Dormitory fire injures seven
Boston A natural gas explosion sent flames shooting through a Northeastern University dormitory Wednesday, injuring seven people and severely damaging the six-story brick building.
Victims were treated for broken bones, cuts and burns, but no one was seriously hurt, said Richard Serino, Boston’s emergency services director.
A Boston Fire Department spokesman said the explosion probably was caused by a gas leak in the boiler room of Kerr Hall.
Kerr Hall houses dormitories and a faculty center. The injured included students, faculty, staff and a utility worker sent to investigate the gas leak.
Supremacist gets 40 years for murder plot
Chicago Avowed white supremacist Matthew Hale was sentenced to 40 years in prison Wednesday for trying to have a federal judge killed – the same judge whose husband and mother were murdered five weeks ago by a deranged man with no connection to Hale.
Hale, the 33-year-old leader of a group that preaches racial holy war, was sentenced after a rambling, two-hour speech in which he claimed he was the victim and even recited part of “The Star Spangled Banner.” He showed no emotion and sat staring at the defense table as the sentence was handed down.
Prosecutors argued for the maximum sentence, saying Hale’s crime amounted to an act of terrorism, and the judge agreed.
“Mr. Hale is not concerned about taking someone’s life, but rather how to do it without getting caught,” U.S. District Judge James Moody said in imposing the sentence. “I consider Mr. Hale to be extremely dangerous and the offense for which he was convicted to be extremely egregious.”
Would-be train thief pleads guilty
New York A man obsessed with trains was sentenced Wednesday to up to three years in prison for trying to steal a Long Island Railroad locomotive.
Darius McCollum, 39, pleaded guilty in February to attempted grand larceny. The charge stemmed from his 20th arrest for illegally posing as a subway motorman and other transit workers.
Wearing an orange reflector vest and hard hat, McCollum entered an LIRR yard last year posing as a safety consultant and asked representatives of a locomotive company how to operate a new type of engine, prosecutors said.
McCollum left the train yard when his identity was questioned. He later was found with stolen keys, including one for the new locomotive, prosecutors said.
Supporters of McCollum have claimed his obsession stems from Asperger’s syndrome, a social disorder similar to autism. He first made headlines at age 15 when he commandeered a subway train.
Clinic watches patient records blow away
Cleveland That was patient confidentiality blowing in the wind.
About 3,000 highly detailed patient hospital statements blew across busy downtown streets and sidewalks Tuesday after a box fell off a delivery truck, the Cleveland Clinic said.
“An investigation is under way to determine how this incident occurred,” said Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman for the hospital. “We are currently identifying which patient records were impacted and will be contacting those patients directly.”
She said the clinic was determined to contact all affected patients on Wednesday.
Executives in business suits and uniformed Cleveland Clinic security officers crisscrossed the area, picking up papers as motorists, already slowed to a crawl by road construction, watched and honked.
The patient statements included patient names, patient numbers, home addresses, insurers and policy numbers, treating physicians, admission and discharge dates, and detailed billing information.