DETROIT – A house explosion early yesterday injured five people, including three children, and fire officials were investigating whether the gas service had been tampered with.
A 4-year-old girl was in critical condition, authorities said. The victims suffered second-and third-degree burns.
The home was destroyed, and a nearby vacant house was flattened by the explosion.
Associated Press
Astronauts not in danger of missile
HOUSTON – Military plans to shoot down a damaged U.S. spy satellite carrying toxic fuel won't concern the crew aboard the International Space Station, commander Peggy Whitson said yesterday.
The military hopes to smash the satellite as soon as next week – just before it enters Earth's atmosphere – with a single missile fired from a Navy cruiser in the Pacific Ocean.
Whitson, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and French astronaut Leopold Eyharts will be in orbit 215 miles above Earth when the satellite is targeted. The satellite will be about 150 miles up when the shot is fired.
Associated Press
Fla. deputy accused of abuse posts bail
TAMPA, Fla. – A deputy videotaped dumping a paralyzed man out of his wheelchair onto a Tampa jailhouse floor was released from jail yesterday after posting bail.
Jail records showed that Charlette Marshall-Jones was booked on one count of felony abuse of a disabled person and released after posting $3,500 bail. It is the same jail where Marshall-Jones worked.
She was accused of tipping Brian Sterner, 32, out of his wheelchair. A videotape of the incident has been widely circulated on the Internet.
Associated Press
Student is arrested in $140,000 theft
JOHNSON, Ark. – A college student was arrested in the theft of a briefcase containing more than $140,000 from the home of the chairman of meat processing giant Tyson Foods, police said.
Ryan Silvey, 19, was arrested in Kansas by the FBI and taken back to Arkansas to answer a theft charge, police said. He was held yesterday on $50,000 bail. The briefcase was stolen during a party thrown by John Tyson's daughter at the family's home in Johnson around Dec. 27.
Associated Press
Bush blast Congress over eavesdrop law
WASHINGTON – President Bush said yesterday in his radio address that lawmakers' failure to renew an eavesdropping law will make it more difficult to track terrorists and “we may lose a vital lead that could prevent an attack on America.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., faulted the president for “whipping up false fears and creating artificial confrontation.”
At issue is a law that made it easier for the government to spy on foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States. The expiration time was midnight last night.
Associated Press
