By Tracie Potts
Tuesday the FDA was trying to figure out how salmonella ended up in tomatoes all over the country.
The list of stores that have stopped using tomatoes is staggering: Walmart and major grocery stores, McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell and Subway.
“I don't want to make anybody sick,” Tom Boker, Subway franchise owner, said.
Red Lobster, Olive garden and local restaurants are also cutting tomatoes out.
“If these big chains are doing it, everyone should be doing it,” Dave Zalinkski, pizza shop owner, said.
The FDA said they just want to know where it is coming from.
“Ultimately, what we want to find is where is the source of the problem,” Andrew Von Eschenbach, FDA Commissioner, said.
The FDA has ruled out 19 states, six countries and Puerto Rico, but still doesn't know what caused the salmonella that made 145 people sick and sent 23 to the hospital since mid April.
Those cases spread from California to Connecticut. Only raw round, Roma or plum tomatoes are affected. Grape, cherry, canned tomatoes and those on the vine are safe. But, some consumers won't eat any of them, sending Florida's $500 million crop into “complete collapse,” one official there said.
But, late Tuesday afternoon, Florida announced it was added to the “safe list.” Florida supplies tomatoes for fast food chains like McDonalds and Burger King.
The owner of Johnny's Half Shell is hoping her customers know the difference.
“The only tomatoes I have right now are organic,” Ann Cashion, restaurant owner, said. “I know where they come from and I know the practices used to grow them are perfectly legit, so I'm not worried.”
So don't look for the red in your salsa, or be surprised to find produce baskets empty. Like consumers, many stores and restaurants are taking the cautious approach.

14wfie.com

Always, the Masters seems to revolve around anniversaries. That’s the way it is with celebrations cared for by folks who consider it their sacred duty to uphold tradition and pay tribute to days of yesteryear.
Anchored by those beliefs, the 2008 Masters gets underway today at Augusta National GC in Augusta, Ga., and nary a soul taking note of the tournament hasn’t heard something about it being the 50th anniversary of the birth of a king, a victory by Arnold Palmer.
What they need to know, too, is that 60 years ago it was about a beloved father, a victory by Claude Harmon.
Palmer would go on to shape the game, so far as the public is concerned, and it would be foolhardy to think that his impact on the PGA Tour isn’t as great as any other individual’s. But let it be said that years before Palmer arrived, Harmon had, in his own way, helped give the game shape and so, too, is his impact on golf still being felt. You could argue that he’s the most important teacher the game has ever known, but what isn’t open for debate is this: His Masters victory in 1948 remains a celebratory cause for his sons.
“For years, we used dad’s win to make the Masters a chance for us all to get together,” said Butch Harmon, the oldest of Claude’s four sons, all of whom followed their father into the business of teaching the game. “We were proud of that history.”
Said Billy Harmon, the youngest: “I don’t know how many people have won the Masters, but I know it’s not many. That means there aren’t many children of Masters winners. It’s special to be part of that history.”
Tomorrow will mark the 60th anniversary of that Sunday when Harmon shot a 2-under 70 to complete a stunning 9-under 279 trip around Augusta National to win by five shots over Cary Middlecoff. Stunning not because his talents were not appreciated - “He was a good player. No doubt about that,” said 1968 Masters champ Bob Goalby - but because the rigors of the PGA Tour were a way of life for his friends, not for Harmon, a native of Savannah, Ga.

boston.com

Pay no attention to that woman behind the curtain. Be afraid. Be very afraid, for if you don’t obey the Great and Powerful Oz will turn her wrath on you. Yawn. Hillary Clinton’s favorite girlhood movie was the “Wizard of Oz.” But now, as the primaries clank along, her subjects are refusing to wear the green-tinted glasses and buy her act. She’s less and less terrifying every day, and fewer of those closest to her — her Senate colleagues — are intimidated. Despite their best efforts, the Clintons’ powers seem to have gone on the fritz, and those Democrats who know Hillary best have strayed off to follow a new, more congenial character.
Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Jr. was the most recent U.S. Senator to endorse Barack Obama for President. But he certainly is not the only one. The list is long: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) (who avoided a formal endorsement but confessed he had voted for Obama in his state’s primary), Sen. Tim Johnson, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) ,Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).
Hillary Clinton is not without support. So far she has managed to snag: Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
Although that might seem like a fairly even split, it likely has stunned the Clintons, who have come to expect undivided loyalty from the Democratic Party. The shock is aggravated by the fact that the Democrat power players are lined up with Obama and the minor-leaguers with Clinton. The Clintons seem dumbfounded that senators whom Hillary worked so hard to cultivate would not all fall into line. Time magazine revealed that the Clintons are shocked, just shocked to see so many desertions from the Clinton juggernaut (which looks more and more like a leaky row boat). Apparently, “She can’t stop from shaking her head in disbelief when longtime friends who are elected officials inform her that they are going to endorse Obama and were chiefly convinced by their children’s enthusiasm for his candidacy.”

humanevents.com