$28M settlement in Big Dig collapse

Boston

The family of a woman killed when a Big Dig tunnel ceiling collapsed has settled a wrongful-death lawsuit for more than $28 million, attorneys said.

The settlement was announced Tuesday night by attorneys for the husband and three adult children of Milena Del Valle, 39, who was killed in July 2006 when part of a tunnel ceiling collapsed on her car.

The main defendants in the lawsuit included companies that worked on the Big Dig — Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, Modern Continental, Gannett Fleming — and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which had charge of the massive highway project.

Brad Henry, an attorney for Del Valle's children, said the settlement resolves claims against all 15 defendants. He said the companies do not admit to liability in the settlement. He could not provide a breakdown of how much each defendant will pay.

Dover, N.H.

Man gets 3 years in Clinton office case

The man who took hostages last year at one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign offices was sentenced Tuesday to three years in jail, followed by mental-health treatment.

Leeland Eisenberg, 47, of Somersworth, pleaded guilty Tuesday to kidnapping, criminal threatening and making a false report to police.

He was arrested after entering Clinton's Rochester office Nov. 30, claiming to have a bomb. No one was hurt in a five-hour standoff and the bomb turned out to be road flares.

He apologized in court, saying he has received treatment for substance abuse and completed his high-school GED while in jail.

Bryan, Texas

Robber convicted in '83 slayings of 5

A robber who had been convicted of perjury in the long-unsolved killings of five people abducted from a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant 25 years ago was convicted of murder Tuesday.

Darnell Hartsfield, 47, of Tyler, was found guilty on all five counts in one of the longest unresolved multiple-murder cases in Texas. He received five automatic life sentences, which State District Judge Clay Gossett ordered be served consecutively. Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty.

The jury deliberated less than two hours on a case that took years of bad leads to get to trial and was moved more than 100 miles from where the killings occurred because of publicity. One earlier suspect was absolved when a fingernail originally matched to him turned out to be that of a victim's.

The victims, four workers and a friend, were abducted from the restaurant in Kilgore on Sept. 23, 1983, during an apparent robbery, and driven about 15 miles to a remote road and fatally shot.

Also

Bridge shooting: Federal officials will investigate the seven New Orleans police officers involved in fatal shootings that happened on a city bridge after Hurricane Katrina, authorities said Tuesday. State charges were dismissed about a month ago.

Stopgap budget: President Bush on Tuesday signed a $630 billion-plus stopgap-spending bill to keep the government running for the next 12 months.

Seattle Times news services