NATION BRIEFS

WASHINGTON/Key Obama adviser resigning

Christina Romer, one of President Barack Obama's most pivotal economic advisers, is resigning, a change that comes as the White House struggles to show signs of clear economic gains to a hurting nation. Romer, the head of the Council of Economic Advisers, announced her resignation Thursday, effective Sept. 3. She becomes the second high-level Obama aid to leave this summer, following the resignation of White House Budget Director Peter Orszag. She will return to her job as a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. The White House cast the decision as an unsurprising one driven by family reasons; in a statement, Obama said Romer has long wanted to return to California. Romer has been one of the administration's most prominent voices on the economy, making frequent appearances on television and at White House events to promote Obama's policies.

GEORGIA/Panel: Avoid flu vaccine brand

A government panel is recommending doctors steer clear of giving one brand of flu vaccine to young children this year because of convulsions and fever in kids who got the shot in Australia and New Zealand. At issues is the flu vaccine made by CSL Biotherapies, an Australian company. CSL is one of five manufacturers supplying the United States this fall but it only accounts for a small portion of the 170 million doses. Thursday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said doctors should avoid using the CSL vaccine in children ages 6 months through 8 years. Committee members were concerned about the unexplained higher rate of fevers and related seizures seen in young children who got the vaccine earlier this year in Australia and New Zealand. In kids under 5, the rates were roughly 10 times that of other flu vaccines. No deaths have been linked to the problem.

CONNECTICUT/Heavy fines in power plant blast

The nation's top workplace safety agency imposed $16.6 million in fines Thursday against companies involved in a power plant blast that killed six workers and injured 50 others. The fines, the third-highest imposed for a single accident, stem from 371 alleged safety and workplace violations at the Kleen Energy Systems natural gas power plant in Middletown. The companies "blatantly disregarded well-known and accepted industry procedures and their own safety guidelines," the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in announcing the fines. The two main construction companies both said Thursday they will contest the findings.