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– Officials say several people are dead after a new pedestrian bridge collapsed onto a road near the Florida International University campus Thursday in Miami, CBS Miami reports. According to the Miami Herald, the 950-ton bridge was installed Saturday to provide pedestrian access between FIU's main campus and an area where students live in off-campus housing and new dorms. The Florida Highway Patrol says five to six vehicles were crushed under the collapsed bridge, ABC News reports. The highway patrol says several people were killed, but an exact number of injuries and fatalities is unknown. It's also unknown why the pedestrian bridge collapsed. The bridge was built using a new method meant to reduce risks to workers and traffic impacts during construction.

A newly installed bridge touted as a feat of engineering collapsed on Florida International University's campus Thursday, killing at least four people.

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 Aerial footage showed first responders tending to victims at the scene, searching for people in the rubble and loading others on stretchers into ambulances.

 Firefighters pulled out at least four deceased people from the rubble, Miami-Dade Fire Chief Dave Downey said at an evening press conference. Recovery efforts were underway as of late Thursday, according to Miami-Dade County police.

 Thank you first responders who assisted in the rescue efforts at the collapsed crossing bridge. Your efforts were valiant despite the final outcome. @MiamiDadePD will now begin the recovery of victims and investigation. We will get to the truth for the sake of the family. — Juan Perez (@JPerezMDPD) March 16, 2018

 Cristobal Herrera/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

 The collapse occurred at about 1:30 p.m., Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Division Chief Paul Estopinan said in a press conference Thursday afternoon.

 As of 5 p.m., a minimum of eight vehicles were trapped under the rubble, Estopinan said. Some workers were on the bridge when it collapsed, but officials did not detail whether any of them were among the dead.

 Joe Raedle/Getty Images

 Ten injured victims, labeled as level-one trauma patients, were transported to nearby Kendall Regional Medical Center, program director Dr. Mark McKenney said in a press conference.

 One of the patients was in cardiac arrest and another was in a coma with "severe extremity injuries" when they arrived, McKenney said. Those patients were in critical condition.

 Eight other patients admitted to the hospital suffered from traumatic injuries such as bruises, abrasions and broken bones but were in stable condition, McKenney said.

 The victims' ages ranged from 20 to 50 years old, McKenney said. Additional patients are believed to have been admitted to other area hospitals as well.

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 More than 100 firefighters were on the scene working to find victims with the help of cranes and search dogs, and officials were working to stabilize the bridge. Their efforts are expected to be "long and arduous last well into the night, officials said.

 One first responder, who owns a business across the street from the scene, worked on a victim for 15 minutes to keep him or her alive, said Orlando Lopez, mayor of the city of Sweetwater.

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 Witness Suzy Bermudez told ABC News that she was sitting in traffic when she saw the bridge collapse from the left and then toward the middle.

 Bermudez then jumped out of her car to run and help before she saw car lights that were smashed so badly there were almost hitting the ground.

 One woman survived because her car was smashed on the rear, so Bermudez and others were able to pull her out, she said.

 Joe Raedle/Getty Images

 FIU student Aleia Stillwell told ABC News that she was in her car when the structure fell in front of her.

 The collapse sounded like thunder as the pieces of the bridge fell, she said.

 Stillwell thanked God that she was driving slower than usual, adding that it could have been her under that bridge.

 Roberto Koltun/The Miami Herald via AP

 Another driver, Jonathan Munoz-Conway, described the scene to ABC News as surreal and terrifying, adding that he had just driven under the bridge about 30 seconds before it collapsed.

 Munoz-Conway said that after he drove past, he turned right into a parking garage next to the bridge. He then heard a loud bang and assumed he had hit something with his car before he heard a girl scream and saw police officers rushing to the scene.

 Cristobal Herrera/EPA via Shutterstock

 Witness Tiona Page told ABC News that the screams coming from the cars were "terrifying."

 "As soon as I looked outside, I saw dust flying everywhere," she said. "I knew the bridge had collapsed." Bystanders rushed in to help those trapped, but struggled to dig through the rubble.

 It was not immediately clear what led to the collapse.

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 magno.meza/Instagram

 The street that the bridge stretches over, Southwest Eighth Street, is a busy seven-lane road that runs from downtown Miami all the way to the Everglades. Students and faculty had been calling for a bridge at the crossing of 8th Street and 109th Street, where pedestrians were required to cross through heavy traffic, The Miami Herald reported.

 The bridge was supposed to be iconic for the city, Lopez said.

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 A section of 8th Street was closed over the weekend to allow workers to position the 174-foot bridge, according to PantherNOW, a university newspaper.

 First-of-its-kind pedestrian bridge “swings” into place. “FIU is about building bridges and student safety. This project accomplishes our mission beautifully,” -President Mark B. Rosenberg. https://t.co/x8gPM9A4DG #worldsahead pic.twitter.com/mPEMeh2zmw — FIU (@FIU) March 10, 2018

 FIU touted the bridge to be one of the first of its kind, tweeting that it was swung into place on Saturday.

 The company that moved the bridge into place, Barnhart Crane & Rigging, said in a statement that it was only contracted to move the bridge and was not involved with the design or construction of the bridge.

 "Our scope of work was completed without incident and according to all technical requirements," the company said, adding that it would cooperate with investigators and offering condolences to the victims.

 In a statement, the university said it was "shocked and saddened about the tragic events unfolding on campus."

 FIU President Mark Rosenberg expressed his "immense sadness" toward the victims and their families and lamented over the failed project in a press conference Thursday evening.

 "Five days ago we were celebrating that it was in the process of being erected," Rosenberg said of the bridge. "This bridge was about collaboration. It was about hope. It was about opportunity. It was about determination. The bridge was about strength and unity."

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 According to an FIU press release, the 174-foot, 950-ton bridge was just installed "in a few hours" using "accelerated bridge construction" methods, which the university said "reduces potential risks to workers, commuters, and pedestrians and minimizes traffic interruptions."

 An engineering company performed a stress test on the bridge Thursday morning, Ralph Ventura, deputy city manager and chief of staff of Sweetwater, told ABC News. It is unclear whether the test was ongoing or had been completed before the collapse.

 AP

 While there are "a number of reasons why a bridge might fail," that hazard is increased for any new engineering structure, Hiba Baroud, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University, told ABC News.

 "Any problem related to the beginning life of a structure is related to its quality, whereas the reliability of a structure is maintaining that quality over time," she said.

 The NTSB is launching an investigation into the collapse. A team of 15 specialists -- including civil engineering, material science and survival factor experts -- is expected to arrive in Miami tonight and will begin their investigation in the morning, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said in a press conference.

 When asked by a reporter whether he was aware of any issues with this type of bridge in the past, Sumwalt replied, "To my knowledge, no."

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 The bridge was not a Florida Department of Transportation project, and the designer, contractor and the construction engineering and inspection are all under contract with the university, the Florida DOT said.

 Figg Engineering designed the project, and the Munilla Construction Management both built and installed the structure, according to the Florida DOT. Bolton Perez and Associates handled the construction engineering and inspection, the agency added.

 An independent, secondary design check was required due to the unique characteristics of the design of the bridge, according to the Florida DOT. FIU was responsible for selecting the firm used to conduct the review, but the firm they chose, Louis Berger, was not pre-qualified by the Florida DOT for the service, "which is required under FIU's agreement with the state," the agency said.

 ABC News has reached out to Louis Berger for comment.

 Rosenberg told reporters that all of the contractors were vetted, especially since federal funds were used in the project. He added that he found the testing that was being done to be satisfactory.

 Munilla Construction Management said in a statement that it will conduct a "full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong" and that it will cooperate with investigators on the scene "in every way."

 "The new UniversityCity Bridge, which was under construction, experienced a catastrophic collapse causing injuries and loss of life," the company said. "MCM is a family business and we are all devastated and doing everything we can to assist."

 Another company that took part in the bridge's construction, FIGG Engineering, said in a statement that it was "stunned" and that "nothing like this has ever happened before" in its 40-year history.

 "Our deepest sympathies are with all those affected by this accident," the company said. "We will fully cooperate with every appropriate authority in reviewing what happened and why."

 The bridge was scheduled to be fully completed in January 2019, PantherNOW reported. It cost a total of $14.2 million, largely funded by an $11.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, a DOT spokesperson told ABC News.

 Florida Senator Marco Rubio described the incident as "troubling and tragic," adding that it affects him personally because he has been an adjunct professor for the university for 10 years.

 "Ironically, it's a project for safety" that was constructed after a student died last year crossing that intersection, Rubio said during an evening press conference.

 Terrible news coming from Miami as a pedestrian bridge has collapsed at @FIU and multiple deaths are reported. We will pray for the victims and the entire Panther community. — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 15, 2018

 Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in a press conference Thursday that he would "hold anybody accountable" culpable of wrongdoing during the conception and construction of the bridge.

 I have directed the Florida Highway Patrol to offer resources to aid local law enforcement’s response in Miami. They will be offering additional troopers to aid in search and rescue as well as traffic control. @FLHSMV — Rick Scott (@FLGovScott) March 16, 2018

 Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez released a statement saying he is "actively monitoring" the "tragic situation" from abroad. He has dispatched Deputy Mayor Maurice Kemp to the scene, he said.

 "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people affected by this tragedy and with the first responders who are on the scene," Gimenez said.

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 FIU is one of the 10 largest universities in the country, with nearly 54,000 students enrolled, according to its website.

 ABC News' Jeff Cook, Erin Dooley, Rachel Katz, Meghan Keneally, Dominick Proto, Darren Reynolds, Emily Shapiro, Ben Stein and Daniel Steinberger contributed to this report. ||||| UPDATE: As of Friday morning, six people are confirmed dead.

 A pedestrian bridge under construction collapsed Thursday, just days after crews had dropped an elevated 950-ton span in place on a signature project that was intended to give Florida International University students a safe route across the busy roadway.

 The massive span — in a sudden, catastrophic failure — crashed down across eight lanes of heavily traveled Tamiami Trail, flattening eight cars. The death toll remained uncertain as rescue crews continued to work into the night to reach vehicles but late Thursday Miami-Dade fire chief Dave Downey confirmed at least four people had been killed, including a student from FIU, police sources said.

 Nine people had been pulled from the rubble by evening and rushed to Kendall Regional Medical Center’s trauma unit, including two who required immediate surgery. The others sustained injuries ranging from scrapes and bruises to broken bones, which were not considered life threatening. On campus, some families waited for word on missing loved ones.

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 Even before the dust from the disaster settled, motorists scrambled from their cars to help. At least one woman, Katrina Collazo, was pulled from her half-crushed car, miraculously unscathed.

 “Thank God ... my daughter is alive,” said her mother, Ada Collazo, in Spanish, after rushing to the scene, fearful that another family member also might have been riding in the back. “I thought my granddaughter was in the car, but she wasn’t. She’s in school.”

 Collazo said her daughter, who had been on campus for a nursing meeting, stopped at a red light when she said she heard what sounded like small rocks falling on her car. As she turned around, the span mashed everything behind the driver seat. The car next to her was not as lucky. That vehicle was flattened like an aluminum can.

 The FIU bridge collapsing... I’m still in shock pic.twitter.com/ZNqO2z5ch6 — Megan (@meganmfernandez) March 15, 2018

 It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse of a $14.2 million structure FIU had touted as an innovative “instant” bridge because of construction techniques intended to speed up the work and minimize disruption to commuter traffic. The bridge’s main 175-foot span, assembled on the side of the road, was raised into place across Tamiami Trail on Saturday in less than six hours. But the project was far from complete and not expected to open to student foot traffic until 2019.

 Several witnesses reported that two workers were on the bridge when it collapsed shortly before 2 p.m. Early in the day, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the bridge had undergone a “stress test” but it was unclear what, if any, role that might have played in the failure. FIU President Mark Rosenberg confirmed there was testing on the bridge sometime before the collapse, but said the testing was proper.

 “I have not spoken directly to Munilla Construction, but I am satisfied that the testing that was occurring was consistent with best practices," Rosenberg said shortly after 8 p.m. “I’m not an engineer, so I'm not privy to those details. I know that tests occurred today. And I know, I believe, that they did not prove to lead anyone to the conclusion that we would have this kind of a result. But I do not know that as a fact.”

 Late Thursday, came the first definitive word from a government official about what was being done on the bridge when it fell. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, said in a Twitter post that: “The cables that suspend the #Miami bridge had loosened & the engineering firm ordered that they be tightened. They were being tightened when it collapsed today.”

 Rubio, a Miami Republican, did not elaborate on the information. But he was in a position to know inside details about the catastrophe.

 He traveled to the FIU campus Thursday on same plane with Rosenberg. He said he spoke to MCM partner Pedro Munilla amid the rubble and he attended private briefings at FIU.

 The late post came soon after Gov. Rick Scott and Rubio both promised swift investigations.

 “We will hold anybody accountable if anybody has done anything wrong,” Scott said.

 Rubio also vowed an “exhaustive” review with scrutiny of “science and engineering” that went into the project. “The families and the survivors deserve to know what went wrong,” he said.

 The National Transportation Safety Board announced that it was dispatching a team of 15 to examine the collapse and investigators expected to be on site by late Thursday.

 Authorities stressed that it could take days or more to determine what went wrong. But one agency, the Florida Department of Transportation, quickly distanced itself, issuing a fact sheet saying it had a limited role in the project and emphasizing FIU’s responsibility for testing and safely completing the bridge.

 Designed as a cable-supported bridge, the project was a collaboration between MCM Construction, a prominent Miami-based contractor, and FIGG Bridge Design, based in Tallahassee. FIGG is responsible for the iconic Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay.

 FIGG issued a statement Thursday saying the company was “stunned” by the collapse and promising to cooperate with every authority investigating the collapse.

 “In our 40-year history, nothing like this has ever happened before,” the company’s statement said. “Our entire team mourns the loss of life and injuries associated with this devastating tragedy, and our prayers go out to all involved.” MCM Construction Management, which is building the bridge, posted a message to the company’s Facebook page promising “a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong.”

 Mayor Gimenez, in Hong Kong on a trade mission, said in a telephone interview that he instructed county rescue workers to identify license plates from the trapped cars as quickly as possible so that families could be notified.

 Rescue crews with specially trained dogs and listening devices were poring over the wreckage, hoping to find survivors. About two hours after the collapse, crews also brought in heavy equipment to probe under sections of the shattered span.

 “I don’t know what’s under the bridge, under the rubble,” said Lt. Alex Camacho of the Florida Highway Patrol. “It’s impossible to see.”

 The injured were transported to the trauma center at Kendall Regional. Mark McKenney, chief of the trauma department, said the 10 injured patients ranged in age from 20 to 50 years old, including one man whose heart had stopped beating when he arrived.

 Doctors revived the man, who was not identified, and wheeled him into the operating room. He is listed in critical condition with head and chest injuries.

 A second patient arrived comatose with severe injuries that required orthopedic and neurosurgery, the hospital spokesperson said. The remaining eight patients are in stable condition with injuries ranging from scrapes and bruises to broken bones.

 FIU spokesperson Maydel Santana-Bravo issued a statement, even as rescue crews were still working the scene.

 “We are shocked and saddened about the tragic events unfolding at the FIU-Sweetwater Bridge,” she said. “At this time, we are still involved in rescue efforts and gathering information. We are working closely with authorities and first responders on the scene. We will share updates as we have them.”

 FIU students are on spring break this week, but traffic was expected to be heavy with the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair opening nearby on Thursday.

 President Donald Trump also posted a tweet, “Continuing to monitor the heartbreaking bridge collapse at FIU — so tragic.”

 Students and faculty have long clamored for a bridge at the 109th Avenue crossing, where students on foot have to scurry across heavily traveled Tamiami Trail, which divides the campus from Sweetwater. Though FIU provides shuttles, many students prefer to walk. In August, FIU undergraduate Alexis Dale was hit and killed by a motorist while crossing the intersection.

 The pedestrian walkway was installed in a single morning at Southwest 109th Avenue on Saturday, intended eventually to link FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus to the small suburban city of Sweetwater, where the university estimates 4,000 of its students live.

 FIU, which has an “accelerated bridge construction” program in its engineering school, promoted the project’s innovative approach. A 175-foot section of the overall 320-foot long bridge was fabricated by the side of the Trail while support columns were erected in place. The 950-ton span was lifted off the ground by a mechanical transporter, swung into position across the Trail, then lowered into place over the support columns. That reduced to a minimum the time the trail had to be closed to traffic, and minimized risks to workers and people in the vicinity, FIU said.

 This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more is learned.

 Miami Herald Staff Writers Howard Cohen, Alex Harris, David J. Neal, Charles Rabin, David Smiley, Jennifer Staletovich, Carli Teproff and Martin Vassolo contributed to this report. ||||| CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

 MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Florida International University’s (FIU) massive new pedestrian bridge collapsed, killing at least four people and crushing several vehicles under it.

 “We have located four deceased,” confirmed Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Dave Downey at a Thursday night news conference.

 Read: National Transportation Safety Board Investigating Bridge Collapse At Florida International University

 The 950-ton bridge, located at 109th Ave and 8th Street, came crumbling down onto a number of cars.

 “I was looking at the bridge. It was fine and all of a sudden, I saw it collapse from the left towards the middle,” said the witness to CBS4’s Ted Scouten. “I jumped out of my car and I ran towards the victim to see if we could help anybody but when I saw, the only thing you could see were the car lights in the front. It was totally smashed, almost to the ground. So, there was only one girl who survived. It smashed the back-end of her car…they were able to pull her out….They couldn’t get anyone out of their cars. They’re smashed.”

 Miami-Dade Police Chief Juan Perez said 8 people have been taken to the hospital and eight vehicles are stuck under the bridge and the number of dead is undetermined. At least one person has reportedly died.

 “We do know that there are 8 vehicles that they can see that are under there,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Martinez. “In reality, nobody can tell you if it was a vehicle that only had a driver or had a driver and 4 passengers. So, when you’re asking about numbers, we really don’t know.”

 Dr. Mark McKenny at Kendall Regional Medical Center said they have two patients in critical condition and 8 others in stable condition. He said there were other patients taken to other hospitals.

 Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said they continue to search for “viable victims,” meaning they believe someone could be still alive under the rubble. Search and rescue crews are expected to work into the night.

 Gallery: Scene of the FIU Bridge Collapse

 The cars were reportedly stopped at a red light when the pedestrian bridge collapsed around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

 “I saw the bridge just collapse in front of me and it fell on the cars that were sitting, waiting there for the light to change,” the same witness told Scouten.

 “I just heard a really loud crash…I ran to my balcony and then I saw that it was down,” said witness Chelsea Morsey who lives in a high-rise tower just feet away from the bridge. “It was complete chaos. There was everybody running around and I saw just a couple of cars like sticking out.”

 “There were no warning signs. It looks like it just came down,” an official told CBS4’s Jim DeFede.

 Senator Bill Nelson says the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is “launching and leading an investigation into the bridge collapse.”

 Witness Aura Martinez who spoke with CBS4 said, “It was such a scary feeling because I saw [the collapse] and I didn’t know what to do,” she told CBS4. “It just literally killed people and so we ran out there and tried to help people we saw. One girl, her car, it was literally a miracle of God because her car was just squished at the back. … It was very traumatizing.”

 Martinez is a sophomore who was trying to find her friend who was one of the victims in the car when the bridge collapsed.

 FIU issued a statement to about the deadly incident, saying,

 “We are shocked and saddened about the tragic events unfolding at the FIU-Sweetwater pedestrian bridge. At this time we are still involved in the rescue efforts and gathering information. We are working closely with authorities and first responders on the scene. We will share updates as we have them.”

 The president of FIU, Mark Rosenberg, issued a statement saying he was ‘heartbroken’ by the news, saying in part, “We send our deepest condolences to the victims and the families. We are working to appropriate agencies to assist in rescue efforts.”

 Florida Governor Rick Scott will be at FIU this evening to get briefed by law enforcement and school officials. He says he’s spoken with Miami-Dade Police Chief Juan Perez and will stay in contact with law enforcement through the day.

 A family reunification center has been set up at FIU’s campus in the Student Academic Success Center (SASC), Room 100. Families or friends worried that someone they know could have been a victim can call 305 348-3481.

 As for traffic in the area, 8th Street is shutdown in both directions. Law enforcement is asking the public to avoid the area between SW 107th Ave to SW 117th Ave and 8th Street indefinitely.

 “Please stay out of the area,” said Chief Perez.

 The company that built the bridge, MCM, issued a statement saying: “Our family’s thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy. The new UniversityCity Bridge, which was under construction, experienced a catastrophic collapse causing injuries and loss of life. MCM is a family business and we are all devastated and doing everything we can to assist. We will conduct a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong and will cooperate with investigators on scene in every way.”

 FIGG Bridge Group also helped put together the bridge and issued a statement saying: “We are stunned by today’s tragic collapse of a pedestrian bridge that was under construction over Southwest Eighth Street in Miami. Our deepest sympathies are with all those affected by this accident. We will fully cooperate with every appropriate authority in reviewing what happened and why. In our 40-year history, nothing like this has ever happened before. Our entire team mourns the loss of life and injuries associated with this devastating tragedy, and our prayers go out to all involved.”

 Barnhart Crane and Rigging moved the bridge into place on Saturday. They issued a statement saying in part: “Barnhart Crane and Rigging was saddened by the news of the tragedy that occurred in Miami with the collapse of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge. Barnhart was contracted to move the bridge into place and was not involved with the design or construction of the bridge. Our scope of work was completed without incident and according to all technical requirements.”

 The bridge went up on Saturday . It was then lowered into its final position, just west of 109th Avenue that day. The main span was built next to Southwest 8th Street.

 The bridge was meant to be part of a larger transportation initiative to create a safer path for students and local residents. It was constructed using an innovative approach to bridge construction – a technique meant to reduce potential risks to workers, commuters, and pedestrians and prevented traffic tie-ups in the area.

 The positioning of the bridge Saturday was the largest pedestrian bridge move via Self-Propelled Modular Transportation, in U.S. history.

 Funding for the $14.2 million bridge, connecting plazas and walkways is part of a $19.4 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Other funding agencies include the Federal Highway Administration, Florida Department of Transportation Local Agency Program, FIU and the City of Sweetwater.

 Construction for the bridge began in the spring of 2017 and was expected to be completed in early 2019.

 (GALLERY: Pictures showing the scene of the bridge collapse) |||||


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A freak accident along the I-10 near the California-Arizona border sent a bus full of sleeping passengers bound for LA rolling over the side of the road on Wednesday, killing 4 people and injuring several others. Tony Shin reports for the NBC4 News at 5 on Wednesday, May 21, 2014. (Published Wednesday, May 21, 2014)

 A mother wrapped her arms around her 12-day-old baby and held on as the passenger bus in which they were traveling rolled over in a crash Wednesday morning that killed four passengers in the desert near the California-Arizona border.

 Ana Perez said two passengers seated next to her were killed in the crash on the westbound 10 Freeway in Blythe, California, about 220 miles east of Los Angeles. Thirty-two people were on the bus, which was traveling from El Paso, Texas, to Los Angeles after it had stopped in Phoenix for a driver change.

 "Miracle" Baby's Mother Describes Bus Crash

 A mother and her 12-day-old baby survived a bus crash that killed four people on a freeway about 200 miles east of Los Angeles. Ana Perez describes the crash and hold she held tight to baby Daniela. (Published Wednesday, May 21, 2014)

 "It was really, really bad," said Perez. "It was horrible. I didn't let her go."

 Pipes Scattered on Freeway at Site of Bus Crash

 Video from the scene of a fatal bus crash shows the large metal pipes that a bus driver likely swerved to avoid before the bus overturned. The crash occurred Wednesday May 21, 2014 in Blythe, California. (Published Wednesday, May 21, 2014)

 Perez, who was breast-feeding her newborn, felt the jolt as the bus struck steel pipes that were scattered across the freeway during an earlier crash involving a flatbed truck. The bus ended up on its side about 50 feet off the freeway.

 "(The driver) was trying to avoid it, but it was too late," said Perez. "When I got up, I was in between two dead bodies. It was horrible."

 Images: Fatal Bus Crash

 Perez and her daughter, Daniela, were helped from the bus by rescuers through an emergency exit in the roof. She could hear screams as she tried to find her way through a cloud of dust kicked up during the crash.

 Perez suffered bruises on her leg and back after slamming into a window when the bus rolled. Daniela (pictured, right) was not injured.

 "It was a miracle," Perez said, adding that the bus driver appear to do "everything he could" to avoid the pipes on the dark stretch of freeway.

 She was released from a hospital Wednesday morning and planned to continue on to Los Angeles.

 Thirty-two people were on the El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Express bus, according to Caltrans officials. A preliminary investigation indicated the eastbound big rig jack-knifed and scattered a load of steel pipes on both sides of the freeway.

 A California Highway Patrol officer told the Associated Press that three passengers were airlifted and four others were transported in ambulances to hospitals. Fourteen others were transported by bus to a hospital for evaluation of minor injuries, according to the officer.

 The freeway was expected to remain closed into Wednesday afternoon.

  ||||| Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a fatal accident in Blythe, Calif. on Wednesday, May 21, 2014. A tractor-trailer spilled a load of steel pipes onto a highway, triggering a bus crash Wednesday... (Associated Press)

 BLYTHE, Calif. (AP) — In the second deadly recent crash involving a bus and a truck in California, four passengers were killed when their bus struck a load of metal pipes scattered across a dark highway.

 Only moments before the crash early Wednesday, the pipes tumbled from a flatbed truck that jackknifed after drifting into the dirt median on Interstate 10, the main road linking Southern California and Arizona, the California Highway Patrol said.

 After the bus struck the pipes on the remote stretch of desert roadway, it slid down an embankment and overturned. In addition to the four dead, at least seven passengers were seriously injured, officials said.

 In the earlier crash, a big rig traveling on a northern California interstate in April smashed head-on into a charter bus carrying high school students on a university visit, killing 10 people.

 Wednesday's crash occurred around 2:15 a.m. just west of Blythe, near the Arizona border, where the eastbound truck's spilled cargo obstructed both lanes in each direction. The truck carried dozens of pipes, some as long as 50 feet. The interstate was shut until about 6 p.m. Wednesday.

 The bus was about three-quarters through its 800-mile trip from El Paso, Texas, to Los Angeles. Authorities believe there were 33 passengers aboard, but they were checking that against the trip manifest. Seven passengers were seriously hurt and taken to hospitals, and 14 others sought evaluation of minor injuries, according to CHP officer Jason Gerard.

 Neither driver was hurt.

 As the driver of the truck, whose identity was not released, tried to pass slower vehicles in an area with a 70 mph speed limit, he drifted onto the dirt shoulder and lost control, CHP Lt. Cmdr. Gustavo Guzman said.

 Other drivers would have struggled to see the pipes until they were in range of a vehicle's headlights. The interstate has no lights, and the night had only a half moon.

 Almost immediately, two eastbound passenger vehicles struck the pipes, though nobody was hurt in those crashes, Guzman said.

 About a minute later, the bus bore down.

 Richard Lee of La Mirada was sleeping in the passenger seat of an SUV that hit the pipes before the bus. He said he woke to two loud pops, got out and soon after saw the lights of what he thought was another truck approaching from the opposite direction.

 "When I found out about the casualties I felt very, very lucky that I survived," Lee told KABC-TV.

 The truck was operated by VG Transport and based in Rialto, east of Los Angeles. According to federal safety records, VG Transport has not been involved in any crashes reported to state officials over the past two years. Those records say the company has only one truck.

 The truck passed three inspections over the past two years. After one of the inspections, a driver was not allowed to finish the trip for reasons that were not immediately clear.

 The registration for the 2006 Freightliner expired in January, according to records with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The man listed as the contact for VG Transport, Victor Esteban Galvan, could not be reached for comment. No one picked up at the listed phone number, and the voice mail box was full.

 Federal records show that during a random inspection in October 2013, Galvan had an expired medical certificate, drove eight hours without a break and that his truck had been operating without undergoing periodic inspections, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.

 The driver of the bus, operated by El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine Express Inc., had taken over the route in Phoenix, said Terri Kasinga of California Department of Transportation.

 "No one has made any allegations about the bus's maintenance or the bus driver's actions being contributing factors of this accident," company President Jerry Rosenbaum said in a statement.

 "Our thoughts, prayers, and unfortunately condolences go out to and for the trucker involved in the accident, occupants of any other vehicles that may have been involved, and most importantly, our passengers and driver," Rosenbaum said.

 The bus company received a "satisfactory" safety rating as of its last review in February, according to federal inspection records. Other records kept by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration show the company's 55 vehicles have been involved in five crashes since June 2012, one of which involved a single death.

 Blythe is a city of about 25,000 people in eastern Riverside County, about 225 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

 Signs on I-10 urged drivers to find alternate routes, and authorities were diverting vehicles onto frontage roads, but traffic backed up for several miles on either side of the accident site Wednesday afternoon.

 ___

 Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report. |||||

– More information is being released on yesterday's bus crash that killed four in California. The big rig that jackknifed, spilling metal pipes as long as 50 feet across the highway, was trying to pass slower vehicles when it drifted onto the dirt shoulder and lost control, police tell the AP. With no street lights and little moonlight, the pipes would have been tough to see until they were in range of a vehicle's headlights, police say. And within about a minute of them spilling onto the highway, at about 2:15am, the bus hit them. Passengers were thrown around inside as the bus rolled down an embankment, but miraculously, the youngest passenger—a 12-day-old baby girl—was unharmed, NBC News reports. Mother Ana Perez was breastfeeding her newborn daughter, Daniela, at the time of the crash and, "I didn't let her go," says Perez. Though mom ended up bruised after slamming into a window, Daniela was just fine. "It was a miracle." Making that even more the case: Perez says two of the fatalities were sitting next to her. "When I got up, I was in between two dead bodies," Perez adds. "It was horrible." As for the tour bus driver, he "was trying to avoid (the pipes), but it was too late."


Summarize this article:

Loose tweets destroy fleets. Keeping quiet about operational information is vital to ensure military members stay safe on a daily basis.

 Social media can be a useful tool to stay connected to friends, family, and quick entertainment. However, there is sometimes a fine line between letting your friends see what you’re up to and providing an adversary critical information about your connection to the military and its mission.

 “As social media keeps evolving and there’s more and more avenues to let your friends and family know what you are up to, those same avenues can be used by ISIS sympathizers, ‘lone wolves,’ to track down and hurt our military members outside the safety of the base,” said Capt. Jonathan McDonald, AFCENT Force Protection chief. “So not only is it important to not post vital mission related information, but it’s also important to not post detailed personal information to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

 “It’s vital to check your security settings in your social media accounts to make sure that just your friends are able to see what you post and remember to be smart about what you post and share,” McDonald added.

 Operations Security is the process of keeping sensitive information away from the enemy. Information is identified and controlled by various security measures to minimize violations.

 “Without OPSEC, our adversaries would be able to freely and easily gather information of our activities and operations; putting missions, resources and members at risk, said Master Sgt. Aaron Miller, AFCENT Information security program manager. “Ultimately this could impact a campaign or mission and be detrimental to national strategic and foreign policies.”

 With OPSEC violation consequences so high, it’s important to ensure OPSEC procedures are followed through.

 “The best way to keep OPSEC is to look over the Critical Information List and be sure to protect the information on that list and destroy it accordingly,” said Senior Airman Anthony Bolton, 609th Air Operations Center OPSEC manager. “Another way to keep OPSEC is to go secure whenever possible, use a secure phone line , encrypt your email and make sure that you are shredding all paper including any notes on post its.”

 The public affairs office coordinates all media interviews, media queries and media access to the base. If approached by the media, Airmen should refer all media to their local public affairs office.

 Each unit employs an OPSEC manager to whom anybody may report suspected OPSEC incidents. For more information regarding OPSEC, refer to Air Force Instruction 10-701, Operations Security OPSEC) on the Air Force e-Publishing website or contact your unit OPSEC manager.

  ||||| F-16 Fighting Falcons taxi down the flight line at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, on Dec. 14, 2012. The U.S. Air Force is using the photo to promote careful use of social media, with the message: "Loose Tweets Destroy Fleets." The phrase is a modern-day twist of the words from a famous World War II propaganda poster, "Loose Lips Sink Ships."

 “Loose Tweets Destroy Fleets” — the Air Force’s twist on the famous World War II slogan, “Loose Lips Sink Ships” — is meant to remind servicemembers to guard what they share on social media, particularly given recent threats by Islamic State sympathizers.

 U.S. Air Forces Central Command’s online message last week from Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, included a photo of a fleet of F-16 fighter jets parked on a runway. It was accompanied by a story reminding airmen “there is sometimes a fine line between letting your friends see what you’re up to and providing an adversary critical information about your connection to the military and its mission.”

 The AFCENT article speaks directly to the threat posed by Islamic State supporters, who on at least two occasions have acquired and posted online personal data of military personnel, urging followers to attack Americans in the States and overseas in retaliation for the air strikes.

 “As social media keeps evolving and there’s more and more avenues to let your friends and family know what you are up to, those same avenues can be used by ISIS sympathizers, ‘lone wolves’, to track down and hurt our military members outside the safety of the base,” AFCENT’s Force Protection chief, Capt. Jonathan McDonald, was quoted as saying. He used an acronym for the Islamic State.

 Most recently, a group calling itself the “Islamic State hacking division,” posted the names and identifying information such as email addresses and phone numbers of some 1,400 former or current military and diplomatic personnel who worked in the United Kingdom, according to London’s Sunday Times. Most of them were Americans, though much of the information was believed to be outdated.

 Air Force tips to post smartly include the use of appropriate privacy settings and checking with a supervisor before posting anything work-related; also encrypting email about work missions, using a secure phone line and shredding important documents.

 The “loose tweets” catchphrase is not new, having been adopted earlier by the Navy and Army.

 Before the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt deployed earlier this year to support airstrike operations in Iraq and Syria, the ship reminded sailors on Facebook to “Remember: Loose Tweets Sink Fleets.” Sailors were told to be aware of what they’re posting, what hashtags they’re using and what security settings are enabled. The Army used the phrase even sooner. In December 2013, U.S. Central Command tweeted the same message, linking to a U.S. Army online story about social media usage titled: “Loose lips still sink ships, loose tweets sink fleets.”

 But the Air Force’s twist on the message has been garnering attention from news organizations as diverse as Popular Mechanics and Russia News.Net and has been getting mixed reviews on social media.

 “’Loose lips sink ships’ has evolved,” said one commenter on the John Q. Public Facebook site. “Probably more relevant now than in the 1940s.”

 Another commenter quipped: “Hey Air Force. The Navy called, they want their slogan back.”

 svan.jennifer@stripes.com |||||

– Just as soldiers were warned "loose lips sink ships" during World War II, modern airmen are being warned "loose tweets destroy fleets" in the social-media age. ABC News reports US Air Forces Central Command sent out a security notice last week warning personnel of the "fine line" between sharing activities with friends and family and providing harmful information to enemies. The military is getting increasingly concerned about tech-savvy terrorist groups. In the notice, one official specifically worried about "ISIS sympathizers" and "lone wolves" using social media to find and harm military personnel and their families. For instance, a group calling itself the Islamic State Hacking Division released a "kill list" of 100 military members and their families seemingly compiled using information readily available on social media in March. In the release, the Air Force warns airmen not to post information about their mission or too many personal details while keeping their social media accounts "friends only." The Navy and Army also are hammering home the "loose tweets" message, notes Stars and Stripes.


News article:

Hello. My name is Chris Kluwe, and for eight years I was the punter for the Minnesota Vikings. In May 2013, the Vikings released me from the team. At the time, quite a few people asked me if I thought it was because of my recent activism for same-sex marriage rights, and I was very careful in how I answered the question. My answer, verbatim, was always, "I honestly don't know, because I'm not in those meetings with the coaches and administrative people."

 This is a true answer. I honestly don't know if my activism was the reason I got fired.

 However, I'm pretty confident it was.

 Allow myself to tell you a story about ... myself. The following is a record of what happened to me during my 2012 season with the Minnesota Vikings, written down immediately after the 2013 draft in April, when I realized what was happening, and revised recently only for clarity. I tried to keep things as objective as possible, and anything you see in quotes are words that I directly recall being said to me.

 This is a story about how actions have consequences, no matter how just or moral you think your cause happens to be, and it's a story about the price people all too often pay for speaking out.

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 Today, April 30, 2013, I am writing an account of events that transpired during my time with the Minnesota Vikings during the 2012 NFL season and leading into the 2013 season (so I don't forget them in case it is necessary to recall what happened).

 During the summer of 2012, I was approached by a group called Minnesotans for Marriage Equality, which asked if I would be interested in helping defeat what was known as the Minnesota Gay Marriage Amendment. The proposed amendment would have defined marriage as "only a union of one man and one woman." (It was voted down, and same-sex marriage is now legal in Minnesota.) I said yes, but that I would have to clear it with the team first. After talking to the Vikings legal department, I was given the go-ahead to speak on the issue as long as I made it clear I was acting as a private citizen, not as a spokesman for the Vikings, which I felt was fair and complied with. I did several radio advertisements and a dinner appearance for Minnesotans for Marriage Equality. No one from the Vikings' legal department told me I was doing anything wrong or that I had to stop.

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 On Sept. 7, 2012, this website published a letter I had written to Maryland delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. chastising him for trampling the free-speech rights of Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo. The letter also detailed why I supported the rights of same-sex couples to get married. It quickly went viral.

 On Sept. 8, the head coach of the Vikings, Leslie Frazier, called me into his office after our morning special-teams meeting. I anticipated it would be about the letter (punters aren't generally called into the principal's office). Once inside, Coach Frazier immediately told me that I "needed to be quiet, and stop speaking out on this stuff" (referring to my support for same-sex marriage rights). I told Coach Frazier that I felt it was the right thing to do (what with supporting equality and all), and I also told him that one of his main coaching points to us was to be "good men" and to "do the right thing." He reiterated his fervent desire for me to cease speaking on the subject, stating that "a wise coach once told me there are two things you don't talk about in the NFL, politics and religion." I repeated my stance that this was the right thing to do, that equality is not something to be denied anyone, and that I would not promise to cease speaking out. At that point, Coach Frazier told me in a flat voice, "If that's what you feel you have to do," and the meeting ended. The atmosphere was tense as I left the room.

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 On Sept. 9, before our game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the owner of the team, Zygi Wilf, came up to me, shook my hand, and told me: "Chris, I'm proud of what you've done. Please feel free to keep speaking out. I just came from my son's best friend's wedding to his partner in New York, and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen."

 On Sept. 10, I was once again called into Leslie Frazier's office. Coach Frazier asked me if I was going to keep speaking out on the matter of same-sex marriage and equality. I responded that I was, and I related what Zygi Wilf had said to me at the game the day before. Coach Frazier looked stunned and put his hand across his face. He then told me: "Well, he writes the checks. It looks like I've been overruled." At that point, he got his personal public relations assistant on a conference call to ask her what to do. She outlined some strategies, mainly centered around talking only with large national media groups and ignoring the smaller market stations (radio, television, print). I said that I would be sure not to say anything to denigrate the team, but that I would like to talk with anyone who was interested. Both Coach Frazier and his PR person attempted to dissuade me from this course of action, saying that the message would be more effective if presented properly. I suspected this was another attempt to keep me from speaking out. I did not agree to any course of action they suggested, and I left the meeting once it concluded.

 On or around Sept. 17 (could have possibly been Sept. 19), I approached our head of public relations, Bob Hagan. It had come to my attention via Twitter that multiple news sources were attempting to contact me through the Vikings and had been unable to reach me (I learned this via those same agencies asking me on Twitter if I was available for interviews, to which I responded affirmatively). I told Bob Hagan that from this point on, any media requests he received were to be forwarded immediately to me. I would take care of them. He told me that he was trying to protect me from being overwhelmed. I repeated my request that he forward all media requests to me, as I could handle them. He assented, and later that day I found three media requests in my locker (to which I had already responded via Twitter), two of which were dated from four to six days earlier.

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 Throughout the months of September, October, and November, Minnesota Vikings special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer would use homophobic language in my presence. He had not done so during minicamps or fall camp that year, nor had he done so during the 2011 season. He would ask me if I had written any letters defending "the gays" recently and denounce as disgusting the idea that two men would kiss, and he would constantly belittle or demean any idea of acceptance or tolerance. I tried to laugh these off while also responding with the notion that perhaps they were human beings who deserved to be treated as human beings. Mike Priefer also said on multiple occasions that I would wind up burning in hell with the gays, and that the only truth was Jesus Christ and the Bible. He said all this in a semi-joking tone, and I responded in kind, as I felt a yelling match with my coach over human rights would greatly diminish my chances of remaining employed. I felt uncomfortable each time Mike Priefer said these things. After all, he was directly responsible for reviewing my job performance, but I hoped that after the vote concluded in Minnesota his behavior would taper off and eventually stop.

 On Oct. 25, I had a poor game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Vikings brought in several punters for a workout to potentially replace me. I do not believe this was motivated by my speaking out on same-sex equality, though I do not know for sure. During the special-teams meeting the following day, Mike Priefer berated me in an incredibly harsh tone the likes of which I've never heard a coach use about my abilities as a punter (and I have been berated before). The room went silent after he finished speaking, in a way that normally does not happen during meetings when someone is being called out. The Vikings kept me on as their punter.

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 Near the end of November, several teammates and I were walking into a specialist meeting with Coach Priefer. We were laughing over one of the recent articles I had written supporting same-sex marriage rights, and one of my teammates made a joking remark about me leading the Pride parade. As we sat down in our chairs, Mike Priefer, in one of the meanest voices I can ever recall hearing, said: "We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows." The room grew intensely quiet, and none of the players said a word for the rest of the meeting. The atmosphere was decidedly tense. I had never had an interaction that hostile with any of my teammates on this issue—some didn't agree with me, but our conversations were always civil and respectful. Afterward, several told me that what Mike Priefer had said was "messed up."

 After this point, Mike Priefer began saying less and less to me, and our interactions were stilted. I grew increasingly concerned that my job would be in jeopardy. I had seen the same pattern of behavior directed at our former placekicker, Ryan Longwell, whom Mike Priefer began to ignore during the 2011 season and who was cut after rookie minicamps in early May 2012.

 On Dec. 9, I wore on my jersey a small patch made out of athletic tape on which I'd written, "Vote Ray Guy"—a small protest against punter Ray Guy's exclusion from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At no point in the game did Coach Priefer instruct me to take off the patch, nor did he appear even to notice it. The only person who talked to me about it was Les Pico, our executive director of player development, who told me that the league office would fine me if I didn't take it off. I told him it was worth it, and we both laughed.

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 On Dec. 13, during his weekly media session, Mike Priefer was asked about the patch in a joking manner. He responded tersely: "I don't even want to talk about it. Those distractions are getting old for me, to be honest with you." When asked if he had talked to me about the distractions, he said: "No. He won't listen." At no time during the season had Coach Priefer ever approached me about my actions, nor had he ever made any intimation that I was a distraction to the team. He also said: "To me, it's getting old. He's got to focus on punting and holding." Up to that point I had not dropped a single hold on field goals, and despite a shaky game against Tampa Bay and several substandard punts against other teams, both my net- and gross-punting marks were nearly in line with my career averages, which remain the best in Vikings history. I had also been repeatedly instructed by Mike Priefer to dial back the distance of my kicks to give our coverage team a better chance at getting down the field, a request I did my best to follow despite knowing it would mean sacrificing my own averages and allowing people to fashion an argument against me based on those numbers. His exact words were: "Chris, we need you to kick it higher and shorter, because our coverage team sucks. We need to force fair catches as much as possible." I complied, as I had always been taught to put the team before myself.

 In November and December, I was frequently marked for negative scores by Mike Priefer on our "Production Point" sheet for punts that earlier had been marked positive, despite the numbers being almost exactly the same in terms of hangtime and distance. I do not know if these "Production Point" sheets were ever shown to our general manager or head coach, nor do I know if they were used to evaluate my job performance, though I suspect they were. I often laughed with other players about how the points seemed to be arbitrarily assigned, and we all agreed that there was no way to succeed as far as the "Production Point" charts were concerned. The vast majority of special-teams players already had negative point totals for the year.

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 After the season concluded in early January 2013, I had my end-of-year meeting with Coach Priefer. It was brief, and he told me that the team would probably be exploring options for competition. Several days later, the team signed T.J. Conley to a futures contract, which I saw as legitimate competition or a backup plan in case my knee surgery did not go well. I had been playing the past five years on a torn meniscus in my left knee, and the discomfort had gotten to the point where surgery was a necessity. Recovery time was anticipated to be two to four weeks, and my surgery was scheduled for Jan. 31. The surgery went smoothly, as did rehab, and I began kicking again in late February. At no point did Mike Priefer, Leslie Frazier, or Vikings general manager Rick Spielman contact me, nor did they ever ask how the surgery had gone, nor did they ever ask how my return to kicking was progressing.

 On Feb. 11, I received a message saying, "Please fly under radar please," from a phone number I would later learn belonged to Rick Spielman. The text message presumably concerned several things I had tweeted that day regarding Pope Benedict XVI's decision to step down. Spielman later called me and asked me to stop tweeting about the pope because angry people were ringing up team headquarters in Winter Park, Minn. It should be noted that my tweets concerned the lack of transparency and endemic institutional corruption of the Catholic Church, which among other things allowed child abuse to flourish. I also pointed out how that applied equally to financial and government institutions, and reiterated that I had nothing against anyone's religion, only against the abuses of power that institutions allow. Nonetheless, I complied with Spielman's request and did not tweet anything else about the pope that day, or in the future.

 In March and early April, I spent three to four days a week kicking at the local sports complex near my house in Huntington Beach, Calif., where I lived with my family during the offseason. I felt that I had returned to my in-season form and was quite pleased with my progress. I was confident that in a fair competition with T.J. Conley I would prevail.

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 On April 21, I arrived back in Minnesota for the start of Organized Team Activities (OTAs), which commenced the following day. When I arrived at the facility, I went through my normal workouts and then went upstairs to talk to Mike Priefer. He hadn't contacted me since our year-end meeting in early January. We had a brief talk, and he mentioned that I would only have to attend the punt-special-team meetings. In previous years, I had attended all the special-teams meetings, as was expected of me. At no point was the draft mentioned.

 On April 27, I spent an hour at the Metrodome signing autographs for the Vikings draft party, an event for which the team requested my attendance, and then left to record some music with my band. My phone rang, and a local reporter from the Star Tribune asked me, "Chris, what are your thoughts on the Vikings taking a punter in the fifth round of the draft?" At this point I knew for certain the Vikings were replacing me. I hadn't been informed that drafting a punter was a possibility, and historically punters do not get drafted unless the team figures he'll be a starter. Multiple pundits questioned the Vikings' decision to draft a punter in the fifth round, as there were still several positions of need, and several players at those positions still available to be drafted. No one from the team called me on April 27 or 28.

 On April 29, my first day back in the facility after the draft, I met with Rick Spielman after Mike Priefer had told me Rick wanted to see me. Rick told me that this was solely about competition and had nothing to do with my views. I do not believe he was telling the truth. I had not been approached about reducing my contract for cap-space purposes, nor was my punting average poor enough to justify spending a fifth-round pick on a punter for competition. (My gross average in 2012 was almost exactly my career average, and I had a career-best net average. Statistically speaking, I am also the best punter in Vikings history, despite seven years of coaches asking me to deliberately sacrifice my own numbers to help the team, a request with which I always complied.) Rick said he would speak with me again after the rookie minicamp from May 3-5. I then spoke with Coach Priefer. He reiterated that this was about competition, which I suspect was also a lie, and then he started talking about me in the past tense, about how professional I had been, and how it had been a pleasure working with me. The meeting concluded several minutes later. I also learned that T.J. Conley had been cut that day.

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 At no point from the end of the season, on Jan. 9, 2013, to my arrival at OTAs, on April 21, was I contacted by Leslie Frazier or by any of the other coaches. Rick Spielman called me once, as stated earlier, to insist I stop tweeting about the pope.

 On May 6, I had a meeting with Rick Spielman. He told me that the team was releasing me, and he thanked me for the great work I had done for the Vikings, and also said he would tell other teams how professionally and competently I had executed my duties over the years. I then had a meeting with Leslie Frazier, who repeated that I had been "a fantastic player for this organization" and who also told me, "Don't close any doors behind you—you never know when things will come full circle." He thanked me for my services as well, and said I was a great football player. Then I was escorted from the premises and was no longer a Viking.

 So there you have it. It's my belief, based on everything that happened over the course of 2012, that I was fired by Mike Priefer, a bigot who didn't agree with the cause I was working for, and two cowards, Leslie Frazier and Rick Spielman, both of whom knew I was a good punter and would remain a good punter for the foreseeable future, as my numbers over my eight-year career had shown, but who lacked the fortitude to disagree with Mike Priefer on a touchy subject matter. (Frazier was fired on Monday, at the conclusion of a 5-10-1 season.) One of the main coaching points I've heard throughout my entire life is, "How you respond to difficult situations defines your character," and I think it's a good saying. I also think it applies to more than just the players.

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 If there's one thing I hope to achieve from sharing this story, it's to make sure that Mike Priefer never holds a coaching position again in the NFL, and ideally never coaches at any level. (According to the Pioneer Press, he is "the only in-house candidate with a chance" at the head-coaching job.) It's inexcusable that someone would use his status as a teacher and a role model to proselytize on behalf of his own doctrine of intolerance, and I hope he never gets another opportunity to pass his example along to anyone else. I also hope that Leslie Frazier and Rick Spielman take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are the people they truly profess themselves to be.

 Some will ask why I waited so long to tell this story. It's a fair question, and I have two answers. The first is that I still have friends on the Vikings, and opening up something like this during the season would not help them focus on their jobs. By doing it now, I hope they don't have to answer questions about an issue that concerns only four people, and I hope the issue will have died down before next season starts.

 The second is that I wanted to prove I still had the physical ability to compete in the NFL. I can still hit the ball 45 yards outside the numbers with good hangtime, and at the tryouts I've had this year I've gotten praise from the scouts and personnel people on hand, but for whatever reason I cannot find a job. (Side note: My numbers from last year would put me right in the middle of the pack for this year, and I've traditionally been in the middle to top third of punters each year).

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 However, it's clear to me that no matter how much I want to prove I can play, I will no longer punt in the NFL, especially now that I've written this account. Whether it's my age, my minimum veteran salary, my habit of speaking my mind, or (most likely) a combination of all three, my time as a football player is done. Punters are always replaceable, at least in the minds of those in charge, and I realize that in advocating noisily for social change I only made it easier for them to justify not having me around. So it goes.

 Some will ask if the NFL has a problem with institutionalized homophobia. I don't think it does. I think there are homophobic people in the NFL, in all positions, but that's true for society as well, and those people eventually get replaced. All we can do is try to expose their behavior when we see it and call them to account for their actions.

 Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Never be afraid to do what's right. If no one ever says anything, nothing ever changes.

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 —Chris Kluwe, former NFL player

 tl;dr—It's been a fun eight years; sometimes people do crappy things to each other.

 Update, 6:37 p.m.: Vikings say they'll investigate | Mike Priefer responds

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 See also: "They Won't Magically Turn You Into A Lustful Cockmonster": Chris Kluwe Explains Gay Marriage To A Politician

 Chris Kluwe spent eight years as the Vikings punter. He is the author of Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies: On Myths, Morons, Free Speech, Football, and Assorted Absurdities. His last piece for Deadspin was about why Deadspin sucks. Follow him on Twitter, @ChrisWarcraft.

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 Top photos via Getty. Photo of Priefer with Vikings players via AP. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Chris Kluwe made a name for himself not only as an NFL punter but as a (very) outspoken advocate for gay marriage. Now Kluwe has taken to Deadspin to allege that he got cut from the Minnesota Vikings after eight years by special teams coach Mike Priefer, "a bigot who didn't agree with the cause I was working for," because of his views. He also calls out "two cowards," (recently fired) head coach Leslie Frazier and team GM Rick Spielman for not standing up to Priefer. In the lengthy account, Kluwe recounts his controversial 2012 season and subsequent firing. "If there's one thing I hope to achieve from sharing this story, it's to make sure that Mike Priefer never holds a coaching position again in the NFL, and ideally never coaches at any level," writes Kluwe, who quotes the coach at one point as suggesting that all gay people be rounded up on an island and nuked. "It's inexcusable that someone would use his status as a teacher and a role model to proselytize on behalf of his own doctrine of intolerance, and I hope he never gets another opportunity to pass his example along to anyone else." The team responded this afternoon by saying it would "thoroughly review this matter," reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune, but it insisted that Kluwe got fired for football performance, not his views on marriage equality. Click to read Kluwe's full post.


MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- A Seattle-bound Alaska Airlines jet made an emergency landing at the Minneapolis St Paul Airport on Monday morning after a passenger tried to open a door in mid-flight.

 The passenger became unruly, then tried to open a door at the rear of the 737, said Alaska spokeswoman Halley Knigge. She said it is not possible to open the door in flight because of air pressure differences between inside and outside the plane.

 The crew tried to calm him, then decided to divert to Minneapolis. He was arrested after the 737 landed at Minneapolis about 9:45 a.m. Central time.

 Flight 7 originated at 7:15 Eastern time from JFK Airport in New York.

 The flight took off for Seattle at 11:08 a.m. Central time with 180 passengers on the plane.

 It landed in Seattle just before 1 p.m. Pacific time.

  ||||| 0

 A man was escorted off a Seattle-bound flight in handcuffs Monday morning after crew members said he tried to open one of the plane’s doors mid-air.

 The plane was en route to Sea-Tac from JFK International Airport in New York but was diverted to Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport so the man could be taken off the flight.

 Alaska Airlines file photo © 2017 Cox Media Group.

 Shoshana Godwin, a passenger who was sitting next to him on Alaska Airlines Flight 7, said he was acting oddly even as they boarded.

 “He kept stopping to go into his bag and then I watched him take a pill out of his bag,” she said.

 She told KIRO 7 the man, whom she estimates to be in his 20s, was quiet and seemed to be falling asleep until the flight attendant stopped by for beverage service.

 “He said he need to cancel his flight and get off the plane and just was kind of speaking a little gibberish,” Godwin said.

 She credits the crew with keeping the situation under control, especially the flight attendant.

 “She handled it so well,” she said. “She was very calm, and just said, you know, ‘Sir, come stay with me in the back, we can talk through this.’”

 Melinda Iverson, also a passenger, watched it all play out.

 “The air marshals were there quick,” she said. “The flight attendants were sort of surrounding him and I felt more sorry for him than anything.”

 The flight crew radioed to land in Minnesota, saying they were “dropping off one of our passengers early,” and wanted to have somebody to “greet this customer, [who was] having a difficult time working and playing well with others.”

 Passengers were told it was a medical emergency as they descended and he was escorted off the plane.

 “I think someone may have been a little bit stressed out about flying and took too much medication, honestly,” Godwin said.

 The flight finally arrived at Sea-Tac around 1 p.m. PST.

 Alaska Airlines said it is physically impossible to open an aircraft door while the aircraft is pressurized and in flight.

 It is unclear if the man will face any charges. Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport police questioned him and determined he presented a danger to himself. He was taken to Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, Minnesota.

 Vid from girl on @AlaskaAir flight from NYC to Seattle, delayed bc officials say a man tried to open a door mid-air pic.twitter.com/Ym38Hu0qCz — Linzi Sheldon (@LinziKIRO7) August 29, 2016

 © 2017 Cox Media Group. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A plane en route from New York to Seattle had to make an emergency landing Monday so that an unruly passenger could be arrested, KOMO reports. Alaska Airlines Flight 7 was diverted to Minneapolis-St. Paul after a man in his 20s started acting strangely, other passengers tell KIRO. One passenger saw him take a pill of some sort out of his luggage, but she says he didn't cause any trouble until the flight attendants started taking drink orders. At that point, he said he needed "to cancel his flight and get off the plane and just was kind of speaking a little gibberish," she says. Ultimately, crew members say, he tried to open one of the plane's doors—fortunately, a physically impossible feat when the plane is in flight. "The air marshals were there quick," says another passenger. "The flight attendants were sort of surrounding him and I felt more sorry for him than anything." Passengers were told there had been a medical emergency and the plane had to be diverted. "I think someone may have been a little bit stressed out about flying and took too much medication, honestly," says the first passenger. Police questioned the passenger and took him to a Minnesota hospital after it was determined that he was a danger to himself; it's not clear if he will face any criminal charges. No injuries were reported, and the flight was delayed about two hours, the Pioneer Press reports.


In collaboration with the University of Manitoba Libraries, the National Centre of Truth and Reconciliation, and the Library and Archives of Canada, the University of Winnipeg Library has curated and captured a selection of webpages, blogs, news coverage, and PDF files that pertain to Manitoba's ongoing involvement with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This growing collection covers a diverse range of topics, which include survivors’ stories, apologies, responses, cultural events, and more. This is an ongoing web-archiving project that will continue to grow as we witness new ways that reconciliation and healing take place in our province. We gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance of Manitoba Tourism, Culture, Heritage, Sport and Consumer Protection, and the Government of Canada in the creation of this collection. ||||| (CNN) A rare Enigma machine used by Nazi Germany during World War II was sold at auction Tuesday for 45,000 euros ($51,500).

 The collector who put the machine up for sale at the Artmark auction house in Bucharest, Romania, had spotted it at a flea market in the city and bought it for just 100 euros ($114).

 Vitally important to Nazi war efforts, the Enigma machine was used by the German military to encrypt messages into a form they believed was unbreakable.

 But the code was cracked by a team of cryptologists at Bletchley Park in southern England -- a breakthrough widely credited with having shortened the war by at least two years.

 The instrument sold Tuesday -- to an unnamed online bidder -- was made in Germany in 1941 and is in almost perfect condition, Vlad Georgescu, relationship manager at Artmark, told CNN.

 Enigma machines were used by the German military during World War II to encrypt messages. ||||| BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Someone in Romania thought he’d made a fair amount of money when he sold an old typewriter for 100 euros at a flea market. He was wrong.

 The “typewriter” was, in fact, a German Wehrmacht Enigma I, a World War Two cipher machine, and the collector who bought it put it up for sale at the Bucharest auction house Artmark with a starting price of 9,000 euros ($10,300) (www.artmark.ro). On Tuesday, Artmark sold it to an online bidder for 45,000 euros.

 “The collector bought it from a flea market. He’s a cryptography professor and ... he knew very well what he was buying,” Cristian Gavrila, the collectible consignment manager at Artmark, told Reuters.

 Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany until 1944, when it switched sides to the allies. Historians say it may host many other cryptographic machines not yet discovered.

 Last month, Christie's New York Books set a world auction record of $547,500 with its sale of a "four-rotor Enigma cipher machine, 1944," to an online bidder. (here

 The Enigma was used to encode and decode messages sent by the various branches of the Nazi military, but the British mathematician Alan Turing and his team at Britain’s wartime codebreaking center, Bletchley Park, cracked the codes. By some estimates, their work shortened the war by two years. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– It was a world-class stroke of good luck. An antique "typewriter" snapped up by an eagle-eyed expert in Romania for about $114 at a flea market turned out to be a rare Nazi Enigma cipher machine, CNN reports. The German Wehrmacht Enigma I sold for $51,500 to an anonymous bidder at an auction in Bucharest on Tuesday. During World War II, the German military used the machine to encrypt and decrypt sensitive messages. Depicted in the 2014 movie Imitation Game, dogged English cryptologists at Bletchley Park cracked the code, which the Germans believed unbreakable. Their work was said to have shortened the war by two years. The collector who spotted the rare machine was a cryptography professor who "knew very well what he was buying," Cristian Gavrila of Artmark auction house tells Reuters. Alas, the flea market seller, who thought it an ordinary old typewriter, did not. Romania was an ally of the Nazis until 1944, and historians believe there may be more Enigmas lying undiscovered in attics there. Thousands of machines were produced but very few have come up for sale, per CNN. But the latest sale isn't the biggest by far: A 1944 Enigma machine sold at Christie's New York last month for a record $547,500. Before that, an Enigma machine featured in the 2001 Kate Winslet film Enigma sold in London for $208,137. (Adolf Hitler's purported red phone sold for $243,000.)


Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com ||||| A flight recorder revealed that pilots of a UPS cargo jet that crashed short of a runway at Birmingham's airport received warnings about their rate of descent seconds before impact, investigators said Friday.

 Investigators scour a hillside looking for evidence in the fatal crash of a UPS cargo plane in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday, Aug. 16, 2013. The twin-engine Airbus A300 aircraft went down on Aug. 14 during... (Associated Press)

 The National Transportation Safety Board and FBI scour a field Friday, Aug. 16, 2013, north of the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport where UPS flight 1354 crashed on Wedesday, in Birmingham,... (Associated Press)

 National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt told reporters during a briefing that a recorder captured the first of two audible warnings in the cockpit 16 seconds before the sound of an impact, either with trees or the ground.

 The warnings indicated the A300 cargo plane was descending at a rate outside normal parameters given its altitude, Sumwalt said, but investigators haven't made any determination on the actual cause of the crash into an Alabama hillside.

 "We haven't ruled anything in, haven't ruled anything out," he said.

 The aircraft went down less than a mile from the end of Runway 18 at Birmingham's airport before dawn Wednesday. UPS has identified the victims of the crash as Capt. Cerea Beal, Jr., 58, of Matthews, N.C., and First Officer Shanda Fanning, 37, of Lynchburg, Tenn.

 Landing on the runway can be tricky for pilots, an expert said, particularly those flying big jets like the twin-engine UPS cargo carrier. Sumwalt said the plane was being flown by the captain _ who had 8,600 hours of flight experience, including 3,200 hours in an A300 _ but investigators don't know whether Beal or Fanning had ever before landed on Runway 18.

 "We're going to do our best to find out," he said.

 Sumwalt said investigators will analyze the airplane's weight to determine whether it should have attempted a landing on the runway, the shorter of two runways at Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport.

 With a large hill and trees at one end, the runway lacks the electronics for a full instrument landing. That forces pilots to make key judgments about altitude while aiming a descending aircraft at a runway that's 5,000 feet shorter than the airport's main runway, which was closed for maintenance work at the time of the crash.

 Some pilots simply avoid landing on Runway 18 when possible, said veteran commercial pilot Ross Aimer.

 "When I heard they were using Runway 18 it caught my attention because of that hill," said Aimer. "It's sad, but it didn't surprise me."

 Aimer, a retired United Airlines captain, is now chief executive of Aero Consulting Experts, a firm based in Los Angeles.

 The NTSB previously said a preliminary investigation didn't reveal any evidence of engine failure before the plane struck trees about one mile away from the end of the runway. It crashed into the bottom of a hill less than a quarter mile after hitting the trees.

 The A300, which weighs about 172,700 pounds when empty, was at the end of a 45-minute flight from Louisville, Ky., to Birmingham when it went down. A flight summary from flightaware.com, which tracks airplanes, shows the aircraft made a descent in steps, which Aimer said is a "dive and drive" method common on runways with the same navigational guidance as Runway 18.

 Sumwalt said the aircraft went down during its first landing attempt. Sumwalt said investigators have not found any problems with the runway's lights or navigation system, which typically provides pilots with information about their lateral position but not about their altitude, unlike those on runways where pilots can land using only instruments.

 National Weather Service records from the morning of the crash show the plane would have descended through overcast conditions to only a few clouds at 1,100 feet. Within seconds after the plane hit a tree and at least one turbine sucked in wood, the twin-engine plane crashed.

 It hit the base of that large hill mentioned by Aimer, who said he had landed on Runway 18 about a half-dozen times, including on some flights as a cargo pilot.

 Located near the southern tip of the Appalachian foothills, Birmingham's airport is nestled in a low spot between Red Mountain to the south and hills that lie at the northern end of Runway 18, which is 7,000 feet long. The main runway is 12,000 feet long and runs east and west, meaning pilots don't have to negotiate the rough terrain.

 The NTSB said the longer runway was closed for maintenance work on its lights early Wednesday, leaving the shorter runway as the only path to the ground. Runway 18 is an approved runway with a valid approach, Aimer said.

 "It is definitely legal, but it I had a choice I'd use another runway first," he said.

 A key task for investigators will be determining why the UPS jet was low enough to hit trees. The impact sheared off pieces of the aircraft and sent them crashing onto two homes along with large pieces of limbs.

 Keenen Brown, 17, said he witnessed the crash while getting ready for work before dawn. Brown, who lives with relatives across the street from the crash site, said it was unusual to see such a large aircraft attempting to land on the runway.

 "I saw the sky turn orange and I looked up and I saw it in the air on fire," Brown said. "I watched it hit the ground and dirt flew up. This whole area just shook."

 Aimer said the flames could have been shooting from the plane after it struck the trees. |||||

Write a summary.

– The pilots killed in this week's crash of a UPS plane in Birmingham got two automated warnings that they were coming in too low, says the NTSB. But they didn't have much time to process them—the first came 7 seconds before impact, reports the Wall Street Journal. Three seconds after the first "sink rate" alarm sounded in the cockpit, one of the two pilots said the runway was in sight, but the plane soon clipped power wires and slammed into a hill. A veteran pilot was at the controls: Cerea Beal had 8,600 flying hours with UPS—3,000 alone in A300 cargo planes, the type that went down—and before that served as a Maine helicopter pilot. But it's unclear whether he had ever landed at this particular runway before at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. Authorities say it's tricky because it's not equipped with the electronics for a full instrument landing and thus requires a visual approach. The crash occurred in the pre-dawn dark, while it was raining. "When I heard they were using Runway 18, it caught my attention because of that hill," a commercial pilot tells AP. "It's sad, but it didn't surprise me." A longer runway at the airport with a more modern landing system had been closed for maintenance. The co-pilot was previously identified as 37-year-old Shanda Fanning.


– If Nick Lachey can't put you off marriage, nothing will: Jessica Simpson, who divorced the ex-boy band star in 2005, is headed down the aisle again, this time with a former NFLer. No, not that one. Eric Johnson, former 49er and Simpson's beau of six months, popped the question Thursday—which, UsMag notes, is a mere few days after Lachey proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Vanessa Minnillo. Ah, the coincidence. Johnson "definitely makes me very happy," Simpson told USA Today. "He brings out a lot of light in me and makes me very comfortable being who I am. It's nice to be with somebody who praises you for the right reasons." But, sigh, first the holiday planning: "Having a boyfriend through the holidays, we're going to see how that all splits up," Simpson told Ryan Seacrest last week. For more on the happily betrothed, click here.

Expand this summary.

Exclusive: Jessica Simpson, Eric Johnson Are Engaged!

 Jessica Simpson is off the market!

 PHOTOS: Stars dating athletes

 Sources confirm to UsMagazine.com that the singer, 30, became engaged to beau Eric Johnson on Thursday, just days after Us broke the news that her ex-husband, Nick Lachey, popped the question to Vanessa Minnillo, his love of nearly five years. Simpson and Lachey, 37, split in 2005, after three years of marriage.

 The singer's rep confirmed the couple's engagement to Us on Sunday.

 PHOTOS: Stars show off their HUGE engagement rings

 On Saturday, Simpson flashed a sizable ring on her left hand during an appearance at Dillard's at Oak Park Mall in Kansas City.

 PHOTOS: Jessica's dress disasters

 The Texas native began dating the former NFL player in May while he was estranged from his first wife, stylist Keri Johnson; their divorce was finalized five months later.

 "I met a wonderful man," Simpson tweeted of Johnson in September. "Damn, I'm lucky."

 PHOTOS: Jessica's biggest OMG moments

 The newly engaged couple will spend Thanksgiving in NYC, where Simpson is scheduled to perform during Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

 PHOTOS: The many men in Jessica's life

 "Having a boyfriend through the holidays, we're going to see how that all splits up," the singer told Ryan Seacrest during a KIIS-FM radio interview last week. "I can't imagine not being with my nephew and watching him open gifts. Maybe someone gets Christmas Eve and somebody gets Christmas day." ||||| USA TODAY

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 Jennifer Lawrence, Paul Walker dominate IMDb's Top 100 Stars list Jennifer Lawrence is No. with an arrow. The “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” star finished in the top spot on IMDB.com’s list of the Top 100 Stars of the Year - receiving 89% more page views than second-place Chloë Grace Moretz, USA Today reported. Read More

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 Men really do ogle women's bodies: study A new study has confirmed what women have always said: people do look at their bodies more than their faces. Eye-tracking technology showed that men fix their gazes on a woman's breasts, hips and waist. Read More ||||| Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson: Engaged!

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 "So very happy for Jess and Eric," Simpson's father, Joe, posted on

 Just days earlier, news broke that ex-husband

 Simpson met Johnson, a former NFL pro, in May. And their speedy courtship took a big step forward when he accompanied her to Italy to celebrate her 30th birthday in July. Last month -- shortly after Johnson's divorce from his wife of five years, Keri, was finalized -- Simpson

 The TV star, who recently presided as a guest judge during the

 On Saturday, Simpson was spotted wearing a large ruby and diamond ring on her left hand while making an appearance at a Kansas mall. Her rep has yet to confirm that she and Johnson are officially engaged. Jessica Simpson is heading down the aisle again. In a new report from Us , a source says that, as of Thursday, the singer and reality TV star is now engaged to her new love Eric Johnson. It will be the second marriage for both."So very happy for Jess and Eric," Simpson's father, Joe, posted on Twitter Sunday night. "May they have a lifetime of joy and happiness."Just days earlier, news broke that ex-husband Nick Lachey was engaged to marry his live-in girlfriend, Vanessa Minnillo Simpson met Johnson, a former NFL pro, in May. And their speedy courtship took a big step forward when he accompanied her to Italy to celebrate her 30th birthday in July. Last month -- shortly after Johnson's divorce from his wife of five years, Keri, was finalized -- Simpson gushed in the press about her new romance: "We're just best friends. He's my dude! I love him."The TV star, who recently presided as a guest judge during the controversial season finale of 'Project Runway,' wed pop singer Lachey at the age of 22 in 2002; after starring in the MTV hit 'Newlyweds,' the couple divorced in 2006. Lachey, 37, began dating Minnillo shortly after the divorce. Simpson has since dated singer John Mayer and football star Tony Romo.On Saturday, Simpson was spotted wearing a large ruby and diamond ring on her left hand while making an appearance at a Kansas mall. Her rep has yet to confirm that she and Johnson are officially engaged.

 "He's a really smart guy, and Jessica really loves him," remarked Pete Wentz (husband of Simpson's younger sister, Ashlee ) to People.com earlier this month, talking about Johnson during VH1's Save the Music Gala in New York. "I think that's the most important thing, seeing her happy."Simpson opened up in recent interviews about her new lease on life, hinting that she'd love to try planning a wedding again: "I am from the South, so I've definitely dreamed of being married my whole life and having children, so hopefully that's in my future." |||||