California

First major suspension bridge in 30 years opens

With speeches, parades and a blowtorch, Californians opened the nation’s first major suspension bridge since 1973, a 3,400-foot span across the Carquinez Straits 25 miles northeast of San Francisco.

Gov. Gray Davis helped ironworkers christen the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge, above, by slicing through a ceremonial chain with a blast of fire.

The $400 million bridge is 410 feet high, rests on two piers and is designed to withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0. It is named for a local ironworker who fell from the Golden Gate Bridge during its 1936 construction and survived to build six more bridges in the Bay Area.

Zampa died at 95, weeks after turning the first shovel of dirt for the bridge in 2000. The bridge named for him is the longest suspension span to open in the United States since Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Seattle

Victim in windshield 4 blocks, then dumped

A driver was charged with hitting a man with his car, driving four blocks with the victim lodged in the windshield, then dumping the man in the street and driving away.

Troy Hagen, 29, of Olympia, was charged Friday with vehicular homicide and hit-and-run; he is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in King County Superior Court.

Court papers alleged Hagen was driving high on methamphetamine early last Sunday. The victim, Walter High, had just left a nightclub and was standing by a parked car, talking with passengers when he was hit.

The force threw him on the hood of Hagen’s car and propelled him headfirst through the windshield.

The documents said Hagen drove for more than four blocks before stopping. He allegedly removed High’s body, left it in the street, then drove another 11 blocks before calling 911 to report the accident.

Hagen said his cell phone wasn’t working at the scene so he drove to a better location. The call came about 20 minutes after the accident.

California

Toddler pronounced dead, later revived

A 20-month-old girl was pronounced dead at a hospital after being found face-down in a swimming pool, but a police investigator later noticed her breathing and she was revived.

The toddler’s mother discovered her in the family pool Friday morning and she was taken to Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead about an hour later, said Fullerton police Sgt. Ron Gillett.

A police investigator alone in the hospital room taking photographs of the girl’s body saw some movement and noticed her breathing, Gillett said. Medical staff then fully revived the child.

The toddler was later transferred to Childrens Hospital of Orange County and was listed Friday night in critical condition, said Susan Thomas, a hospital spokeswoman.

Georgia

Explorers find gold in Civil War-era ship

After searching the ocean for more than 10 years, marine explorers found crates of gold last week at the site of a Civil War-era shipwreck about 100 miles east of Savannah.

Archeologists from Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., on Thursday found 80 gold coins and at least two wooden crates of gold coins buried in the sediment, said company spokeswoman Laura Lionetti Barton.

The gold’s worth is not yet known. Barton has suggested that coins from the shipwreck could be worth more than $120 million.

The side-wheel steamer SS Republic sank during a hurricane in 1865.