Suspicious package shuts down event
LANCASTER, Pa. -- A scheduled Drag Queen Story Hour at a Pennsylvania library was canceled Saturday after a suspicious package was found in the building and two blocks were evacuated after threats were reported, authorities said.
Police evacuated the Lancaster Public Library after the package was found. A state police bomb squad later cleared the library, but police said "additional reported threats" were still being investigated. Residents of the block and another block nearby were told to evacuate, an order lifted several hours later.
A city spokesperson later told LancasterOnline that a dog had alerted on the package and that the contents were later found to be "benign" but "subsequently, we received additional written threats via email."
Christopher Paolini, who was to read in drag as Miss Amie Vanité, said he had just arrived and was getting ready "when the alarms went off." He called the turn of events "insane," LancasterOnline reported.
"I'm not going to stop what I'm doing," he said.
'Incident' on ship kills 2 crew members
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Two crew members on a Holland America cruise ship died during an "incident" in the ship's engineering space, the cruise line said.
The unidentified crew members died Friday while the Florida-based Nieuw Amsterdam was at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, Holland America said in a statement.
Authorities were notified and the cause of the accident is being investigated, the cruise line said. Crew members were being offered counseling.
"All of us at Holland America Line are deeply saddened by this incident and our thoughts and prayers are with our team members' families at this difficult time," the statement said. "The safety, security and welfare of all guests and crew are the company's absolute priority."
The cruise line did not offer any further details about the crew members. It later said the Bahamas Maritime Authority was leading the investigation. The ship set sail out of Fort Lauderdale on March 16 for a seven-night trip.
Biden, Trump win Louisiana's primary
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won Louisiana's primary Saturday, collecting more delegates after they already clinched their party nominations.
Biden also appeared in Missouri's Democratic primary, with results not expected to be reported until next week.
None of the races were in suspense. Biden and Trump have already beaten their major competitors, but the primary races are still closely watched by insiders for turnout and signs of protest voters.
For Biden, some liberals are registering their anger with Israel's war against Hamas. A protest movement launched by Arab American communities in Michigan has spread to several other states.
Trump is his party's dominant figure and has locked up a third straight Republican nomination, but he faces dissent from people worried about the immense legal jeopardy he faces or critical of his White House term.
Boy dies in bus, cement truck collision
BASTROP, Texas -- A cement truck veered into a school bus carrying more than 40 pre-kindergarten students returning from a field trip to a Texas zoo Friday, killing a boy on the bus and a man in another vehicle, authorities said.
Officials said the bus rolled over on the highway in the rural outskirts of Austin, where the heavy presence of emergency vehicles shut down traffic for hours.
Four people in critical condition were airlifted from the crash site. Six others with potentially serious injuries were transported by ambulance, said Kevin Parker, division chief of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
An ambulance bus transported about 10 other patients with minor injuries to a children's hospital, Parker said. Passengers on the bus included 44 students and 11 adults, according to the Hays Consolidated Independent School District.
The child who died "was a precious young boy" who was a pre-K student at Tom Green Elementary School in Buda, according to Eric Wright, school district superintendent. The child's name was not released.
Wright said that in addition to the two people who died, 51 others were injured, including the bus driver.
The bus was struck about 2 p.m. when the concrete truck, which was traveling in the opposite direction, veered into the bus's lane, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Deon Cockrell said. He added that authorities told him initial information indicated that the truck hit the bus head-on, causing it to roll over.
The man who was killed was in a vehicle that either ran into the back of the bus or maybe part of the concrete truck, Cockrell said.
There was one person in the truck and one man in the other vehicle. Cockrell didn't know how fast the vehicles were going. He said the truck driver was cooperating with authorities.
Parents of the students on the bus were notified of the crash and all the children were reunited with their families by the evening, Wright said.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports