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Show Monday, October 17. 2005 DAILY HERALD FAST FACT of Mt Whitney in California is 14,494 feet above sea level, making it the highest point in the 48 MORMNG BRIEFING The summit contiguous United States. Source: The Book of 1.001 Tnvia Questions Compiled rom Daily Herald wire services The Nation T7 Bus carrying high school band members crashes OSSEO, Wis. ' A bus carrying high school students home from a band competition crashed into a tractor-traile- r that had jackknifed on the interstate early Sunday, killing ; four adults and ap y ear-ol- d girl, officials said. Twenty nine others were injured, some seriously, troop- ' : ers said. "It's a terrific tragedy and loss to our school and community,1' said Chippewa Falls schools superintendent Mike Schoch. "Our community is stunned by it." The semi had gone off the shoulder of Interstate 94 and jackknifed, and was blocking the westbound lane, Wisconsin State Patrol Capt. Douglas said. "I don't know how much opportunity there was for braking action," he said. The bus slammed into the overturned truck, but it didn't roll or catch fire, patrol spokesman Brent Pickardsaid. It was the first of four buses carrying about 140 students and 15 to 20 adult chaperones, Schoch said. 11-- -- of Kellenberg Memorial High School canceled the spring letter to prom in a 2,000-wor- d parents this fall. "It is not primarily the sex boozedrugs that surround this event, as problematic as they might be; it is rather the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit-- . of vanity for vanity's sake in a word, financial decadence," Hoagland said, fed up with what he called the "bacchanalian aspects.";: "Each year it gets worse becomes more exaggerated, more expensive, more emotionally traumatic," he added. "We are withdrawing from the battle and allowing the parents full responsibility. (Kellenberg) is willing to sponsor a prom, but not an orgy." Not-boh- m Principal nixes senior prom at parochial school BrothUNIONDALE, N.Y. M. Hoagland had heard all the stories about prom-nigdebauchery at his Long Island high school: putting down $10,000 to rent, a party house in the Hamp- er Kenneth . Stu-den- ts cocktail parties tons. followed by a trip to the dance limo. Fathers in a liquor-loadechartering a boat for their chil"booze cruise." dren's Enough was enough, Hoagland said. So the principal Pre-pro- m d late-nig- .. ., Cayman Islands eyes storm as system hovers GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands A tropical storm warning was in effect Sunday for the Cayman Islands as a tropical depression moved through the Atlantic on a path that could threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast later this week as a hurricane, forecasters said. The system was expected to become Tropical Storm Wilma by today, which would make it the 21st named storm of the season, tying the record for the most storms in an Atlantic season, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The only other time so many storms have formed since record keeping began 154 years ago was in 1933. At 5 p.m. EDT, the depression was centered about 150 miles southeast of Grand Cayman, forecasters said. It was near 2 moving mph and had sustained winds Aim tfWv STEVE KINDERMANEau Claire The wreckage of a bus which was transporting students from Chippewa Falls High School is readied to be removed Sunday, near Osseo, Wis., after it collided with a semitrailer. Five people on the bus were killed, and about 30 other persons were transported the hospital. State police say it was a rear-en- d cide, said Sheriff's Department spokesman Jimmy Lee. An au- topsy was planned for today. "We talked to a number of people last night, but there's nobody in custody," Lee said Sunday. "We're still trying to establish a motive." tions. Obese man dies in mobile home fire "Timmy probably didn't get burned at all," Battalion Chief John Nelson said. "He probably died from smoke inhalation." Two firefighters were treated at a hospital for heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. They were "very emotion-- ' ally distraught they couldn't get him out," Nelson said. The fire was blamed on an electrical short. - ST. JOSEPH, Mo Afire destroyed a mobile home, killhomebound ing a man who could not be moved out in time despite the efforts of west-northwe- st 600-poun- neighbors and firefighters. Timothy Lee Morris, 45, called 911 from his home when it caught fire Saturday afternoon, fire officials said. His daughters, ages 8 and 13, summoned neighbors, pleading for them to help free their father. "He was in the front room. We tried and tried to yank him out," said neighbor Clinton Turner. "He kept saying, 'Help,' but we couldn't get him jsvj 111" of attorney Daniel Horowitz found dead Wife LAFAYETTE, Calif . The wife of prominent defense attorney and TV legal analyst Daniel Horqwitz was found slain in the couple's San Francisco-area home, police said. Horowitz, currently leading the defense in a sensational murder trial in Martinez, called 911 Saturday evening to report that the body of his wife, Pamela Vitale, was in the entryway of their home, Another neighbor, Amanda Brueck, said she stood outside with the two girls until the blaze which "shot out the windows and reached the trees" forced them to back away. The girls' mother was away at the time. Authorities said police and firefighters eventually were able to put Morris on a backboard and slide him out the MEL EVANS 'Associated Press scurvy Katrina! Sheila DiCioccio puts on the finishing touch of a scarf as she decorates the balcony of her French Quarter home with a pirate skeleton making a Katrina skeleton walk the plank Sunday in New Orleans, La. to collision. front door. Morris suffered from several health problems, including breathing complica- near 35 mph. Depressions become tropical storms when their winds reach 39 mph. out."- - Walk the plank, v,, police said. Contra Costa County authorities confirmed her identity on Sunday morning and were investigating her death as a homi Gov. Romney lifts state of emergency - Gov. LAWRENCE, Mass. Mitt Romney lifted the state of . emergency for Massachusetts on Sunday, deactivating the National Guard and sending a signal that the worst of the weather problems is over. Under blue skies near the banks of the swollen Merrimack River, Romney said by and large the state was returning to normal. About 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes on Saturday after driving rains and flooding washed out bridges and roads, flooded basements and pressured dams. "The all clear will be sounded on a local basis," Romney said. "Recognize we were ready for something more substantial than hit. We have to be." Romney said the state Emergency Management Agency was still monitoring conditions as high winds were expected throughout the day. praises Miers as having 'probing intellect' Rice WASHINGTON Criticism of Harriet Miers as an unqualified crony of the president is unfounded, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday, praising the Supreme Court nominee for a "probing intellect" that will make her a great justice. President Bush earlier this month chose Miers, a longtime confidante who has never been a judge, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Since then, Miers' nomination has divided conservatives who support the president and those who say it was a risky choice because she was a blank slate on issues such as abortion and gay rights. "She's got a very probing mind and a probing intellect," Rice said on "Fox News Sunday." "She is the kind of person who is if there have been four arguments given, Harriet's going to look for the fifth," said Rice, who was interviewed from London at the end of a diplomatic trip. The World Iran lambastes Britain, U.S. over nuke program Iran TEHRAN. Iran launched a double-barrele- d diplomatic assault on Britain and America on Sunday, accusing London of possible involvement in weekend bombings that killed five people and charging that Washington was bent on hauling Tehran before the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program. Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said he believed the Saturday blasts that tore into a shopping center in Ahvaz near the Iraqi border were "a continuation of previous explosions that were guided from abroad," state-ru- n radio reported. Britain's embassy in Tehran released a statement condemnand the acing the attacks cusations. "Any linkage between the British government and these terrorist outrages is completely without foundation," the embassy said. Palestinian gunmen kill wound 5 3 Israelis, GUSH ETZION, West Bank Palestinian gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on a crowded bus stop Sunday, killing three Israelis and wounding four others in the deadliest attack on Israelis in more than three months, Israeli officials said. Minutes later, militants carried out a second drive-b- y shooting elsewhere in the West Bank, seriously wounding one Israeli, officials said. Also Sunday, Israeli troops shot and killed an Islamic militant and seriously wounded a bystander in the West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli officials said. The violence was the worst since a July 12 suicide bombing in the northern Israeli town of Netanya killed five people. Israeli security officials have warned that following last J , month's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants would shift their focus to the West Bank. ilk ElecKABUL, Afghanistan tion authorities said Sunday that they have fired about 50 employees for suspected fraud in last month's legislative polls, while human rights advocates warned that about half of the winning candidates are believed to have links to armed groups. The latest fighting, meanwhile, left eight insurgents dead and two British warplanes damaged. The suspected election fraud cast a shadow on Afghanistan's latest step toward democracy. About 680 ballot boxes, or 3 percent of the vote, were taken out of the counting process because of suspicions they were stuffed, said Richard Atwood, chief of operations for the joint rXITi'1 iv: , ! is l A BAZ RATNERAssociated Press Fruit checking Rabbi checks an etrog, a citrus fruit, to determine if they are ritually acceptable as one of the items used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in Jerusalem 's outdoor market on Sunday. The holiday commemorates the Israelites 40 years of wandering in the desert, and a decorated hut is erected outside households as a sign of temporary shelter. The weeklong holiday begins today. A U.N.-Afgha- n , saying the suspected fraud "does not affect the integrity of the election." Argentine prison fire kills at least 32 inmates BUENOS AIRES, Argentina A fire set by feuding inmates raged through a ceUbiock at a prison southeast of Buenos Aires early Sunday, killing 32 ivt te to Fifty Afghan election employees dismissed election commission. But he ruled out a recount, ' outside the prosecutors' office in the southern Russian city of Nalchik, demanding the release of the bodies of relatives killed during a raid by alleged Islamic extremists. 'Many feared they would never see their relatives' bodies. According to Russian law, terrorists' bodies are not returned to their families and some in the crowd alleged that their relatives had been unfairly identified as participants in the militant raid. "Give back the bodies of our children so that we can bury them," said a petition the crowd passed to prosecutors. The demand came two days after militants attacked police and government buildings in Nalchik, sparking fighting that killed at least 130 people, including 94 alleged attackers, according to official tallies. - inmates and leaving two jailers , injured, authorities said. All the deaths appeared to have been caused by asphyxiation after inmates were overcome by smoke, said Justice Minister EduardoDi Roccoof Buenos Aires province, where the prison is located. Di Rocco said inmates first began fighting just before midnight and then set mattresses and blankets alight. The fire spread through one of several cellblocks in the sprawling prison in Magdalena, 45 miles southeast of Buenos Aires. Japan, U.S. reportedly reach basic base accord TOKYO The United States and Japan have reached a basic agreement on relocating two U.S. military bases on the southern island of Okinawa, where the U.S. presence has frequently provoked protests, a newspaper reported Sunday. Under the accord, the United States will return port facilities at the Naha Naval Port in Naha and the Makiminato Service Area in Urasoe to Japan, the Yomiuri newspaper said, citing unidentified Japanese government sources. The bases' functions will be consolidated with those at Camp Courtney, also on Okinawa, the report said. Japanese Foreign Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the Yomiuri report. Russians gather to demand bodies' release NALCHIK, Russia Hundreds of black-clad- , mostly elderly people gatheged Sunday Moderate earthquake shakes eastern Japan TOKYO A moderate shook eastern Japan on Sunday, swaying tall buildings in the capital Tokyo. But there were no immediate reports of damage, injuries or risk of tsunamis. The magnitude-5.- 1 quake was centered about 24 miles underground just northeast of the capital in Ibaragi prefecture, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. Bullet train service north of Tokyo was temporarily suspended after the quake but quickly resumed, national broadcaster NHK reported. Some local train lines in the region also stopped service to check the tracks. Tokyo's Hane-d-a airport also shut its runways following the quake, but there were no major flight delays, Kyodo News agency said. |
