Highway pileup kills at least 10 GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were instantly blinded. At
Highway pileup kills at least 10
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were instantly blinded. At least 10 people were killed.
When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile, police said.
Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainesville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time before the accidents because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set.
At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.
Steven R. Camps of Gainesville said he and some friends were driving home several hours before dawn when they were drawn into the pileup.
“You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy,” he said. “If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of world.”
Photographs of the scene taken hours later revealed an aftermath that resembled a Hollywood disaster movie. Twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage.
Five found dead inside Ala. home
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Police found five people dead inside a Birmingham home when they arrived early Sunday morning to investigate a possible robbery, authorities said.
Birmingham Police Sgt. Johnny Williams said officers arrived at the house around 3:30 a.m. Sunday after getting a call that a robbery was in progress and soon discovered the five victims. He said investigators are interviewing potential witnesses but so far have made no arrests.
“Someone out there knows more information,” Williams said. “We know someone is going to do the right thing.”
The victims were not immediately identified, nor was the cause of death released. Birmingham authorities launched a homicide investigation and police believe more than one person was involved.
“It obviously appears to us this horrific crime was not a random act of violence,” said Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper.
The two-bedroom house sits on a busy street in west Birmingham where vacant homes sit beside homes where some residents have lived for years.
Police: Drugged driving a problem
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The federal government should help police departments nationwide obtain the tools and training needed to attack a rising scourge of driving under the influence, two U.S. senators said Sunday.
Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Mark Pryor of Arkansas proposed that federal funding in a pending transportation funding bill be used for research and to train police. They said police have no equipment and few have training in identifying drugged drivers, who don’t show the same outward signs of intoxication as drunken drivers do, such as slurred speech.
“Cops need a Breathalyzer-like technology that works to identify drug-impaired drivers on-the-spot — before they cause irreparable harm,” Schumer said. “With the explosive growth of prescription drug abuse it’s vital that local law enforcement have the tools and training they need to identify those driving under the influence of narcotics to get them off the road.”
Calif. passes auto emission rules
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Seeking to influence other states and Washington, California air regulators passed sweeping auto emission standards Friday that include a mandate to have 1.4 million electric and hybrid vehicles on state roads by 2025.
The California Air Resources Board unanimously approved the new rules that require that one in seven of the new cars sold in the state in 2025 be an electric or other zero-emission vehicle.
The plan also mandates a 75 percent reduction in smog-forming pollutants by 2025, and a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from today’s standards.
Automakers worked with the board and federal regulators on the greenhouse gas mandates in an effort to create one national standard for those pollutants.
“Today’s vote … represents a new chapter for clean cars in California and in the nation as a whole,” said Mary Nichols, the board’s chairwoman. “Californians have always loved their cars. We buy a lot of them and drive them. Now we will have cleaner and more efficient cars to love.”
