New Zealand earthquake death toll at 75 as searches continue
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — Some screamed from inside collapsed buildings. One woman used her mobile phone to call her children to say goodbye. Others tapped on the rubble to communicate with those on the outside.
Search teams using their bare hands, dogs, heavy cranes and earth movers worked frantically Wednesday in one of New Zealand’s largest cities to find survivors of a powerful earthquake as officials raised the death toll to at least 75.
Countries scramble to evacuate citizens from unrest in Libya
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Governments scrambled by air and sea to pick up their citizens stranded by Libya’s bloody unrest Tuesday, with thousands of people crowding the airport and a stadium to await evacuation and Egyptians gathering at the border to escape the chaos.
“The airport was mobbed.You wouldn’t believe the number of people,” said Kathleen Burnett, of Baltimore, Ohio, as she stepped off an Austrian Airlines flight from Tripoli to Vienna on Tuesday.
Deadly Mali stampede kills 35, hearses carry away bodies
 
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Hearses rolled in and out of Bamako’s largest morgue Tuesday as families came to retrieve the bodies of loved ones killed in a stampede during a religious ceremony in the Malian capital.
Sekou Toure, the morgue director, said 35 people had been killed in the deadly rush, which occurred in the capital’s main football stadium. All but three of the victims were female, and many were young girls.
Wisconsin lawmakers take up bill to cripple unions of bargaining rights
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — With their Senate colleagues still in hiding, Democrats in the Wisconsin Assembly began introducing a barrage of 100 amendments Tuesday to try to stymie the Republican governor’s plan to strip unionized public employees of most of their bargaining rights.
Both houses of the GOP-controlled Legislature convened shortly before noon amid noisy protests outside the state Capitol that began more than a week ago in a showdown that is being watched nervously by organized labor across the country.
Oregon congressman sent photos of himself wearing tiger costume
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon congressman says it was “unprofessional and inappropriate” to send pictures of himself wearing a tiger costume to staff members.
Democratic U.S. Rep. David Wu said Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the photos were taken while he was “joshing around” with his children in October.
One photo shows Wu wearing an orange and black striped tiger outfit with pointy ears and striped mittens.
Ice cream truck stopped and one arrested for marijuana in Houma
THIBODAUX (AP) — A complaint that something other than ice cream was being sold from an ice cream truck in Lafourche Parish led to the arrest of a Houma man.
Lafourche sheriff’s deputies jailed 19-year-old Jonathan Trahan of Houma. He was booked with possession with intent to distribute marijuana, The Houma Courier reported.
Deputies found the vehicle on a street in Mathews on Sunday. No drugs were found in the truck, but deputies allegedly found 9 grams of marijuana and a glass pipe in Trahan’s pockets. Trahan was jailed on $5,250 bond.
New Orleans Saints release tight end Jeremy Shocky after 3 seasons
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints have released tight end Jeremy Shockey.
In a statement Tuesday, Executive Vice President and General Manager Mickey Loomis thanked Shockey for his contributions to the team and wished him the best in the future.
The Saints acquired Shockey in a trade with the New York Giants before the 2008 season.