New Hampshire
Car slams into cyclists during century ride, killing 2
HAMPTON, N.H. – A car slammed into a group of bicyclists Saturday during an annual ride along the New England coastline, killing two riders and injuring three others, police said.
The crash happened on a two-lane bridge in Hampton at about 8:30 a.m., just after the start of the 40th annual Granite State Wheelmen Tri-State Seacoast Century ride.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, and the victims’ identities were being withheld until their families could be notified. Authorities haven’t said whether the driver will be charged.
Event organizers and police didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment on whether the event would continue. A section of Ocean Boulevard, also known as Route 1A, was closed off while police investigated the crash.
Illinois
3-year-old wounded in shooting recovering
CHICAGO – A 3-year-old boy shot in the head during this week’s mass shooting at a southwest Chicago park was recovering from surgery in intensive care Saturday, a family spokesman said.
Deonta Howard was among 13 people wounded late Thursday when an unknown number of people shot up a crowded basketball court with an assault rifle. The family’s pastor, the Rev. Corey Brooks, said the boy had surgery Friday that went well.
“There’s going to have to be some plastic surgery done later on,” Brooks said. “... Thankfully there was no brain damage or eye damage.”
Police hadn’t announced any arrests as of Saturday afternoon as the investigation continued into a shooting that again placed Chicago’s gang violence in a national spotlight. Shootings overnight killed four people around the city and injured four others, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
California
Prop. 8 players join bid to repeal transgender law
SAN FRANCISCO – An effort to overturn a new law allowing transgender students to choose which school restrooms they use and whether to play boys or girls sports got a boost Friday when a major player in the passage of California’s now-defunct same-sex marriage ban threw its support behind the campaign.
The National Organization for Marriage announced it was working with another conservative group, the Capitol Resource Institute, to repeal the law at the ballot box. The marriage group provided early fundraising and organizing for the 2008 ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriages, known as Proposition 8.
Opponents of the transgender student law have until Nov. 8 to gather the signatures of 504,760 registered voters to place a referendum on the November 2014 ballot that would nullify the statute.
Vietnam veterans get medals for heroic actions
SAN DIEGO – Two Vietnam veterans were awarded the Silver and Bronze Star medals Friday for their courage in a battle on a jungle hillside where more than 75 percent of the troops with them that day were killed or wounded.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in his citation to the president that Joe Cordileone and Robert Moffatt showed extraordinary heroism during the first Battle of Khe Sanh in 1967. Marine Brig. Gen. James Bierman apologized to the veterans for the 46-year-wait, saying “I’m sorry that it took so long for these awards to work their way around to you.”
The men were never recognized until now because the commanders who make such recommendations were killed: Of the more than 100 American troops on the hill, 27 were killed and 50 were wounded.
Girl’s bleeding from shooting mistaken for period
HAYWARD, Calif. – A Northern California couple didn’t report that their 10-year-old daughter had been shot for more than five hours because they mistook her bleeding for a period, police said Friday.
The girl was sleeping in her Hayward home around 2 a.m. Thursday when a stray bullet from drive-by shooting wounded her in the buttocks, Sgt. Mark Ormsby said.
When the girl woke up in pain and had blood in her underwear, her parents thought she had started her period, police said. They also found no indication she had been shot.
Ormsby said when she woke up for school and was still in pain, her parents inspected her bed and saw bullet holes.
The girl’s doctor told investigators the bullet’s entry wound was small and could have been easily overlooked if the family thought she was menstruating.
Associated Press
