HAVANA
Hurricane Michelle claims five in Cuba before heading toward
Associated Press
Vast portions of Cuba were still without power and communications yesterday after Hurricane Michelle swept across the island overnight, killing at least five people and flooding crops before moving on to strike the Bahamas.
The hurricane, which killed 12 people in Honduras, Nicaragua and Jamaica last week, lost some of its strength as it moved off Cuba, and it left Florida virtually untouched.
Michelle swept past the Bahamas capital of Nassau yesterday with 85 mph winds, flooding houses and cutting power. At 4 p.m. EST, the storm was centered about 145 miles east-northeast of Nassau after approaching from the southwest.
When the storm made landfall in Cuba on Sunday, its winds were estimated at 130 mph.
The storm caused at least 23 homes to collapse in Havana, state television reported, saying that more were expected to crumble as they dried out in the sun. By yesterday, the streets of the Cuban capital's colonial district were littered with debris.
Reporters who toured rural parts of Matanzas and Villa Clara provinces east of Havana early yesterday found hundreds homes damaged but only a few destroyed.
"We were rebuilding the house," Jose Ramon Pedrozo said quietly as he tried to rescue a few wooden planks that once formed part of his modest home in Solis Viejo, a small town in hard-hit Matanzas. "Now we're going to start all over."
KANAUGA, Ohio
One killed in Ohio explosion
A tanker truck caught fire and exploded at an asphalt plant yesterday, killing one person and severely burning another.
The parked truck contained asphalt and diesel fuel in separate compartments, said Millissia Russell of the Gallia County Emergency Management Agency. The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
Jonny Pratt, 42, was killed. Roger Ours was in critical condition with burns over 85 percent of his body. His age was not released.
A hazardous-materials team worked to keep an asphalt-fuel mixture from entering the Ohio River and the water supply.
Kanauga is about 90 miles southeast of Columbus.
YORK, Pa.
Man gets 132 to 264 years in prison for machete attack at school
Associated Press
A man who burst into an elementary school with a machete and attacked 11 children, the principal and two teachers was sentenced yesterday to 132 to 264 years in prison.
William Michael Stankewicz, 56, of Johnson City, Tenn., had asked the judge for the death penalty, which was not an option. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder and others charges in September in the Feb. 2 attack.
"You claim the school was your twin towers and you ñ like those responsible for the twin towers ñ are a coward who took your anger and your perverted sense of justice out on small children," Judge Sheryl Dorney said.
Principal Norina Bentzel was the most seriously hurt, suffering severe cuts on her hand and arms and a broken left forearm while helping to wrestle Stankewicz to the ground. Her hands still bandaged, Bentzel told the court that Stankewicz was the "pure definition of a terrorist."
A silicon rod now anchors her right thumb and a titanium plate is attached to her left forearm.
Stankewicz could have gotten a sentence of up to 360 years.
The former Pennsylvania resident previously said that he committed the attack because he was angry about his divorce and allegations he had molested his stepdaughters. He said he went to the school his stepchildren once attended because he was unable to find the home of his ex-wife.
"He asked for the injection in here today," defense attorney Bruce Blocher said. "He's a severely mentally ill person who needed treatment."
