NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 _ Tanker crash: Federal investigators said Tuesday that mechanical failure forced an air tanker fighting a Nevada wildfire to make a crash landing, but they were still trying to determine what brought down another tanker of the same vintage in southern Utah, killing two pilots. Both accidents happened Sunday, and a National Transportation Safety Board investigator was at the scene of the remote Utah crash Tuesday, trying to determine what went wrong. A cockpit voice recorder survived.
2 _ 1940 census: Americans are in for an online surprise Wednesday: They’ll be able to plug family names into a 1940 U.S. census and come up with details about the lives of New Yorkers — from Joe DiMaggio and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy to their own relatives. Starting after midnight, exact addresses won’t be essential to look for a New York connection in the 1940 census, free of charge, at archives.nysed.gov. Census experts say the New York data are of national interest because tens of millions of Americans have roots in this gateway to the nation through Ellis Island. Many can now dig for more personal details.
3_Gay bias trial: A professional photographer who refused to take pictures of a gay couple’s commitment ceremony violated state antidiscrimination laws, the New Mexico Court of Appeals has ruled. The court agreed Thursday with a previous ruling, in which a district court judge said the photo studio is considered public, similar to a restaurant or store, and cannot refuse service based on sexual orientation, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The photography studio had argued that its refusal was not an act of discrimination but a reflection of the owners’ religious and moral beliefs.
4 _ Gagarin statute: Russian benefactors are bestowing upon Houston a bronze statue of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, his arms stretched toward the heavens, as a tribute in Space City USA to the first man to orbit the Earth. Houston officials in charge of receiving the gift did so with a caveat: They asked the Russians to pay for an accompanying monument to John Glenn, the second man to achieve orbit.
5_Mississippi execution: A Mississippi man convicted of killing four young nieces and nephews in a 1990 stabbing rampage was executed Tuesday, despite pleas from his two sisters to spare the brother who killed their children. Henry “Curtis” Jackson Jr. was pronounced dead after receiving an injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, officials said.
6_Burned bodies: A sport utility vehicle found burning in the desert with five bodies inside was registered to the home of a missing family of five, including three children, police in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe said Tuesday. An acquaintance of the Butwin family told police Monday that he was concerned about them after receiving a note from James Butwin with instructions on how to operate his construction business without him, Tempe police said. The five bodies found in the desert have not been identified because they were burned beyond recognition, a medical examiner said.
7_Church legal bill: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia spent $11.6 million on legal fees in the past two fiscal years, most of it on priest sex abuse cases, according to a report released Tuesday. The sum does not yet include most of the costs associated with the criminal trial of Monsignor William Lynn, charged in a conspiracy and cover-up case that is now in a jury’s hands.