Around the Nation

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Airliner Leaves Runway, Burns in Denver Takeoff

DENVER -- A Continental Airlines jet taking off from Denver veered off the runway into a ravine and caught fire Saturday night, forcing passengers to evacuate on emergency slides and injuring nearly 40 people, officials said.

No deaths were reported, but 38 people were taken to hospitals, said Kim Day, Denver International Airport manager of aviation. None of the 107 passengers and five crew members was reported in critical condition.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known. The weather in Denver was cold but not snowy when Flight 1404 took off from for Houston about 6:20 p.m.

The plane veered off course about 2,000 feet from the end of the runway and did not appear to be airborne, Day said.

It was not known when the plane caught fire, but ground crews put out the flames quickly, said airport spokesman Jeff Green. The 112 people on board made it out on through slides on the Boeing 737.

The accident closed the airport's west airfield and caused delays of 40 minutes, Day said.

Cause of Skyway Collapse Probed

ATLANTA -- Federal investigators were working through the weekend to determine what caused a pedestrian bridge being built high above an Atlanta park to collapse, killing one man and injuring 18 other workers.

Contractors were pouring concrete on the "canopy walk" at the Atlanta Botanical Garden when it crumbled Friday morning, sending workers hurtling as much as 40 feet to the forest below. The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration was investigating Saturday, but spokesman Mike Wald said it could take months to determine the cause.

The 30-acre garden, near Piedmont Park north of downtown, will stay closed through the weekend out of respect for the workers and their families, according to a statement on the garden's Web site. It is set to reopen Monday.

The Web site describes the collapsed skyway as the "only canopy level pathway of its kind in the U.S."

The skyway, four stories high, was to be supported by a system of cable wires "designed to hold the structure firm and steady without impacting tree roots."

Killed in the collapse was Angel Chupin, 66, of Marietta, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office.

Ohio Ex-Official Faces Complaint

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Former Ohio attorney general Marc Dann used his campaign account to bankroll home repairs and family vacations, according to a newspaper review of state investigative reports. The reports are part of a complaint filed last week with the Ohio Elections Commission by state Inspector General Tom Charles. Dann resigned in May amid a sexual-harassment scandal in his office. He told the Associated Press in an e-mail last week that some of the new complaints were false and that the rest had no basis in law.

Jurors to Continue in Terror Trial

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Jurors considering the case of five men accused of plotting to attack soldiers at the Army's Fort Dix finished their fourth day of deliberations Saturday without reaching a verdict. The jury, which was being sequestered, agreed to resume deliberations at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

Calif. Official Fights Proposition 8

SAN FRANCISCO -- The California attorney general has changed his position on the state's new ban on same-sex marriage and is urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. filed a brief Friday saying the measure that amended the state constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is unconstitutional and deprives gay couples of a fundamental right. After California voters passed Proposition 8 on Nov. 4, Brown said he would fight to uphold the initiative in his role as attorney general, even though he personally voted against it. He submitted his brief in one of the three legal challenges to Proposition 8 brought by supporters of same-sex marriage.

-- From News Services