The nation in brief

Sunday, March 23, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The irony is that exactly what they are doing to us is what they have always charged that the Chinese are doing through us.”

William Plummer, a senior Huawei executive, about reports the National Security Agency has infiltrated the Chinese telecommunications firm’s servers Article, 1A

3 die, 8 hurt in mudslide near Seattle

SEATTLE - Three people died in a mudslide in Washington state Saturday, and eight others were injured, the Snohomish County sheriff’s office reported.

Sheriff’s spokesman Bronlea Mishler said three died after an estimated mile-long slide carried a house with people inside across a rural road north of Seattle just before 11 a.m. Saturday.

At least six houses were destroyed in the mudslide, authorities said.

Snohomish County spokesman Shari Ireton said a 6-monthold infant was among those injured.

Five people injured in the landslide were taken to the nearby Cascade Valley Hospital for treatment, spokesman Jennifer Egger said.

Cascade Valley Hospital was expecting more injured people, but Egger said she didn’t know how many and couldn’t comment on the condition of those already at the hospital because they were still being evaluated.

The American Red Cross set up at the hospital and was seeking donations of food, water, blankets and clothing, Egger said.

Heavy rain during this past week likely contributed to the mudslide. Saturday’s weather was sunny and clear.

R.I. speaker to resign after raids, probe

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox is resigning from his leadership post and will not run for re-election, he said Saturday, a day after federal and state authorities raided his Statehouse office and home as part of a criminal investigation that they would not detail.

“Because of the respect I have for all members of the House of Representatives, I am resigning as Speaker,” Fox said in a written statement emailed Saturday evening to reporters. “The process of governing must continue and the transition of leadership must be conducted in an orderly manner.”

The 52-year-old Providence Democrat said he planned to serve out the remainder of his term, but that “my personal focus going forward will be on my family and dealing with the investigation.”

The Friday raids were carried out by the U.S. attorney’s office, FBI, Internal Revenue Service and state police. Boxes of evidence were carried off, but officials have not said whom or what they are investigating.

Copter rotated before crash, agency says

SEATTLE - Video shows that a news helicopter that went down in Seattle and killed two people last week began rotating at takeoff before it pitched forward in a fiery crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

The surveillance footage taken from three security-camera recordings near the crash site shows the aircraft began rotating counterclockwise during takeoff Tuesday morning and rose slightly, nearly level, from a rooftop helipad, the agency said late Friday night in a preliminary report.

The helicopter continued rotating counterclockwise for about 360 degrees before it pitched forward, nose low. It “continued the counterclockwise rotation in a nose low attitude until it disappeared from the camera’s field of view,” the agency said in its one-page statement.

Available video apparently did not show the actual crash on a street next to the Space Needle, where the KOMO-TV chopper burst into flames, setting several vehicles ablaze and spewing burning fuel down the street.

The initial safety board report did not attempt to pinpoint a cause for the crash. A final report could take as long as a year, agency officials have said.

Officials seek cause of fatal motel fire

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. - Arson investigators spent Saturday combing through debris to determine what caused a motel blaze that killed four people and injured eight others early Friday morning.

Saturday’s work included draining the motel’s outdoor swimming pool and raking through cinders in second-floor rooms. Investigators used dogs trained to react to the presence of gasoline or other petroleum products that might have been used to start or accelerate a fire.

Meanwhile, authorities at the New Jersey shore said they were not yet able to release the names of the four people who died in the fire.

Autopsies were being conducted Saturday on victims from the blaze at the Mariner’s Cove Motor Inn, which housed some victims of superstorm Sandy. About 40 people were staying at the motel when the fire started.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 03/23/2014