A 10-ton construction platform collapsed and crashed 13 stories onto a busy downtown street Monday, killing three people and crushing cars stopped in midday traffic.

Witnesses heard a rumble, then the crash of scaffolding that kicked up metal, dust and boards on Boylston Street, which runs along the south side of Boston Common.

The platform lift system and scaffolding were set up atop a new building next to a 14-story dormitory being constructed by Emerson College. They had been used to install a facade and were being dismantled when the accident occurred, said acting Fire Commissioner Kevin MacCurtain.

John D. Macomber, president and CEO of Macomber Builders, the lead contractor hired by Emerson, said the dead were believed to be a passer-by and two workers.

WASHINGTON

GOP reconsiders immigration ideas

Republican senators uncertain of support for a proposal to allow illegal immigrants with jobs to remain in this country reached for a compromise late Monday.

Meeting into the evening, the lawmakers considered allowing illegal immigrants who have been in the country more than five years or with other connections to the United States to remain legally and eventually seek citizenship.

The fate of those with less time in the country was unclear, but Sen. Arlen Specter, R.-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested they might be asked to go to ports of entry, like the Texas border city of El Paso.

A similar proposal was made in Specter’s committee for younger, unmarried and more recent illegal immigrants before they re-entered as authorized guest workers.

Specter said the proposals would be spelled out to other Republicans this morning.

The Senate began its second week of debate Monday on immigration, but had yet to resolve which of three major proposals it would advance.

DENVER

Transit strike slows commute

Commuters hitched rides with friends, used taxis and rented cars Monday when Denver-area transit workers went on strike for the first time in 24 years.

The Regional Transportation District used private contractors to keep about 45 percent of its bus routes running but closed light-rail operations and a shuttle service stretching along a downtown pedestrian mall. The transit system averages about 275,000 rides per weekday.

No new negotiations were scheduled, although Yvette Salazar, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001, said the two sides met informally Monday. She said the transportation district declined the union’s suggestion to enter arbitration.

Union leaders had recommended approval of the district’s contract, which included a wage increase of $1.80 an hour over three years in quarterly 15-cent raises every quarter, plus increases in health benefits. However, 55 percent of workers rejected the offer in a Sunday vote, triggering the strike.

Compiled from wire reports