Free Republic

COTTONWOOD, Minn. — Authorities say four students have been killed in a school bus crash in southwestern Minnesota. Minnesota State Patrol Lieutenant Mark Peterson says the students died when their Lakeview School bus was hit by a van this afternoon on a highway near Cottonwood, about 2 hours southwest of Minneapolis. The bus then collided with a pickup and tipped on its side. • Click here for photos. The victims weren't immediately identified, and their ages weren't immediately given. At least 14 people were hurt. The school bus was carrying 40 people at the time. The Marshall Independent reported that...

(AP) OSSEO, Wis. A bus carrying 60 high school students home from a band competition collided with a semi truck early Sunday, killing at least five people, officials said. "The coroner is still on the scene," said Brent Pickard, a spokesman for the state transportation agency in Eau Claire. The students from Chippewa Falls High School had been at a competition at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The crash happened shortly after 2 a.m. on Interstate 94, west of Osseo in the west-central part of the state, he said.