FDA approves viruses for food

A mix of bacteria-killing viruses can be safely sprayed on cold cuts, hot dogs and sausages to combat common microbes that kill hundreds of people a year, federal health officials said Friday in granting the first approval of viruses as a food additive.

The combination of six viruses is designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat meat and poultry, including sliced ham and turkey, said John Vazzana, president and chief executive of manufacturer Intralytix.

The special viruses called bacteriophages are meant to kill strains of the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium, the Food and Drug Administration said.

"Blind Faith" killer gets life

A killer whose case spawned a popular book and TV miniseries — and whose death sentence was overturned last year — was sentenced Friday to life in prison and is eligible for parole in eight years.

Robert O. Marshall, once first in line for execution on New Jersey's death row, was resentenced for arranging his wife's murder in a case that inspired the best-selling book and miniseries "Blind Faith."

Marshall, 65, was sentenced to life with no parole for 30 years.

He gets credit for the 22 years he already has served, making him eligible for release in 2014.

Muskogee, Okla.

Commandments monument OK'd

A federal judge Friday said a Ten Commandments monument outside a courthouse can stay, rejecting arguments that it promotes Christianity at the expense of other religions.

U.S. District Judge Ronald White in Muskogee ruled that Haskell County did not violate the Constitution by erecting the monument. The county did not "overstep the constitutional line demarcating government neutrality toward religion," he wrote.

The county argued that the monument outside the Stigler courthouse was part of a historical display that included other monuments recognizing war veterans, the Choctaw Tribe and others. The Ten Commandments monument has the Mayflower Compact etched on the other side.

Also

Seven candidates will vie for scandal-scarred Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney's congressional seat in a special election Sept. 14, elections officials said Friday.

Compiled from The Associated Press