New Jersey: Boy found dead in home where brothers confined

A 7-year-old boy was found dead in a plastic storage bin in a basement Sunday, a day after police found his near-starved brothers in a locked room of the same house in Newark, authorities said.

Faheem Williams had been dead for weeks, Edward Gordon of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office told The Star-Ledger of Newark.

The child’s twin brother, Raheem, and another brother, Tyrone, 4, were being treated for starvation and dehydration at University Hospital in Newark, Gordon told the newspaper. The boys were in stable condition Sunday night, a nursing supervisor said.

The children’s mother left them in the care of another woman several months ago; police said they were trying to find the mother and believed she was in a New York City hospital after being hit by a car, Gordon said.

Police said they were also looking for the woman who was supposedly caring for the children.

New Hampshire: One killed in collapse of outdoor tennis court

An explosion collapsed an elevated tennis court Sunday, killing one person and injuring three others at a private recreational community in Grantham, authorities said.

The four men were removing snow from the court when the blast tossed them into the air, then buried them in rubble and snow.

Scott Irvine, a doctor who lives near the court, said one of the men was found buried in snow nearly 20 feet away. Irvine said he performed CPR but could not revive the man.

Two people were blown over a 12-foot-high fence, said Fire Chief Bob Seavey.

The men were thought to be in their 60s and 70s.

Seavey said investigators don’t know what caused the blast, but Irvine said, “one man said they hit something with the snowblower and heard a loud boom.” He said a stream of fire was coming from a gas pipe when he arrived at the scene.

Florida: Endangered whale strands self on beach

A 35-foot endangered Sei whale became stranded on a Gulf of Mexico sandbar and died despite efforts by residents to rescue the beached mammal.

The 15-ton whale appeared Saturday morning along the shores of Port St. Joe, in the Florida Panhandle. Its corpse was towed to a marina for a necropsy.

Ron Hardy, co-owner of Gulf World Marine Park, said sharks had taken bites out of the whale, but more than likely that wasn’t the cause of death.

Hardy said it was a half-grown female Sei whale. He said only about 2,200 Sei whales are known to exist and generally are found in deep waters along continental shelves.

Miami: 11 officers on trial in shootings, cover-ups

The late 1990s in Miami was marked by high violent crime rates, with roving gangs that stalked tourists, but prosecutors say the violence also included acts committed by the police.

Based on information from two retired officers who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in September 2001, 11 other officers were indicted on federal corruption charges alleging cover-ups in four police shootings in which three men were killed.

The 11 were scheduled to go on trial today on charges of planting guns, manipulating evidence or covering up crimes by others in a series of questionable shootings. The two who pleaded guilty are slated as the prosecution’s star witnesses.

The case was the city’s worst police scandal since the 1980s, when the so-called “Miami River Cops” stole cocaine from drug traffickers and sold the drug themselves. More than 100 officers were arrested, fired or disciplined in that case.