Federal health officials on Thursday called for more testing of employees on farms with bird flu after a new study showed that some dairy workers had signs of infection, even when they didn’t report feeling sick.

Farmworkers in close contact with infected animals should be tested and offered treatment even if they show no symptoms, said Dr. Nirav Shah, principal director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new guidance comes after blood tests for 115 farmworkers in Michigan and Colorado showed that eight workers — or 7% — had antibodies that indicated previous infection with the virus known as Type A H5N1 influenza.

“The purpose of these actions is to keep workers safe, to limit the transmission of H5 to humans and to reduce the possibility of the virus changing,” Shah told reporters.

The CDC study provides the largest window to date into how the bird virus first detected in March in dairy cows may be spreading to people.

It suggests that the virus has infected more humans than the 46 farmworkers identified in the U.S. as of Thursday. Nearly all were in contact with infected dairy cows or infected poultry.

Outside experts said it’s notable that the study prompted the CDC to take new action. Previous recommendations called for testing and treating workers only when they had symptoms.

Thousands lose power in New Mexico snowstorm

Tens of thousands of people in New Mexico were without power Thursday as the first major winter storm of the season rolled across the northern two-thirds of the state and into Colorado, bringing with it snow and fierce winds that forced schools and government offices to close.

Dozens of crews with Public Service Co. of New Mexico were mobilized to address widespread outages that had been reported overnight and in the early morning hours from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and beyond. The utility urged residents to be patient, saying there were about 41,000 people still affected by the outages.

Schools in Santa Fe, Los Alamos and elsewhere across northern New Mexico canceled classes, while authorities warned people to stay off the roads. Plows were busy trying to keep major highways clear, but state police announced that Interstate 25 just south of the Colorado border was closed in both directions.

Wyoming to sell Grand Teton parkland to feds

Wyoming officials voted Thursday to proceed with selling a spectacular, pristine piece of state property within Grand Teton National Park to the federal government for $100 million and end decades of threats to sell it to the highest-bidding private developer.

The 3-2 vote by the state Board of Land Commissioners — made up of Gov. Mark Gordon and the other top four state elected officials, all Republicans — puts the square-mile parcel with an unobstructed view of the Teton Range a step closer to becoming part of the park.

The land that has been a bone of contention between Wyoming and federal officials for decades may now finally be on track to sell by the end of this year.

Conservation and sportsmen’s groups have made appeals to keep the property out of private hands even though selling to developers could net the state the highest dollar return.

Anonymous racist texts target Black students

Racist text messages invoking slavery raised alarm across the country this week after they were sent to Black men, women and students, including middle schoolers, prompting inquiries by the FBI and other agencies.

The messages, sent anonymously, were reported in several states, including New York, Alabama, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Some instructed the recipient to show up at an address at a particular time “with your belongings,” while others didn’t include a location. Some of them mentioned the incoming presidential administration.

It wasn’t yet clear who was behind the messages and there was no comprehensive list of where they were sent, but high school and college students were among the recipients.

Three charged in singer Liam Payne’s death

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of musical group One Direction who died after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires last month, Argentine prosecutors said Thursday.

Prosecutor Andrés Madrea charged the three suspects, whose identities were not revealed, with the crimes of “abandonment of a person followed by death” and “supplying and facilitating the use of narcotics,” the prosecutor’s office said. Madrea also requested their arrest to judge Laura Bruniard, who ruled the three cannot leave the country.

Payne fell from his room’s balcony on the third floor of his hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Palermo, in the Argentine capital. His autopsy said he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.

Prosecutors also said that Payne’s toxicological exams showed that his body had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant” in the moments before his death.

Two detained in N.C. highway shootings

Two people were detained Thursday in an investigation of shootings into eight vehicles and several houses that left one person injured in the Raleigh, N.C., area this week, the city’s police chief said.

Several people reported gunfire on a stretch of Interstate 40 in Raleigh and Cary around 5 a.m. during morning rush hour on Wednesday, according to Raleigh police.

In total, there have been 12 reported shootings in southwest Wake County since Monday that authorities believe are connected, Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said at a news conference on Thursday.

Patterson didn’t discuss possible charges, nor did she name the people detained.

— From news services