2 die as dirt bikes collide with car
Two people riding dirt bikes were killed late Saturday night in a crash near Casa Grande, according to state Department of Public Safety officials.
A sedan traveling west on State Route 84 west of Casa Grande hit the two dirt bikes just before 9 p.m., the DPS said.
Both riders were pronounced dead at the scene. Both occupants of the vehicle, including a pregnant woman, were airlifted to a hospital, according to the DPS.
Car leaves road near Canyon Lake; 8 hurt
Eight people were injured Saturday night after a vehicle went off a steep embankment near Canyon Lake, authorities said.
An SUV was traveling on State Route 88 near the lake’s first bridge when the 16-yearold driver made a sharp right turn, according to Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Raul Garcia.
The SUV’s left tires began sliding down the slope, causing the vehicle to roll over and drop about 100 feet into a cove, he said.
The driver and passengers — who ranged in age from 16 to 18 — were able to escape the vehicle, which belonged to the driver’s parents, Garcia said. Some of the teenagers swam across the lake, while others remained near the submerged SUV, he said.
Four of the teens were taken to hospitals, officials said; the other four had minor injuries and were not hospitalized.
Explosion throws 2 from laundry room
Two people were thrown from an apartment-complex laundry room in Phoenix on Sunday after a spark from a dryer ignited a gas leak, causing an explosion, according to officials.
The man and woman were hurled to the pavement in the blast but “remarkably only suffered minor abrasions,” Phoenix fire Capt. Rob McDade said. Crews quickly put out the fire and contained the leak, McDade said.
Police: 3 teenagers threw beer at clerk
Authorities are seeking three teenagers they say threw a case of beer at a clerk who tried to stop them from stealing from a west Phoenix convenience store.
The trio entered a 7-11 near 99th Avenue and Indian School Road shortly before midnight Feb. 25, according to Sgt. James Rothschild with Silent Witness. After the teens grabbed the beer, a clerk tried to stop them, Rothschild said.
Two of the teens made it outside, leaving one inside with the clerk blocking the door, he said. The first two came back and threw the case of beer they had stolen at the employee, while the third threw a display case at him, Rothschild said.
Police described the suspects as:
» A 15-year-old Hispanic male, about 5 feet 5 inches tall, 145 pounds with brown curly hair. He was last seen wearing a a black hooded sweatshirt with white drawstrings and ripped blue jeans.
» A 19-year-old Hispanic male, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 150 pounds with black hair. He was last seen wearing a lightcolored hoodie with blue jeans and white shoes.
» A 19-year-old Hispanic male, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, 155 pounds with black hair. He was last seen wearing black basketball pants with white stripes and a dark baseball hat with an orange “B” on the front.
Anyone with information was urged to call Silent Witness at 480-9486377 or 800-343-TIPS.
— The Republic In 1834, the city of York in Upper Canada was incorporated as Toronto. In 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege. In 1853, Verdi’s opera “La Traviata” opened in Venice, Italy. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court, in ruled 7-2 that Scott, a slave, was not an American citizen and therefore could not sue for his freedom in federal court. In 1933, a national bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and aimed at calming panicked depositors went into effect. In 1933, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, wounded in an attempt on President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt’s life the previous month, died at a Miami hospital at age 59. In 1944, U.S. heavy bombers staged the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II. In 1953, Georgy Malenkov was named premier of the Soviet Union a day after the death of Josef Stalin. In 1957, the British Gold Coast and British Togoland became the independent state of Ghana. In 1967, the daughter of Josef Stalin, Svetlana Alliluyeva, appeared at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and declared her intention to defect to the West. In 1967, singer-actor Nelson Eddy, 65, died in Palm Beach, Florida. In 1970, a bomb being built inside a townhouse in New York’s Greenwich Village by the radical Weathermen accidentally went off, destroying the house and killing three group members. In 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as principal anchorman of “The CBS Evening News.” In 1987, 193 people died when the British ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. In 1997, a gunman stole a million-dollar Picasso portrait (“Tete de Femme”) from a London gallery. (The painting was recovered and two suspects arrested a week later.) In 1997, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II launched the first official royal website.