Astronomy observatories dot the snow-capped mountain of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano and home to an astronomy community near Hilo.

Tim Wright / the associated press

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VAIL — A guy who dangled upside down from a ski lift with his bare bottom exposed probably doesn't want to hear any "ski bum" jokes.

Officials at Vail Resorts in Colorado say the 48-year-old man was trying to get on the Blue Ski basin lift on New Year's Day. They haven't said what went wrong.

Workers stopped the lift, backed it up 10 or 12 feet and rescued the man after about seven minutes. His name hasn't been released.

Bystanders snapped photos and posted them on the Internet, showing a man who looks to be hanging by one ski boot, his ski pants and underwear apparently snagged in the chair and reaching no farther than his knees.

PORTLAND — It wasn't until the nurse in the emergency room lifted up a phone and said, "We've got a gunshot victim," that Sandra Howell understood why her arm hurt so much.

Portland police said she was wounded by a gun that discharged when a neighbor tossed it on his bed. The bullet pierced the wall separating their apartments.

Howell said she woke up about 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

"I heard a pop, and then felt the pain and burning in my arm," the 46-year-old said.

She said she wasn't sure what had happened. She didn't see any blood.

"All I know I was screaming," she said. "I had no clue what had happened until I got to the hospital."

The .38-caliber bullet had hit her in the left shoulder, traveling down her arm and lodging in her biceps.

HONOLULU — An 82-year-old Hawaii landowner has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges stemming from a dam failure nearly three years ago that killed seven people.

James Pflueger, who is free on $71,000 bail and recovering from heart surgery, entered the plea via video linkup to Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano's courtroom. His trial on seven counts of manslaughter and one count of reckless endangerment is set for June 15.

The century-old earthen dam broke March 14, 2006, sending 300 million gallons of water rushing to the sea, sweeping seven people to their deaths.

A grand jury indicted Pflueger in November.

DETROIT — Ron Asheton, the guitarist for the Stooges whose raw sound helped inspire the first generation of punk musicians, has died. He was 60.

Asheton was found at his Ann Arbor home early Tuesday morning by police officers after they were called by an associate who had not heard from him in several days, said city police Sgt. Brad Hill.

There were no signs of foul play, and the death appeared to be of natural causes, Hill said.

Asheton was a founding member of the Stooges, the influential protopunk band formed in Ann Arbor in 1967, along with his brother, Scott.

Asheton's powerful, distorted guitar on songs like "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "T.V. Eye" was a hallmark of the group's sound.

LOS ANGELES — Lawyers for more than a dozen victims in a deadly commuter rail crash accused the engineer's employer of ignoring complaints that he regularly used his cell phone while operating trains.

Another employee said he called managers at Connex Railroad LLC about Robert Sanchez's constant cell phone use about two weeks before the Sept. 12 disaster and complained a second time to a co-worker within three hours of the crash, attorney Edward Pfiester said.

Federal investigators have said Sanchez sent a text message 22 seconds before the train collided with a Union Pacific freight train in the San Fernando Valley community of Chatsworth, killing 25 people and injuring more than 130 others. Sanchez died in the crash.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed an $18 billion deficit-cutting package Tuesday that legislative Democrats characterized as the "only game in town."

The Legislature has had three special sessions since the November election to address California's worsening budget deficit, projected at $42 billion over the next 18 months.

But the latest package passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature did not meet the governor's demands for making more cuts, streamlining government and creating economic stimulus, his spokesman Aaron McLear said Tuesday evening.

Time is running out for a midyear fix, with the state controller warning that California will be so short of cash it will have to start issuing IOUs in February to vendors and taxpayers expecting refunds.