SPRINGVILLE, Ala. — The driver of a bus carrying 44 children on a field trip passed out at the wheel, and a teacher’s quick actions kept the vehicle from careering into oncoming traffic, students said. Math teacher Amy King grabbed the steering wheel and tried to straighten the swerving coach, witnesses told The Birmingham News. The crash Friday sent 20 people to the hospital, including the driver and King. King was thrown through the windshield and airlifted to UAB Hospital, where she was listed in serious condition, officials said.
Texas: Airliner returns to field
A Southwest Airlines plane has returned to Dallas after experiencing engine trouble shortly after departing. A Southwest spokeswoman says the flight had departed from Dallas at 4:20 p.m. Saturday bound for St. Louis. Shortly after, the pilot realized there was a problem with one of the engines and the plane returned to Dallas. She said it landed safely at Love Field around 5 p.m. and was taken out of service. The 137 passengers on the flight were being transferred onto a new aircraft to continue to St. Louis.
Florida: Cheetahs attack trainer
The owner of a wildlife sanctuary was attacked by two cheetahs Saturday and hospitalized with about 40 puncture wounds to her extremities and back, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said. She was conducting an exhibition with two male cheetahs in an enclosure when one became distracted by a ball being bounced outside, officials said. The cheetah moved toward the ball quickly and knocked her to the ground. The cheetah then pounced on her and began biting and clawing her. The other cheetah then attacked her as well, officials said.
@3. Headline Briefs 14 no:Woman held in neglect of boy, 4
Authorities in the Florida Panhandle say they have arrested a woman suspected of severely neglecting a 4-year-old boy. A Santa Rosa County sheriff’s spokesman said the boy weighed only 10 pounds when he was hospitalized earlier this month but his condition is improving. Deputies on Friday arrested 19-year-old Erin Brittany Markes, identifying her only as the boy’s caregiver.
Massachusetts: Truck driver dies
A driver severely burned when his tanker truck filled with fuel rolled and exploded on a western Massachusetts interstate has died, authorities said Saturday. Investigators said Aaron Staelens, 43, of Richmond swerved after a car struck him, causing his tanker to crash into a guardrail on Interstate 91 in Chicopee early Friday. He died several hours later, according to a spokeswoman for Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Pennsylvania: Narcotics officers demoted
Two narcotics officers were demoted from an elite strike force and suspended without pay because of racially offensive stickers found in a Philadelphia police department locker. The police commissioner transferred the pair out of the Narcotics Strike Force to routine patrol in districts where they started as rookies. Two racist stickers were found inside a locker. One read: “White Power.” The other depicted a cartoon of a man, half as an officer in uniform and half as a Klansman, with the words “Blue By Day — White By Night.”
Israel: Condoleezza Rice heads back to Mideast
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday she would push for an easing of Israeli restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank as she began her latest Mideast mission aimed at reviving faltering peace talks. Rice, en route to Israel, said she was looking for “real concrete progress” on several issues, including improving the movement and access of people and goods from the West Bank. Israeli checkpoints and strict travel rules have curtailed such commerce and largely crippled the Palestinian its economy.
Canada: Three seal hunters die
A disabled fishing trawler getting a tow from a Canadian coast guard vessel slammed into a piece of ice and capsized Saturday in the icy waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, killing three seal hunters and leaving one missing. The vessel was headed toward a large seal herd in the Cabot Strait between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as part of the seal hunt season that opened Friday, the largest marine mammal hunt in the world.
Turkey: Military attacks Kurdish rebels
Turkey’s military hit Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq with artillery and air strikes in a two-day operation that killed at least 15 rebels, the military said Saturday. Turkish military shelled areas in northern Iraq on Thursday after it detected a group of Kurdish rebels preparing to attack Turkish targets from their bases in Iraq, the military said. It said 15 rebels were killed in the shelling. A spokesman for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party denied any rebels had been killed, saying it was a “baseless claim.”
From Herald news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
