The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY “We’re going to seek to achieve as much as we possibly can and hope Republicans will cooperate with us, instead of just using kneejerk obstruction.” Adam Jentleson, spokesman for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on a two-week Senate session beginning today Article, this page

Police find 3 dead after man kills himself

MANCHESTER, Conn. - A man suspected of killing three women in an apartment complex shot himself to death in front of police officers after letting a 13-month old child go free, authorities said Sunday.

Police in the Hartford suburb of Manchester responded to the Dye House Apartments about 9:40 p.m. Saturday, minutes after getting 911 calls reporting gunshots.

An armed man was leaving the apartment building carrying the child as officers arrived at the scene, according to a statement by Manchester police Capt. Christopher Davis. During a brief confrontation with officers, the man put down the child and fatally shot himself, Davis said.

The child appeared to be unharmed but was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

An officer fired one shot at the man but apparently missed, Davis said.

Police found three women dead of apparent gunshot wounds in one of the units, police said.

“It should be noted that the officers’ quick response to the scene prevented the suspect from being able to flee with the child and likely saved the child’s life,” Davis said.

Police on Sunday had not released the names of the man, three women or officer who fired at the suspect.

Lawmakers propose cameras on trains

NEW YORK - A week after four people died in a New York commuter train derailment, two federal lawmakers proposed Sunday that trains nationwide be outfitted with cameras pointed at engineers and at the tracks.

“I know you’re going to hear from Metro-North that there are costs, but the costs of these audio and visual recorders is minuscule, in fact negligible, compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars that this tragic incident will cost Metro-North in the end,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who joined Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., for a news conference at Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal.

On Dec. 1, a Metro-North Railroad train approached a curve on the tracks just north of Manhattan going 82 mph instead of the speed limit of 30 mph. Rail cars careened off the tracks, with the front car ending up inches from the water where the Hudson River meets the Harlem River.

A lawyer and the union leader for the derailed train’s engineer, William Rockefeller, have said the train’s hypnotic motion might have caused him to nod off or experience a daze at the controls.

The National Transportation Safety Board first recommended installation of the audio and video recording cameras in locomotives and operating railway cabs five years ago.

Murder trial begins for Montana wife

HELENA, Mont. - The trial of a Montana woman charged in the death of her husband eight days after their wedding will begin today.

Federal prosecutors say Jordan Graham, 22, pushed her husband, Cody Johnson, to his death July 7 after she had second thoughts eight days after the wedding, sparking an argument between the couple that carried from their Kalispell, Mont., home to a popular trail in Glacier National Park.

Graham’s federal public defenders say that though Graham thought she married too young, she loved Johnson and was only trying to remove his hand from her arm when he fell off the steep cliff.

Graham initially told investigators that Johnson, 25, had driven away with friends that night. Three days later, she led park rangers to his body so the search would be called off “and the cops will be out of it,” according to prosecutors’ court filings.

11 whales from stranded pod found dead

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. - National wildlife officials said 11 whales believed to be part of a pod that was stranded in the Everglades are dead.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official Blair Mase said wildlife workers spotted the dead whales Sunday afternoon on Snipe Point, about 6 miles north of Sugarloaf Key.

That brings the overall death toll to 22.

The pod of 51 short-finned pilot whales was first spotted by a fishing guide Tuesday in the shallow waters off a remote section of the Everglades. The species is one of the most commonly involved in mass strandings.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 12/09/2013

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