24 stuck atop Six Flags roller coaster
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. -- Authorities said a roller coaster carrying 24 people became stuck near the top of the ride, and fire officials were trying to rescue them at Six Flags America in Maryland.
Prince George's County fire officials were called to The Joker's Jinx roller coaster at the park just before 2:30 p.m. Sunday. No injuries were reported.
Assistant Fire Chief Paul Gomez said the riders were sitting upright near the top of the ride. He said it would likely take a few hours to get them down.
A Six Flags America spokesman said in a statement that it was not yet clear what caused the ride to stop but that it has a computerized safety system that "performed as it is designed to."
Six Flags' website says the ride goes 60 miles per hour and upside down four times.
Clinton targets Obama's foreign policy
Hillary Rodham Clinton is taking on President Barack Obama with the same issue he used against her in the 2008 Democratic primary: foreign policy vision.
Obama lacks a specific doctrine, according to an Atlantic magazine interview with Clinton, the possible presidential candidate who is leading Democrats and Republicans in 2016 polling.
"Great nations need organizing principles, and 'don't do stupid stuff' is not an organizing principle," Clinton told the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, also a Bloomberg View columnist, in reference to the way Obama and his aides describe his approach to foreign policy.
That's a "political message" and "not his world view," she said.
Clinton's effort to show differences with Obama, which began with the release of her book in June, reflects a new political reality. The hard-line policies that hurt her with a war-weary Democratic base in 2008 aren't as significant now that polls show the party is unified behind her.
Clinton's criticism is a reversal from her 2009 Senate confirmation testimony, in which she embraced Obama's vision as her own.
Health officials quarantine missionaries
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Missionaries returning to the United States after working with patients infected with Ebola will be put in quarantine and monitored, health officials said Sunday.
The quarantine will last until at least three weeks after the missionaries were last exposed to people infected with the Ebola virus, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said.
The missionaries are with Charlotte-based SIM USA. None of them are sick or have shown any signs of having Ebola, but they agree with health officials that everyone should be as cautious as possible, SIM USA president Bruce Johnson said in a statement.
"We will continue to cooperate and collaborate with them and adhere strictly to their guidelines in the return of our missionaries to the United States," Johnson said.
The aid group isn't releasing how many missionaries were in Liberia or when they will return to protect the privacy of their families.
The returning missionaries will arrive in an area of the Charlotte airport away from the public. The airport won't say exactly where the plane will be taken, according to a statement.
SIM USA aid worker Nancy Writebol is in an Atlanta hospital after contracting Ebola.
Philadelphia in lead for Democrats event
WASHINGTON -- One of five cities bidding for the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia appears to hold an early edge with a track record of hosting the major gathering, analysts said -- not to mention that Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden have family ties to the state.
The original U.S. capital and now the nation's fifth-largest city, Philadelphia touts its historical significance. It has hosted the presidential nominating convention seven times since 1856, most recently the Republican one in 2000.
Also vying for the 2016 convention are Birmingham, Ala.; New York City's Brooklyn borough; Columbus, Ohio; and Phoenix -- each hoping to host its first presidential convention.
"I do think that Philadelphia has a very good chance of getting it," said former DNC Chairman Joe Andrew, who guided the party's selection of convention cities from 1996 to 2004 and supports the city's bid.
"Philadelphia has a strong bid based on great mechanics, and there's no question that Democrats would like to nail down Pennsylvania," Andrew said. He said Clinton's and Biden's family ties to Pennsylvania will likely be "a consideration."
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 08/11/2014