The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“When you first hear it, it’s like you’ve lost your child. She was talking to me, but you’re fearful.”

Robin Stapleton, was on the phone with her daughter Lauryn Stapleton, who was at a Mall in Columbia, Md., where three people were killed and five were injured during a shooting Article, 5A

Firecracker blast blows off driver’s hand

SEATTLE - An explosion from an M-1000 firecracker inside a moving Jeep blew off the driver’s hand early Saturday and scattered debris over half a block, police and neighbors said.

Witnesses saw a flash of light from inside the vehicle as it drove down a residential street in north Spokane, police said.

Donald Wilkes, 61, said the blast rattled his house and woke up everyone inside. He initially thought someone had crashed into his parked truck. When he ran outside, he found the street filled with smoke and the Jeep stopped just against his 6-foot-tall cedar fence.

The explosion blew out several of the Jeep’s windows, knocked off its dashboard and splattered blood all over the driver’s side door, he said. Wilkes’ son applied a tourniquet to the man’s left arm.

Police and medics arrived within minutes and applied further tourniquets, then took the man to a hospital, where staff members credited the first aid with saving his life.

A bomb squad used a robot to find additional explosives in the Jeep and remained on scene to defuse them, Spokane Police Department spokesman Monique Cotton said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives then took over the investigation and will determine whether criminal charges will be filed.

Mississippi roads open after ice, wrecks

BILOXI, Miss. - Major roads reopened Saturday in southern Mississippi after a night of icy weather that caused close to 40 multicar accidents and three traffic deaths.

Pearl River County Coroner Derek Turnage said 50-yearold Freddy Berrage, 33-year-old Danielle Moye and Moye’s son, 8-year-old Elijah Moye, were killed Friday night.

Berrage was driving on an icy bridge spanning Boley Creek when he lost control of the car. Two other vehicles were involved in the accident.

Mississippi Highway Patrol Cpl. Jason Gazzo said Saturday that all major roads were open. Gazzo said his agency had investigated close to 40 overnight multicar accidents.

Those included a pileup involving more than two dozen vehicles at the Louisiana-Mississippi line and more than a dozen on U.S. 49 north of Gulfport.

Many drivers didn’t heed warnings to stay off the highways, Gazzo said. And many in south Mississippi are unaccustomed to driving in icy conditions, he added.

Abortion opponents rally in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO - Thousands of abortion opponents marched Saturday through downtown San Francisco for the 10th annual Walk for Life West Coast.

The protesters rallied at Civic Center Plaza in front of City Hall before marching down Market Street to Justin Herman Plaza. They held signs that read “Defend life” and “Women deserve better than abortion.”

Nancy Castellanos, a 17-year-old high school senior from the Northern California city of Dixon, went to San Francisco with worshippers from St. Peter Catholic Church, which took people on six buses. She said she believes the laws need to change to make it harder to get an abortion.

John Paine, 52, arrived with people from his church group in Visalia.

“I’m ashamed that my country sanctions the killing of its most defenseless of its citizens,” he said. “Human life in all its stages is sacred and should be protected.”

Hospital weighs order to pull mom’s plug

FORT WORTH - Hospital executives in North Texas were conferring Saturday with the district attorney’s office to determine their next step after a judge’s ruling that they must disconnect life support for a pregnant, brain dead woman, a hospital official said.

John Peter Smith Hospital spokesman J.R. Labbe said discussions were “ongoing” as administrators weighed the order issued a day earlier by Judge R. H. Wallace Jr. The hospital is owned by Tarrant County and is being represented in the case by the district attorney’s office.

Wallace agreed with a request by Erick Munoz to have life support removed for his wife, Marlise Munoz. She was 14 weeks pregnant with the couple’s second child when her husband found her unconscious Nov. 26, possibly because of a blood clot.

Wallace gave the Fort Worth hospital until 5 p.m. CST Monday to remove life support. Labbe declined to say Saturday whether the hospital planned to appeal the judge’s order or comply with it.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 01/26/2014

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