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An investigation into a salmonella outbreak in May has expanded to 26 Illinois counties. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported that 80 people got sick after eating in Subway restaurants. Officials said the people who got sick range in age from 2 to 79. Reports of illness have come from the following counties: Bureau; Cass; Champaign; Christian; Coles; DeKalb; DeWitt; Fulton; Henry; Knox; LaSalle; Livingston; Macon; Marshall; McLean; Moultrie; Ogle; Peoria; Sangamon; Schuyler; Shelby; Tazewell; Vermilion; Warren; Will and Winnebago.

At least one lawsuit was filed as a result of the outbreak. Forty-six-year-old Alicea Bush-Bailey of Bolingbrook claims a Subway sandwich made her so sick she went to the emergency room. She filed the lawsuit June 21 in Will County court.

A Cleveland, Ohio, housing court judge imposed $13 million in fines on two companies for failing to clean up dilapidated homes. The cases against Interstate Investment Group and Paramount Land Holdings, sister companies based in Gilbert, S.C., involve major violations at eight properties and less serious violations at five others. The companies pleaded no contest.

An insurance consultant in Pella, Iowa, received a 15-month prison sentence for using the IRA contributions of his employees to run his company. James Van Elsen, owner of Pella-based Van Elsen Consulting, was sentenced June 21. Van Elsen’s wife, Beth, a secretary for the business, was sentenced to 12 months home confinement. The case against the Van Elsens began in 2006 when a former employee complained to the U.S. Labor Department the company withheld retirement contributions from his paychecks but hadn’t forwarded the money to an IRA retirement account. The Van Elsens argued at trial they were trying to save a failing business and hadn’t acted with criminal intent. Prosecutors claimed the Van Elsens withdrew about $213,000 from company accounts during the time employee contributions weren’t being deposited into IRA accounts.

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