Ohio air-show accident claims stunt pilot

Dayton, Ohio

A biplane performing stunts for an air show crashed into a runway Saturday in front of thousands of spectators, killing the pilot, officials said.

Jim LeRoy, 46, was in one of two planes making loop-to-loops with smoke trailing as part of the annual air show at Dayton International Airport. His Bulldog Pitts aircraft slammed into the runway across a field from spectators and caught fire. The crowd stood stunned as the show was shut down.

LeRoy died en route to Miami Valley Hospital, Carpenter said.

LeRoy, a Marine veteran who had a degree in aeronautical engineering, was a design engineer with GE Aircraft Engines until he became a full-time stunt pilot in 1997.

A performance by the Air Force Thunderbirds was canceled.

Washington

Doctors replace VP's defibrillator

Vice President Dick Cheney, 66, had surgery Saturday to replace an implanted device that monitors his heartbeat.

Doctors at George Washington University Hospital replaced the defibrillator, a sealed unit that includes a battery. If the device were to sense an abnormal heart rhythm, it would deliver an electronic shock to reset the vice president's heart to a normal beat. "The device was successfully replaced without complication," said Megan McGinn, the vice president's deputy press secretary.

Granite City, Ill.

Baby-sitter charged with pimping

A baby-sitter accused of allowing a man to have sex with a 12-year-old girl in her care for money was charged with pimping, police said.

Amber Salts, 20, took the girl to the home of a 48-year-old man she had been "romantically involved" with and allowed the girl to have sex with him, said Madison County sheriff's Sgt. Mike Dixon.

Larry Westwood paid the girl $140, which she split with Salts, police said.

Salts was charged Friday with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and pimping. Westwood was charged with two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault.

The girl was treated at a local hospital and released.

Saginaw, Mich.

Scammer ordered to clean memorial

A 73-year-old man has been ordered to clean a veterans memorial with a toothbrush for taking part in a scam to solicit scrap yards for metal, saying it was to be used to build a memorial for soldiers in the Iraq war.

Philip Kolinski and another man were arrested after scrap yards reported the men soliciting metal donations for a sculpture. Detectives said the men sold the metal and kept the money.

"You will have a toothbrush and bucket with a placard saying you stole from veterans," Saginaw County District Court Judge A.T. Frank said as he sentenced Kolinski on Friday.

Kolinski pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obtaining more than $200 under false pretenses, although he claimed he didn't know he was committing a crime.

The judge also ordered Kolinski to pay $9,000 in restitution and $2,095 in fines.

Minneapolis

Northwest cancels more flights

Northwest Airlines canceled more flights as expected Saturday, with the company continuing to attribute the problem to pilot absenteeism.

Northwest did not release its own cancellation figures, but Web site FlightStats.com reported as of 6 p.m. PDT that the airline had called off 166 flights. It reported that 1,056 scheduled flights departed.

Northwest expected to complete 93 percent of its flights Saturday, said Roman Blahoski, spokesman for the carrier, based in Eagan. The pilot absenteeism was affecting flights mainly on narrow-body aircraft, he said.

The pilots union has maintained that Northwest doesn't have enough pilots to fly its full schedule.

Also

The body of a second sewer worker caught beneath the streets during a heavy rain was recovered Saturday from the Mississippi River, Minnesota authorities said. The body of Joe Harlow, 34, of Plainview, was found near a spillway where a storm-sewer line drains into the river. On Friday, crews found the body of Dave Yasis, 23, of Maplewood, near the same spot.

Seattle Times news services