In brief: Three missing after train collision

GOODWELL, Okla. – Three Union Pacific Railroad crewmembers were missing after two freight trains collided Sunday in the Oklahoma Panhandle, authorities said.

An eastbound train carrying vehicles and a westbound train crashed about 10:08 a.m. Sunday near Goodwell, Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said. A two-person crew was aboard each train, and officials were unable to account for two engineers and a conductor, Espinoza said. The other conductor appeared to be uninjured, and officials were interviewing him, she said.

Law officers were searching areas near the tracks to determine if the missing crewmembers had escaped injury, Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Betsy Randolph said.

Two locomotives on the 80-car westbound train and a locomotive from the 108-car eastbound train caught fire after the collision, Espinoza said. One train was hauling a resin solution, but Espinoza said that load wasn’t on fire.

Denver officer shot, killed near concert

DENVER – A Denver police officer has died after being shot in the head while trying to break up a confrontation at a city park where hundreds of families had gathered for a free weekly jazz concert, a police spokesman said.

The gunfire erupted shortly after the band finished playing next to a pond at City Park. The officer who was shot was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.

Jackson said police were continuing to search for a suspect.

Two great-grandmas parachute for a cause

LIMA, Ohio – Two great-grandmothers in their 80s have parachuted from a plane to raise money for a veterans’ food pantry in northwest Ohio.

The Lima News reports 83-year-old Marjorie Bryan and 82-year-old Marianna Sherman parachuted Saturday at the Allen County Airport in Lima. They made tandem jumps with retired Sgt. 1st Class Michael Elliott, who has done tandem jumps with former President George H.W. Bush.

The women parachuted to raise money for the local chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America and its veterans’ food pantry.