The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“If these allegations are true, people should be going to jail, not just resigning their positions.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., after Robert Petzel, the Veterans Affairs Department undersecretary for health care, resigned amid allegations of delays in care and of falsified records at veterans’ hospitals

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Steel-mill blast that hurt 6 investigated

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Investigators Friday tried to determine what caused an explosion at a Knoxville steel mill that injured six workers and could be heard by residents from blocks away.

One worker was critically burned in the Thursday night explosion at Gerdau Ameristeel Mill, which uses an electric arc furnace to turn scrap metal into steel. He was being treated at a regional burn center, the company said other injured workers had been treated at a hospital and released.

The names of the victims had not been released. Officials with the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration said they were still investigating the cause. It typically takes six to eight weeks to complete an investigation, agency spokesman Jeff Hentschel said in an email.

Obama marks Brown v. Board anniversary

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday marked the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision by recommitting to “the long struggle to stamp out bigotry and racism in all their forms.”

Obama also scheduled a meeting Friday with families of the plaintiffs as well as the lead attorneys and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Obama was hosting the group, including lawyers Jack Greenberg and William Coleman, in the White House East Room. Greenberg argued the case; Coleman was a leading legal strategist.

In a statement, Obama said the decision, issued on May 17, 1954, was “the first major step in dismantling the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine that justified Jim Crow,” the racial segregation laws that were in place at the state and local levels across the South.

“As we commemorate this historic anniversary, we recommit ourselves to the long struggle to stamp out bigotry and racism in all their forms,” Obama said. “We reaffirm our belief that all children deserve an education worthy of their promise. And we remember that change did not come overnight, that it took many years and a nationwide movement to fully realize the dream of civil rights for all of God’s children.”

Water-pipe fix tops Grand Canyon’s list

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A busted pipe that cut off a water supply for hikers at the Grand Canyon this week is the latest sign of aging infrastructure that could cost up to $200 million to replace, officials said.

Two pipelines that feed water from a spring deep in the canyon to storage tanks on the rim are the top priority for maintenance in the national park, said maintenance chief Tim Jarrell. Grand Canyon officials are stashing away a portion of entrance fees and doing engineering studies to determine how best to move forward.

“The park service has recognized that because of the magnitude of it, the implications and the cost to it, it’s no longer just Grand Canyon’s problem,” Jarrell said. “It’s the park service’s problem, so we have everyone’s ear.”

The pipelines are the primary water source for park staff members, visitors, hotel guests and residents at the Grand Canyon. A part of a steel pipe that runs up to the North Rim burst Tuesday when a rock fell on it. Crews boarded a helicopter with supplies to fix it at a cost of about $25,000, Jarrell said.

Minivan crash in Utah kills 4, injures 4

SALT LAKE CITY — A minivan carrying nine people rolled and crashed early Friday on Utah’s main east-west highway near the Colorado line, killing four people and injuring four others.

Police were investigating whether the vehicle was involved in human smuggling. They were searching for one person who was in the van but ran off after the wreck on Interstate 70 about 30 miles from the Colorado border.

Authorities said four passengers were thrown from the 1999 Toyota Sienna as it rolled down the middle of I-70 about 4:30 a.m., authorities said. It was unclear whether they were the four who died.

Investigators don’t know what caused the crash, but they believe that no other vehicles were involved, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said.

Police were still investigating and did not yet know how old the passengers were, where they were from or who was driving the minivan. The survivors apparently do not speak English, Royce said.

Emergency crews took the hurt passengers to St. Mary’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Grand Junction, Colo. Their injuries ranged from serious to critical, Royce said.

A Section on 05/17/2014

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