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Copter in deadly crash lost its main rotor power
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Published: August 22, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO -- An initial investigation into a deadly helicopter crash that killed nine people in Northern California earlier this month has found that the chopper's main rotor lost power during takeoff.
The Sikorsky S-61N helicopter hit trees after losing power and fell out of the air over the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, according to a preliminary crash report released yesterday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Investigators analyzed wreckage recovered from the crash site to determine that the rotor malfunctioned, an NTSB spokeswoman said.
The agency reported earlier that witnesses said the helicopter took off more slowly than normal before slamming into a hillside.
Student charged with murder in shooting of classmate
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A student fatally shot a 15-year-old classmate yesterday at a high school, police said, as other teenagers watched in horror as the victim clutched his chest and fell to the floor.
Police identified the victim as Ryan McDonald, a sophomore who lived with his grandmother and had alopecia, a condition that left him bald since he was 3 and the target of endless teasing as a child.
The shooting happened shortly after 8 a.m. at the Central High School cafeteria, Deputy Chief Bill Roehl said, and the suspected shooter was taken into custody six minutes later on a nearby street.
The suspect and victim knew each other, said Superintendent Jim McIntyre of the Knox County School System.
Jamar Siler, 15, was charged with one count of first-degree murder and was being held in a juvenile detention facility
Arkansas Democrat's widow to sub for him at convention
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The widow of slain state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney will fill his spot at the Democratic National Convention in Denver next week, the governor said yesterday.
Gov. Mike Beebe said that Rebecca Gwatney accepted an invitation from party leaders to fill the vacancy left in the state's delegation when her husband was killed last week by a gunman who in turn was killed by police.
"I can't express how honored I am to represent Bill at the Democratic National Convention," she said.
"Bill loved helping and serving people. He wanted to make Arkansas better for everyone."
Sex offender is convicted in strangulation of girl, 13
TAMPA, Fla. -- A jury in Florida has convicted a sex offender of second-degree murder in the death of a teenage girl in 2005.
Prosecutors say that David Lee Onstott strangled 13-year-old Sarah Lunde of Ruskin, Fla., and left her body in a pond near her home.
They said that Onstott went to the girl's house one night looking for her mother, whom he once dated.
There was no physical evidence linking Onstott to the crime. Prosecutors relied at trial on self-incriminating statements that he made to his mother and others while in jail.
Many of higher number of measles cases not inoculated
ATLANTA -- The number of measles cases in the United States is at its highest level since 1997, and nearly half of those involve children whose parents rejected vaccination, government health officials reported yesterday.
The number of cases is still small, just 131, but that's just for the first seven months of the year, and doctors are troubled by the trend.
There were only 42 cases for all of last year.
Pediatricians are frustrated, saying they are having to spend more time convincing parents the shot is safe.
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