■ UNITED STATES
Man crashes SUV, kills self
A man crashed his sport utility vehicle into the home of Army Secretary Pete Geren over the weekend and then shot and killed himself a short time later, police in Fort Worth, Texas, said. It was not immediately clear if the man, identified as 37-year-old Edward McKee, realized that the house he struck early on Sunday morning was that of Geren. Police said McKee then walked to his own garage about a block away and shot himself in the head. Geren, a former Texas congressman, was confirmed as army secretary in July. A message left for a telephone listing for Geren was not immediately returned late Monday.
■ UNITED STATES
Family settles for US$6m
The family of a woman from Costa Rica killed when the ceiling of a Big Dig tunnel collapsed on her car last year has agreed to a US$6 million settlement in Boston, Massachusetts, with the company that supplied the epoxy blamed for the accident, an attorney said. Milena Del Valle, 39, was killed July 10 of last year as she and her husband drove through an Interstate 90 connector tunnel. Her husband, Angel Del Valle, from Puerto Rico, escaped with minor injuries. Investigators determined that the ceiling collapsed because workers secured it with a fast-drying epoxy that was not safe to use for overhead loads.
■ UNITED STATES
Another surprise wedding
Some people get surprise birthday parties. Ilda Ruth Southey, 85, gets surprise weddings. Twice in her life Southey was surprised with a wedding ceremony on Christmas Eve, both times to Francis Southey, 90. Her future husband planned their original wedding for Christmas Eve 1942 while he was stationed in Sherman, Texas, awaiting orders to ship off to Europe during World War II. On Monday, staff at the Waterford Senior Living facility where Ruth lives arranged the same surprise for their 65th anniversary. The couple renewed their vows in front of three generations of teary-eyed family and friends.
■ UNITED STATES
Spleens used to tell storms
Paul Smokov does not need radar or other high-tech equipment to forecast a major snowstorm. He consults pig spleens. "It looks like a normal year with no major storms," said the 84-year-old cattle rancher, peering at two of the brown, glistening organs on his kitchen counter. If the spleen is wide where it attaches to the pig's stomach and then narrows, it means winter weather will come early with a mild spring, Smokov said. A narrow-to-wider spleen usually means harsh weather in the spring, he said. The spleens obtained by Smokov this year are pretty uniform in thickness, which means no drastic changes. "The spleens are 85 percent correct, according to my figures," he said. As for the weathermen: "Those guys aren't any better.
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