Air travelers may have spread mumps

Two infected airline passengers may have helped spread Iowa’s mumps epidemic to six other Midwestern states, health officials said Wednesday – the latest example of how quickly disease can spread through air travel.

“These people may have exposed other people on those planes or in these airports,” said Kevin Teale, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Health.

The mumps epidemic is the nation’s first in 20 years. Health officials say 515 suspected cases have been reported in Iowa, and the disease also has been seen in six neighboring states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Monday, Nebraska has 43 reported cases; Kansas, 33; Illinois, four; Missouri, four; Wisconsin, four; and Minnesota, one.

Indianapolis

Toll road operation sold to foreign firm

In the biggest highway privatization deal in U.S. history, state officials Wednesday signed an agreement Wednesday to turn the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road over to a foreign consortium that will operate it for a profit for the next 75 years.

Under the lease, Spanish-Australian consortium Cintra-Macquarie will pay the state $3.8 billion up front and will be responsible for operating and maintaining the highway. It will get to keep the toll revenue it collects.

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels said the upfront payment will help pay for other transportation projects and create jobs.

Opponents argued it violates the state constitution and have sued. They said the constitution requires that the proceeds from the sale of any public works be used to pay off state debt.

The state hopes to close the deal and transfer the highway to the consortium by June 30.

Washington

Federal spending hits all-time high

Government spending hit an all-time high for a single month in March, pushing the budget deficit up significantly from the red-ink level of a year ago.

In its monthly accounting of the government’s books, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday that federal spending totaled $250 billion last month, up 13.7 percent from March 2005.

Government receipts also were up, rising 10.6 percent from a year ago, to $164.6 billion. That left a deficit for the month of $85.5 billion, a record imbalance for March.

The administration is forecasting that the deficit for this budget year, which will end Sept. 30, will hit a record $423 billion. The administration says the costs of the war in Iraq and reconstruction spending from the Gulf Coast hurricanes will drive the deficit higher.

Annandale, Va.

Bush urges help in Medicare signups

President Bush urged Americans who don’t speak English to seek help in signing up for the Medicare prescription drug program before the May 15 enrollment deadline.

“There’s a lot of people who haven’t signed up,” Bush said Wednesday to a largely Asian-American audience at Northern Virginia Community College. Some in the crowd who don’t speak English wore headphones that fed them a translation.

Bush was in the Midwest on Tuesday to talk about the program with seniors in Missouri and Iowa. It’s been a tough sell because of startup glitches and Democrats who argue that the program is a good deal for pharmaceutical companies and is too confusing for the aged.

There are 40 different plans available in Virginia, Bush said, adding that the choices are there because he doesn’t believe the government should pick their plan.