Ohio
Temp in teens as fire destroys 13 businesses
COLUMBUS — Firefighters have put out a fire that burned for several hours and destroyed a block of buildings in downtown Columbus.
Fire Battalion Chief Doug Smith said winds helped spread the blaze Saturday. Between 13 and 17 businesses, including a restaurant and a candle shop, were destroyed.
At least 100 firefighters were rotated in and out of frigid weather to fight the blaze. The National Weather Service said temperatures were in the teens with about 18 mph winds.
Ex-nurse gets prison for abusing patients
SANDUSKY — A former night-shift nurse accused of sexually abusing patients at northwest Ohio nursing homes entered a plea arrangement to avoid trial and has been sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison.
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John Riems entered an Alford plea Friday evening to four counts of sexual battery and one count of gross sexual imposition. In an Alford plea, a defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction but does not admit guilt.
Riems, 50, was videotaped last January telling authorities that he abused about 100 patients at various nursing homes since the 1980s.
Defense attorney Troy Wisehart tried to keep the videotape out of the trial. He argued that Riems was coerced into the confession by aggressive detectives.
Colorado
Train carrying sulfur derails, spilling some
LITTLETON — A freight train hauling dozens of cars of molten sulfur derailed, spilling some of its cargo onto the ground and releasing an eggy smell into the air, authorities said. There were no reports of any injuries or evacuations.
The three-locomotive, 68-car train derailed late Friday, Littleton Police Lt. Mike Broadhead said. The cause of the derailment was not immediately determined.
The northbound train, operated by BNSF, derailed just east of downtown Littleton, a suburb south of Denver. At least 17 cars came off the tracks and several lay on their side in an accordian-like jumble, BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said.
The rotten-egg odor of sulfur could be smelled up to a quarter mile away, Broadhead said.
Louisiana
4 children die as fire sweeps mobile home
LACOMBE — Authorities say four children have died in a mobile-home fire in Lacombe, La., about 25 miles north of New Orleans.
State Fire Marshal H. Butch Browning said in a news release that a 10-year-old boy, an 8-year-old girl and two 6-year-old girls died in the Saturday morning blaze. The victims' mother, grandmother and step-grandfather were injured.
Officials say the home was in flames when the Mandeville fire department arrived. Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
Wisconsin
Racine mayor charged in Internet sex sting
RACINE — Racine Mayor Gary Becker has been charged in an Internet sex sting.
Becker was arrested Tuesday night at a suburban Milwaukee shopping mall. Authorities said he went there to meet what he thought was a 14-year-old girl but actually was a state agent.
A criminal complaint filed against him Thursday included sexually explicit chats he had with the other person. He faces six felony charges and has been freed on $165,000 cash bond.
Illinois
Boy, 6, left asleep on bus in subzero cold
CHICAGO — A Catholic school in Chicago is investigating how a 6-year-old boy was left sleeping on a school bus for more than two hours in subzero temperatures.
St. Malachy School officials say Kinjari Penson fell asleep Thursday on the way to an after-school program at a Chicago church. The first-grader didn't wake up until the other children returned to the bus.
The temperatures had dropped to 11 below zero. The boy complained that his feet hurt from the cold and was treated for hypothermia at a hospital.
California
Search for elderly pair in Pacific is called off
LONG BEACH — The Coast Guard suspended its search Saturday for an elderly couple believed to have fallen off a cruise ship between Long Beach and northern Mexico.
The aerial search for the 90-year-old man and his 79-year-old wife was halted after officials determined that their chances of surviving in the water were slim, said Chief Warrant Officer Scott Epperson.
"Factoring in their age and weights, their survivability in 59 degrees water was about 4 to 6 hours," he said.
The couple were last seen Tuesday aboard the Carnival Paradise.
Texas
Life support may end for brain-injured boy
DALLAS — A court may decide this coming week whether to end life support for a 6-month-old Dallas baby who has suffered severe brain damage, dozens of bone fractures and numerous scars, allegedly at the hands of his parents.
A physician noted that David Coronado Jr. had 42 skeletal injuries. His hands and feet appeared to have been pulled, twisted and crushed. His skin injuries included bruises and human bite marks.
A court-appointed guardian for the boy has filed a motion in Dallas County juvenile court asking that doctors at Children's Medical Center of Dallas be permitted to remove the boy from life support, saying the move is in his best interests.
His parents, David Cesar Coronado Sr., 23, and Ruthy Marie Chabolla, 22, were arrested Dec. 23 on charges of injury to a child. Bail was set at $500,000 each and they remain in jail.
