National news

Boston schools to redesign work pace

Boston School officials want to redesign the traditional four-year high school to allow students to work at their own pace toward graduation.

The proposal is part of several changes the Boston School Committee could approve as soon as next month.

Existing rules require freshmen to repeat ninth grade if they fail English or math or two courses in science, history or languages.

Under the proposed new plan, students would repeat classes they fail instead of the entire grade and advance to the next level in classes they pass.

Advanced students could graduate in three years while struggling students could take up to five years to finish.

Critics say students need grade levels for structure, but Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant said too many students repeat grades, attend summer school or drop out under the current system.

Dad shoots paralyzed 40-year-old son, self

Denver A father fatally shot his paralyzed 40-year-old son, then killed himself after officials rejected his request for help caring for the son, authorities said.

Police found the bodies Friday after entering Gerald E. Carabetta’s home. Neighbors had reported newspapers piled up in front of the residence.

Carabetta had told neighbors he was overwhelmed and could not get help for his son, Robert, who was paralyzed in a bar fight three years ago.

“He had a hard time taking care of that boy,” said Dave Lantzy, a former business partner and neighbor for 30 years. “He was distraught. He didn’t look healthy.”

Arlene Miles, president of the Colorado Health Care Association, said even if Carabetta had been turned down for Medicaid, there were other places he could have sought help.

“It’s just so tragic. If they lived in isolation, they may not have known how to get the resources they needed,” she said.

The father and son had often gone fly fishing and camping in years past, but they were rarely seen outside the home more recently. Carabetta quit his job as a mechanic to care for his son.

“He made his trips to the store, and that was about it. People didn’t come around much to see them,” Lantzy said.

Poll: Hispanics feel ignored by candidates

Phoenix A majority of U.S. Hispanics believe that political candidates are not talking about issues important to the Latino community, according to a poll released Sunday.

The survey was conducted for the National Council of La Raza, a civil rights group dedicated to promoting Hispanic issues that is holding its annual convention this weekend in Phoenix.

According to the poll, 58 percent of Hispanics feel candidates are not addressing their concerns. A third disagreed, while 8 percent were undecided.

La Raza president Raul Yzaguirre said both major political parties need to take Hispanic issues seriously.

“Showing up every four years may work for the Olympics, but not for governing,” Yzaguirre said.

Thirty-four percent of those surveyed said education ranks as the top issue for Latinos, followed by jobs, immigration, civil rights and health care.

Hikers trapped under sliding rocks, 1 killed

Millinocket, Maine A rock slide on a popular trail on Mount Katahdin killed one hiker, who became trapped under a boulder, and injured another, officials said Sunday.

The injured hiker and two other people caught in Saturday’s rock slide were rescued and walked down the mountain during the night, said Irvin “Buzz” Caverly Jr., director of Baxter State Park in northern Maine.

About 60 people helped search Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, for the group of four hikers. The slide occurred at about 4,100 feet along Cathedral Trail in the mile-high mountain’s south basin.

The crew of a Maine Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopter removed the body of Roger Cooper, 52, of Bangor, late Sunday morning, Caverly said.

Hit-and-run prompts crowd to beat 2 men

Milwaukee A large crowd pulled two men from a car and beat them after the driver struck three children and tried to flee, Milwaukee County sheriff’s officials said.

Two of the children remained hospitalized Sunday, but officials would not release details on their conditions.

The car hit two 14-year-olds late Friday as they crossed a street on the city’s north side, and the driver made a U-turn and hit a 12-year-old boy, the sheriff’s department said.

A large crowd surrounded the car, pulled out the driver and a 29-year-old passenger and beat them, the sheriff’s department said. There were others in the car, but sheriff’s spokeswoman Kim Brooks said Saturday she did not know how many.

The men were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, and charges were pending, Brooks said Saturday. No one in the crowd had been arrested.

Corene Herbert, 31, said she had seen the car swerve and drive the wrong way down one-way streets about an hour and a half before the teens were hit.

“I just think the driver was doing that intentionally, at the rate he was speeding,” Herbert said.