Around the Nation

CALIFORNIA

Dozens hurt in 60-vehicle crash

DEVORE — More than 60 cars and tractor-trailers crashed on Interstate 15 in a fiery series of pileups yesterday along fog-shrouded Cajon Pass.

Two dozen persons were reported injured in at least four accidents along a two-mile stretch.

Five vehicles were engulfed in flames and several trucks jackknifed. The accidents closed the northbound lanes of the freeway, the main road between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, for hours.

The victims suffered minor to moderate injuries and none appeared life-threatening, fire spokeswoman Tracy Martinez said. Seven persons were taken to hospitals.

MICHIGAN

Four children beaten to death

DETROIT — Five persons were tied up and fatally beaten yesterday in a downtown Detroit house, while a 13-year-old girl escaped and alerted authorities.

A suspect was in custody, Police Chief Cara Best said. The victims were a 33-year-old woman, a 16-year-old boy and three girls ages 9 to 14.

Chief Best would not say what weapon was used, only that police thought they had recovered it.

ALABAMA

Recipe in magazine hurts some readers

BIRMINGHAM — Southern Living magazine has recalled this month’s issue from newsstands because of an error in a recipe for dinner rolls that resulted in minor burns to at least five readers.

The recipe for icebox rolls incorrectly instructed cooks to boil a cup of water and a half-cup of shortening over high heat for five minutes. But that can cause the melted grease to rise to the top of the saucepan, trapping the hot water and creating an explosive burst.

The recall, announced Wednesday, was the first in the 38-year history of the magazine. The correct recipe calls for pouring a cup of boiling water over the shortening in a large bowl and stirring to melt the shortening.

COLORADO

Spreading wildfire forces families out

FORT COLLINS — Authorities asked dozens of families to evacuate yesterday as a 2,000-acre wildfire turned toward a subdivision in the foothills of northern Colorado.

The evacuation was voluntary, but fire information officer John Bustos said the blaze was “very active” and was being fed by wind gusting to 35 mph. The fire nearly doubled in size overnight.

The blaze began Tuesday when a residential yard fire went out of control. It has been fanned by gusty wind and officials said they feared an approaching storm front could cause more problems late yesterday.

Two air tankers and two helicopters, with four crews totaling 80 persons, were available to fight the fire.

CONNECTICUT

Teens report rapes by street gangs

HARTFORD — Eleven teenage girls in two Hartford suburbs have reported in the past month that they were raped by boys participating in street-gang initiation rituals, the head of a rape crisis center said yesterday.

Judy Vazquez, director of the YWCA Sexual Assault Crisis Service in Hartford, said the girls reported the attacks to the center and not police because they fear retaliation from gang members.

Some of the teens reported being attacked as they were walking home from a bus stop, and others said they were assaulted at parties. In some cases, girls reported more than one attacker, Miss Vazquez said.

Some of the purported assaults were random, and in other cases, the teens knew the attacker or attackers, she said.

FLORIDA

3 officers convicted in gun coverup

MIAMI — Three Miami police officers were convicted yesterday of charges that they joined a coverup after guns were planted near the bodies of two robbers fatally shot by police.

The verdict came on the third day of deliberations. The jury had to restart from scratch after three jurors were dismissed for health reasons or other problems and had to be replaced.

Lt. Israel Gonzalez and Officer Jorge Garcia face up to 10 years in prison for committing perjury to a grand jury and obstructing justice by lying in sworn depositions and conspiracy. Sgt. Jose Quintero faces up to five years for conspiracy for planting one of the guns.

ILLINOIS

Car-scam granny skips court date

CHICAGO — A 75-year-old grandmother suspected of scamming a dozen car dealers by passing bad checks has lost her attorney after the check she gave him bounced, media reports said yesterday.

Lawyer Stephen Ford dropped Betty Gooch on Wednesday, the same day a judge issued an arrest warrant for Mrs. Gooch when she failed to show up for a court hearing in Woodstock, Ill.

Mrs. Gooch, who gets around with a walking frame and a portable oxygen cart, was scheduled to appear in court for a bail hearing. She has been charged with five felony counts of theft by deception and passing bad checks.

Mrs. Gooch reputedly used bad checks to pay for vehicles.

INDIANA

Dead man’s brother tries to obtain drugs

EVANSVILLE — A man was arrested this week after he attempted to obtain drugs that were prescribed for his brother, who died two weeks ago.

When Steven Willard Stinson, 50, was confronted by an officer, he feigned surprise that his brother, James Stinson, 55, had died March 14, police said. But later, he told officers that he had been staying at his brother’s one-room apartment since his death.

The drug he reportedly attempted to obtain was Serax, also known as Oxazepam, an antianxiety medication, police said.

IOWA

’Smiley face’ bomb suspect won’t be tried

CEDAR RAPIDS — A former college student accused of planting pipe bombs in a “smiley face” pattern across the Midwest nearly two years ago was declared incompetent to stand trial by a federal judge yesterday.

Luke Helder, 22, was ordered to return to the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn., where he will undergo another round of psychological evaluation to determine whether he is a risk to others. U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett could free him if he is found not to be a risk.

Mr. Helder was caught after a nationwide manhunt in May 2002, when 18 pipe bombs and antigovernment letters were placed in mailboxes in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas. Six pipe bombs exploded in Iowa and Illinois, injuring four letter carriers and two residents.

LOUISIANA

Students bargain grades for money

BATON ROUGE — An investigation into a money-for-grades scandal at Southern University has implicated 541 current and former students and could lead to the revocation of some degrees, the school said.

Chancellor Edward Jackson said Wednesday that the scandal at the nation’s largest historically black university dates to 1995 and involves undergraduate and graduate students paying to have their grades changed.

The scandal involved the alteration of computer records and paper documents.

NEW YORK

Man says he is Versace’s cousin

NEW YORK — A man who says he is the cousin of Italian designer Gianni Versace is facing a prison term for trademark violations of the Versace name after a ruling by a New York judge, a court source said yesterday.

Alfredo Versace, an Italian citizen who lives in the New York borough of Queens, fought a long dispute with the famed Italian designer that continued with the designer’s heirs after Gianni Versace was murdered in front of his Miami mansion in 1997.

Alfredo Versace has been ordered to surrender to police April 12 for failure to pay fines totaling tens of thousands of dollars related to trademark violations of the Versace name.

OHIO

Highway shootings suspect charged

COLUMBUS — The man arrested in the deadly string of highway shootings that terrorized Ohio drivers for months was indicted yesterday on a murder charge that could bring the death penalty.

Charles A. McCoy Jr., 28, was charged with numerous other offenses as well, including attempted murder, assault and vandalism, in half of the 24 shootings.

The murder charge covers the only death in the case, that of Gail Knisley, 62, who was in a car with a friend when a bullet pierced the driver’s door and killed her Nov. 25.

PENNSYLVANIA

Boy won’t face charges in shooting

PITTSBURGH — A 10-year-old who randomly fired a pistol from his bedroom window and killed a postal worker in the summer will not be charged, officials said yesterday.

The boy’s mother, who owned the gun, was charged with illegal possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, District Attorney Stephen Zappala said. Latoya Burnette, 30, faces 2⅔ years to 10 years in prison if convicted. She was arrested in North Carolina and awaits transfer to Pennsylvania after waiving a bail hearing.

Investigators ruled that the June 23 shooting was unintentional but said the boy acted recklessly and negligently.

TEXAS

Sewage spills into Trinity River

DALLAS — Environmental crews yesterday were cleaning up a massive sewage spill in North Texas that leaked into the Trinity River near Dallas.

A sluice gate malfunctioned at the Trinity River Authority sewage treatment plant Wednesday at Grand Prairie, dumping millions of gallons of raw sewage, the Dallas Morning News reported.