Florida: FedEx plane crash delays election filing

A FedEx Boeing 727 cargo jet crashed and burned short of the runway Friday at the Tallahassee airport, but the three-member crew escaped serious injury.

The plane was carrying the paperwork of several candidates who were rushing to meet a noon filing deadline to run for office in Florida. After the crash, Gov. Jeb Bush signed an executive order setting a new deadline for those candidates of 5 p.m. today.

The three-engine jet from Memphis, Tenn., went down a half-mile short of the runway before daybreak, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. The three crew members were listed in fair condition at a hospital.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The National Transportation Safety Board and a FedEx team were investigating.

California: Suspect charged with starting wildfire

The woman suspected of causing the 60,000-acre wildfire threatening some of America’s giant sequoias was charged Friday with building a campfire without a permit.

Peri Van Brunt, 45, of Bakersfield, made a court appearance on the charges. Her lawyer, Francine Zepeda, said Van Brunt denies the allegations, but no plea was entered. Van Brunt will enter a plea Aug. 9.

She could get up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

She was jailed without bail. A bail hearing was set for Wednesday.

Van Brunt, who has a history of drug convictions, told authorities she had been smoking methamphetamine the night before the fire, according to court papers.

California: Student convicted of holding class hostage

An armed 13-year-old boy who held a middle-school class hostage has been convicted of 39 felonies that could keep him in state custody until his 25th birthday.

The boy, whose name was withheld because of his age, pointed a loaded revolver at 31 students, a teacher, a principal and a police officer before surrendering March 20, authorities said.

A 14-year-old girl testified at trial that the boy threatened the class at Barrett Middle School in suburban Carmichael and said: “I’m going to do a Columbine.”

He was found guilty Thursday of charges including false imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon. Sentencing was set for Aug. 30.

Assistant Public Defender Norm Dawson said the conviction was expected. He argued at trial that no one was hurt in the boy’s act of “impulse.”

Washington, D.C.: Bush celebrates 1990 disabilities act

President Bush marked the 12th anniversary Friday of his father’s signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act but said the goal of full equality for the disabled was not yet reached.

“When people are treated with dignity and respect, our entire nation benefits.” the president said.

Passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, the 1990 civil rights law forbids on-the-job discrimination against the disabled and mandates access to most public places such as restaurants, stores and businesses. It is perhaps best known for mandating that public buildings have wheelchair ramps and rest rooms equipped for use by the handicapped.

New Jersey: Court: Teacher should go to jail in sex case

A female teacher, 43, who had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy should have been sentenced to prison, not probation, a state appeals court ruled Friday.

The court agreed with prosecutors that Judge Bruce A. Gaeta was wrong to give Pamela Diehl-Moore five years of probation.

The judge caused a furor when he said at the sentencing that the relationship may have been a way for the boy to “satisfy his sexual needs.” The judge was reassigned to civil court and is under investigation by a state panel.

Diehl-Moore will be sentenced again by another judge.

New York: Sept. 11 victims, kin get college scholarships

Family members and dependents of people killed or disabled in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will receive college scholarships under a bill signed Friday by Gov. George Pataki.

The legislation gives students a free education at the State University of New York or the City University of New York. It also provides an equal amount of aid to a student who wants to attend a private college in the state, Pataki said.

“These families should not have to worry about how they are going to pay for college, and with this measure, they will never have to worry,” Pataki said.