Nation Digest
Air-control failure disrupts plane travel

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

The diverted flights landed at airports in Northern California and in other states, officials said, creating a massive air-traffic snarl that was expected to last into today.

Planes scheduled to take off for Southern California were being held on the ground at airports throughout the nation.

The cause of the equipment failure at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center in Palmdale was not immediately determined.

The Federal Aviation Administration stressed that the problem did not pose a serious safety hazard because backup systems kicked in. The radar and radios returned to service about 8:15 p.m. yesterday, but the FAA said it would be hours before air traffic was back to normal.

Grapeland, Texas

Lightning injures ballplayers, coaches

More than 30 high-school football players and coaches were injured, two critically, when lightning struck near their practice field last night, authorities said.

"This occurred just out of the blue, no warning. It's not like lightning was flashing and building up," Grapeland Police Chief Roger Dickey said.

Both of the critically injured were Grapeland High School players. All the injured were being treated at hospitals.

Grapeland is about 120 miles southeast of Dallas.
 
Green Bay, Wis.

Man who dumped baby dies after crash

A man being chased by sheriff's deputies dropped his fiancée's 8-month-old daughter out of a moving car, sending the baby tumbling across the highway in her car seat.

The girl was unhurt, but the man was fatally injured in a later crash.

Dana Bettin, 23, died Sunday, three days after the highway chase that ended when he crashed his 17-year-old fiancée's car into an unoccupied squad car. Deputies began chasing Bettin after he fled a hotel, where he had been accused of domestic violence.

During the chase, Bettin slowed to about 10 mph, opened the car door and dropped the baby out. The chase continued at up to 100 mph, ending when Bettin's car crashed. He died at a hospital.

Sacramento, Calif.

Two more rigged letters sent to governors

Authorities have intercepted envelopes sent to the governors of California and New Mexico that were rigged to ignite when opened. They are among 20 such mailings sent to governors around the country, including Washington Gov. Gary Locke, and received since last week.

Three letters found earlier caught fire, but no one has been injured.

The letters included a return address from Nevada's maximum-security Ely State Prison. Authorities said they have narrowed their investigation to "a person of interest."

Sacramento, Calif.

Schwarzenegger shows moderate side

Enhancing his standing as a moderate within the Republican Party, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed laws outlawing the sale of a high-powered rifle and requiring health-insurance policies to offer equal coverage to registered domestic partners.

The weapons law, signed Monday, bans the sale of .50-caliber BMG rifles, a move that stands in contrast to the decision of Republican leaders in Congress not to renew a 10-year-old federal ban on assault weapons that expired the same day.

The other law signed Monday established that an insurance policy's health-insurance benefits for registered partners, including same-sex couples, must be the same as the benefits offered to spouses of married workers.

New York

Explosives found in JFK traveler's bags

A government contractor brought highly explosive Soviet munitions on his trip home from Afghanistan that were not detected until he arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport, federal officials said.

Shaun Marshall, a medic for defense contractor DynCorp, arrived at Kennedy Aug. 19 from the United Arab Emirates. He was trying to board a United Airlines flight home to California when he was pulled aside for a routine security check. Federal screeners found what police bomb technicians described in an FBI complaint as a Soviet "projectile point detonating fuse" and a "surface-to-air and air-to-air cartridge."

Marshall, 26, said he was importing the munitions, which he believed to be inert, for use in DynCorp training. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.