In the Nation

MAINE

Four killed as SUV

hits car head-on

A woman in an SUV trying to pass a tractor-trailer on a northern Maine highway smashed head-on into a car Monday, killing herself and three people in the car, including a 2-year-old girl, state police said.

One person survived the morning crash on Route 161 in Caribou, about 10 miles from the Canadian border.

The crash happened when Kimberly Lausier, 38, of Madawaska, tried to pass the 18-wheeler, police said. She collided with a car driven by 33-year-old Bobbi-Jo Johnston of Fort Fairfield. Both drivers were killed. Also killed were Johnston's daughter, 2-year-old Alana, and her mother, Laurie Ann Johnston, 52, of Carlingford, New Brunswick.

The road was closed for several hours. State police said they had not been able to track down the driver of the tractor-trailer, who may not have realized the crash occurred. - AP
UTAH

Doctor tried in death

The death of a Utah doctor's ex-wife looks like an accident or a suicide rather than a homicide, a forensic expert for the defense testified during the murder trial of John Brickman Wall on Monday. Salt Lake City cancer researcher Uta von Schwedler, 49, was found dead in a bathtub with shallow wounds cut in a straight line on her wrist, pathologist Judy Melinek said as the trial entered its fourth week. Prosecutors say Wall, 51, attacked his ex-wife in her bed during a bitter custody battle, injected her with Xanax, and drowned her in 2011.

- AP
TEXAS

Ships collide

Part of the Houston Ship Channel has been closed after two 600-foot ships collided in the fog, causing leakage of a flammable liquid. The Coast Guard said that a gasoline additive aboard a chemical tanker was no longer leaking and that crews were assessing how much spilled. - AP