Iowa

Nine killed in I-80 crash west of Des Moines

A pickup crammed with suspected illegal immigrants slammed into a tractor-trailer early Thursday on Interstate 80, killing all nine people in the smaller truck.

The pickup crossed the median and hit the tractor-trailer about 2:30 a.m., about 30 miles west of Des Moines, the Iowa State Patrol said.

All of the victims were Hispanic men and women, said Sgt. Mike Van Berkum of the state patrol.

Estela Biesemeyer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Des Moines said the number of people in the pickup, their ethnicity and the fact they were headed east led investigators to suspect a smuggling operation.

The cause of the crash was under investigation. Van Berkum said the roads were not slippery and there was no indication alcohol was involved.

Arkansas

Police kill son of civil rights figure

Police shot and killed the son of one of the Little Rock Nine, the group of blacks who integrated the city’s schools in 1957.

Little Rock Police said they were called after neighbors saw Erin Eckford, 26, firing an assault rifle into the air Wednesday night. Police shot him with a bean-bag round, then opened fire after he pointed the rifle at them, authorities said. He was struck six times, spokesman Sgt. Terry Hastings said.

The three officers involved were placed on leave with pay, the standard procedure, while the shooting is investigated.

Hastings said Thursday that Eckford had a history of mental problems.

Eckford, a student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, was the son of Elizabeth Eckford. She was among the students who broke the color barrier at Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

Chicago

Woman who protested pants receives $30,000

A woman who was fired for refusing to wear pants as part of her work uniform will be paid $30,000 by her employer, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday.

Carol Grotts, a Pentecostal, was hired by Brink’s in Peoria, Ill., as a uniformed messenger. She told the company that her religious beliefs precluded her from wearing pants, and she offered to buy culottes.

Brink’s fired her, then rehired her, allowing her to wear culottes, after she filed a religious discrimination complaint with the EEOC.

Under a consent decree filed in federal court, Brink’s also will pay Grotts’ attorney fees and train its Peoria managers about religious discrimination.

“Grotts should not have been required to choose between respecting her religious beliefs and keeping her job with Brink’s,” EEOC attorney Richard J. Mrizek said.

New York

19 journalists killed in 2002, group says

Nineteen journalists were killed worldwide in the line of duty in 2002, down sharply from 37 the year before, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The total is the lowest since the group began tracking such deaths in 1985. The highest was 66, in 1994.

A factor in the decline in journalists’ deaths may be the international attention paid to the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, the group said.

At least two journalists survived being shot in the West Bank and two more in Venezuela because they were wearing flak jackets or bulletproof vests, the report said.

Besides Pearl, journalists killed in 2002 included three in Russia, three in Colombia and three in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.

The committee is also investigating the cases of four missing journalists and 13 others whose killings may have been related to their work.