BOSTON – The Big Dig’s Interstate 90 westbound tunnel reopened late Saturday after federal inspectors approved repairs made in the wake of motorist’s death, a state official said. The road closed in July after concrete ceiling panels fell on a car, crushing 39-year-old Milena Del Valle. Workers have spent months testing and reinforcing bolts that keep the ceiling panels suspended above the roadway. The $14.6 billion Big Dig – the most expensive highway project in U.S. history – has been plagued by problems and cost overruns throughout the two decades it’s taken to design and build.
Tennessee: Plane crashes kill eight
Small planes crashed in Tennessee and South Carolina, killing two families – eight people in all, authorities said. A family of four from Davie, Fla., died when their single-engine Beech 36 crashed in a wooded area near Chattanooga, where they had planned to visit relatives. In South Carolina, a family of four died when their Cessna 340A crashed Friday into the Stono River, the coroner said. The plane went down Friday as it circled back for a second attempt to land at the Johns Island Executive Airport southwest of downtown Charleston, authorities said.
Country songwriter Linde dies
Songwriter Dennis Linde, who wrote Elvis Presley’s last major hit, “Burning Love,” has died. He was 63. Linde died Friday in Nashville of a rare lung disease, his daughter said Saturday. “Burning Love” was a hit for Presley in 1972. He also wrote “Goodbye Earl,” a hit by the Dixie Chicks in 1999 and “Callin’ Baton Rouge,” a Garth Brooks hit in 1993. Linde was born in Abilene, Texas, and became hooked on music after his grandmother gave him a $14 guitar.
Colorado: Plague of tumbleweeds
The blizzard that dumped up to 4 feet of snow in Colorado’s mountains brought a different force of nature to Pueblo West: tumbleweeds that piled up to 20 feet high. On Friday, residents were helped by crews from the Pueblo West Metropolitan District, a group of volunteer firefighters, and a “chain-gang” of inmates from the Pueblo County jail. Residents of the town about 40 miles south of Colorado Springs can get permission to burn the weeds to dispose of them, officials said.
California: L.A. mayor plans appeal
Lawyers for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa filed an appeal in his court battle to take control of the Los Angeles Unified School District. A judge struck down a law granting Villaraigosa partial control of the nation’s second-largest school district, ruling Thursday it violated the state constitution and the city charter. Villaraigosa’s legal adviser said the judge erred in failing to recognize the Legislature’s broad powers under the state Constitution to grant authority over schools to Villaraigosa.
Fiery protest follows school vote
A man doused himself with flammable liquid and set himself afire, apparently to protest a school district’s decision to change the names of winter and spring breaks to Christmas and Easter vacation. The man suffered first-degree burns on his shoulders and arms on Friday, Bakersfield fire officials said. He had a sign that read “(expletive) the religious establishment and KHSD,” a Kern County sheriff’s deputy said. On Thursday, the Kern High School Board of Trustees had voted to change the names of the holiday breaks.
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