2 states withdraw police gas masks
Raleigh, N.C. North Carolina and New York are withdrawing thousands of Australian-made gas masks bought for police after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because they don’t meet federal standards for protection against nerve gas, anthrax and other toxins.
Three weeks ago, North Carolina authorities began removing the 2,400 masks purchased for $675,000 from Safety Equipment Australia because the company missed several deadlines to get them certified, officials said.
New York also purchased 4,500 of the masks for state police when there were few standards for such gear.
Safety Equipment says its masks are safe and the lack of certification is a technicality.
Amtrak train hits truck, killing four passengers
Roseland La. An Amtrak passenger train slammed into a pickup truck Sunday in southeast Louisiana, killing a man and three children, police said.
Chris Crowe, 31, was driving with his 6-year-old daughter, 8-year-old son and his fiance’s 12-year-old daughter about 40 miles northeast of Baton Rouge.
Police said the truck was pushed down the tracks a couple hundred yards by the train, which was heading from New Orleans to Chicago. Crowe’s fiance was following in her vehicle.
The crossing has stop signs but no traffic signals. The train was delayed for about 90 minutes.
DNA finally verifies parents of Baby 81
Kalmunai, Sri Lanka DNA test results released today show an infant boy found amid bodies and rubble after a tsunami struck Sri Lanka belongs to the couple who desperately fought for his custody, an official announced.
The ruling, based on last week’s court-ordered DNA test of the couple and the boy, nicknamed “Baby 81,” ended eight weeks of uncertainty and drama surrounding the infant, who became a symbol of families torn apart by the Dec. 26 tsunami.
Officials at a hospital in Kalmunai, 185 miles east of the capital, Colombo, where the baby has been held until the results are known, said eight others had also claimed the boy.
However, Jenita and Murugupillai Jeyarajah were the only couple to have filed a formal custody claim.