The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to act for at least a year on warnings that trailers housing refugees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita contained dangerous levels of formaldehyde, according to a House subcommittee report released yesterday.

Instead, the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry demoted the scientist who questioned its initial assessment that the trailers were safe as long as residents opened a window or vent, the report said.

That appraisal was produced in February 2007 at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which had received thousands of complaints about fumes after providing the trailers to families left homeless by the 2005 hurricanes. One year later, FEMA and CDC reversed course and acknowledged that formaldehyde levels in the trailers were five times higher than is typically found in new housing.

WILLIAMS, Calif. -- A bus driver with a string of motor vehicle offenses and a history of substance abuse was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs yesterday after his casino-bound charter bus ran into a ditch, killing eight people.

The bus ran off the road Sunday while taking passengers to a Sacramento gambling hall. About 30 people were injured.

Records show Quintin Watts, 52, had been cited for speeding and other violations that resulted in loss of his license for nearly two years. He regained his driving privileges last January.

Mr. Watts was arrested as he lay critically injured in his hospital bed.

WASHINGTON -- In October 2006, a longtime loyalist of Sen. Ted Stevens called him up with a big problem: The FBI, he said, was breathing down his neck about a makeover of the senator's mountain cabin.

Mr. Stevens responded by cautioning the friend, Bill Allen, that they "ought to lay really low right now" and "stick this out together."

Unbeknownst to the veteran Alaskan Republican, Mr. Allen had already agreed to work with investigators and secretly tape their phone calls -- evidence made public for the first time yesterday at Mr. Steven's corruption trial.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Zapping frozen meals in the microwave may be fast and easy, but it also can make you sick if it's not done properly.

On Sunday, the government issued a new warning urging consumers to thoroughly cook frozen chicken dinners after 32 people in 12 states were sickened with salmonella poisoning.

The problem is that microwaves heat unevenly, and can leave cold spots in the food that harbor dangerous bacteria, such as E. coli, salmonella or listeria. So microwaving anything that includes raw meat, whether it's frozen or thawed, can cause problems.

A federal appeals court yesterday rejected U.S. House Democrats' demands to force two of President Bush's top aides to cooperate with an investigation about the firings of nine federal prosecutors in 2006. ... The Atlantic City, N.J., city council is scheduled tomorrow to delay the Oct. 15 start of a blanket ban on smoking in casinos to avoid further losses because of the crumbling economy. ... An unemployed man with an advanced finance degree who was despondent over his own financial problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and then himself in an upscale home in a gated suburban Los Angeles community, police said yesterday.