National (U.S.)

 By CHERYL DORSCHNER

Every year that moveable feast, known as the SEJ Conference Saturday night reception, rolls out its local talent and regional cuisine. Veteran conference-goers still speak in hushed tones of the 2003 party at New Orleans' Mardi Gras World and gyrate at the thought of 2004 in Pittsburgh with "No Bad Ju-Ju."

This year, the Vermont conference team promises to take the concept of "local" to a new level, thanks to this event's sponsorship by co-host the University of Vermont.

By BETTE HILEMAN

Until very recently, the mere mention that fluoridated water might cause adverse health effects was likely to be met with deep skepticism, even derision. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention still calls water fluoridation the greatest health triumph of the past 50 years.

But those attitudes are beginning to change.

Highly Pathogenic A (H5N1) Avian Influenza (AI) is killing birds and occasionally infecting and killing humans. This story continues to develop as both breaking news and a continuing story involving commercial poultry industry, ethnic differences, rural life, Third World poverty, and global and domestic preparedness for a disease pandemic.