National Digest: 5 killed in holiday crash of truck and minivan in Louisiana

LOUISIANA

5 killed, 10 injured in crash on interstate

A minivan packed with children blew a tire, clipped a delivery truck and flipped over on a Louisiana interstate Saturday, killing five people and critically injuring 10, state police said.

Thirteen children who were riding without seat belts were thrown from the van, including four who died and were found in the median of Interstate 10 near Baton Rouge. All those killed and injured were aboard the GMC Safari minivan.

The crash occurred after the front tire blew out on the driver's side, police said. The van then hit the delivery truck traveling in the same direction, rolled about 200 feet across the median and landed in the oncoming lanes. No other vehicles were involved.

The driver of the van was among the dead. The driver of the truck steered to the side of the road and was not injured.

-- Associated Press

NORTH DAKOTA

Changes pledged at base hit by lapses

New commanders at Minot Air Force Base are promising improvements after a rash of mistakes involving the nuclear arsenal there.

In an interview, Col. Douglas Cox blamed the foul-ups during the past two years on lax attitudes regarding maintenance of the arsenal. Col. Ferdinand Stoss, new commander of the 91st Missile Wing, which handles the base's 150 Minuteman III missiles, said the base's nuclear mission "demands perfection."

The lapses in Minot included the 2007 cross-country flight of a B-52 bomber mistakenly armed with nuclear missiles. The theft of a launch-code device followed, and the discovery of missile crew members sleeping on the job.

-- Associated Press

Motorist crashes into day-care center: Police in eastern Pennsylvania say a driver distracted by a puppy in the front seat crashed into a day-care center full of children, all of whom escaped injury. About 40 people were at Little Sunshines Day Care Center in Port Carbon on Friday afternoon when the accident occurred. Police said the driver failed field sobriety tests and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Woman is first black mayor of Pa. city: A little girl who trembled in her house in York during race riots in 1969 has grown up to become the first black mayor of the central Pennsylvania city. Kim Bracey, 45, will take office in January, leading a city of 40,000 barely able to pay its bills as it loses the manufacturing jobs that helped establish it.

-- From news services