COLUMBUS, Ohio – A suspected arson fire raced through an apartment complex in suburban Columbus on Sunday, killing 10 people who lived in the same apartment and forcing others to jump from third-story windows to escape. At least 53 people were left homeless by the blaze in Prairie Township, which destroyed the building’s roof and third floor, melted siding and left its wooden skeleton exposed. The fire came just six weeks after three fires were set in the same building in an empty apartment and hallway, said Fire Chief Steve Feustel. There were no suspects and no known witnesses to Sunday’s suspected arson, he said.
Virginia: US Airways in bankruptcy
US Airways Group Inc., the nation’s seventh largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection in Alexandria on Sunday for the second time in two years. The company’s president vowed to continue restructuring the airline into a low-cost carrier during the bankruptcy process. US Airways said customers would notice no operational changes as a result of the bankruptcy and that it will seek permission to continue its frequent flyer program.
California: Gas prices declining
Gas prices dropped about 2 cents in the past two weeks, reflecting recent drops in the price of crude oil and plentiful supply, an industry analyst in Camarillo said Sunday. The combined national average for all grades of gasoline was $1.89, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey. The price was down from $1.91 on Aug. 27. Self-serve regular, the biggest seller, was $1.86. The mid-grade national average was $1.96 and the average for premium was $2.05.
Hawaii: Mauna Loa ready to erupt?
Earthquakes have been rumbling more frequently deep beneath Mauna Loa, suggesting that the world’s largest volcano is getting ready to erupt for the first time in 20 years, scientists said. Since July, more than 350 earthquakes have been recorded far beneath the 13,677-foot-high Mauna Loa, said Don Swanson, scientist-in-charge at the observatory. Mauna Loa erupted for three weeks in 1984, sending a 16-mile lava flow toward Hilo.
The difference in bumper height between cars and sport utility vehicles leads to costly accident repairs even after low-speed crashes, an insurance group said Sunday. Ford Motor Co. vehicles had the lowest repair costs in 10 mph crash tests because their bumpers were most compatible, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said. Vehicles from Volvo and DaimlerChrysler AG had the highest repair costs.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice on Sunday denied assertions in a new book that she and other top Bush administration officials ignored warnings about the abuse of prisoners at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. New Yorker writer Seymour Hersh, discussing the book set for release today, said senior military and national security officials received warnings from subordinates in 2002 and 2003 about such mistreatment. The book is “Chain of Command: The Road From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.”
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