ATLANTA | Georgia authorities are investigating whether foul play was involved in the death of a 63-year-old Florida woman who was traveling on an Amtrak train.
Barbara Arteta was traveling with her husband aboard Amtrak Auto Train 53 from Virginia to Sanford, Fla., when she disappeared. Her body was found Thursday near railroad tracks in rural Jesup, Ga.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said Monday that an autopsy concluded Mrs. Arteta died from multiple injuries, including a broken neck. He said authorities have yet to determine whether her death was an accident or whether foul play was involved.
Investigators are urging anyone who was aboard the train with the victim to call the GBI tip line at 800/597-8477.
LOUISIANA
BP fund czar mulls waiving wage requirement
HOUMA | The administrator of the $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill said Monday he might waive the current requirement that wages earned from helping out in the cleanup be subtracted from people’s spill claims.
Doing so would be a key concession following strong criticism from residents about the claims process.
Meanwhile Monday, BP crews resumed drilling the final 50 feet of a relief well meant to enable them to permanently seal the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico. John Wright, who’s leading drilling efforts aboard the Development Driller III vessel, told Associated Press in an e-mail that the operation had resumed. BP said crews started drilling at 1:40 p.m. CDT.
BP and the government have said it would take about four days from the time crews started drilling again to intersect the blown-out well. Once the relief well intersects the blown-out well, crews will pump in mud and cement to seal the well permanently.
At the town hall meeting in Houma, La., fund czar Kenneth Feinberg told hundreds of people who packed a convention center that he is reconsidering the requirement that cleanup wages be subtracted from claims. He said he understands the loud concerns raised by people who are still hurting.
“I’m taking it under advisement,” Mr. Feinberg said. “The last time I said, no way, I’m deducting it. Now, it’s open for discussion.”
NEW YORK
Rushdie defends right to build mosque
NEW YORK | “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie is not a great fan of organized worship but thinks an Islamic center and mosque should be permitted two blocks from ground zero.
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