Nation in brief: SUV plows into auto auction crowd

An out-of-control sport utility vehicle plowed into crowds at a suburban Chicago auto auction Wednesday, injuring 15 people. Five were critically hurt.

An employee driving a Range Rover into the Tri-State Auto Auction building lost control of the vehicle.

It suddenly sped up, hit a group of bystanders and struck a minivan before going through a doorway and hitting another group of people.

Crestwood Fire Chief Jon Bruce said it was not clear what caused the employee to lose control.

“People were screaming, moaning, laying on the ground,” said auction shopper Tom Schroeder. “Employees were running around telling people not to move.”

Washington

Officials say they inseminated panda

Scientists at the National Zoo said they artificially inseminated the giant panda Mei Xiang Wednesday after she and her partner, Tian Tian, unsuccessfully tried to mate Tuesday.

Whether the procedure will result in a panda birth won’t be known for a few months.

Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub, Tai Shan, in 2005 after being artificially inseminated.

A similar procedure last year was unsuccessful.

The yearly breeding period for pandas lasts only a day or two, and for Mei Xiang, 9, and Tian Tian, 10, it began Tuesday, specialists said at a news conference.

Tian Tian and Mei Xiang got together for six hours Tuesday, scientists said. But things didn’t work out as well as officials had hoped.

“Unfortunately, although there was great interest on the part of our pandas, their orientation wasn’t the greatest,” Murray said.

Georgetown, Texas

10th DUI brings 60-year sentence

A Texas man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for his 10th conviction of driving while intoxicated since 1979.

Prosecutors say 53-year-old Anthony Lynn Falco, of Taylor, waived his right to a jury trial and pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the felony charge over the June 22 traffic stop.