In brief: Old nails blamed for deck collapse that injured 24

EMERALD ISLE, N.C. – Nails deteriorated by years of exposure to the sand, salt and moisture from the ocean gave way, causing a deck collapse that hurt 24 people as they posed for a picture at a North Carolina beachfront home, authorities said.

The deck was likely up to code when the house was built in 1986, but the nearly 30-year-old nails simply fell apart under the weight of the people standing on a small part of the deck Saturday night, Emerald Isle Town Manager Frank Rush said in a news release Sunday.

Twenty-four people of an extended family were injured when they fell about 10 feet to the ground, authorities said. The ages of those injured ranged from 5 to 94, and five of them remain in the hospital with two still in critical condition, Rush said.

The family at the rental home was from northern Virginia and has asked to maintain their privacy, the town manager said.

Mother charged after baby left on side of road

PASADENA, Md. – A baby was left on the side of the road Sunday and her mother has been charged with child neglect, officials said.

Officials with the Anne Arundel County Police Department say Sandra Clara McClary is also charged with reckless endangerment after her three-month-old daughter was found just before midnight in a scuffed carrier in Pasadena after a resident called to report the abandoned child.

Authorities say McClary left the baby on the side of the road.

The baby was taken to a local hospital after she was discovered and is in good condition.

Man dies after launching firework from his head

CALAIS, Maine – A 22-year-old man who was drinking and celebrating the Fourth of July tried to launch a firework off the top of his head, killing him instantly, authorities said Sunday.

Devon Staples, 22, of Calais, placed a reloadable fireworks mortar tube on his head and told his friends he was going to light it, said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. “His friends thought they dissuaded him from doing it, and the next thing they knew, he ignited the fireworks and he was killed instantly.”

Burt’s Bees founder Burt Shavitz dies at 80

PORTLAND, Maine – Burt Shavitz, the Burt behind Burt’s Bees who co-founded the natural cosmetics company before it sold to Clorox, has died. He was 80.

A spokeswoman for Burt’s Bees says Shavitz died of respiratory complications Sunday in Bangor, Maine.

Shavitz was a hippie making a living by selling honey when his life was altered by a chance encounter with a hitchhiking Roxanne Quimby. She was a single mother and a back-to-the-lander who impressed Shavitz with her ingenuity.

In the 1980s she began making products from his beeswax, and they became partners. An image of Burt’s face – and his untamed beard – was featured on labels.

Their business partnership ended after the business moved in 1994 to North Carolina. In 2007, Clorox purchased Burt’s Bees for $925 million.