50 homes in peril from Texas wildfires

Wildfires in the Texas Hill Country that have killed one man were threatening about 50 homes Saturday and have burned about 6,200 acres, officials said.

One fire in Kerr County, about 100 miles west of Austin, was putting about 50 homes at risk, said Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Traci Weaver.

In Uvalde County, officials said a man found dead Friday next to his bulldozer was most likely killed by the fast-moving flames. He had been trying to protect his property from the fires.

Wildfires in Texas have burned more than 1 million acres since Dec. 1.

Transit board OKs

contract with union

The executive board of Denver's mass-transit system unanimously approved a new labor contract Saturday, clearing the way for bus and train service to resume Monday.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001 approved the contract Friday with an 82 percent majority.

Under terms reached Wednesday, workers will get a wage increase of $1.80 an hour over three years but will receive 50 cents an hour retroactive to March 1 with smaller increments in quarterly payments through Dec. 1, 2008.

The agency will increase its contribution to health insurance by $20 a month and pay more into a health-and-welfare trust fund.

Implant study

raises new concerns

U.S. regulators are reviewing a small study that reported high levels of platinum in hair, breast milk and other samples from women who had silicone gel-filled breast implants, officials said Friday.

The findings represent the latest concern to be raised about silicone breast implants, which were banned for most women in 1992 amid a controversy over their safety. Two makers are trying to return the implants to general use.

"Psycho" link raises

price of property

Mike Fisher has had the unique distinction of owning the land where Ed Gein, the grave robber and murderer whose story inspired the movie "Psycho," was arrested.

But he wants to sell it. Asking price? At least $250,000, probably double what it's worth without its ghoulish past. The 40 acres west of Plainfield in central Wisconsin once contained Gein's ramshackle home and part of his farm.

"I am just a guy who got stuck with this white elephant," Fisher said.

Fisher, who inherited the land from his grandfather, listed it on eBay last week under the heading, "Ed Gein's Farm ... The REAL deal!"

4 guilty in scheme

to bilk Medicare

Four people were convicted of federal fraud charges for submitting more than $24 million in false bills to Medicare, including one person who used the proceeds to buy a Rolls-Royce, a yacht and other luxury items, federal prosecutors said.

In the scheme, people were recruited from the local Vietnamese and Korean communities for medical examinations with two doctors who prescribed nutrition products and motorized wheelchairs that weren't needed and, in most cases, were never provided, prosecutors said.

Participants billed Medicare for $24 million in equipment and nutrition products and Medicare paid about $15 million in claims, prosecutors said.

Compiled from The Associated Press and Reuters