National briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 13, 2000

Storm causes flash flooding in Northeast

SPARTA, N.J. -- As much as a foot of rain fell on northern New Jersey on Saturday, flooding roads and collapsing two bridges. Some residents were evacuated.

Flash flood watches were posted for New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New York and Connecticut, the National Weather Service said.

A state of emergency was declared in Sparta, where more than 12 inches of rain fell.

Some residents had to be evacuated from the north central New Jersey town, as well as from nearby Ogdensburg and Lake Hopatcong. The National Guard sent trucks and troops to help emergency officials reach flooded areas.

First Union raises layoffs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A sweeping restructuring of First Union Corp. could result in hundreds more layoffs than the banking giant previously estimated.

As many as 5,291 employees could lose their jobs, according to documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. When the restructuring was announced in June, the bank said 3,500 people would be affected.

Bank spokeswoman Mary Eshet said the nation's sixth-largest bank notified the more than 5,000 employees that the restructuring could affect their jobs.

"We have not let go of this many people but have accrued (money) to pay severance benefits for this many people," Eshet said. "Some of that number will end up not being displaced."

Tiger attacks zoo patron

BOISE, Idaho -- A woman was mauled by a tiger at a fundraiser for Zoo Boise after the cat slipped through a cage door.

Janet C. Gold, 40, suffered a broken leg and puncture wounds in the attack and was hospitalized in serious but stable condition Saturday, authorities said. She also suffered a gunshot wound to the leg when police fired near the tiger to scare it away.

"Somehow, one of the tigers bumped open a gate on the cage and attacked the woman," said Boise Police Lt. Jim Tibbs. "Everyone else ran out."

Man tries to break into cockpit, dies of heart attack

SALT LAKE CITY -- A 19-year-old passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight tried to break into the cockpit, then died of an apparent heart attack after being taken into custody, an airline spokesman said Saturday.

The man, on a flight from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City, was pulled off the plane by airport security when the plane landed Friday night, Southwest spokesman Ed Stewart said.

Officers at the Salt Lake City International Airport identified the man as Jonathan Burton of Las Vegas and said he had suffered a heart attack.

"The plane was about 20 minutes from landing and that's when this gentleman did go into a rage and tried apparently to break into the cockpit doors," Stewart said Saturday.

"Up until 20 minutes before the flight landed, everything was fine," he said. "For all we know, he could have had a seizure or something."

Stewart said crew members tried to restrain the man, but it took half a dozen passengers to help hold him down.

Airport duty manager Dennis Andersen said the man went into cardiac arrest after being pulled off the plane by airport security. He said no other information was immediately available, except that the case had been handed to the FBI.

No one else on board the plane, carrying 121 passengers and five crew members, was reported hurt.

Elsewhere...

MOSQUITO VIRUS: Two more New York City residents, a man and a woman from Staten Island, are recovering at home after being treated for the potentially deadly West Nile virus, health officials said Saturday.

W.VA. MURDER: Jared Wilson and David Allen Parker, 17-year-olds accused of killing a gay black man by beating him and running over him four times with a car in Fairmont, W.Va., will be tried as adults, a circuit court judge ruled Friday.

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