2 Hurt In Explosion At Fireworks Plant

CEDAR HILL, Mo. - A woman died and a pregnant woman was critically injured yesterday in an explosion at the fireworks plant where they worked.

Amy Meyers, 25, died of injuries she received in the noontime explosion at Sunset Fireworks Factory.

Meyers and Lori Rhodes suffered second- and third-degree burns over 50 percent of their bodies.

Rhodes, 34, was flown to a hospital, where her daughter was delivered about a month early by an emergency Caesarean section. She remained in critical condition; the baby was in serious condition.

It wasn't clear if the baby's condition was the result of burns or because she was born premature.

The cause of the explosion remained under investigation.

After 12 years, Atlanta zoo gets two pandas from China

ATLANTA - Atlanta's zoo had been waiting 12 years for the delivery that UPS made yesterday: two giant pandas from China.

The furry, black-and-white animals were unloaded from two brown United Parcel Service trucks after flying halfway around the world on a special UPS plane.

Lun-Lun and Yang-Yang, both 2, will be quarantined until Nov. 20, when they go on display at Zoo Atlanta in a new, $7 million habitat. They will stay in Atlanta for 10 years as part of a project to learn why the endangered animals show little interest in mating while in captivity.

With their arrival, the U.S. panda population is now six. The National Zoo in Washington has one, and the San Diego Zoo has three, including a cub born Aug. 21.

113-year-old boat that sank in Chesapeake storm raised

TILGHMAN ISLAND, Md. - A 113-year-old historic skipjack, a tall flat-bottomed boat used to dredge oyster beds, was raised yesterday from the bottom of a creek off the Chesapeake Bay where it had sunk in a sudden storm days earlier.

After a nine-hour effort, a marine construction crew pulled the Rebecca T. Ruark from 20 feet of water where the bay meets the creek.

"This is my whole life here, and I thought that for a while the first night I might have lost her. I thought she might have washed to pieces, but she didn't, she's a strong boat," said owner Wade Murphy.

A barge and a work crew of 17, including a diver, motored down the Chesapeake from Curtis Bay near Baltimore to raise the skipjack.

"We basically pulled this rig off another job to accommodate the captain," said Eamonn McGeady, president of Martin G. Imbach Inc., which provided the equipment to raise the skipjack. "It's a case of all of us river rats sticking together."

The wooden sailboat, built in 1886, is the oldest working skipjack on the bay.

Fire destroys historic shrine; English clergyman killed

ATTLEBORO, Mass. - A predawn fire destroyed a historic stone building at a Roman Catholic shrine yesterday, killing a visiting clergyman from England.

Nearly two dozen other occupants escaped the fire, which apparently started in the clergyman's third-floor bedroom at the LaSalette Shrine around 4 a.m., investigators said. One firefighter was injured.

Fire Chief Ronald Churchill said firefighters spotted a man but were unable to save him before the building collapsed. His name was not released.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Prison fire leads to escape attempt; six guards injured

STARKE, Fla. - A fire at Florida State Prison yesterday forced the evacuation of 96 inmates and led to a disturbance and attempted escape in which one guard was stabbed and five others injured.

A fight broke out after the prisoners were taken into the recreation yard as smoke filled a wing, said Department of Corrections spokesman C.J. Drake. During the disturbance, several inmates tried to scale a fence and escape, but they were caught.

One guard was stabbed and taken to the hospital. The other five guards suffered minor injuries and were treated and released.

The incident began when an inmate set his mattress on fire. It was quickly put out but "smoked the place up," Drake said.

JonBenet's parents writing book on daughter's slaying

NASHVILLE - The parents of JonBenet Ramsey said yesterday they are writing a book on the unsolved slaying of their 6-year-old daughter.

The book, with the working title "The Death of Innocence," is to be released in March by Nashville-based Thomas Nelson Publishers.

"We have patiently waited for the justice process to evolve in the matter of our daughter's death," John and Patsy Ramsey said.

"We have remained silent while baseless and slanderous accusations about our family were made by the frenzied media. With the grand jury's recent decision (not to indict anyone), the time is appropriate to recount our experiences in this tragedy."

JonBenet Ramsey's body was found Dec. 26, 1996, in the basement of the family's home in Boulder, Colo. She suffered a skull fracture, was strangled and beaten, and may have been sexually assaulted.