Across The Nation

Pennsylvania federal prison is scene of new disturbance

LEWIS RUN, Pa. - Medium-security inmates staged a disturbance today, the sixth at a federal prison since late last week.

One inmate was slightly injured at the Federal Corrections Institute and a few small fires were set before order was restored within five hours, officials said.

The prison has more than 1,100 inmates. Like other federal prisons nationwide, it was locked down over most of the weekend following uprisings at five federal prisons last week. The disturbances were thought to be related to Congress' refusal to reduce sentences for crack cocaine convictions.

Coincidentally, more than 600 law enforcement officers conducted a cell-to-cell sweep overnight at Pennsylvania's largest state prison, trying to bust a drug ring run by guards as well as inmates, authorities said.

Authorities at Graterford State Prison near Philadelphia uncovered weapons ranging from knives to a homemade grappling hook, state Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn said this morning.

Gas from rail car dissipates; toxic fumes affect hundreds

BOGALUSA, La. - A railroad tank car full of a toxic chemical ruptured yesterday, releasing a huge cloud of deadly gas. About 1,500 people fled their homes. Hundreds went to hospitals complaining of burning throats.

The car was still leaking nitrogen tetroxide today, though authorities were using a neutralizing agent against the chemical.

Shifting winds drove fumes toward a community hospital, and several seriously ill patients were moved.

More than half the town's 16,000 residents live in the evacuation area. While some fled, others stayed home with windows tightly closed.

The car at the Gaylord Chemical Corp. plant in Bogalusa, about 60 miles north of New Orleans, began leaking the gas, which is used in paper production, yesterday afternoon. The tank then imploded with a bang.

Man says Lyle Menendez asked him to concoct story

LOS ANGELES - A man whose father was murdered in the Billionaire Boys Club case testified that Lyle Menendez asked him to fabricate a story to help Menendez and his brother fight charges they murdered their parents.

Prosecutor David Conn said Amir Eslaminia, a high-school friend of Erik Menendez, came forward with a 1991 letter after the brothers' first trial ended in a hung jury last year.

In the letter, Lyle, 27, suggested Eslaminia could testify that Erik, 24, came to him for a handgun for protection a few days prior to the Menendez killings, Eslaminia said.

The brothers have admitted to the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents, but claim they acted in self-defense after years of abuse. Their lawyers are seeking manslaughter verdicts in the re-trial.

Eslaminia's testimony came during a hearing outside the jury's presence on the letter's admissibility. The hearing resumes tomorrow.

Eslaminia's older brother, Reza, was convicted with three other men in the bungled kidnapping death of his wealthy father, Hedayat, in 1984.

St. Paul bus drivers to vote on tentative settlement

ST. PAUL, Minn. - A tentative settlement was reached in the 2-week-old Minneapolis-St. Paul bus strike that shut down public transportation for 100,000 daily riders.

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 were to vote on the proposal later this week. If they approve it, buses could be rolling within days.

Couple accused of leaving aunt, 78, in notorious park

LOS ANGELES - A couple are scheduled to be arraigned today on charges that they abandoned an enfeebled 78-year-old relative in a gang-infested park, authorities said.

Mercedes Sepulveda, 41, and Leonel Rendon, 47, left Sepulveda's aunt in Sun Valley Park, holding bags of her belongings, on Aug. 27, said Ted Goldstein, a prosecution spokesman.

The aunt suffers from Parkinson's disease and asthma. When officers found her 36 hours after she had been left there, she could not remember her name, Goldstein said.

The park has been the site of two killings and numerous shootings, Goldstein said.

Goldstein said Sepulveda told police she had cared for the aunt for 20 years, but "it became too much of a burden," financially and emotionally.

- Seattle Times news services