Florida: Air Force trainer jet crashes near base

A T-38 military training jet crashed Saturday in a residential area, hitting two homes, officials said. The pilot escaped with minor injuries and no one on the ground was hurt.

The plane hit two houses in Valparaiso outside Eglin Air Force Base around 1:45 p.m., said Lt. Col. Debbie Millett, a base spokeswoman.

She said the pilot ejected and was brought to a military hospital and listed in good condition. People were inside the houses at the time of the crash and were talking to investigators, she said.

Florida: Two beaches pass bacteria test

Bacteria levels have dropped off at two South Florida beaches where high readings had been found, but beachgoers still were warned to stay out of the water in five other areas.

Waters off Hollywood and Hallandale Beach gave normal readings Friday for fecal coliform bacteria after testing high a day earlier, Broward County Health Department officials said.

But health warnings remained in place for high levels of enterococci bacteria at Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Pompano Beach and the town of Gulf Stream in Palm Beach County.

Minnesota: Deer test negative for chronic wasting

Minnesota officials said they found no signs of chronic wasting disease in wildlife after testing samples of 5,002 deer killed by hunters last fall.

“It’s good news as far as it goes,” said Mike DonCarlos, a Department of Natural Resources wildlife researcher. But he cautioned the results don’t necessarily mean that all deer are free of the brain disease in Minnesota, where hunters shoot about 200,000 of the animals every year.

New York: Young crash survivor released from hospital

The youngest of the three brothers who survived after their plane crashed has been discharged from a hospital, a spokesman said Saturday.

The boys survived 18 hours on a snow-covered mountain after the crash last weekend that killed their parents and two siblings.

Two-year-old Ryan Ferris was discharged from Albany Medical Center on Friday.

His brothers, Jordan, 5, and Tyler, 10, were upgraded from serious to fair condition.