WASHINGTON — Drivers clocked 9 billion fewer miles on the nation’s roads in October even while gas prices were dropping, suggesting a downturn in driving that began a year ago is attributable to more than just energy costs. Federal Highway Administration data released Friday show the number of miles driven dropped 3.5 percent in October compared with the same month a year ago. Between November 2007, when the driving decline began, and October, Americans drove 100 billion fewer miles. That’s the largest continuous decline in driving the nation has experienced.
D.C.: Ferry passengers rescued
About 25 passengers are safe after being rescued from a commuter ferry that became stranded on the Potomac River north of Washington. A Montgomery County fire department spokesman said the Gen. Jubal Early ferry was crossing from Maryland to Virginia and got stuck shortly after 8:10 a.m. A police spokeswoman said trees put tension on the cable pulling the ferry, bringing it to a stop. Officials said there are no injuries and that 20 cars remain on the ferry.
Kansas: ‘Tribal’ leader sentenced
The leader of a group that claims to be an American Indian tribe was sentenced Friday to five years in prison in an immigration fraud case that ensnared about 12,000 people who believed tribal membership gave them U.S. citizenship. Malcolm Webber, 70, also known as Grand Chief Thunderbird IV, must serve three years’ probation after release from federal prison and forfeit more than $377,000 seized last year by agents who raided the Kaweah Indian Nation offices in Wichita.
Texas: Inmates take two hostages
Inmates at a privately run prison in West Texas took two hostages after starting a riot and setting at least one fire Friday, authorities said. The two prison employees are recreation specialists who were taken hostage Friday at the Reeves County Detention Center. A hostage negotiator was talking to the inmates, a Reeves County Sheriff’s spokesman said. It was unclear what prompted the riot, if anyone inside the prison had been injured or how many inmates were involved.
New York: Birth certificate policy
Married gay couples in much of New York can now list both their names on their children’s birth certificates as a result of the state’s recent decision to recognize same-sex weddings performed elsewhere. The state Health Department said Friday it has agreed to the change for an Ulster County lesbian couple who married in Canada in 2006 and are expecting a baby soon. The agency says it’s working on a broader policy. It would apply statewide except in New York City.
Nevada: O.J. Simpson accomplice
A Nevada corrections official says O.J. Simpson co-defendant Clarence Stewart has been moved from a jail in Las Vegas to a state prison in Indian Springs. A corrections spokeswoman said Stewart was moved Thursday to High Desert State Prison. Simpson, who is also staying there, arrived Monday. The prison is 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The two will spend the first three weeks on intake evaluations before they are assigned to a facility to serve their sentences.
California: Screenwriter charged
Prosecutors charged Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary with gross vehicular manslaughter on Friday, alleging the author of hits including “Pulp Fiction” and last year’s “Beowulf” was driving drunk when he killed a passenger and injured his wife in a rural Ventura County car crash east of Santa Barbara. Avary, 43, pleaded not guilty in a Ventura courthouse to manslaughter and other charges connected to the Jan. 13 single-car crash. Investigators said Avary was at the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz sedan late that night when he failed to make a curve and crashed into a telephone pole.
Britain: BBC won’t air dog show
The BBC will not televise Britain’s biggest dog show for the first time in more than 40 years after a controversy about canine inbreeding. The broadcaster said Friday it had suspended coverage of the 2009 Crufts show “pending further investigations into the health and well-being of pedigree dogs in the U.K.” The Kennel Club, the show’s organizer, and the BBC have been at odd since September when the broadcaster aired a documentary claiming decades of inbreeding had led to serious health problems in some pedigree dogs. The BBC has broadcast the show since 1966.
Guatemala: Five suspects slain
A Guatemalan official said a mob beat and then shot to death five men suspected of kidnapping a 15-year-old girl. A police spokesman said hundreds of townspeople from San Pedro Soloma seized the men, beat them with rocks and then shot them in a soccer field. He said authorities are still searching for the girl. Officials estimate more than 300 people have died in vigilante mob attacks in Guatemala since 1996.
From Herald news services
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