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Nation in brief
Compiled from Times wires Pa. fire squad quits over lights, siren disputeKUTZTOWN, Pa. -- A volunteer fire squad that directs traffic in emergencies quit en masse when its chief was prohibited from using a red light and siren. Kutztown Fire Police members said Fire Company Chief Robert Hauck's refusal to grant Lt. Gregory Heid authority to use the light and siren confirmed suspicions they weren't being taken seriously. "There have been instances when people felt slighted, ridiculed," said Dick Diehm, fire police captain. "I just got to the point where my head is softer than a brick wall." Fire police, widely used in rural areas, are volunteers who assist with traffic and crowd control at emergencies and special events. They respond to fires, accidents and other calls. Heid was allowed to flash a blue light, but Fire Police members said that wasn't good enough because blue doesn't command the same respect as red or let Heid go through red traffic lights. 31 Western rapes linkedLONG BEACH, Calif. -- Authorities believe a serial rapist has carried out at least 31 assaults on women in California and Washington over the past six years, and urged residents to report anything out of the ordinary, even as seemingly harmless as barking dogs. Authorities said the latest assault -- the attempted rape of a Long Beach woman -- occurred Thursday, and added that the rapist's unpredictable behavior has hampered efforts to make an arrest. "We don't see at all a specific pattern," Officer Jana Blair, a spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department, said Saturday. "We have in the past attempted to put out a sketch, but based on the varying descriptions the victims have given and especially the time that has gone by, we believe his appearance has changed." Authorities have linked the unarmed sexual predator to 13 cases based on physical evidence such as fingerprints and DNA. They have tentatively linked him to 18 other cases based on the similarity of methods, Blair said. The attacks began in May 1996, with two assaults in Seattle. The rapist then apparently moved to Southern California, where the rest of the incidents occurred beginning in January 1997. The vast majority of the attacks have occurred within a 20-mile radius of Long Beach. Flight 587 rememberedNEW YORK -- A bell tolled Saturday for each of the 265 people killed one year ago in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587, which plunged into a residential area just after taking off on a flight to the Dominican Republic. Each of the victims' names was read at a hilltop service in Astoria Park, where a memorial grove of trees was planted. "Today is a day of healing. This grove is symbolic of life," said Randy Daniels, New York's secretary of state. About 200 people attended the ceremony in the park under the Hell Gate Bridge over the East River. Many of the victims were residents of Manhattan's Washington Heights, a heavily Dominican neighborhood. The Airbus A300-600, en route from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Santo Domingo, crashed just 103 seconds after takeoff, killing 265 people. Western storms dissipateSAN FRANCISCO -- A trio of powerful storms that trundled through California tapered off Saturday, leaving behind extensive damage and contributing to at least two deaths. Another two people were swept out to sea. More than 37,000 utility customers remained without power Saturday evening. Since the storms hit Wednesday night, 1.8-million customers lost power, the companies said. Clean-up crews in the Sierra Nevada foothills town of Sonora spent Saturday slogging through a muddy flash flood that rushed though city streets overnight. The U.S. Coast Guard has called off searches for two people swept out to sea by giant waves -- a 4-year-old boy who lived north of Eureka and a 26-year-old man who was walking Friday afternoon on a beach near Santa Cruz. "The chances of survival were pretty much nil," said Coast Guard Petty Office Carl Hausner of the Santa Cruz incident. Elsewhere . . .NURSING HOME DISPUTE: A state agency filed claims totaling nearly $293,000 against the nursing home of a woman suing Gov. Paul Patton for sexual harassment. Most of the money claimed by the Cabinet for Health Services was for an alleged overpayment by its Department for Medicaid Services. The overpayment was discovered in a recent review of billing, cabinet spokesman Gil Lawson said. Claims were filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Louisville. The nursing home, Birchtree Healthcare in Clinton, is seeking Chapter 11 protection. The state revoked its certification this year. PLANE EVACUATED: Passengers were evacuated from an American Airlines flight Saturday after smoke filtered into the cockpit and cabin while the arriving plane was taxiing at LaGuardia Airport, the Port Authority said. Five of the plane's 74 passengers suffered minor injuries, said Port Authority spokesman Allen Morrison. He said the plane landed without incident on a flight from Dallas and was headed to the terminal gate when hydraulic fluid apparently leaked and dripped onto a power unit, producing the smoke that was carried into the plane. Rather than continue to the gate, the pilot deployed the plane's emergency chutes and evacuated the passengers, he said.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
