Washington state lawmaker backpedals after saying cyclists pollute by breathing
A Washington state lawmaker has apologized for telling a bike store owner, in a spat over a proposed bike fee, that bicyclists can cause pollution - just by breathing out carbon dioxide. Ed Orcutt, a ranking Republican member of the state House of Representatives Transportation committee, said in an email exchange with a bike shop owner that drivers and bicyclists should both share the burden of preserving the roads they use.
California yacht owner sees his stolen vessel wash ashore on TV
An 82-foot Californian luxury sailboat owner was shocked on Monday to glimpse the vessel on a television newscast beached and bobbing in the surf 20 miles down the Pacific Coast from its Sausalito berth. Two men and a woman found aboard the yacht and first thought by authorities to be in need of rescue were arrested on suspicion of stealing the vessel after its owner called authorities to report that the yacht he was seeing on TV was his.
U.S. urges ban on drunk diplomats at UN budget debates
The United States has called for a ban on drunk diplomats at budget debates at the United Nations. "We make the modest proposal that the negotiating rooms should in future be an inebriation-free zone," Joseph Torsella, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for management and reform, told the General Assembly's budget committee.
Young girl survives jet crash in French Alps
A small passenger jet crashed in a residential area in the French Alps shortly after takeoff yesterday, killing two people on board and severely injuring a young girl passenger, a local official said. Firefighters found the girl in the wreckage, alive but suffering from multiple fractures. No one was reported injured on the ground.
Second sinkhole appears in Tampa area
A second sinkhole appeared in the Tampa area yesterday, just miles from one that opened beneath a home last week and swallowed a man from his bed, though the latest one appeared not to pose immediate danger, police said. The latest sinkhole opened between two homes and was about 12-feet round, 3 feet deep around the edge and about 5 feet deep in the center, said Hillsborough County spokesman Willie Puz.