Hospital helicopter crashes, killing three

Hospital helicoptercrashes, killing three
NORFOLK, Neb. -- A medical helicopter crashed during an emergency landing attempt Friday, killing all three people aboard, officials said.
The helicopter had left a Norfolk hospital shortly after noon when it experienced a problem and tried to land at an airport three miles away.
A witness, Lynn Stewart, said the helicopter touched down, then immediately went back up in the air and started to gyrate. He said the helicopter was flying erratically as it reached about 100 feet before diving nose first.
"I think he was just trying to get the thing straightened out, then it slowly was just climbing and spinning, climbing and spinning," Stewart said.
The pilot, 43-year-old Phil Herring, died after the LifeNet of the Heartland helicopter crashed. The two passengers died later at an Omaha hospital, said Russ Spray, chairman of Rocky Mountain Holding Corp., LifeNet's parent company.
The other victims were identified as nurse Lori Schrempp, 41, of Yankton, S.D., and paramedic Pat Scollard, 40, of Sioux City, Iowa.
Adventurer's balloonreaches Pacific Ocean
ST. LOUIS -- Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett crossed from the Eastern to the Western Hemisphere on Friday in his bid to become the first solo balloonist to circle the globe.
As of 3 p.m. EDT, Fossett was floating above the Pacific Ocean, clocking nearly 75 mph at 23,300 feet his Bud Light Spirit of Freedom balloon.
He is expected to spend four days over water before he reaches the coast of Chile. Since beginning his mission from western Australia on Tuesday night, local time, Fossett has flown more than 3,626 miles.
Earlier Friday, Fossett sailed above stormy weather as he cruised toward New Zealand.
The investment tycoon from Chicago is hoping to complete his around-the-world flight in 15 total days.
In five earlier solo attempts, Fossett has plummeted into the Coral Sea and, last summer, was forced to ditch the balloon on a Brazilian cattle ranch after 12 days in flight, making it the longest solo balloon flight.
Man goes on trialin death of guard
DENVER -- Authorities say Michael Nunez killed Corina Martinez because she discovered a "shameful secret" he had kept for a decade: He liked to wear women's lingerie.
Nunez, 30, is on trial in Denver District Court on a charge of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Martinez, 59, a security guard at a mall food court.
Nunez stabbed Martinez 40 times Dec. 9, 2000, and then stuffed her body into a trash bin, police said.
"Michael Nunez had a secret he kept for 10 years, a secret that sent Corina Martinez to her death," said prosecutor Katie O'Brien. "Corina Martinez paid with her life for his secret."
Nunez confessed to police, saying he killed Martinez "to keep her shut."
"She didn't do nothing to me, but I did it to her," he told police. "I had to, yeah, so she wouldn't say anything."
Martinez found Nunez in a back room by the food court as he removed women's lingerie that he wore to work under his regular clothing, police said. Nunez wore women's panties, pantyhose, a burgundy camisole and slip, and a white nightgown with spaghetti straps.
O'Brien called the killing cold-blooded murder. Nunez stabbed Martinez so viciously that he broke her rib, fractured her skull and severed her carotid artery. He disposed of her body and cleaned up the blood. Then he went to work at the shop, "making sandwiches and waiting on the public," O'Brien said.
Europe is free of polio,world health group says
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- The World Health Organization declared on Friday that its European zone, which includes former Soviet republics and almost a billion people, is free of the polio virus.
Southeastern Turkey was the last area in the region to have had polio. The final case was reported there in November 1998 along the Iranian border.
The European zone, which has 51 countries and 873 million inhabitants, was the third WHO region decreed free of polio. The Americas were certified polio-free in 1994, followed by the Western Pacific region three years later.
To be certified poliomyelitis-free, a region must prove that three years of extensive surveillance have found no polio. The virus can cause paralysis and sometimes death.