600-pound Missouri man dies while trapped in fire

Timothy Lee Morris, 45, called 911 from his home when it caught fire Saturday afternoon but couldn't get out by himself, fire officials said. His daughters, ages 8 and 13, summoned neighbors, but they were unable to move him.

"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 out."

Two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. The fire was blamed on an electrical short. The girls' mother wasn't home at the time.

Osseo, Wis.

Bus hits semi, killing 5 people

A bus carrying high-school students home from a band competition crashed into a tractor-trailer that had jackknifed yesterday, killing five people, including the band director and his 11-year-old granddaughter, officials said.

Twenty-nine others were injured, some seriously, state troopers said.

The semi had gone off the shoulder of Interstate 94 and jackknifed, and was blocking the westbound lane, Wisconsin State Patrol Capt. Douglas Notbohm said. The bus then slammed into the overturned truck.

Four students and three adults remained hospitalized last night with injuries including broken hips, arms and legs and punctured lungs. Many had undergone surgery, but all were expected to recover, he said.

Notbohm said the dead included bus driver Paul Rasmus, 78, of Chippewa Falls; band director Douglas Greenhalgh, 48; his wife Therese, 51; and their 11-year-old granddaughter, Morgan Greenhalgh. Brandon Atherton, a 24-year-old student teacher at the school, also died.

Prominent lawyer's wife found killed

The wife of prominent defense attorney and TV legal analyst Daniel Horowitz was found slain in the entryway of the couple's San Francisco Bay Area home, authorities said yesterday.

Horowitz called 911 Saturday evening to report that he found his wife, Pamela Vitale, dead in their home, police said. Contra Costa County sheriff's deputies said yesterday that the death was being investigated as a homicide.

Horowitz, 50, is a regular television legal analyst who appears frequently on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News and was a frequent commentator during the Laci Peterson murder trial.

Currently, he is defending Susan Polk, accused of murder in the 2002 stabbing death of her psychologist husband in the pool house of their Orinda, Calif., home, a trial that has gained national media attention.

As refineries reopen, 1 catches on fire

An explosion set fire to a refinery yesterday as workers tried to restart equipment that had been shut down since Hurricane Rita.

One contract worker suffered minor burns to his hands and arms, according to a spokesman for the plant, a joint venture of Lyondell Chemical and Citgo Petroleum.

The fire was extinguished within an hour, but it likely would be a few days before workers can get to that part of the plant to assess the damage and determine what went wrong, said Jack Williams, a district chief with the Houston Fire Department.

4.9 earthquake hits off California coast

An underwater earthquake with a magnitude 4.9 struck off the Southern California coast yesterday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Institute of Technology.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The temblor struck at 2:11 p.m. about 29 miles south-southeast of San Clemente Island and 74 miles west of San Diego, according to the agencies' preliminary report.

Compiled from The Associated Press