First suits filed in Amtrak derailment
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The first lawsuits have been filed days after an Amtrak train collision and derailment in rural Missouri that left four people dead and injured up to 150.
Amtrak and BNSF Railway Co. filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the concrete contracting company that owns the dump truck hit Monday by the passenger train, the Kansas City Star reported. The suit blames MS Contracting of Brookfield, Mo., for the crash, saying the train was "clearly visible" and the truck driver was careless in crossing the tracks.
The crossing where the collision occurred has no lights, signals or gates to warn of an approaching train. Area residents had expressed concerns about the safety of the crossing, described by locals and a federal transportation safety official as very steep. Chariton County leaders have been pushing for a safety upgrade at the crossing for nearly three years, Presiding County Commissioner Evan Emmerich said this week.
The truck driver, Billy Barton II, 54, of Brookfield, died in the collision, along with three passengers on the train. His widow, Erin Barton, also sued Thursday, filing a wrongful-death lawsuit in state court against Chariton County and a BNSF official that cites the crossing as unsafe.
Two train passengers -- Rochelle Cook, 58, and Kim Holsapple, 56, both of DeSoto, Kan., died at the scene. A third passenger, 82-year-old Binh Phan of Kansas City, Mo., died Tuesday at a hospital.
Weather a help in fighting California fire
BRIDGEPORT, Calif. -- Improving weather helped firefighters stop the spread of a Sierra Nevada wildfire that forced evacuation of several hundred people from their homes and injured 13 firefighters and a civilian, authorities said.
The Rices Fire remained at 904 acres while containment increased to 20% on Thursday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. Firefighters were aided by cooler weather and an increase in humidity, Cal Fire said.
Injuries from the fire were heat-related problems such as dehydration, fire officials said.
The blaze began with a building fire Tuesday in Nevada County near the Yuba River. It burned that structure and three outbuildings, fire officials said.
Some evacuation orders were lifted, but Cal Fire said 250 homes and other structures in small nearby communities remained under threat.
6 Oklahoma inmates get execution dates
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday set execution dates for six death row inmates, just hours before an attorney for one planned to ask for a rehearing in his case.
Execution dates for James Coddington, Richard Glossip, Benjamin Cole, Richard Fairchild, John Hanson and Scott Eizember were scheduled, starting Aug. 25.
Glossip, whose first conviction and death sentence were overturned, was hours from being executed in 2015 after a second conviction and death sentence when prison officials realized they had received the wrong lethal drug.
It was later learned the same wrong drug had been used previously to execute an inmate, and executions in the state were put on hold. Executions resumed in October with John Grant, who convulsed on the gurney and threw up before being declared dead.
Glossip's attorney, Don Knight, said he planned to file for a new hearing Friday based on an investigation by a Houston law firm that contends Glossip is innocent.
"We respectfully disagree with the decision of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set an execution date for Richard Glossip before the findings of the [report] ... and new evidence of his innocence, can be heard in a court of law," Knight said.
Oklahoma Attorney General John O'Connor last month asked the state appeals court to set execution dates for 25 death row inmates after a federal judge's rejection of their challenge to the state's lethal injection method.
Delay denied in Florida gunman's trial
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A Florida judge has refused to delay the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz in the 2018 shooting at a high school in which 17 people were killed.
Cruz's lawyers had argued that recent mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas, unleashed "a wave of emotion" nationally that could bias the just-seated jury against him and that the scheduled July 18 start is too soon.
But Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said in a ruling dated Thursday that the lengthy process of seating a jury did not reveal any problems related to those recent massacres.
"There has not been any negative impact to his fair trial rights and there is no basis to continue this matter," Scherer wrote.
Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to murdering 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. A jury was finalized this week to consider only whether Cruz deserves the death penalty or life behind bars.
The sentencing trial is expected to last about four months.
This satellite image provided by Maxar shows an Amtrak train, at right, that derailed a day earlier along the rail line and dozens of cars, heavy lift equipment and rescue vehicles positioned nearby, Tuesday, June 28, 2022, near Mendon, Mo. (Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP)
Workers watch Tuesday, June 28, 2022 as a freight train moves through the crossing where an Amtrak train derailed Monday near Mendon, Mo. The train derailed after hitting a dump truck Monday killing the truck driver and other people on the train and injuring several dozen other passengers on the Chicago-bound train. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
An Amtrak train lies derailed after the train hit a truck at a crossing, Monday, June 27, 2022, near Mendon, Mo. (Jill Toyoshiba/The Kansas City Star via AP)
A law enforcement officer inspects the scene of an Amtrak train which derailed after striking a dump truck Monday, June 27, 2022, near Mendon, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
An Amtrak train which derailed after striking a dump truck is seen beyond a corn field Monday, June 27, 2022, near Mendon, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)