■UNITED STATES
Oldest American dies at 114
A 114-year-old woman believed to be the oldest native-born American and the third-oldest person in the world has died at a New York nursing home. Olivia Patricia Thomas died on Monday in the St Francis Home of Williamsville, near Buffalo in western New York. She had lived there since 2004. She’s being remembered as a dedicated gardener who loved to travel the world. The Gerontology Research Group tracks supercentenarians and says Thomas was the oldest person born in the US. She was born on June 29, 1895.
■UNITED STATES
Motorcade car crashes
A police car working ahead of Vice President Joe Biden’s motorcade was involved in a minor traffic accident on Tuesday evening, but it wasn’t part of the procession and the vice president was unhurt. Three unmarked police vehicles, with their lights and sirens on, were traveling five to 10 minutes ahead of the motorcade on Manhattan’s West Side and were checking traffic before Biden passed en route to a television appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, chief police spokesman Paul Browne said. The cars were going through an intersection when the second one collided with a livery cab around 5:40pm. Traffic had stopped for the police, but the livery cab driver pulled out around the line of vehicles and was trying to go through the intersection, police officer said. A passenger in the livery cab refused medical attention at the scene. The cab driver and two police officers were examined at a hospital and were released.
■UNITED STATES
Mother refuses deployment
A 21-year-old single mother serving with the US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division is facing a possible court martial because she failed to turn up for deployment to Afghanistan, saying she could not find anyone to care for her infant son. Alexis Hutchinson, who serves as an army cook, was meant to have joined her division for a flight to Kabul on Nov. 5, but failed to show up. She was arrested and temporarily placed in custody while her 10-month-old child Kamani was put into a daycare program on her military base in Savannah, Georgia. An army spokesman said Hutchinson’s deployment has been put on hold while an investigation is carried out.
■UNITED STATES
‘Geezer’ strikes again
FBI officials say an elderly, thin, gray-haired man nicknamed the “Geezer Bandit” is responsible for holding up five San Diego, California-area banks since summer. Investigators say the man appears to be in his 70s. Officials say that in the most recent robbery on Monday, he approached a Bank of America teller in La Jolla, displayed a handgun and asked for cash. He fled on foot. FBI spokesman Darrell Foxworth says investigators believe the man is also responsible for robbing four other San Diego County banks since Aug. 28. Law enforcement officials are offering US$16,000 in rewards for information that leads to his arrest and conviction.
■UNITED STATES
State buys budget tree
South Carolina’s Statehouse Christmas tree is shorter than usual and doesn’t even reach above the roughly 11.5m Confederate soldiers’ monument on the front lawn. The Columbia Garden Club says it typically buys trees in North Carolina, but this year found a cheaper dealer in Pennsylvania. The shipping caused problems, however, including broken branches that left bare spots. The club has paid for the tree since 2003 and volunteers decorate it.
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