Nation in brief

Ferry captain again refuses to meet with investigators

NEW YORK - The city Wednesday moved to fire the Staten Island Ferry captain involved in last week's fatal crash after he refused for a second day to meet with federal investigators.

Meanwhile, police and the Staten Island district attorney's office were investigating whether criminal charges can be filed against Capt. Michael Gansas and other crew members, according to a law enforcement source familiar with both investigations who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Gansas, who supervised the pilot operating the ferry when the crash occurred, had refused to meet with National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Tuesday, prompting federal officials to issue a subpoena. On Wednesday, Gansas' attorney, Stephen Sheinbaum, said his client remained too traumatized to speak with investigators and was under medical care.

Gansas failed to show up at the Staten Island hotel where he was supposed to meet with NTSB officials.

Hours before the scheduled meeting, Iris Weinshall, city transportation commissioner, notified Gansas that he was suspended effective immediately over his refusal to cooperate.

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. - The downpour is over but the Skagit River was still more than 7 feet above flood stage Wednesday and likely won't drop until later in the week.

Determined sandbagging helped hold down damage, county officials said.

The 50,000 to 75,000 sandbags held down damage to a few damp basements, said John Pell, sector engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Flooding in Mount Vernon was not as bad as had been predicted, Burke said. The river crested here at 36.2 feet, well below the 37.4-foot record set in 1990. Flooding was more severe upriver in the small community of Concrete, where the waters reached a record 42.2 feet.

GOLDEN, Colo. - A videotape of the Columbine High School gunmen laughing and shooting at trees and bowling pins six weeks before they killed 12 classmates and a teacher was released to the public Wednesday.

"Imagine that in someone's (expletive) brain," Eric Harris says.

The tape of Harris and Dylan Klebold, who committed suicide after the rampage on April 20, 1999, shows at least four weapons, including automatic rifles, shotguns and a pistol.

The tape was released at the urging of the Jefferson County sheriff's office and a task force established by the attorney general's office, both of which want to make evidence in the case public.

The sheriff's office earlier released video showing the teenagers as they entered the high school cafeteria during their rampage.

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