Plant explosion leaves 2 dead in Omaha
OMAHA, Neb. – An explosion Monday morning that brought down part of an animal feed processing plant in Omaha left two people dead and 10 others seriously hurt, authorities said.
The search for bodies in the crippled International Nutrition plant progressed slowly Monday, but the death toll wasn’t likely to get bigger.
Omaha Police Lt. Darci Tierney said Monday evening that all 38 of the workers who were in the building at the time had been accounted for. Through much of the day, authorities declined to say how many died while they sorted out what happened.
Officials say two died, 10 were hospitalized and seven were hurt but refused treatment. The other 19 workers escaped.
Authorities don’t know what caused the blast, but Kanger noted that there were no hazardous chemicals at the plant. International Nutrition makes products that are added to livestock and poultry feed to make them more nutritious.
Bush library accepting information requests
DALLAS – The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on Monday began accepting Freedom of Information Act requests for records from Bush’s presidency.
The day marks five years from the end of Bush’s presidency, on Jan. 20, 2009. Access to the records is governed by the Presidential Records Act, which says the records may be requested by the public five years after the presidential administration ends.
“We’re really looking forward to this new chapter of the library,” said Brooke Clement, supervisory archivist for the library. “We’ve been systemically processing and this is going to be a whole new way or processing for us ... essentially processing toward what the public is requesting.”
The requests must come in written format email, mail or fax and must state that the request is being made under the Freedom of Information Act. While requests could start being sent Monday, staffers were off for the federal holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They return to work Tuesday.
Comet-chaser awakens from hibernation
BERLIN – Waking up after almost three years of hibernation, a comet-chasing spacecraft sent its first signal back to Earth on Monday, prompting cheers from scientists who hope to use it to land the first space lander onto a comet.
The European Space Agency received the all-clear message from its Rosetta spacecraft at 7:18 p.m – a message that had to travel 500 million miles.
Dormant systems on the unmanned spacecraft were switched back on in preparation for the final stage of its decade-long mission to rendezvous with the comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Systems had been powered down in 2011 to conserve energy, leaving scientists in the dark about the probe’s fate until now.
Scientists will now take control of Rosetta again, a procedure slowed by the 45 minutes it takes a signal to travel to or from the spacecraft, he said.
The wake-up call is one of the final milestones for Rosetta before it makes its rendezvous with comet 67P in the summer.
Associated Press
