic, following on the heels of a fast-moving blizzard. A 51-year-old Wisconsin man prone to sleepwalking died from exposure after wandering from his Hayward home, authorities said.Temperatures hit the single digits as far south as Kansas and Missouri. Grand Forks, N.D., dropped to a record low of 37 degrees below zero early Tuesday, lopping six degrees off a 1979 record, the National Weather Service said.

STD cases rise, end years of declines

Sexually spread diseases —- for years on the decline —- are on the rise, with reported chlamydia cases setting a record, government health officials said. The increase in chlamydia, a sometimes symptomless infection that can lead to infertility in women, is likely because of better screening, experts said. In 2007, there were 1.1 million cases, the most ever reported, said officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Syphilis cases, which number only in the thousands, also rose modestly, while the number of gonorrhea cases remained roughly the same, about 356,000.

COMING UP

> The Illinois state Senate that will decide whether to throw impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich out of office will be sworn in today by —- who else? —- Blagojevich. The governor was impeached by the House on Friday, a month after his arrest on federal charges that he tried to sell official government action —- including an appointment to President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat —- for campaign contributions or a plush job. His trial in the state Senate begins Jan. 26. Roland Burris —- the man Blagojevich eventually appointed —- will be sworn into office Thursday.