Briefly

New York

Boys improve after crash

Hundreds of people have offered to take in three orphaned brothers who survived a plane crash on a frigid mountainside, and the boys’ condition was upgraded Wednesday from critical to serious at an Albany hospital.

“They’re alert. There’s no head injuries creating any problems. The prognosis is good,” said Leon Smith, the boys’ great-uncle.

Offers to provide a home for the Ferris boys — Ryan, 2, Jordan, 5, and Tyler, 10 — were pouring in, but Smith said they would live with relatives in upstate New York once they’re well enough to leave the hospital.

Ronald and Tayne Ferris, the boys’ parents, and brothers Shawn and Kyle will be buried in Westmoreland, N.Y., with a graveside service likely in the spring so the boys can be there, Smith said.

New York

T-shirt arrest charge dropped

Officials at a mall where a man was arrested for refusing to remove an antiwar T-shirt asked Wednesday that trespassing charges against him be dropped.

Police said managers from Crossgates Mall in Guilderland called and asked that the complaint against Stephen Downs be withdrawn. Police Chief James Murley said he would support the mall’s decision.

Earlier Wednesday, about 100 antiwar demonstrators marched through the mall to protest the arrest. They told a mall manager they would stop only when charges against the shopper were dropped and when the mall outlined its policy on shopper attire.

Washington, D.C.

Cap on tuition hikes proposed

Seeking to corral the rising costs of higher education, a House Republican on Wednesday proposed capping tuition and fee increases at twice the rate of inflation.

Colleges and universities that break the limit would be warned by the federal government and, after a one-year grace period, would face sanctions including a possible cutoff of federal aid.

Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., who leads a House panel that oversees higher education, drew up the plan.

In the past decade, average tuition and fees at four-year colleges and universities jumped about 75 percent — to $18,273 a year for private institutions and $4,081 a year for public schools in the 2002-03 school year — according to The College Board.

Even when adjusted for inflation, The College Board found, the increases were still about 38 percent.