NEW YORK
Remains of ’01 crash victims put in crypts
The last unidentified remains of people killed in the 2001 crash of a flight to the Dominican Republic have been placed in two crypts, officials said Saturday.
Families of the 265 victims of the crash in the quiet neighborhood of Belle Harbor were invited to a dedication ceremony today at Woodlawn Cemetery, said Susan Olsen, a cemetery official.
The bodies of all the crash victims had been identified, but the medical examiner’s office was left with remains that could not be matched.
Flight 587 crashed after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport. Many victims were Dominican-born New York residents on their way to visit the country.
The Nov. 12, 2001, crash killed 260 people on board and five people on the ground, rattling a city still shaken by the 9/11 attacks.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined part of the tail assembly had fallen off, and it blamed pilot error, inadequate training and faulty rudder controls.
WASHINGTON
Bush refugee bill too broad, opponents say
Today’s foreign terrorists could become tomorrow’s U.S. refugees if the Bush administration gets its way.
The intent is to grant refugee status to rebels who have fought repressive governments or advanced U.S. foreign-policy objectives, particularly in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. But proposed changes to immigration rules also could cover U.S. enemies such as al-Qaeda members and fighters for Hamas and Hezbollah.
To some lawmakers, the revisions under consideration are too broad and potentially dangerous.
Officials say the changes are meant to reverse unintended consequences of post-Sept. 11 rules that have kept thousands of otherwise eligible people from a haven in the U.S.
Last year, the government planned to accept 56,000 refugees; the actual number was 12,000 less, primarily due to the restrictions.
“The provision in this bill would extend the waiver authority in current law to groups that are definitely not friends of the United States,” said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who is leading an effort to revise the amendment.
PITTSBURGH
Teen says he killed boy while wrestling
A 13-year-old is accused of killing a 5-year-old in the home where they lived, a death the teen said happened while he was practicing wrestling moves on the boy.
The boy died at a hospital, and a medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.
The younger boy’s mother was not at home at the time. A man who was babysitting the boys was in a different part of the house, police said.
The teenager was charged with criminal homicide Friday and taken to a juvenile detention center.
