BRIDGE CLOSED: A bridge over the Mississippi River northwest of the Twin Cities was shut down Thursday because of problems found in the same sort of steel plates said to have played a key role in last summer’s deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Inspectors found slight bowing in four gusset plates, which help connect the girders of the Highway 23 bridge at St. Cloud.
GUILTY PLEA:Thomas Miller- El, 56, who was on Death Row in Texas for nearly 20 years until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his verdict because of racial discrimination, has pleaded guilty to the 1985 slaying for which he was originally sentenced to die. Miller-El accepted a deal with prosecutors Wednesday that spares him from heading to Death Row for a second time but virtually assures he will never leave prison.
DRIVER SURRENDERS: Troy Critchley, 38, a professional drag racer whose car plowed into a parade crowd last summer in Tennessee, killing six people and injuring 22 others, surrendered to authorities Thursday on multiple felony charges.
RELEASE FROM PRISON: Kathleen Soliah, a former member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army, was released on parole this week from a California women’s prison after serving about 6 years for her role in a plot to kill Los Angeles police officers by blowing up their patrol cars.
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QUOTABLE
‘The camel puts his nose in the tent and the next thing you know, he’s in the tent.’
– New York State Restaurant Association Executive Vice President Chuck Hunt, who’s concerned that rules requiring chain restaurants to display calorie counts on menus will be extended to every New York City restaurant. The restaurant lobbying group sued in federal court in January to prevent the city from enforcing the requirement, which is due to take effect at the end of March.
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Page compiled from Tribune news services
