Florida

Giant sinkhole forces apartment evacuation

A 150-foot-wide sinkhole swallowed trees, pipelines and a sidewalk and forced the evacuation of two buildings in an apartment complex.

The 60-foot-deep opening could grow if rain falls and destabilizes the ground, engineers said.

“That’s the worst thing that could happen,” geotechnical engineer Mark Canty said Wednesday. “If it rains, there’s the potential for (the hole) to start moving again.”

Gary Kuhns, a senior engineer hired by Wilson Co., which owns the apartments, said at least the sinkhole’s depth appeared stable. “It shouldn’t collapse any further,” he said.

About 60 residents of the Woodhill Apartments have been forced out of their homes. Twenty-one buildings circle the area where the sinkhole formed. The hole reached within six feet of one building’s stairway.

Connecticut

Skakel attorney files motion for new trial

In a bid for a new trial, Michael Skakel’s attorney argued Wednesday that jurors who convicted Skakel were improperly inflamed by gruesome photos of the victim paired with Skakel’s comments in an interview.

Defense lawyer Michael Sherman, in a motion filed in Stamford Superior Court, asked that the verdict be set aside and a new trial be held.

Skakel, 41, was convicted Friday of beating Moxley to death with a golf club in 1975 when they were 15-year-old neighbors in Greenwich. Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, faces between 10 years to life in prison when he is sentenced July 19.

Ohio

Court reinstates suit against gun makers

The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated a lawsuit that Cincinnati filed against gunmakers in an attempt to recoup the cost of gun-related violence.

The justices ruled 4-3 that an appeals court was wrong in dismissing the lawsuit and ordered the case back to Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. Justice Francis Sweeney said Wednesday’s ruling does not imply that Cincinnati will be successful in its lawsuit but that the city had enough facts to pursue its claims.

Cincinnati and other local governments say that millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on police and emergency workers in response to gun-related crime, plus the costs of hospitalization, investigation and prosecution.

Oklahoma

Arkansas River cleared, reopened to boat traffic

The Arkansas River reopened to boat traffic Wednesday, almost three weeks after a barge crash that brought down an interstate highway bridge, sending 14 people plunging to their death.

Workers have cleared most of the bridge debris, allowing the Coast Guard to reopen the river for commercial boats, including five stalled barges, Petty Officer Kyle Niemi said.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, officials awarded Gilbert Central Corp., of Fort Worth, Tex., a $10.9 million contract to repair the bridge by mid-August.

Oklahoma has sued towboat Capt. William Joe Dedmon and two companies, accusing Dedmon, Magnolia Marine Transport Co. and Ergon Inc. of negligence in the May 26 accident.

Dedmon’s towboat was pushing two barges up the Arkansas River when one of them hit the Interstate 40 bridge in eastern Oklahoma, knocking down more than 500 feet of roadway and sending 10 vehicles into the muddy water.

New York City

Church limits rites for Gotti’s funeral

Mob boss John Gotti will not be given a Roman Catholic funeral Mass but can be buried at St. John’s Cemetery in Middle Village, church officials said Wednesday.

Instead of a Mass of Christian Burial, Gotti will be allowed a Mass for the Dead, a memorial service in which the coffin is not inside the church.

“The diocese has decided that there can be a Mass for the Dead sometime after the burial of John Gotti,” the Rev. Andrew Vaccari, chancellor of the Diocese of Brooklyn, said in a statement.

“We felt it would be a more reverent, prayerful, religious service without the body present,” Vaccari told Newsday, when asked why the diocese decided on the particular service for the mob boss held responsible for at least five murders during his reign as the head of the Gambino crime family.

San Diego

Jurors hear interview with accused kidnapper

A man accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam used the word “we” while recounting a trip he claimed he took alone right after the girl disappeared, a tape of a police interview played Wednesday at his trial shows.

David Westerfield described “this little place we were at” during the Feb. 5 interview. Danielle disappeared the previous weekend from her home, two doors down the street from Westerfeld’s. Her body was found Feb. 27 along a rural road east of San Diego.

Westerfield, 50, a self-employed engineer, is charged with kidnapping, murder and possession of child pornography. He has pleaded innocent and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Westerfield gave police a detailed account of a weekend trip to the beach and desert that began the morning Danielle was reported missing. He said he was scouting for places to camp with his adult son and had told police he was alone.

Australia

Tycoon to make sixth global balloon attempt

Unfazed by five failures to circle the globe alone in a balloon, American tycoon Steve Fossett said Wednesday he’s wiser and better prepared for his sixth attempt to start this week.

After arriving Tuesday in the small town of Northam in Western Australia state, the multimillionaire and his team have been preparing the towering 140-foot balloon for takeoff on Saturday.

Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard and Englishman Brian Jones flew around the world as a team in 1999.

Fossett said he’s better-prepared for his sixth bid after he ran low on oxygen in last August’s attempt. Although that flight was ultimately defeated by bad weather that forced him to land in Brazil, his 12 1/2-day feat marked the longest solo balloon flight ever.