HIGH SPRINGS -- A 62-year-old woman died and the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 were closed for nearly five hours after a van veered into the woman's station wagon, forcing it off the road and into a tree, police said.

Stella Feagle was pronounced dead at the scene Sunday, and her husband, Eddie Feagle, 63, was taken to North Florida Regional Hospital in Gainesville with a head injury, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Michael Todd said. Eddie Feagle's condition was not immediately known.

Todd said the Feagles were southbound in the right lane of I-75 in their 1993 Subaru wagon when a 1983 Dodge van driven by Jason Dooley attempted to move from the center lane into the Feagles' lane. It veered into the front of the Subaru, sending it off the highway and into a tree, Todd said.

The Dodge swerved left after hitting the Subaru, hitting a guard rail and rolling over, Todd said. Dooley and his four passengers were unhurt.

Todd said Stella Feagle was crushed when the driver's-side door was pushed in by the impact. Rescuers had to pry Eddie Feagle's door open to get him out.

Southbound traffic was rerouted off exit 79 in High Springs through Alachua at 7:45 p.m. until lanes were reopened about 12:30 a.m. Monday, Todd said.

An investigation into responsibility in the accident is continuing.

FAMU ties with Harvard in luring top black scholars

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida A&M University tied with Harvard as the top recruiter of freshmen who received the National Achievement Scholar award given to the nation's top black students in 2000.

Both universities enrolled 62 National Achievement Scholars this school year, according to National Merit Scholarship Corp.'s annual report.

That was ahead of Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C., and Stanford, which each got 35 National Achievement Scholars to enroll.

FAMU, Florida's public historically black university, has consistently been a top recruiter of the nation's top black high school students over the past decade, leading the nation in drawing National Achievement scholars in 1992, 1995 and 1997.

Boy strays during uncle's haircut, is killed by car

MIAMI -- A 2-year-old boy who strayed from his caretaker at a beauty salon was struck by a car and killed as he tried to cross a busy street, police said.

Tyler Charles Lightbourne was at the salon in northern Miami-Dade County Saturday night with his uncle, Steve Williams, who was getting a haircut and shave as he watched Tyler, police said.

Shania Redding, a barber, said the restless Tyler refused to sit still despite his uncle's warnings and borrowed another child's scooter to scoot around the shop awhile.

Williams and Redding got the toddler to calm down and sit still, Redding said. But Tyler soon slipped quietly out of the salon and began playing with the scooter in the strip mall's parking lot, investigators said.

Redding said she left to get food a short while later. On her way back, she saw Tyler get hit by a car on the street, hurling him into the air and killing him.

Alex Annunziato of the Florida Highway Patrol said the driver, 29-year-old Anthon Sheldon Samuel, told investigators he didn't see the child.

Authorities are considering whether Williams was negligent, Annunziato said.

Amtrak train kills man who doesn't react to horn

MIAMI -- A 52-year-old man died when he was struck by an Amtrak train after he failed to move off the tracks despite the train's warning horn, police said.

The New York-to-Miami train was traveling about 35 mph Sunday when it struck Eladio Perez, police said.

The engineer saw Perez and sounded the horn, but Perez was not looking at the train and did not get off the tracks, police said.

The 35 passengers on the train were not hurt.

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Lucy Morgan

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