National Digest

New privacy control from Google

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google is offering a new privacy control that will make it easier for people to see some of the information being collected about them.

The "Dashboard" feature unveiled today pulls together all the data that pour into Google's computers whenever Web surfers log in to one of the company' services.

That includes summaries of an individual's e-mail, search requests and viewing habits on Google's video site, YouTube. Before, a user would have to check multiple places for all that.

Florida baby found alive under bed

CHIPLEY, Fla. - A baby missing for five days was found alive and well under her baby sitter's bed, and Florida authorities said today they plan to charge the sitter, her husband and the child's mother.

Investigators found 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick in a box tucked under a bed surrounded by items intended to hide the child at Susan Elizabeth Baker's home near Chipley, a rural Panhandle town, Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock said in an interview early today. The baby was placed in protective custody.

Shannon was taken to a hospital but appeared healthy, Haddock said.

Contested climate bill advances

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Democrats have ignored a Republican boycott and pushed a climate bill through a key committee by a 10 to 1 vote today.

Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer had delayed the crucial vote for days because of a Republican protest over whether the cost of the legislation had been fully examined. But Boxer moved quickly to pass the bill without the help any of the seven GOP senators in the room. No amendments were considered. The bill calls for cutting greenhouse gases by 83 percent by 2050.

Iowa cat gets case of swine flu

DES MOINES, Iowa - A 13-year-old Iowa cat has been infected with swine flu, veterinary and federal officials said yesterday in what is believed to be the first case of the H1N1 virus in a feline in the United States.

The domestic shorthaired cat was treated last week at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames and has recovered, officials said. The virus also has been confirmed in two ferrets, but they died.

"We've known certainly it's possible this could happen," said Centers for Disease Control spokesman Tom Skinner. "This may be the first instance where we have documentation that transmission occurred involving cats or dogs."