Congress honors bombing victims

Congress honors bombing victims

WASHINGTON

House and Senate leaders on Tuesday awarded Congress’ highest civilian honor to four girls killed in the Alabama church bombing nearly 50 years ago that became a watershed moment in the civil-rights movement.

The Congressional Gold Medal went to Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, who were all 14, and Denise McNair, who was 11. The ceremony came five days before the 50th anniversary of their deaths inside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

“Their names remain seared in our hearts,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. She was joined at the commemoration by Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and members of Alabama’s congressional delegation.

Pipeline-blast claims reach $565 million

SAN FRANCISCO

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. expects to pay a total of $565 million in legal settlements and other claims from a deadly 2010 gas pipeline explosion in a San Francisco Bay Area suburb, the utility said.

The figure includes $455 million that PG&E already has agreed to pay and $110 million it expects to pay in connection with recent settlements and remaining claims, PG&E said in a filing with federal regulators Monday.

Volunteer charged with four rapes

DALLAS

A crime-watch volunteer suspected of raping four women in a Dallas neighborhood where as many as nine women may have been attacked by the same man this summer was arrested Tuesday in a Louisiana motel, police said.

Van Dralan Dixson, 38, was arrested in Baton Rouge, La., two days after his car was found abandoned more than 400 miles away in a Dallas suburb, Dallas Police Maj. Jeff Cotner said.

Police said DNA evidence so far has linked Dixson to four sexual assaults in Dallas’ Fair Park neighborhood, where investigators believe one man committed as many as nine sexual assaults since June.

Newlywed charged with husband’s death

HELENA, Mont.

A newlywed wife with doubts about her 8-day-old marriage confessed she pushed her husband face-first off a cliff in Glacier National Park, then lied about his death and told authorities he had driven off with friends, court documents said.

Federal prosecutors have given their version of what happened to Cody Lee Johnson, 25, two months after his body was found in an area of the park so steep and rugged that a helicopter had to be used in the recovery.

Jordan Linn Graham, 22, appeared Monday in federal court in Missoula on a second-degree murder charge in Johnson’s July 7 death. Her attorney, public defender Andrew Nelson, declined to comment.

Tropical storm nears Bermuda

HAMILTON, Bermuda

Tropical Storm Gabrielle brought gusty winds, rain and rough surf to Bermuda on Tuesday evening as its center neared the wealthy British territory after reforming over the Atlantic.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm was centered about 30 miles south- southwest of Bermuda on Tuesday evening and was moving northward with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. It was expected to pass over or near Bermuda during the night.

Associated Press