Average US price of gas spikes 13 cents per gallon, to $2.91

Average US price of gas spikes 13 cents per gallon, to $2.91

CAMARILLO, Calif.

The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline surged 13 cents a gallon over the past two weeks, to $2.91.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey says one of the reasons for the spike is an increase in crude-oil costs.

Lundberg said Sunday that prices at the pump have jumped 25 cents over the past month and 60 cents over the past 14 weeks.

The highest average price in the nation is $4.04 a gallon in the San Francisco Bay Area. The lowest average is $2.45 in Baton Rouge, La.

The average price of diesel rose 4 cents over the past two weeks, to $3.14.

Man arrested on murder charges in hacking death

NEW YORK

Authorities arrested a man on murder and attempted murder charges in connection with the death of a woman found nearly decapitated in a New York City apartment and the wounding of another woman who was hospitalized in critical condition, police said Sunday.

Jerry Brown, 34, of Brooklyn, was taken into custody Saturday, hours after emergency responders went to a Brooklyn building in response to a 911 call from a driver who came across the surviving woman, according to the New York Police Department.

Police found the dead woman, identified as Savannah Rivera, 20, inside the Flushing Avenue apartment, part of Bushwick Houses, about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. A 4-year-old daughter of the wounded woman was in another room but was unharmed.

Analysis shows leading cause of infant injury deaths

CHICAGO

Accidental suffocation is a leading cause of injury deaths in U.S. infants and common scenarios involve blankets, bed-sharing with parents and other unsafe sleep practices, an analysis of government data found.

These deaths “are entirely preventable. That’s the most important point,” said Dr. Fern Hauck, a co-author and University of Virginia expert in infant deaths.

Among 250 suffocation deaths, roughly 70 percent involved blankets, pillows or other soft bedding that blocked infants’ airways. Half of these soft-bedding-related deaths occurred in an adult bed where most babies were sleeping on their stomachs.

Almost 20 percent suffocated when someone in the bed accidentally moved against or on top of them, and about 12 percent died when their faces were wedged against a wall or mattress.

US ambassador’s Passover wishes met with anger

WARSAW, Poland

The U.S. ambassador to Poland wished Jews a happy Passover in Polish, and the reaction was a wave of angry comments on Twitter.

Ambassador Georgette Mosbacher also wished Poles a happy Easter on Sunday. By then, Mosbacher had been accused of offending Poland with her Passover tweet and reminded she is serving in a predominantly Roman Catholic country.

Krystyna Pawlowicz, a lawmaker with Poland’s right-wing ruling party, called the ambassador’s tweet, which was posted Friday along with a colorful illustration of items for a Passover Seder, a “provocation.”

Some came to Mosbacher’s defense, recalling that Poland also has a small Jewish population. Poland was home to Europe’s largest Jewish population before the Holocaust.

Associated Press