LITTLE ROCK — “I’m also betting

that the majority, the vast majority

of responsible lawabiding gun owners

would be some of

the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible,

lawbreaking few from buying a weapon of war.”President Barack Obama Article, 1A 2 guns in shootout

traced to probe

WASHINGTON - Two of the weapons involved in a drug cartel gunfight last month in Sinaloa, Mexico, that killed five people, including two soldiers and a young beauty queen, have been traced back to the United States.

One weapon, a Romarm .762-caliber assault rifle, was lost during the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Operation Fast and Furious; the other was a FN Herstal .57-caliber pistol originally purchased by a supervisory ATF agent who helped oversee the botched gun-tracking operation.

The discovery of the two firearms provide new evidence that the nearly 2,000 weapons lost under Fast and Furious, and others as well, continue to flow freely across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The purchase by the supervisory agent, George Gillett of the ATF’s Phoenix field office, is now under review by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General’s Office, which earlier this year found major systemic problems with ATF agents and supervisors for Fast and Furious, sources said.

1 dead, 33 injured

SHIRLEY, N.Y. - One person died and 33 people were injured in a traffic pileup that left dozens of vehicles littered across the main freeway on New York’s Long Island, police said Wednesday.

The accident happened shortly before 3 p.m., leaving cars and trucks strewn across the Long Island Expressway in Shirley.

Police said a 68-year-old woman was killed when a tractor-trailer slammed into a number of cars in the eastbound lane, triggering a chain-reaction pileup involving 35 vehicles.

Police said 33 people were taken to area hospitals. At least one of those injured, a 57-year-old man, was listed in serious condition.

Escapees changed clothes, got a cab

CHICAGO - Two convicted bank robbers who pulled off a daring overnight escape from a high-rise Chicago jail had changed from their prison dress by the time they hopped into a cab outside the lockup, investigators said Wednesday as they expanded their manhunt for the men.

The FBI said surveillance footage from a camera near the Metropolitan Correctional Center shows Kenneth Conley and Joseph Banks getting into a cab at about 2:45 a.m. Tuesday. The pair had changed from their orange jail-issued jumpsuits into light-colored pants and light-colored shirts, the FBI said.

The FBI was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of Conley and Banks, with the manhunt focused mainly on Chicago and its suburbs.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 12/20/2012