Gomers -- What’s going wrong

HIGH-TECH FAKES: Local police departments report that fake IDs are becoming much harder to detect because of today's sophisticated technology. Many are produced overseas and marketed on the Internet.

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OUTBREAK: Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is staging a sharp increase in Linn County and much of the state. As of Sept. 7, the number of cases reported this year (1,085) was more than four times the number recorded in all of 2011. Linn County had 178 cases, the most of any county in the state. Local health officials are responding with free vaccine shots for local middle and high school students.

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STILL CLEANING UP: Centrum Valley Farms' vow to clean up operations at egg-production plants it took over last year from Jack DeCoster, who has a long history of food safety, labor and environmental violations, hit a snag recently. Federal inspectors found salmonella bacteria in two of six poultry houses at the Clarion facility. They also said the company's testing procedures there were deficient. No tainted eggs were ever confirmed or marketed, and Centrum says it's responding to the findings.

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