Nation in brief: Van full of kids flips on freeway

New Orleans – A minivan packed with children blew a tire, clipped a delivery truck and rolled on a Louisiana interstate Saturday, killing five people and critically injuring another 10, state police said.

Thirteen children riding without seat belts were thrown from the van, including four of the dead who were found in the median of Interstate 10 near Baton Rouge, Louisiana State Police said. All those killed and injured were aboard the GMC Safari minivan, and some were related, police spokesman Russell Graham said.

“I just saw the vehicle flip about three or four times and kids flying everywhere,” witness Tammy Hall told WAFB-TV. “It looked to be about 10 to 11 kids out of the car.”

The van didn’t have enough seat belts for the 13, and capacity likely wouldn’t have exceeded 10, Graham said. The driver, who was killed, and a front-seat passenger appeared to be the only ones wearing seat belts.

“The Louisiana Legislature just passed a law making it mandatory to wear seat belts in both the front and back seats,” Graham said. “This is a good illustration of why they did.”

Dinner crashers hawking interview

New York – A television executive said the couple who crashed President Barack Obama’s first state dinner is offering to talk to broadcast networks about it for a payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the network does not publicly discuss bookings, told the Associated Press that representatives for Michaele and Tareq Salahi contacted networks to urge them to “get their bids in” for an interview. The executive said the Virginia couple was looking for a payment in the mid-six figures range.

The couple’s success in getting into the state dinner Tuesday without an invitation embarrassed the White House and Secret Service.

Representatives for the Salahis did not immediately return telephone and e-mail requests for comment.

Network news divisions say they don’t pay for interviews. They have, for eagerly sought interviews in the past, offered to pay for access to exclusive material like pictures or videos from their subjects.

Meanwhile, CNN confirmed that the Salahis had canceled an appearance they had scheduled for “Larry King Live” on Monday.

Mortgage lenders to be pressured

Washington – The Obama administration, battling a foreclosure crisis that shows no signs of relenting, will step up pressure on mortgage companies to do more to help people remain in their homes, officials said Saturday.

The administration will announce its expanded program on Monday, Treasury spokeswoman Meg Reilly said.

“We are taking additional steps to enhance servicer transparency and accountability,” Reilly said. She said the goal was to increase the rate at which troubled home loans were converted into new loans with lower monthly payments.

Industry officials said the new effort would include increased pressure on mortgage companies to accelerate loan modifications by highlighting firms that are lagging in that area.

The Treasury is also expected to announce that it will wait until the loan modifications are permanent before paying cash incentives to mortgage companies that lower loan payments.

Under the $75 billion Treasury program, companies that agree to lower payments for troubled borrowers collect $1,000 initially from the government for each loan, followed by $1,000 annually for up to three years.