NATIONAL BRIEFS

NATIONWIDE: Distracted teen drivers

Night driving is becoming more hazardous for teenagers and the likely cause is talking and texting on cell phones while operating a vehicle, a study released Thursday said. The report by the Texas Transportation Institute said the proportion of fatal crashes at night involving drivers 16 to 19 years old nationwide increased 10 percent from 1999 to 2008. The percentage of nighttime fatal crashes involving drivers 20 years and older rose nearly 8 percent from 1999 to 2008.

Tainted lettuce recalled

An E. coli outbreak possibly linked to tainted lettuce has sickened at least 19 people in Ohio, New York and Michigan, including students on three college campuses, prompting a recall throughout much of the country. Freshway Foods of Sidney, Ohio, said it was recalling romaine lettuce sold under the Freshway and Imperial Sysco brands in 23 states and the District of Columbia. College students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Ohio State in Columbus and Daemen College in Amherst, N.Y., are among those affected.

WASHINGTON: Grim Hawaii outlook for Dems

Despite spending more than $300,000, frustrated House Democrats may abandon efforts to win a special election in Hawaii after quiet diplomacy failed to end a party feud that threatens their prospects. Polls show Republican Charles Djou ahead in a race to fill out the remaining months in the term of former Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who left Congress to run for governor. Former Rep. Ed Case was runner-up in the polls and fellow Democrat Colleen Hanabusa, the state Senate president, trailed further behind.

MICHIGAN: Militia release blocked

A federal appeals court intervened Thursday to block the release of nine members of a Michigan militia accused of plotting to overthrow the government. A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati issued a temporary stay about 12 hours after a federal judge in Detroit said she would no longer freeze her Monday decision releasing the nine with restrictions.