PHILADELPHIA — Thousands of black men turned out Sunday to support a volunteer effort aimed at reducing violence in this crime-plagued city, lining up for several blocks to register.
Volunteers who join street patrols as part of the “Call to Action: 10,000 Men, It’s a New Day” campaign will not carry weapons or make arrests but will instead be trained in conflict resolution, organizers said.
The nation’s sixth-largest city has nearly 1.5 million residents, 44 percent of them black. It has had more than 320 homicides this year. More than 80 percent of the slayings involve handguns, and most involve young black males.
Organizers had originally talked of deploying volunteers to patrol the streets, but they suggested Sunday that some would help out established community groups.
5 Amish killed, 11 hurt in crash
INDIANAPOLIS — A van carrying Amish on an interstate highway veered out of control, overturned and ejected some passengers Sunday, killing five people and injuring 11, authorities said.
Two adults and three children were killed, State Police Sgt. Rod Russell said.
No other vehicles were involved in the crash, he said.
Some of the victims hailed from an Amish community in the Fort Wayne area. Amish people generally shun modern conveniences but sometimes enlist non-Amish as drivers.
Gasoline prices up a nickel
CAMARILLO, CALIF. — The national average price for gas rose about 5 cents over the past two weeks, according to a survey released Sunday.
The average price of regular gasoline Friday was $2.80 a gallon, midgrade was $2.92, and premium was $3.03, industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said.
The lowest price was in Newark, N.J., where a gallon of regular cost $2.56. The highest was in San Francisco at $3.17, according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations.
Pumpkins cut in the deep
KEY LARGO, FLA. — Not content to carve their pumpkins in the traditional way, several divers carved jack-o’-lanterns more than 30 feet below the ocean’s surface.
Ken and Linda Smith of Sebring, Fla., took top honors Saturday for their “scary pumpkin” at the 10th annual Amoray Dive Resort Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Their prize was a free dive trip.
Emergency landing
HARRISON TOWNSHIP, MICH. — A plane carrying 26 people from Canada to Detroit made an emergency landing Sunday after the crew saw a smoke indicator in the cockpit, officials said.
The Mesaba flight, with 23 passengers and three crew members, was heading from London, Ontario, to Detroit Metropolitan Airport when it landed at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, officials said.
The plane landed safely shortly before 12:30 p.m., the base said in a statement.
GPS, credit cards irk cabbies
NEW YORK — New York taxi drivers angry about a new rule requiring the installation of global positioning systems and credit-card machines in cabs are planning a second one-day strike in six weeks today.
The city is instituting a contingency plan that lets drivers pick up multiple passengers and charge zone-based fares.
Touch-screen monitors let passengers pay by credit card, check on news stories, map their taxi’s current location and look up restaurant and entertainment information.
The Taxi Workers Alliance says the 5 percent surcharge on each credit-card transaction amounts to a wage cut and the GPS device allows cab companies to track drivers.
