In the Nation
2 were suffocated by train's coal
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. - Two young women were killed when a freight train derailed early Tuesday and toppled so much coal on them they couldn't breathe, authorities said Thursday.
The bodies of Elizabeth Nass and Rose Mayr were found buried under coal but still seated on the edge of the bridge, police have said. They were not hit by the train, Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said.
Both were 19. Nass attended James Madison University in Virginia and Mayr was a nursing student at the University of Delaware. Their funerals are set for Friday and Saturday.
- AP
Man, 88, won't be charged in death
SAN DIEGO - Relatives said they were relieved and delighted that an 88-year-old who was arrested shortly after the death of his wife on suspicion of aiding in her suicide won't be charged with any crime.
San Diego prosecutors determined that the case against Alan Purdy couldn't be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, Tanya Sierra, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said. The office routinely declines to explain why charges won't be filed in cases they decide not to pursue, Sierra said.
Margaret Purdy, 84, was found dead with a bag over her head in March, and her death was ruled a suicide. Family said the woman battled a series of ailments as her husband doted on her in her final years, and had attempted suicide before her death. - AP
Teen missing amid flooding in West
LAS VEGAS - Heavy rains in the Southwest have flooded ditches and roads, prompting a search for a missing Las Vegas-area teen and a dramatic rescue in Phoenix.
Crews resumed the search Thursday for a 17-year-old boy who somehow ended up in a drainage wash in Henderson, Nev., which had filled quickly after a morning downpour a day earlier.
Family and friends gathered to search for William Mootz, who was swept away down the flood channel Wednesday. He had been hanging out with a group of friends and apparently did not intend to get into the water.
In the Phoenix area, flooded roads led to a dramatic rescue Thursday morning. A driver and her disabled passenger had to be pulled from a medical transport van that was stranded after the driver tried to navigate a flooded Scottsdale wash. - AP
Elsewhere:
Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador, is facing hit-and-run and drunken-driving charges in Washington state, authorities said. Crocker registered blood-alcohol content that was twice the legal limit when he was arrested Aug. 14 in Spokane Valley, Trooper Troy Briggs said. Crocker pleaded not guilty the next day. The six-time ambassador, 63, retired last month after his latest assignment, in Afghanistan.
Rodney King, whose videotaped beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 led to deadly rioting, had been drinking and was on drugs when he plunged into a swimming pool and drowned in June, a coroner's report released Thursday concluded. The report confirmed a police conclusion of accidental death.
The body of a 6-year-old who was swept away with his brother in the Merced River has been recovered, Yosemite National Park officials said. Jacob Adams' body was found Thursday, about 50 yards downriver from where he went missing Aug. 15. The body of his brother Andres, 10, was found that day.