International


36 dead, 44 injured, more than a dozen missing in mine explosion in Ukraine
Associated Press

DONETSK, Ukraine - An underground methane and coal dust explosion killed 36 miners, injured 44 and left more than a dozen missing in eastern Ukraine yesterday, the Emergency Situations Ministry said - the most serious accident this year in the country's hazardous coal mines.
The morning blast came as more than 250 miners were working underground at the Zasiadko mine in the coal-rich Donetsk region, authorities said.
"This is a tragedy. We understand once again that that we must re-equip our coal industry both technically and technologically to bring it to a proper level. It is one of the state's priorities," Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Semynozhenko was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
Semynozhenko lamented the deteriorated state of Ukraine's coal industry, considered among the world's most unsafe, and pledged to help the families of the dead and wounded.
Most of the miners were brought to the surface, where 22 were hospitalized, at least four of them in grave condition. Twenty-two others were injured only slightly.

Washington

Federal drug charges and time spent in prison rise, study finds
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Over 30,000 people were charged with federal drug offenses in 1999, more than double the number 15 years earlier, and most of those convicted were drug traffickers, a Justice Department study says.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said the report shows federal drug laws are succeeding in catching the serious criminals and keeping them behind bars longer. One crime expert disputed that, saying only a fraction of traffickers are being arrested.
The study released Sunday by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics found only four percent of drug criminals were convicted of simple possession. Ninety-one percent were convicted of trafficking.
It also found drug offenders are serving longer sentences. The average prison stay rose to 5 1/2 years in 1999 from 2 1/2 years in 1986.
The longer prison times are the result of federal laws passed over the past two decades that require mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, researchers said.

National

1 killed, 46 injured when bus overturns on Tennessee highway
Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. - A Greyhound bus overturned on a highway yesterday morning after its driver lost control, killing one passenger and injuring 46 people.
The bus was traveling eastbound on Interstate 24 when it drifted from the right lane to the left lane and hit a median, said Department of Safety spokeswoman Dana Keeton. When the bus started to slide on wet grass, the driver overcorrected to get back on the road and flipped the bus on its right side.
"The bus actually spun around and overturned," she said.
The man who died was thrown from the bus and trapped underneath it, Keeton said. His name was not released.
The driver was injured, but not critically. Greyhound would not release any information on the driver.
The cause of the 8 a.m. accident, about 30 miles north of Nashville, is still under investigation.
Skid marks and paint scrapes show the bus skidded about 100 yards until it hit an overpass embankment. The bus door was ripped off its hinges and found about 75 yards from where the bus stopped. All the windows on its right side were broken. Suitcases and clothes littered the crash scene.
Thirteen of the most critically injured were taken by helicopter to Vanderbilt Medical Hospital in Nashville, spokesman Jerry Jones said. All are expected to survive.

Arizona

Critics of ADHD drugs for children want legislature to intervene
Associated Press

TUCSON - State legislators will be hearing a lot more this session from critics of the overuse of psychiatric drugs among schoolchildren.
According to federal drug enforcement estimates, Arizona ranks in the middle of states for its use of methylphenidate, a drug used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, commonly known as ADHD. The drug stimulates the part of the brain that controls how alert, attentive and focused people are.
Although most experts estimate that three percent to five percent of students have ADHD, Tucson Unified School District's director of health services, Kathy Jo Johnson, said the district-wide average of seven percent is on par with national estimates showing as many as ten percent of children are affected by varying degrees of attention-deficit disorder. The district goes through a complete screening process before suggesting medication, she said.