NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
_1 Storm damage: Local jail inmates helped with cleanup efforts Saturday in Virginia Beach, Va., after strong storms struck the Tidewater area the night before, authorities said. The Sheriff ’s Office said it coordinated with city officials to dispatch inmate crews to assist with cleanup from Friday night’s weather. Dozens of homes were damaged, and a church in Chesapeake was nearly destroyed. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. There were no reports of injuries or deaths.
_2 Overpass collapse: A man accused of starting a raging fire that collapsed a portion of Interstate 85 a few miles north of downtown Atlanta was charged with arson Saturday. The firstdegree arson charge was added to a first-degree criminal damage to property charge Basil Eleby already faced in connection with the fire Thursday evening that caused a heavily traveled overpass to disintegrate. Jail records show that Eleby has been arrested more than a dozen times since 1995, mostly on drug charges. Deputy Insurance Commissioner Jay Florence said Eleby was arrested Friday along with Sophia Brauer and Barry Thomas. Brauer and Thomas were charged with criminal trespass. “We believe they were together when the fire was set and Eleby is the one who set the fire,” Florence said.
_3 Suspect dies: A northern Wisconsin man suspected in a string of fatal shootings that ended in a gunbattle with police died of his wounds Saturday. Nengmy Vang, 45, had been hospitalized since March 22, when police shot him during a standoff at his apartment in Weston. Investigators say Vang barricaded himself in the apartment after killing three people in a rampage spanning three cities. Investigators said Vang began his attack after a domestic incident with his wife. The couple were going through a divorce. Vang was accused of killing two of his wife’s office colleagues, Dianne Look and Karen Barclay, and his wife’s divorce attorney, Sara Quirt Sann. He also fatally shot Everest Metro Police Detective Jason Weiland, police said.
_4 Motel death: A carbon monoxide leak in an indoor pool area of a hotel in Niles, Mich., killed a 13-year-old boy and sickened about a dozen people, authorities said Saturday. Quality Inn & Suites employees called 911 around 10 a.m. after seeing six unresponsive children on the deck. Police Chief Jim Millin says Bryan Douglas Watts was pronounced dead at a hospital. Responding officers administered chest compressions to some children. Three officers also were hospitalized.
_5 Planes collide: Two people died after their single-engine airplanes collided midair Saturday over the central Florida coast, authorities said. The planes crashed into a wooded area west of Interstate 95 near Edgewater, killing both pilots, the local Fire Rescue Department reported. A witness told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that she saw the planes collide around 8:45 a.m. while flying in formation with other aircraft. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were at the crash site, the fire department said. Each plane had one person inside. The pilots were not identified.