In brief: School bus crash injures 11 kids, driver

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Eleven middle school students and their driver were injured when a school bus jumped a curb Thursday and rammed into trees in Southern California, authorities said.

Three of the injured – the driver and two of the children – were taken to hospitals in critical condition after the 3:30 p.m. crash, Anaheim police Lt. Bob Dunn said. The other nine students had minor injuries, and most of them were released to their parents.

Television news reports show the Orange Unified School District bus tilted sideways and leaning against a tree on a roadside embankment next to Anaheim Hills Golf Course. Police said no other vehicles were involved in the crash.

The driver was trapped inside the bus, and firefighters removed him.

The bus was taking students home from an afterschool activity at El Rancho Charter Middle School in Anaheim when it crashed, said a statement from the school district.

Ex-watchdog put on leave after report

WASHINGTON – The secretary of the Homeland Security Department put the agency’s former internal watchdog on administrative leave Thursday following the release of a Senate report that concluded he was too cozy with senior agency officials and improperly rewrote, delayed or classified some critical reports to accommodate President Barack Obama’s political appointees.

Secretary Jeh Johnson said Charles K. Edwards, who was allowed to quietly resign and take another job within the department in December, was put on leave after Johnson reviewed the 27-page report from a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee.

The report said Edwards wasn’t qualified for his job and he lacked the independence required of an inspector general.