Sewer collapse blamed for Ohio sinkhole
TOLEDO, Ohio – A spokeswoman for a northwest Ohio city says the collapse of brick sewers beneath a road caused the sinkhole that swallowed a moving car.
The 60-year-old driver says she was running errands and headed to her home Wednesday in Toledo when the pavement gave way and her car fell into a hole estimated to be at least 10 feet deep. Pamela Knox tells The Blade newspaper she feared she would die as water from a broken pipe poured into the back seat of her car.
She was briefly trapped but climbed out using a ladder with help from a firefighter. She was shaken and checked at a hospital but wasn’t seriously hurt.
Knox, an elementary school principal, says she’ll likely avoid the scene of the sinkhole for a while.
Chestnut wins contest with record 69 hot dogs
NEW YORK – Joey Chestnut downed 69 franks and devoured his own record in the men’s Fourth of July hot dog eating contest while Sonya Thomas defended her title in the women’s competition.
The San Jose, Calif., man known as “Jaws” ate one more hot dog than his previous record to capture the mustard-yellow champion’s belt. He said afterward that he was motivated by the prestige, not the $10,000 prize money.
“I’d do this for nothing,” he said.
Chestnut, 29, is a seven-time winner who set the old record – 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes – in 2009 and tied it last year. Thomas, 45, powered through 45 dogs to take the women’s championship last year and also won in 2011, the first year women competed separately
With this year’s victory, Chestnut has now bested his former rival, Takeru Kobayashi, who won six times. Kobayashi competed in a different eating contest Thursday.
Pipeline leaks gas on Crow Reservation
BILLINGS, Mont. – Officials say an 8-inch underground gasoline pipeline leaked on the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana.
Phillips 66 Co. is investigating the cause of Tuesday’s leak near Lodge Grass. Tribal and federal officials also are investigating.
The Billings Gazette reports the volume of gasoline spilled has not been determined.
Phillips 66 spokesman Dennis Nuss says the pipeline was shut down as soon as the leak was discovered. He says no health effects to the community are expected.
The pipeline transports finished petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel from a Billings refinery to Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.
Abortion bill clears North Carolina Senate
RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina Senate gave its final approval Wednesday to legislation adding new restrictions for abortions in North Carolina, even as hundreds of angry protesters descended on the legislature to express their displeasure.
Senate voted 29-12 for the bill that would direct state health regulators to change abortion clinic rules so they’re similar to those for ambulatory surgery centers.
More than 500 opponents of the legislation – mostly women and many wearing pink – organized quickly to gather at the Legislative Building after Senate GOP leaders late Tuesday added several abortion-related provisions to an unrelated bill and won quick approval in a committee and in an initial Senate vote.
The bill, which received initial approval Tuesday night, could force abortion clinics to close and would effectively limit the rights of women to obtain an abortion in the state, said its opponents. There are 16 licensed abortion clinics in the state but only one ambulatory surgical center that performs the procedure, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Associated Press
