California: Dozens injured in massive pileup

Nearly 200 cars and big-rig trucks collided early Sunday on a foggy stretch of Long Beach Freeway, injuring dozens of people, nine critically, and closing the highway for hours.

“The fog was thick and all you saw on the horizon was the cars piled up in both directions,” driver Rob Ziegler told KABC-TV. “You could hear all the crashing and the banging. You could feel your car moving, knowing that other cars are still hitting you.”

California Highway Patrol Officer Joseph Pace said 194 vehicles, including seven or eight tractor-trailers, were involved in two separate pileups about a half-mile apart. Some cars were buried under others, and some of the injured had to be cut from their vehicles.

At least 41 people were injured, nine of them critically, he said.

Wisconsin: Tear gas, pepper spray used to quell riot

Police used tear gas and pepper spray early Sunday to quell a disturbance that escalated into bottle-throwing and looting during a Halloween party attended by an estimated 65,000 people in Madison.

More than 100 police helped break up the riot, and eight suffered minor injuries, mainly from thrown objects, authorities said. At least 16 people were arrested.

The party is held each year on State Street, the city’s main thoroughfare, which connects the state Capitol to the University of Wisconsin campus.

Police said the rampage began about 1:30 a.m., possibly after some people began fighting with bottles. When police tried to help some injured people, others threw bottles at them.

State Street was still closed late Sunday morning.

California: Skydiving dachshund creates howls of protest

Sporting custom-made goggles, Brutus the skydiving dachshund plunged from a plane flying at 6,000 feet and parachuted before spectators at a military air show at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Animal rights activists had condemned Saturday’s jump as cruel and exploitative. But Ron Sirull, the dog’s owner and diving partner, said Brutus gets a kick out of freefall or “fleafall” as he calls it.

“I love Brutus. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him,” Sirull said. “It turns him on.”

Brutus makes the jumps tucked into a pouch fastened to Sirull’s chest. Sirull says the 4-year-old dog has logged 100 jumps since his first dive at age 1.

Sirull said his dog’s veterinarian and the Arizona Humane Society have signed off on the activity as being safe. “The part he hates the most is the sound of the plane taking off,” said Sirull. “I cup his ears.”

Florida: Students give up private school vouchers

More than a quarter of students who took a voucher to attend private school in Florida this semester have transferred back to public education, a newspaper reported.

This summer, 607 students requested taxpayer-funded vouchers to leave public schools that received failing grades. As of last week, 170 had returned to public schools, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.

In Miami-Dade County, 90 of 330 students who requested vouchers have returned to public school and more than two in three were back in their original school.

Many returning students said they felt more comfortable at their neighborhood schools, even those labeled as failing. They also cited trouble with transportation, more demanding curricula or firmer discipline at their new schools.