In the Nation

OHIO

Firefighter falls into basement, dies

A firefighter battling a house fire died after falling through a floor into the basement soon after entering the southwest Ohio home early Monday, authorities said.

Hamilton officials said Firefighter Patrick Wolterman's death was the department's first in the line of duty since 1971. Fire department officials say he was hired in April after several years of experience with other local departments and was recently married.

"Our city is in mourning with the loss of one of our heroes," said J. Scott Scrimizzi, director of public safety for the city of more than 60,000 people about 30 miles north of Cincinnati.

Fire officials said crews responding to a fire call found heavy smoke coming from three sides of the house.

- AP
RHODE ISLAND

50-foot whale seen frolicking in bay

A 50-foot humpback whale made an uncommon trip on Monday deep into Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, where it was spotted breaching and playing for about 45 minutes.

North Kingstown Harbormaster Ed Hughes was making the rounds at a marina at Allen Harbor north of Quonset Point on Monday morning during windy conditions when he spotted what he thought was a boat out on the water.

"Then I looked again, and it was about a 50-foot whale breaching out of the water. This is not a place where you normally see a 50-foot whale," he said. "Not here."

Hughes snapped a few photos of the whale breaching out of the water. The Mount Hope Bridge and sparsely inhabited Prudence Island can be seen behind it. - AP
FLORIDA

Dartmouth College student dies in pool

A Dartmouth College swimmer who died at a YMCA pool had been trying to complete four laps underwater without surfacing to breathe when he went into distress, according to a sheriff's office report released Monday.

Tate Ramsden, 21, of Nashville, Tenn., was pronounced dead at the Sarasota, Fla., pool after emergency personnel could not revive him, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office incident report.

Ramsden was at the pool Saturday with his sister, uncle and a cousin.

"Tate had been swimming laps in the pool for some time and I was told he had swum approximately 4,000 yards before practicing his underwater swimming techniques," Officer Douglas Stidham wrote in the report. - AP
NEW YORK

Fire kills 2 people

in Brooklyn

Officials say a fire that raged through one Brooklyn apartment building and spread to another killed two people.

It's not yet clear what sparked the blaze around 1:30 a.m. Monday in the Williamsburg area.

It took about 200 firefighters and about three hours to get it under control. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries. - AP