NATION BRIEFS
Nation Briefs: Sunday, July 20, 2008

Published: July 20, 2008

DAYTON, Ohio — Stunt pilot Sean Tucker, who has thrilled air show audiences with daredevil moves in more than 1,000 performances, said he got his start by trying to face his flying fears.

Tucker, 56, of Monterey, Calif., was among pilots and aviation pioneers being inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame on Saturday.

The others included Herbert Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines Co.; Col. Clarence "Bud” Anderson, a military pilot who flew in both World War II and the Vietnam War; and the late naval aviation pioneer William Moffett.

PITTSBURGH — An autopsy on a woman's body found in an apartment linked to a mystery newborn baby found that the woman was partially eviscerated and her uterus was cut open, authorities said Saturday. They were trying to determine the woman's identity.

The body was found Friday in an apartment of Andrea Curry-Demus, 38, of suburban Wilkinsburg, who showed up at a hospital with a newborn she falsely claimed was hers.

HOUSTON — Representatives of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration started their investigation Saturday in the collapse of one of the nation's largest mobile cranes, which toppled at a Houston oil refinery, killing four workers and injuring seven others.

The crane crashed to the ground Friday at a LyondellBasell refinery. The owner of the crane, Deep South Crane & Rigging of Baton Rouge, La., plans to work with the federal investigators.

KEMP, Texas — A single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff Saturday, killing all three people aboard and sparking a fire that burned 2 rural acres, authorities said. Names of the victims were not immediately released.

It was not immediately known what caused the accident, which left the plane charred to nearly a skeleton in the middle of a scorched field about 40 miles southeast of Dallas.

Also in the nation ...

•STAIRCASE MOVED: A staircase people used to escape the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11, 2001, attack has been moved for a second time. The survivors' staircase was moved Saturday from the northwest corner of the site into a seven-story pit closer to the memorial.

•TROPICAL STORM: Hurricane Bertha was downgraded Saturday to a tropical storm and should be absorbed by larger storm.