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Nation Briefs

By Associated Press
Published: 11/8/2009 2:32 AM
Last Modified: 11/8/2009 5:23 AM

Groundbreaking held for Flight 93 memorial

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. — With the words "Let's roll" — the command issued by United Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer to lead the passenger revolt — U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and 39 victims' relatives and dignitaries turned shovels of dirt at a groundbreaking ceremony Saturday for a permanent national memorial.

"We made it. Not to our goal, not to the finish line. Certainly not any semblance of closure, but nevertheless, we made it to the next milestone of our journey," said Gordon Felt, whose brother, Edward Felt, was one of the 40 passengers and crew who died when the plane crashed into a field near rural Shanksville, about 65 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

The government intends to have the first phase completed by Sept. 11, 2011 — the attacks' 10th anniversary.

Felt called it a "Herculean effort" to reach the groundbreaking — acquiring land from some private owners had been contentious, and some critics said the design itself honored the terrorists.

Flight 93 was traveling from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was hijacked with the likely goal of crashing it into the White House or Capitol, the 9/11 Commission found.

Father of boy in cancer case dies in accident

SALEM, Mass. — The father of an autistic Massachusetts boy who died after his mother allegedly withheld cancer medication has died from injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash.

Eric Fraser died Thursday after being taken off life support earlier in the week. The 38-year-old Fraser and another biker collided in Malden on Oct. 25. The other rider died that night.

Fraser's son, Jeremy Fraser, died of leukemia in March at age 9. The child's mother, Kristen LaBrie of Salem, has been charged with attempted murder and child endangerment after allegedly failing to give needed chemotherapy medications to her son and missing his medical appointments.

Fraser and LaBrie had undergone a contentious divorce, and he wasn't part of his son's life as the child's illness advanced. But Fraser lived with his son during the boy's final days.

Wrong-way driver was a pot smoker, report says

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — New York State Police investigators said in a written report that a woman who killed seven people plus herself in a crash on the Taconic State Parkway was a regular marijuana user.

The report says Diane Schuler's husband told police his wife "smoked marijuana once in a while to relieve the stress of work and the kids."

Schuler's sister-in-law told police she "didn't believe in medicine and used marijuana to relax," usually smoking after her children went to bed.

Relatives of the crash victims got the report Friday during a meeting with police and prosecutors, then made it available to reporters.

Schuler, her daughter and three of her nieces were killed when she drove the wrong way on the highway in July. Three men in the car she hit were also killed.

Files tossed in place of confetti for Yankee parade

NEW YORK — New York City office workers who got carried away during the Yankees victory parade Friday apparently began tossing files and documents out the window when they couldn't get their hands on confetti.

Auditor Damian Salo attended the Manhattan parade. He tells The New York Post he found all sorts of personal financial documents in the mountains of shredded paper tossed from skyscrapers as the players rode up Broadway.

They included pay stubs, banking data, law firm memos and even some court files.

The founder of one financial firm, Alan Sarroff, says his company reprimanded one "overzealous" employee for throwing records out the window that should have been shredded.

Obama's arrival in Tokyo to be delayed by one day

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is attending a memorial service at Fort Hood on Tuesday and now won't get to his planned first stop in Asia this week until one day later than expected.

The president will leave Washington on Thursday and arrive in Tokyo on Friday. By Associated Press

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