The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“When discussing the attacks against our facilities in Benghazi, I relied solely and squarely on the information provided to me by the intelligence community. I made clear that the information was preliminary and that our investigations would give us the definitive answers.”

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Article, 2A

Salesman held in NYC serial killings

NEW YORK - A garment salesman was held without bail Thursday while awaiting a court appearance on charges that he systematically shot three shopkeepers to death as they worked alone in their New York City clothing stores.

Salvatore Perrone, 63, of Staten Island was held after his initial Brooklyn court appearance on murder charges.

He was represented by a lawyer solely for the proceeding, and another will be assigned when he returns to court Tuesday, prosecutors said.

He was taken into custody Wednesday in the suspected serial killings that scores of New York City detectives were investigating.

A pharmacy worker recognized him as the balding man shown in surveillance footage leaving the scene of the most recent shooting, Nov. 16, with a duffel bag, police said.

Another shopkeeper stepped forward and said Perrone had gone into his store and questioned him about whether he worked alone and when he closed, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

“It’s reasonable to assume he was going to keep doing this, and, by arresting him, we saved lives,” Kelly said at a news conference.

Detectives said they found the duffel bag at the home of Perrone’s girlfriend. Inside, they said, was a sawed-off rifle used in the killings, along with .22-caliber ammunition, black gloves, women’s clothing, a bloody knife and a bottle of bleach.

49 treated after falling ill in prison

YORK, Pa. - Nearly 50 female inmates at a central Pennsylvania prison have been treated for carbon-monoxide poisoning.

A statement from York County said five inmates remained hospitalized as of Thursday morning. The remaining 44 have been returned to the York County Prison.

The women fell ill Wednesday evening in a prison dormitory.

Officials said a preliminary investigation indicates that the deadly odorless and colorless gas came from the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system.

That system has been shut down. The county’s statement said carbon monoxide levels have returned to normal.

About 215 women are incarcerated at the facility, 85 miles west of Philadelphia. Prisoners living in the affected unit have been relocated to other areas in the facility.

Dive boat capsizes off Florida; 1 dies

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. - One woman died and another person was hospitalized after a dive boat carrying 23 people was hit by a large wave and capsized Thursday off Florida’s Atlantic coast.

The Sun-Sentinel newspaper of Fort Lauderdale reported that the boat capsized early Thursday afternoon just outside Hillsboro Inlet.

The Broward County sheriff’s office confirmed the woman’s death. The condition of the second person taken to the hospital wasn’t immediately known, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

Pompano Beach Fire Rescue spokesman Sandra King said the boat’s 21 divers and two crew members were heading back to the dock after a day of diving when they were hit by the wave. She said rescue crews found the 45-foot-long catamaran “in pieces, upside down in the water.”

Lifeguards used personal water craft to start rescuing passengers of the dive boat, identified as the Coral Princess and owned by South Florida Diving Headquarters.

All aboard had been accounted for, King said.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 11/23/2012

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