American Scene

MINNESOTA

$38 million for bridge-collapse victims

ST. PAUL — Gov. Tim Pawlenty has approved a $38 million package to compensate victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse.

Mr. Pawlenty signed the bill yesterday with dozens of victims on hand, some of them with tears in their eyes. He said the financial aid shows Minnesota is “trying to do the right thing” for victims by offering more money than state law would have allowed.

Everyone who was on the Interstate 35W bridge would qualify for up to $400,000. The more seriously injured could get more.

The bridge fell Aug. 1, killing 13 and injuring 145.

NEW JERSEY

’Santa’ arrested in child-sex case

NEWARK — An actor who played Santa Claus and painted children’s faces was arrested on child-sex charges early yesterday after an international manhunt — just the second time Interpol sought the public’s help to find a suspected pedophile.

Wayne Nelson Corliss, 58, was arrested at his Union City apartment. He is suspected of sexually abusing at least three boys from Southeast Asia thought to have been 6 to 10 years old, according to the international police agency.

Mr. Corliss is charged with producing child pornography and could face 10 to 20 years in federal prison if convicted, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark. He was to appear in court yesterday afternoon.

Colleagues know Mr. Corliss, who acted under the stage name Casey Wayne, as a witty man who liked to write and eschewed 9-to-5 jobs in favor of acting and entertainment gigs — including painting faces and playing Santa Claus at parties.

COLORADO

Army studies infantry decision

FORT CARSON — The Army says it will study environmental and socioeconomic impacts of its decision to station a new infantry brigade with about 4,500 soldiers at Fort Carson. The Army noted that the new brigade would mean more use of the Pinon Canyon training site, 150 miles away, but didn’t mention the possible expansion of the site.

Opponents fear the expansion would hurt the economy by taking land out of agricultural use.

FLORIDA

Charge dropped against director

APOPKA — Prosecutors say they’ve dropped the charge against a director accused of holding women against their will in a Central Florida house while filming a reality show.

Marc Brilleman was arrested last month on a false imprisonment charge while filming “Pauper to Princess” in Apopka.

A spokeswoman for the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office says there isn’t enough evidence to support the charge. The charge was dropped Wednesday.

The show was to build the women’s self-esteem and help them grow physically, mentally and spiritually.

GEORGIA

Oldest league bowler dies

ATLANTA — By the time Bill Hargrove was recognized last year as the nation’s oldest league bowler, his eyesight had deteriorated so much that he could hardly see the pins.

But he kept at it, armed with a mental image of them. He was still bowling last week, just before he was hospitalized and died Monday of congestive heart failure — four days shy of turning 107.

Mr. Hargrove died at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, a spokeswoman said. He lived nearby in Clermont.

He earned national attention in May 2007, after turning 106, when the United States Bowling Congress dubbed him “the oldest league bowler ever.”

KANSAS

Bill would allow nuke planning fee

TOPEKA — The House passed legislation allowing utilities to recover from ratepayers the cost of planning for a nuclear generating facility. The 101-22 vote sends the bill to the Senate where passage is expected.

Supporters say the bill is needed if utilities are going to seriously consider nuclear power. Opponents say it would mean higher bills for utility customers.

NEW MEXICO

Firefighters keep blaze at bay

ALBUQUERQUE — Firefighters have managed to keep a blaze that has torched more than 59 homes in central New Mexico from growing for several days, and they’re hopeful that they can keep it up in the face of dry, gusty conditions.

“It’s really looking good,” fire information officer Murt Sullivan said of the firefighting effort. But, he added: “We really need some rain.”

The human-caused fire just west of the small communities of Torreon and Manzano has burned about 21 square miles, or 13,709 acres, since it began April 15. The acreage increased slightly Wednesday because of more accurate mapping, Mr. Sullivan said.

The fire, which is 75 percent contained, had forced the evacuation of about 400 people. The last of them were allowed to return to the area Tuesday.

Wind tested the southeastern containment lines Wednesday, but Mr. Sullivan said crews were able to keep the flames in check despite gusts of up to 38 mph.

PENNSYLVANIA

Photo helped nab suspect

BENSALEM — Police say they had no trouble tracking down a robbery suspect, because the victims had taken his picture while chatting with him at a bar a short time before the theft.

The suspect, Andre Smith, struck up a conversation with a group of women at a bachelorette party at the Bensalem Township taproom early Sunday morning, the township’s public safety director, Fred Harran, said Wednesday. The women were taking photos of each other when Mr. Smith jumped in front of the camera, Mr. Harran said.

Mr. Smith later was ejected from the bar for purportedly harassing customers.

When two women in the group left the bar to go to a nearby convenience store, Mr. Smith robbed them of their purses, Mr. Harran said. The women recognized Mr. Smith — who apparently didn’t recognize them — and gave investigators a copy of their photo, Mr. Harran said.

Later Sunday, a detective went around to local apartment complexes looking for Mr. Smith and spotted him, Mr. Harran said.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Flooding threat rises for rivers

RAPID CITY — Warm weather on the heels of a blizzard has led to threats of flooding in the northern Black Hills and northwestern South Dakota.

Minor to moderate flooding was expected along several rivers and tributaries as last week’s 2 to 4 feet of snow melts.

Forecasters said rain this week could add to the flood threat.

From wire dispatches and staff reports