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In the Nation

Alexa Ray Joel treated for pills

NEW YORK - Alexa Ray Joel, the daughter of pop star Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley, was hospitalized after taking eight pills at her Manhattan apartment, a law enforcement official said yesterday.

A friend frantically called 911 shortly after noon yesterday from the singer's Greenwich Village apartment saying Joel, 23, had taken several pills, the official said.

Joel took eight pills, though officials didn't know what kind she had ingested; it wasn't clear whether she had accidentally overdosed or attempted suicide, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Joel is hospitalized in stable condition and receiving treatment, her publicist Claire Mercuri said. "We are currently assessing her needs," she said. - AP

Ohio fire kills 2 men, 43 horses

LEBANON, Ohio - A predawn fire ripped through a horse barn at a county fairgrounds yesterday in southwest Ohio, killing two men and 43 horses, authorities said.

The barn roof had already collapsed by the time firefighters arrived at the Warren County Fairgrounds, about 25 miles northeast of Cincinnati, according to Capt. Krista Wyatt of the Lebanon Fire Department. State fire investigators said they have ruled out criminal intent.

The badly burned bodies of two men were pulled from the barn, said Shane Cartmill, a spokesman for the Ohio state fire marshal. Lamar Moody, lead trainer at Lebanon Raceway, a harness-racing track based at the fairgrounds, said two of his employees were not accounted for. - AP

Church elects 2d gay bishop

LOS ANGELES - The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles yesterday elected the second openly gay bishop in the national church and the world Anglican fellowship.

The Rev. Mary Glasspool of Baltimore won election as assistant bishop in Los Angeles. Glasspool lives with a female partner. Her election as assistant bishop must be approved by a majority of national church leaders.

The first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, was consecrated in 2003. The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States. The election of Robinson already has deeply fractured the global Anglican Communion.

- AP

Elsewhere:

One worker was killed and two others were injured when a boiler failed Friday at a Valero petroleum refinery in eastern Texas. Valero Energy Co. spokesman Bill Day could not say, without further investigation, whether there had been an explosion or a fire during the failure in Texas City.

A bus driver was killed and about 40 passengers injured early yesterday when the bus crashed into an overturned tractor-trailer blocking Interstate 25 in central Wyoming. Highway Patrol Sgt. Stephen Townsend said the crash about four miles south of Casper involved an Arrow Stage Lines bus traveling from Denver to Billings, Mont.