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In news of war, tragedy, and uncertainty, 2007 was a year of frustrationBy ADAM GELLER Associated Press writer December 23, 2007 6:00 AM A war winds on, but lawmakers are seemingly powerless to do anything about it. The wrenching sorrow of tragedies on a Virginia campus, a Minnesota highway bridge and deep inside a Utah coal mine is compounded by a question that echoes: Could this have been prevented? Thousands lose their homes in a mortgage and credit crisis that worsened — despite repeated assurances that the worst had passed. Every year has grim headlines. But the story of 2007...

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Eight people died Sunday after a section of stands at a soccer stadium in northeastern Brazil collapsed as cheering fans jumped up and down at the end of a game, police said. At least nine people fell through a section of the highest bleachers at the Fonte Nova stadium in the coastal city of Salvador, and eight were killed, said Maj. Edmilson Tavares of the city's federal police. -snip-

PHOENIX (AP) — A woman who died in police custody during an airport layover was intoxicated on a potent mix of alcohol and antidepressants and accidentally strangled herself on her shackles, an autopsy released Friday concludes.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2007 – Troops in Iraq know too well how quickly life can take a wrong turn. An outpouring of goodwill and support from the public is helping one wounded soldier and his wife cope with a tragic loss. For Army Spc. John A. Johnson, the fifth improvised-explosive-device blast he experienced in Iraq, in August, was the one that caused traumatic brain injury that landed him at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for treatment. Two months later, when he was being discharged, his wife and three children left El Paso and headed east to meet him....

GEORGETOWN, Colo.  --  Five workers trapped at least 1,500 feet underground survived an initial chemical fire at a hydroelectric plant, but died before emergency workers could rescue them. Investigators were trying to determine how they died, and the county coroner's office was working Wednesday to identify the workers, who were employed by a California contractor. Authorities had yet to remove the bodies from the tunnel. Crews who entered from the bottom of the sloping tunnel to put out the fire discovered the bodies late Tuesday, Clear Creek County Undersheriff Stu Nay said. They were among a group of nine contract...

A chemical explosion and fire at a hydroelectric generating plant outside this mountain town trapped five workers in a water tunnel about 1,000 feet below ground. All five were alive and were communicating with rescuers, Clear Creek County Emergency Director Kathleen Gaubatz said. It was not clear whether the workers were hurt. Crews were rappelling down a 55-degree incline to reach the them. Gaubatz said epoxy paint had exploded but the structural integrity of the dam was not compromised. The Cabin Creek Station plant, owned by Xcel Energy, is about 30 miles west of Denver. "They're up a ways from...

A Waterford Township family already enduring a son severely injured in Iraq and the loss of their home suffered an unbelievable blow this weekend - the deaths of their two youngest sons in a traffic crash. Joshua Brian Schrauger, 17, and Timothy Schrauger, 14, were killed Saturday afternoon after their vehicle collided with another vehicle in Riley Township in Clinton County. "I've never seen a family that has gone through what they have had to go through," said Pastor Tom Hampton of the Community Bible Church in Waterford Township, who has been a pastor for 30 years. "It's like the...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A husband is accused of pushing his ill wife off the balcony of their apartment building. Cristie Reimer, 47, was found dead on the sidewalk Tuesday night after a fall from her fourth-floor apartment in the 4900 block of Wornall Road. Her husband, 51-year-old Stanley Reimer, was charged with second-degree murder. On Thursday, he pleaded not guilty in federal court.

Families are still huddled near the bridge but already Congressional Democrats are blasting the Bush Administration for failing to spend enough money on infrastructure. This is as indecent as it is stupid. One briefing today declared there are 77,000 bridges in the same classification as the 35W. The problem is obviously the inspection process, not the expenditure --an inability to focus on and find those structures close to catastrophic collapse. The bridge was in fact undergoing a $9 million maintenance program, with many workers on the span when disaster struck. Would $9 million have been enough to repair whatever flaw...

Suspect held in fatal stabbing BY HENRI BRICKEY AND ERIC FINLEY AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Lubbock Police arrested a 25-year-old man in the Monday evening stabbing death of a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. Donald J. McCullough, 73, was killed around 5:30 p.m. inside the garage of his Southwest Lubbock home as he unloaded dry cleaning from his SUV. He and his wife were headed to San Antonio today to attend the Air Force retirement ceremony of their son, said a longtime friend who later arrived at the scene. Police didn't know Monday evening why a man ran into McCullough's garage, fought with...

Here I sit, looking down at lovely Lake Tahoe, but also looking down the hill at the fir forest growing ever thicker and more deadly. Fires always burn uphill. If a fire ever starts at the bottom of our hill, we'll have 10 minutes to escape before the one road out is cut off by the fire. Behind my home, it's nearly impossible to hike off trail because you have to wade through knee-deep piles of dead branches. The forest is ready to explode. We have too many trees, but no one dares do anything about it. Plenty of ingredients...

One person is dead and four are hospitalized after an early morning house fire in Lafayette. The blaze broke out just before five Wednesday morning at a home on the 200 block of Lana drive. Two of the injured are in critical condition. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation, but fire officials say it appears to have started inside the house and destroyed most of the structure. The names of the victims have not been released. As many as a dozen people, possibly migrant workers, lived in the house.

SCOTTSVILLE, Ky. - A barn fire at an award-winning American Saddlebred farm in south-central Kentucky killed 24 horses, the owner said Wednesday. Seven colts and 17 mares were in the barn at 3-T Farm in Allen County when the fire broke out Tuesday morning, said Paige Tabor, one of the owners. All but one of the horses were American Saddlebreds, she said. "When you lose a barn full, it's overwhelming, but you just pick yourself up and find a way to go on," Tabor said. The farm has about 300 horses, she said. -snip- Tabor's husband, Randy Tabor, and his...

The search is underway for as many as seven missing firefighters at the scene of a West Ashley fire. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley told reporters that several firefighters from three different local agencies were unaccounted for after the Sofa Superstore collapsed, but provided no further details. The fire broke out late Monday afternoon, shutting down part of Highway 17 near Wappoo Road. Flames were spotted shooting from the roof and thick black smoke billowed into the sky and could be seen as far away as James Island. Local residents and bystanders attempted to assist firefighters contain the fire. Some moved...

It's been more than a week now since a mass murderer struck on the campus of Virginia Tech, and as the NRA joins the debate on policies and laws, there are a few things I want to point out. It wasn't 24 hours after the horrific shootings that the politicians started flapping their lips. Congressman Jim Moran suggested that somehow the tragedy was the fault of Republicans and President Bush. Barack Obama compared the evil events in Blacksburg to outsourcing jobs overseas. Senator Dianne Feinstein called for a new dialogue on gun control. Mayor Bloomberg spoke of the events in...

Most contracts for goods and services contain an "Act of God" provision. Such provisions typically allow contracting parties to dissolve a contract in case of an unexpected and unavoidable catastrophe: an earthquake, a tsunami, a lightning strike. This is perfectly logical. Man can act based on predictions about human behavior, but has no control over forces of nature. Conversely, human actions demand human responsibility. Only Divine action should be written off as inevitable tragedy. The Virginia Tech massacre was not an act of God -- it was undeniably an act of man. Yet many Americans have instinctively treated this massive...

Catarino Piedra, 41, kept a gun underneath the counter at the Coliseum Pizza and Taqueria that he owned in East Oakland because his drivers had been robbed many times while making deliveries. Allen Joseph Hicks III, 22, was an accused batterer on probation for a drug conviction and an aspiring rap artist whom everybody in his neighborhood knew as "Boonie." The lives of the two men intersected tragically at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday when Hicks, armed with a pistol and joined by two other men, tried to rob Piedra inside the popular pizzeria at 89th Avenue and International Boulevard. Fearful...

WELLINGTON: A New Zealand father of eight died trying to save his elderly mother as her Gizo home was hit by the tsunami. The grieving family of Teangauki Kenimarawa Toma was trying yesterday to make arrangements for his body to be flown home to Wellington. They had just saved enough money to send Mr Toma, 53, a prison officer, back to Gizo — his first visit in 18 years — to see his mother and father. His eldest daughter, Juliette, said Mr Toma feared missing the birth of his sixth grandchild and wanted to delay the trip until later this...

New York - Screams poured from the burning building along with smoke and flames: "Help me! Help me! Please! Please!" Bystanders looked up to see a woman toss two children out the window one at a time to those below. The scene unfolded early Thursday during New York's deadliest fire in nearly two decades - a blaze that killed eight children and one adult, part of an extended family led by African immigrants who shared a row house near Yankee Stadium. The children tossed from the three-story building survived, authorities said. The woman who threw them jumped and survived. The...

WASHINGTON - In a critique the White House labeled as "poisonous," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) charged Friday that President Bush is wading too deeply into Iraq and said it should not be "an obligation of the American people in perpetuity." Pelosi said Bush "has dug a hole so deep he can't even see the light on this. It's a tragedy. It's a stark blunder." White House spokeswoman Dana Perino retorted that Pelosi's comments were "poisonous," referring to the portion of Pelosi's statement that asserted Bush is rushing new troops there and betting that Congress won't cut...