Mules will help in radiation survey at LA-area lab

Mules will help in radiation survey at LA-area lab

LOS ANGELES

The Environmental Protection Agency has a new weapon in the fight against radioactive contamination at a Los Angeles-area lab: mules.

The EPA will use four mules to carry high-tech scanning equipment to detect radiation on steep and rocky terrain at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory.

The EPA is conducting a survey of soil and water contamination at the lab near Simi Valley, where rocket engines were tested for years and a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor took place in 1959.

About 500 acres of the lab will be scanned for gamma radiation.

Results will be turned over to the state, which is overseeing a cleanup.

Thieves steal Ohio hearse, dump corpse, leave note

CLEVELAND

A corpse was taken for a ride in Cleveland, then dumped by thieves who stole a crematory’s hearse and abandoned it with a note telling police where to find the body.

Police on Wednesday found the woman’s body, in a bag and on a gurney, at the intersection specified in the note.

Computer equipment also was taken from the crematory during Wednesday’s break-in. Sgt. Sammy Morris says police are investigating whether the hearse was stolen to haul the gear away. No arrests have been made.

Funeral director Jim Murphy said the corpse was unharmed. It was scheduled to be cremated Wednesday.

The Greenfield Crematory has apologized to the family. It says it was not unusual for the body to have been left in its vehicle, which was locked inside the building.

Erie police: Abduction suspect was scolding kids

ERIE, Pa.

Erie police say a man initially suspected of trying to lure children into his truck was actually a roofer who had stopped to scold the children for standing in the street as he drove to work.

Erie police aren’t identifying the man who reportedly approached the children in his truck Wednesday. Police say four children, ages 7, 9, 10 and 14, told a parent that two men in the truck tried to abduct them as they walked to school.

The parent saw the vehicle and gave its license-plate number to police who traced it to the man who lives in Union City.

Police say the man told them he yelled at the kids for walking in the street.