QUOTE OF THE DAY “I can’t say we’re jealous, but we’re disappointed we don’t have that resolution.” Greg Washington, a friend of a woman who disappeared in 2007, a year after three women were rescued after being held captive in Cleveland Article, this page
9 hurt during hair-hanging act at circus
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A platform collapsed during an aerial hair-hanging stunt at a circus performance Sunday, sending eight acrobats plummeting to the ground. Nine performers were seriously injured in the fall, including a dancer below, while an unknown number of others suffered less serious injuries.
The accident was reported about 45 minutes into the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ 11 a.m. Legends show at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence.
Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros., said the accident happened during an act in which eight performers hang “like a human chandelier” using their hair.
He said the metal-frame apparatus from which the performers were hanging came free from the metal truss to which it was connected. The eight women fell 25-40 feet, landing on a dancer on the ground.
All the performers have been doing “some variation of this act for some time,” Payne said, although he didn’t know how long. The current incarnation of the act began in January with the launch of the show, he said.
Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said officials and inspectors haven’t determined what caused the accident. He said the injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.
Perry shows interest in presidential run
WASHINGTON - Gov. Rick Perry of Texas on Sunday sent some of his clearest signals of interest in a 2016 presidential bid, joking wryly about his “botched” run in 2012 but then adding that “I think America is a place that believes in second chances.”
Appearing on the NBC program Meet the Press, Perry defended his state’s use of the death penalty as “appropriate and humane,” even after the bungled execution in Oklahoma last week. He called for a greater national focus on job creation and the underemployed, particularly women. And he criticized President Barack Obama for a “one-size-fits-all” approach to solving problems perhaps best left to the states.
But as Perry begins traveling across the country and abroad to extol the vigorous Texas economy and raise his national profile, he chose not to deflect discussions about his presidential aspirations.
With Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, considered a presidential hopeful, and former President George W. Bush saying last week that he hoped his brother, Jeb, would seek the office, Perry was asked whether there was “room in Texas for all of you in the presidential race.”
His reply, delivered with a confident smile: “It’s a big state.”Heater ventilation blamed in five deaths
ELIMSPORT, Pa. - Authorities blamed an improperly vented propane heater as the cause of death for two adults and three children who succumbed to carbon-monoxide fumes in a small Pennsylvania cabin, and they said the mother of two of the children had left early in the morning before the tragedy was discovered.
Lycoming County Coroner Chuck Kiessling said Sunday that the mother of two girls, ages 4 and 9, left the small cabin with another woman around 5 a.m. Saturday after a night of partying. He said police do not believe there is evidence to support criminal charges against the mother.
Kiessling said the girls, a man, a woman and the woman’s 3-year-old son died in their sleep of carbon-monoxide toxicity.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Angela Bieber said Sunday morning that there’s no indication the victims tried to escape.
Bieber said a relative of the cabin’s owner hosted the get-together Friday night and slept in his truck outside the cabin and discovered the bodies the next morning.
LA police officer killed in hit-and-run
LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles police officer was killed early Saturday in a hit-and-run crash, the third line-of-duty death in recent months.
Roberto Sanchez, a six-year veteran, died at a hospital after the patrol car he was driving was broadsided by a sport utility vehicle in the Harbor City area. The squad car was so mangled that Sanchez’s partner had to call for help on his cellphone because the police radio wasn’t working.
Charlie Beck, Los Angeles Police Department chief, said Sanchez was on patrol with his best friend when the collision occurred. The surviving officer, whose name was not released, was hospitalized with a broken jaw and other injuries.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 05/05/2014