Michigan

Two hundred march to protest racism

About 200 demonstrators marched Saturday to protest the racially charged case of a black motorcyclist whose death during a police chase sparked two nights of rioting in June.

Carrying signs and chanting “What do we want? Justice!” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police,” marchers walked 1 1/2 miles from the mostly black city of Benton Harbor to neighboring St. Joseph, a predominantly white community, for a rally at the county courthouse.

Though organizers were denied a permit to march in the street, most demonstrators did so anyhow. There were no uniformed police visible along the route, and no arrests were reported.

Wisconsin

E. coli found on beaches of Lake Superior

Unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria have been found on 14 beaches of Lake Superior, state officials have said.

The state Department of Natural Resources said the unsafe levels were measured this spring and summer at beaches in four counties. One beach remains closed to swimming.

There have been no cases of illness reported in connection with the beaches, and DNR beach program coordinator Ben Vail said the findings by themselves should not cause alarm.

He noted the federally funded testing program is in its first year, so there is no data to compare it with and no way of telling if levels are higher than in the past.

Florida

NAACP president calls for fairer foreign policies

The NAACP opened its 94th annual convention Saturday in Miami Beach with a call for the United States to adopt fairer foreign policies toward African and Caribbean nations.

President Kweisi Mfume criticized the government for neglecting Africa as it suffered from wars, famine and disease.

“Our policy with respect to the continent of Africa at best has been a policy that is inconsistent and incoherent,” he said.

Mfume also criticized President Bush, who wrapped up his tour of Africa on Saturday, for again turning down an invitation to attend the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People convention. It was the third year he was invited and declined.

Virginia

National Guard airmen injured on flight home

Twenty airmen were injured Saturday when a West Virginia Air National Guard plane encountered severe turbulence and had to make an emergency landing.

Approximately 40 members of the 167th Airlift Wing were on the flight, which was bringing them home from a four-month posting in Puerto Rico, said Maj. Mike Cadle, a National Guard spokesman in Charleston, W. Va.

A spokesman for Oceana Naval Station in Virginia Beach, where the plane landed, said none of the injuries were life-threatening.

“It was a lot of bruises, like you would get in an aircraft when you get tossed out of your seat, or something like that,” said Troy Snead, a spokesman for Oceana.

Washington

Tanker explodes on I-5

A fuel tanker exploded Saturday on the largest north-south roadway on the West Coast, creating smoke that could be seen for miles and halting traffic in both directions.

The 32-year-old driver survived, and there were no initial reports of any injuries, Patrol Trooper Lance Ramsey said.

It was not immediately known what caused the midday explosion on Interstate 5, in the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood.

New Hampshire

Two missing children now believed dead

New evidence found in the search for two children missing since July Fourth has led authorities to believe they may be murder victims, prosecutors said Saturday.

Police haven’t found the bodies of Sarah Gehring, 14, or Philip Gehring, 11, but the investigation has changed from a missing persons case to an apparent double-homicide investigation, Assistant Atty. Gen. Jeffery Strelzin said.

Strelzin wouldn’t say what specifically led authorities to believe the children are dead.

When their father, Manuel Gehring, 44, of Concord, was arrested Thursday in California, the children weren’t with him. Authorities have said he drove more than 3,200 miles from Concord to Gilroy, Calif., between July 4 and July 10.