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Southern California air crashTucson, Arizona | Published: 10.08.2008
CALIFORNIA
Border Patrol agent fires gun at driver
CAMPO — The Border Patrol says an agent fired a gun at a driver who ran over an agent's leg at a vehicle checkpoint on the U.S.-Mexico border east of San Diego.
Border Patrol spokesman Jason Rodgers said the driver was not struck by gunfire and was taken into federal custody Tuesday afternoon.
Rodgers said the agent was hurt when the driver backed up while he was being questioned. The spokesman didn't know if that agent was the one who fired, or if others did so.
The checkpoint on Interstate 8 is near Campo, about 45 miles east of San Diego.
Licensing dubious in deadly bus crash
SACRAMENTO — The bus that crashed and killed eight people on a Northern California road was driven by a man who wasn't properly licensed and owned by another man who had claimed to be the vehicle's only driver, state officials said Tuesday.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating whether the bus that crashed Sunday north of Sacramento was inspected annually, as required by law. They also are looking at whether drugs or alcohol were a factor.
The bus driver, 52-year-old Quintin Watts, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Monday while he was still hospitalized for his injuries. Watts didn't have the proper license to carry more than 10 passengers, said Mike Marando, a DMV spokesman.
"He wasn't authorized to drive a bus in the state of California," Marando explained. "It is the responsibility of the bus company owner to make sure the driver is properly licensed, and that was not the case here."
Patrol officers believe the bus owner was Daniel Cobb, 68, who died in the crash. State public records show that Cobb was insured and had a valid permit to operate a bus service.
Under the permit, however, Cobb listed only himself and not Watts as the sole driver of the single bus he had registered, agency officials said.
Carrier fire blamed on improper storage
SAN DIEGO — A fire aboard the nuclear-powered USS George Washington aircraft carrier resulted from a failure to properly store hazardous materials and other missteps that allowed the fire to burn unchecked for more than eight hours, Navy investigators found.
The report, released by the Pacific Fleet command, found that at least a month before the May 22 fire, the USS George Washington's chief engineer reported finding more than 300 gallons of flammable liquid improperly stored on the carrier.
The report found the carrier's damage control team took nearly eight hours to discover the source of smoke and flames. By the time the team discovered the fire, it had burned through eight decks of the carrier and damaged 80 compartments.
The Navy estimates the cost to repair the carrier was $70 million.
Trial under way in yacht killings
SANTA ANA — The attorney for a man accused of throwing a couple off their yacht bound to an anchor told a jury Tuesday his client is guilty of those two murders and a third but shouldn't be put to death.
"My goal is simply to save Skylar Deleon's life," defense attorney Gary Pohlson said in his opening statement.
The concession is not the same as a guilty plea, however. Pohlson said he will dispute part of the prosecution case.
Deleon is accused of killing the Arizona couple, Tom and Jackie Hawks, in 2004 in order to steal their yacht, and killing another man from whom he stole thousands in 2003. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and murder for financial gain.
Yosemite rock slide prompts evacuation
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — Authorities are evacuating the Staircase Falls area of Yosemite National Park after a rock slide.
Park ranger Erik Skindrud said both tourists and park workers were leaving the area but he couldn't immediately say how many. No one has been injured from the slide Tuesday.
Skindrud said a park helicopter was dispatched to make sure the origin of the slide is stable.
The 1,020-foot Staircase Falls cascades from Glacier Point to a meadow just east of Curry Village, which is also home to the winter ice rink and amphitheater.
NEBRASKA
Iowa girl abandoned at Omaha hospital
OMAHA — Health officials say a 14-year-old Iowa girl has been abandoned at an Omaha hospital under Nebraska's "safe-haven" law.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said the girl is from Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri River from Omaha. She was left at Creighton University Medical Center on Tuesday.
She is the 17th child overall and the first from another state to be abandoned since the law took effect in July.
It was meant to protect the lives of infants by letting a parent leave them at a hospital without fear of prosecution. The law doesn't have an age limit, though, and many children left to date have been teenagers or preteens.
MONTANA
Mom exposed kids to rabies in school
STEVENSVILLE — About 90 elementary school students in Montana have started a series of rabies shots after a parent let them touch a dead bat that was later confirmed to be diseased.
The mother of two students gave presentations in five classrooms and allowed the kids to touch the dead bat last week. She offered each student who touched the bat a sanitary wipe.
The exposed students will receive six shots of anti-rabies vaccine.
Stevensville Elementary School officials say they will use liability insurance to pay up to $70,000 for the exposed children to be vaccinated. The overall cost could surpass $150,000.
ILLINOIS
FBI giving crooks inventive nicknames
CHICAGO — The beefy-looking gunman doesn't look like the trim, ascot-wearing Hugh Hefner.
But the FBI dubbed him "The Playboy Bandit" after he robbed a suburban Chicago bank while wearing a cap with the distinctive bunny logo.
The bank robber is the latest in a rogues' gallery of criminals with catchy nicknames. Agents hope their creative names attract attention to the yet unsolved cases.
Other of the FBI's inventive monikers include "The Groucho Bandit" for a bank robber who wear a fake bushy black mustache, and "The Second Hand Bandit" for one that wore old clothes.
The "Playboy Bandit" remains on the loose after taking an undisclosed amount of cash from a Charter One Bank in Alsip last month.
MICHIGAN
Ex-teacher gets jail for up-skirt photos
GRAND RAPIDS — A former Michigan teacher convicted of trying to take photos up a 15-year-old student's skirt during class has been sentenced to 180 days in jail.
Forty-one-year-old Steven Sanger also received 30 months' of probation at his sentencing Tuesday in Kent County Circuit Court.
The former Byron Center High School science teacher and track coach was accused of using a digital camera to secretly snap images of the girl's underwear in June 2007.
Investigators found no photos. Sanger repeatedly denied the charge.
MASSACHUSETTS
Harvard alum gives alma mater $125M
CAMBRIDGE — A Harvard Business School alumnus has given the university its largest individual donation ever — $125 million to start a bioengineering institute, the school announced Tuesday.
Hansjorg Wyss, an engineer and entrepreneur who earned an MBA from Harvard in 1965, said he felt humbled to be able to contribute to an effort he believes will change the course of science and medicine.
The Hansjorg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering will attempt to discover the engineering principles nature uses to build living things, then use that information to create devices and technologies to meet medical needs.
The new institute will bring together experts from numerous disciplines, including robotics, biology, computer science and surgery.
The Associated Press
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