North Carolina

At least 34 whales die on Outer Banks

Scientists and National Park Service workers were working Sunday to collect samples and clean up whale carcasses after 34 of the marine mammals beached themselves and either died or had to be euthanized.

Dozens of whales beached themselves early Saturday along a five-mile stretch of coastline near Oregon Inlet, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Twenty-four pilot whales died, and another seven were euthanized because they were suffering, the National Park Service reported.

A single minke whale was found dead in Corolla, the Virginian-Pilot reported. Two pygmy sperm whales turned up Sunday morning near Buxton — one already dead, and one so sick that it also had to be euthanized, NOAA Fisheries biologist Barbie Byrd said.

It is not uncommon for pilot whales to beach themselves, but scientists do not know why. The pilot whale is a protected species but not endangered.

Colorado

Tooth pain leads to nail discovery

A dentist found the source of the toothache Patrick Lawler was complaining about on the roof of his mouth: a 4-inch nail the construction worker had unknowingly embedded in his skull six days earlier.

A nail gun backfired on Lawler, 23, on Jan. 6 while working in Breckenridge, a ski resort town in the central Colorado mountains. The tool sent a nail into a piece of wood nearby, but Lawler didn’t realize a second nail had shot through his mouth, said his sister, Lisa Metcalse.

Following the accident, Lawler had what he thought was a minor toothache and blurry vision. On Wednesday, after painkillers and ice didn’t ease the pain, he went to a dental office where his wife, Katerina, works.

“We all are friends, so I thought the (dentists) were joking … then the doctor came out and said ‘There’s really a nail,”‘ Katerina Lawler said. “Patrick just broke down. I mean, he had been eating ice cream to help the swelling.”

He was taken to a suburban Denver hospital, where he underwent a four-hour surgery. The nail had plunged 1 1/2 inches into his brain, barely missing his right eye.

Utah

One body recovered from avalanche area

Search teams digging through tons of snow Sunday found the body of one of five people feared buried by a powerful avalanche in an area that skiers had been warned to avoid.

The victim was identified as Shane Maixner, 27, of Sandpoint, Idaho. His body was found under 4 feet of snow after trained dogs alerted the teams searching the area of Friday’s slide, Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said at a news conference.

Seven people have been killed in Utah avalanches this winter — more than any year since the state started keeping records in 1951. It’s still relatively early in the season.

Several eyewitnesses claimed they saw multiple people buried in the avalanche near Park City, about 20 miles east of Salt Lake City. But Maixner was the only one who had been identified even before his body was found; a friend told a 911 dispatcher he saw him caught by the cascading mass of snow.