Nation in brief: Player dies week after bus crash

A college baseball player pulled from the wreckage of his team’s charter bus died of his injuries Friday, raising the death toll from last week’s crash to seven.

Zach Arend, 18, had been in critical condition since the bus went off a highway overpass before dawn last Friday.

Arend’s grandmother, Ann Miller, had said the Ohio teenager had suffered chest and abdominal injuries, a fractured pelvis and collapsed lungs.

Four of Arend’s Bluffton University teammates, the bus driver and the driver’s wife were killed when the bus plowed off an overpass in Atlanta and crashed onto the Interstate 75 pavement below. More than two dozen others aboard were injured.

The Ohio team’s coach, James Grandey, was listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit at Piedmont Hospital Friday. Two players remained hospitalized at Grady Memorial, one in critical condition and one in fair condition. Another player was in stable condition at Atlanta Medical Center.

Beverly Hills, Calif.

Iranian exile next to be mayor

An Iranian-born politician won re-election to the city council Friday, putting him in line to become the first Persian-born mayor of a community that for decades has been a hub for exiles of Iran’s 1979 revolution.

With the vote count still not official, Jimmy Delshad had the second-highest number of votes, which would give him one of the two at-large council seats up for grabs in Tuesday’s election.

“The mayor’s job in Beverly Hills is very important, very visible, and I think I’m up to it,” said Delshad, 66, who received hugs from his wife and adult children when ballot tallies were announced.

Beverly Hills mayors are chosen by council members and are decided by seniority. Council member Steve Webb, an attorney who lost his bid for re-election, is the current mayor and steps down March 20. Delshad is next in line.

The mayor presides over council meetings. The city’s chief executive is the hired city manager.

Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Shuttle launch possible in April

A preliminary inspection of space shuttle Atlantis’s hail-damaged fuel tank shows it can be repaired in Florida, keeping it on track for a launch as soon as late April, a NASA spokeswoman said Friday.

NASA officials had feared that the agency would have had to replace the tank if the damage was too extensive, which would have pushed the launch date into June.

The ability of technicians at the Kennedy Space Center to make the repairs in Florida keeps Atlantis on target for a launch as early as late April, said NASA spokeswoman Jessica Rye in Cape Canaveral.

An explosive, freak hailstorm made thousands of dings on Atlantis’ external tank last week as it waited on the launch pad for an originally scheduled March 15 liftoff – the first launch of the year.