Mississippi

Investigators seek cause of derailment

Investigators examined twisted track and overturned passenger cars Wednesday to figure out why an Amtrak train derailed over a swamp, killing one person and injuring nearly 60 others.

The nine-car City of New Orleans, en route to Chicago, jumped the tracks Tuesday night near Flora. Its cars tumbled five or six feet off a trestle about 25 miles north of Jackson.

National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman Mark Rosenker would not speculate on the cause but said the FBI had examined the scene and found no reason to believe it was anything but an accident.

At a Wednesday evening briefing, Rosenkar said the train’s data recorder showed its speed reduced from 78 mph to a dead stop about 6:33 p.m. Tuesday, and investigators said it appeared that the engineer had pulled the emergency handle.

“We will know more about why he did that” today, when interviews with the crew were planned, he said.

Salt Lake City

Murder charge dropped in C-section case

A woman charged with murder for allegedly delaying a Caesarean section that could have saved one of her twins pleaded guilty Wednesday to child endangerment in a deal with prosecutors.

Under the plea bargain, prosecutors are recommending no prison time for Melissa Ann Rowland, 28. They said they dropped the murder charge based on her “mental health history.”

Rowland has said she never intended to kill her baby and was not informed she needed immediate surgery to save the babies’ lives. She disputed prosecutors’ allegations she was worried about a scar from the surgery, saying she delivered two previous children through C-sections.

New York

Gay, lesbian couples sue over marriage law

Thirteen same-sex couples sued the state of New York on Wednesday, seeking to have the state law that denies gay and lesbian couples the right to marry declared unconstitutional.

“This case is about ending the discrimination that is currently written into the marriage laws of New York,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Plaintiffs include state Assembly member Daniel O’Donnell and his partner of 23 years, John Banta. The NYCLU, the American Civil Liberties Union and a private law firm are representing the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit charges that state health regulations defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman violates the state Constitution’s equal protection, privacy and due process provisions.

Washington, D.C.

Government licenses first private rocket ship

The government announced Wednesday that it has issued the first license for a manned suborbital rocket, a step toward opening space flight to private individuals.

The Federal Aviation Administration gave a one-year license to Scaled Composites of Mojave, Calif., headed by Burt Rutan. He is best known for designing the Voyager airplane that made the first nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world in 1986.

The license is a prerequisite for the X Prize competition, an international space race that will give $10 million to the first company or person to launch a manned craft to 62.5 miles above the Earth, and then do it again within two weeks. The craft must be able to carry three people.

Hawaii

Shark attack kills surfer

A surfer was killed Wednesday by a shark off the coast of Maui.

Willis McInnis, 57, was helped out of the water, but died on the shore despite rescue efforts by beachgoers, police and paramedics. He was bitten in the leg and suffered severe blood loss, police Capt. Charles Hirata said.

He said the bite on McInnis was 12 to 14 inches wide, indicating that it was probably a large shark.

Four shark attacks were reported last year in Hawaii, including one in October off Kauai that took the left arm of top amateur surfer Bethany Hamilton, then 13.

Nebraska

Ten Commandments marker wins reprieve

A federal appeals court has tossed out an earlier decision that a Ten Commandments monument must be removed from a city park.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order Tuesday saying the full court will review a February ruling in which a three-judge panel of the court said the monument in Plattsmouth violated the separation of church and state.

The St. Louis-based 8th Circuit, which covers Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota, has not set a date for oral arguments.

More than 4,000 Ten Commandment monuments are displayed in cities nationwide. Courts have issued conflicting rulings on public Ten Commandments displays, and the Supreme Court has refused to hear cases dealing with their constitutionality.