MANHATTAN — Gov. David Paterson signed the "Jack Shea Bill" into law on Monday, allowing nurses and emergency medical technicians to test suspected drunk drivers' alcohol levels without the supervision of a doctor. The bill was inspired by the 2002 death of two-time Olympic gold medalist Jack Shea, who at 91 years old died was killed in a drunk driving accident ...

DETROIT - A Detroit man has been charged in the arson fire that injured seven Detroit firefighters a week ago, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Samson Wright, 29, was charged today with intentionally damaging/destroying a commercial building by fire, the ATF reported in a news release. The charge carries a penalty of 5-20 years in ...

BALTIMORE - When you cheat, they tell kids in school, you only cheat yourself, but in Baltimore, we've recently learned that's not always true. Sometimes you also cheat the students you're supposed to be teaching when you change the answers on their state standardized tests, and even worse, sometimes you cheat victims of heart attacks, strokes or traumas when you get ...

SACRAMENTO, CA - Scott McKinney, one of four Sacramento firefighters injured when a home exploded in Oak Park on July 5, was released from the hospital Sunday. "I feel fantastic," McKinney told TV camera crews as he left UC Davis Medical Center. "The care was awesome. The hospital took really good care of me." McKinney spent six days in the hospital ...

BOSTON - The owner of a vacant Roxbury warehouse that burned to rubble in a nine-alarm inferno Saturday night said yesterday that he walked away from his business three years ago because concrete chunks from the towerlike building next door kept raining down on his property and Boston authorities were unable for the past decade to get its owners to fix ...

WOODSBORO, Md. --The Frederick County Fire Marshal's Office determined the spontaneous combustion of tightly compacted hay bales caused a barn fire Sunday in the 10200 block of Oak Hill Road. Marc McNeal, chief fire marshal at the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services, said a worker in the 75- by 400-foot barn was moving some hay bales when a ...

CHICAGO - A firefighter was injured this morning in a fall from the roof of a vacant house on Chicago's South Side. The firefighter lost his footing while trying to extinguish a fire in the attic of the 2½-story frame house in the 6800 block of South Green Street, fell 30 feet but "did a somersault in the air" and landed ...

AUSTRALIA - UNION officials say they are struggling to find new ways to prevent assaults on ambulance officers following a weekend attack on a female paramedic by a nine-year-old boy. A Department of Community Safety spokeswoman confirmed the paramedic suffered a cut to the head after being kicked by the child while attempting to treat a 21-year-old with a broken foot ...

Alberta - A wildfire roared through the Canadian town of Slave Lake Sunday, destroying scores of buildings in a scene described by one resident as Armageddon. The northern Alberta province community of about 7,000 people lost a shopping center, high school, city hall, police station, library, radio station, apartment complexes and an undetermined number of houses, The Globe and Mail in ...

GARY, Ind. — A furloughed Gary firefighter has turned to panhandling to support his family. Gary Pickering is one of 34 firefighters the city laid off last week. The 34-year-old married father of four man has been wearing his turnout gear while he solicits donations from passersby in downtown Gary. He tells The Times of Munster that he receives only $350 ...

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Investigators are now saying it was an improperly installed natural gas clothes dryer that caused an early morning explosion. The Montgomery County Fire Department says the dryer was not installed by a licensed professional and began leaking gas into the house. Two people were injured in the explosion. A woman is in critical condition with potentially life-threatening injuries, ...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Callers to 911 emergency officials in February told of seeing and hearing a fiery plane crash at an IRS office building in Austin, Texas and described a chaotic scene afterward with people running all around. Some callers were frantic and others remarkably calm in the 911 recordings released Monday by the Austin Police Department. "I'm calling about the ...

OROVILLE, CA — A homeless man might have died in a recent suspicious fire at Lincoln Boulevard and Myers Street, if he hadn't been rescued by a firefighter who happened to glance down and saw a pair of boots barely peeking out of a high clump of brush. The man was asleep or possibly passed out in a makeshift camp sheltered ...

BANGKOK (AP) - A 603-pound (274-kilogram) woman believed to be the heaviest in Thailand left her apartment for the first time in three years Thursday with the help of Bangkok city hall and a forklift. Neighbors of 40-year-old Umnuayporn Tongprapai contacted the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority when they learned she needed medical attention to remove a tumor in her right leg. Bangkok's ...

PELHAM, Ala. — The mayor of Pelham is backing away from plans to melt the city's main ice skating rink and replace it with a firefighter museum. Pelham Mayor Don Murphy says he received hundreds of calls and emails from residents who were angry about his plan to remove one of two ice rinks at the Pelham Civic Complex. The rink ...

BROWNSVILLE, TN. - A medical helicopter crashed in stormy weather over western Tennessee early Thursday, killing its crew of three, around the same time another helicopter company had declined to go on a flight in the area because of the weather conditions. No patients were on board the helicopter operated by Hospital Wing when it crashed in a field about 55 ...

MUNCIE -- Seven days after the critically injured Brian Buck arrived at Ball Memorial Hospital in an ambulance, he left Wednesday in good spirits in a Liberty Township fire truck. Buck was one of two Liberty Township firefighters injured in a well accident that killed an Anderson plumber and critically injured the plumber's 19-year-old assistant. Buck's colleague, Rick Compton Sr., was ...

ARLINGTON - Police have charged an Arlington man who allegedly struck a firefighter with his vehicle Friday after becoming upset about snow being shoveled from around a fire hydrant to the sidewalk in front of his home. Leo Najarian, 59, of Varnum Street, has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, failure to stop for police and negligent operation of ...