NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Plane fire: National Transportation Safety Board investigators have arrived in Florida at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where a FedEx cargo plane caught fire upon landing Friday evening. Broward County Aviation Department spokesman Greg Meyer said the airport’s north runway would remain closed while investigators assess the aircraft. The plane’s left wing and fuel tank caught fire Friday evening as it landed. Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said the fire didn’t spread to the 46,000 pieces of mail and other cargo the plane carried from Memphis. FedEx said the plane’s only crew members were both pilots who escaped down a rope ladder.
2 Water tunnel: A $250 million drinking water tunnel from Brooklyn to Staten Island that had been delayed by Superstorm Sandy has been activated. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Saturday that the tunnel is a critical backup that can deliver up to 150 million gallons of safe drinking water per day to Staten Island residents in the aftermath of a disaster. The tunnel runs under New York Harbor and replaces two, nearly 100-year-old siphons.
3 Deputy killed: The defendant in the slaying of a sheriff ’s deputy in rural Northern California has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. Jack Lee Breiner entered the plea Friday in Modoc County amid heavy security that included officers on the roof of the courthouse. Sheriff ’s officials say Breiner fatally shot Deputy Jack Hopkins on Oct. 19 outside Alturas. Hopkins, 31, was responding to a domestic disturbance call. Breiner was arrested after a chase and shootout that wounded both Breiner and Sheriff Mike Poindexter. Breiner also entered a not guilty plea to an attempted murder charge in the shootout.
4 Cremation accident: The body of a 26-yearold man was mistakenly cremated after a Los Angeles County Coroner’s technician confused his remains with those of another man with the same name. Two men named Jorge Hernandez were at the morgue. One died of an accidental drug overdose this month, and the other was indigent and scheduled to be cremated, coroner’s spokesman Armand Montiel said. The mistake occurred when a coroner’s attendant matched the name on one of the men’s bodies but failed to check the case number, Montiel said. That person sent the wrong remains for cremation. The chief medical examiner has apologized to the family.
5 Sheriff charged: Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona has pleaded not guilty to a criminal contempt-of-court charge less than two weeks before he tries to win his seventh term. The lawman in metro Phoenix entered his plea in a court filing Friday. Arpaio was charged for defying a court order to stop his immigration patrols in a racial profiling case. The sheriff prolonged the patrols for more than a year. A judge later determined Arpaio’s officers profiled Latinos and said he believed Arpaio did it to benefit his 2012 campaign. The sheriff has acknowledged the violation but insists it wasn’t intentional. The charge is a misdemeanor.