In brief: Out-of-gas plane lands on highway

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A small airplane made an emergency landing into oncoming traffic on a coastal freeway Sunday and collided with three vehicles, but no one was injured, authorities said.

The Piper PA-24 Comanche with two people aboard was bound for Santa Barbara Airport when the pilot told air traffic controllers he had no fuel remaining and landed at about 10:30 a.m. on the southbound side of U.S. Highway 101, about one mile northeast of the airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The pilot, Kris Sean Michel, told investigators he had tried to land with the flow of traffic but could not control the plane and came down amid oncoming traffic, the California Highway Patrol said in news release.

Black police officer is first in city history

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay has a black police officer for the first time in the 152-year history of its police department.

Solomon Ayres starts the first phase of a 17-week training regimen this week.

Fran Jonet, president of Green Bay’s Police and Fire Commission, said hiring a black recruit is a long-awaited step in the right direction.

Census figures show that African-Americans make up about 2.5 percent of Green Bay’s more than 98,000 people. Its police department has 177 officers, including 15 women, four American Indians or Alaska natives, and one Hispanic.