As the number of people sick from E. coli strain O157:H7 in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, climbed past 150 last Friday, public officials hired the PR firm Zigman Joseph Stephenson to help with media and an anticipated crush of lawsuits. The outbreak is being blamed on children not washing their hands after visiting the petting zoo at the Ozaukee County Fair. The Ozaukee County Board's Administrative Committee approved hiring the PR firm for up to $12,000 in expenses.

Pacifica Radio has hired Westhill Partners, which previously handled crisis communications for Jesse Jackson and Bob Kerry, to help manage its PR problems as it faces lawsuits from former staffers and listeners and allegations of opposing union organizing efforts and gagging on-air discussions.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Communist Youth Leader leader turned Russian billionaire with ties to the Russian mafia, is paying APCO Worldwide to restore investors' trust in his scandal-plagued company, Yukos.