Free Republic

<p>Stafon Johnson wore a black USC sweatshirt, a red Trojans beanie and, when the subject turned to an eventual return to football, his signature grin.</p> <p>The USC tailback on Wednesday made his first public appearance since suffering a season-ending throat injury in a Sept. 28 weightlifting accident.</p>

DIYALA — U.S. Soldiers recently assisted in the rescue of a local Iraqi man who became trapped in his truck following an auto accident here. While conducting a convoy, the Soldiers of 18th Engineer Company, Task Force 296, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, noticed multiple Iraqi Police vehicles near a truck that looked to be damaged. A medic in the convoy was dispatched to the victim to provide a medical assessment and aid. It was then determined that the victim was pinned into the vehicle at the waist by the cab of the truck. Using a Stryker...

FORT GORDON, Ga., Oct. 8, 2009 – A sudden accident may have cost Army Staff Sgt. Luis Elias his hand, but it hasn't stripped him of his positive attitude or impacted his plans for the future. Army Staff Sgt. Luis Elias performs a push-up. The soldier is receiving treatment at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center Active Duty Rehabilitation Unit in Augusta, Ga. U.S. Army photo by Charmain Z. Brackett  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "Hopefully, in about a month or so, I'll be back to being a drill sergeant," said Elias, who is receiving treatment at the Charlie...

A former Cottonwood man who served 10 years on Texas death row until his murder conviction was overturned last year by an appellate court was killed Saturday in a solo truck crash in eastern Texas. Michael Toney, a 43-year-old Redding native, was killed when his pickup, which had oversized tires, rolled while going around a curve on Farm Road 347 in the rain Saturday morning, a spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Public Safety in Jacksonville said Monday. He was thrown from the pickup and died at the scene, she said. Toney, who had long maintained his innocence, was released...

A TEENAGER died and more than 20 people were injured when swarms of bees escaped from their hives after the van transporting them crashed into a truck and overturned on a motorway near the resort of Marmaris, in southern Turkey. Rescue workers, police, medics and beekeepers tried for more than an hour to release two people trapped inside the vehicle, their faces carpeted with angry bees. One of the pair, aged 18, died in hospital from the combined effect of injuries sustained in the crash and multiple bee stings. Three others were in intensive care in hospital. About 20 people...

MELBOURNE, Australia — An Emirates jetliner carrying more than 225 people slammed its tail into the runway as it took off from Australia, sending smoke into the cabin and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing, officials said Saturday.No one was hurt, but passengers described being terrified after learning something was wrong soon after the Airbus A340 took off from the southern city of Melbourne about 10:30 p.m. Friday, bound for Dubai.After the strike, which reportedly left debris strewn on the runway and knocked out some runway lights, the pilot flew over the sea, dumping fuel, before returning to...

From the BNO Newsroom. PHOENIX (BNO NEWS) -- A mid-air collision happened in the Phoenix area on Wednesday, a spokesman for the FAA told BNO News. According to KPHO-TV, at least one small plane came down in Coolidge, which is near Phoenix. Further details are not yet available. Refresh this page for updates.

Zamboanga City, Philippines - Five people drowned and 63 were missing Sunday when a passenger ferry with 968 people aboard sunk in the southern Philippines, rescue officials said. The Superferry 9 sank hours after it listed to the right by 40 degrees off Siocon town in Zamboanga del Norte province, about 810 kilometres south of Manila. It was carrying 847 passengers, 117 crew and four sea marshals. The Office of Civil Defence said the ship's listing was "allegedly due to a hole in its hull." Commandant Real Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said 900 people were rescued by the coast guard, the...

Video taken from inside a city bus shows a Wisconsin state lawmaker running a red light and smashing into a bicyclist. Rep. Fred Clark, a Democrat, was ticketed by Madison police for running a red light on Aug. 18. The video was released this week by Madison Metro.

Iran Bans Domestic Airlines From Flying Russian Aircraft 19 August 2009 Reuters TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has banned its airlines from leasing more Russian-made aircraft or buying such planes secondhand after two fatal incidents last month, a senior transport official said in remarks published Tuesday. On July 15, a Russian-built Tupolev operated by Iran’s Caspian Airlines flying to Armenia crashed in northwestern Iran, killing all 168 people aboard. Nine days later, 17 people were killed when an Ilyushin Il-62, also made in Russia and leased by Iran’s Aria Tour from Kazakhstan, veered off the runway and hit a wall in...

Michael Phelps was involved in a car crash on Thursday night in Baltimore. Despite rumors that quickly spread on Twitter, Michael Phelps is alive and well. He is not dead. He left the scene of the accident without receiving medical treatment. According to TMZ, Phelps was driving a Cadillac Escalade, which hit a Honda accord. The driver of the accord was taken to the hospital complaining of arm and head pain. Police said that Phelps had to 2 passengers in the SUV at the time of the crash. They were uninjured, the AP reported. Phelps Escalade had to be towed...

Popular Christian rock band MercyMe was involved in an automobile accident Saturday that resulted in the deaths of two people and the hospitalization of a third. “Car just hit our tour bus,” tweeted MercyMe frontman Bart Millard from his iPhone around an hour after the early morning accident. “We are ok, but 2 of the 3 in the car did not make it. The one that did is pregnant. Please start praying.” According to The Associated Press, police in Fort Wayne, Ind., were told by witnesses that the tour bus was going through a green light about 1:15 a.m. Saturday...

Authorities in the District say a serious crash has closed the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Alabama Avenue Southeast Wednesday afternoon.

For the longest time Thursday, Warren Hance seemed to fight his emotions. Nearing the end of his eulogy inside Our Lady of Victory Church in Floral Park, Hance, who had lost his three daughters, his sister, and her daughter in a tragic wrong-way crash, began to break down.His voice wavering, the Floral Park man said: "Love your children, cherish your children, kiss your children."As mourners in the overflow congregation could be heard sobbing, and, at times, wailing, Hance said: "Don't ever forget . . . "Then, he broke down, too, unable to continue.The scene illustrated the magnitude of the tragedy...

State TV says 168 people were killed when a passenger plane crashed Wednesday in northwest Iran. Iranian Civil Aviation Organization spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh had told state television that 153 passengers and 15 crewmembers were on the Russian-made Caspian Airlines jet that had been headed from Tehran to the Armenian capital yerevan. Footage from the scene on state-run Press TV shows a deep trench smashed into an agricultural field by the impact, littered with smoking wreckage. It showed a large chunk of a wing, but much of the wreckage appeared to be in small pieces. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE....

I just read on the Stand Firm in Faith site that there as been a very tragic accident involving a church bus from the First Baptis Church of Shreveport, La. The bus was on the way to camp when the accident happened in Meridan, Mississippi. One child died at the scene and 23 others have been taken to area hospitals.

PASADENA, CALIF. — A fire official says 10 people were injured when a public transit bus collided with a car and rammed into obstacles on a Southern California street. The Pasadena Area Rapid Transit System bus struck the car, a traffic signal, a tree and a bus bench at an intersection Tuesday.

Air France Airbus jets experienced at least nine incidents in which airspeed probes iced over in the past year, according to an internal company report obtained by AFP Friday. A probe into the June 1 crash of AF 447, in which an A330 jet flying from Rio to Paris plunged into the Atlantic with the loss of all 228 people on board, has focused on contradictory readings from its "pitot" speed probes. The probes, made by aerospace company Thales, were found to be faulty on flight AF 447. But French aviation investigators have played down the significance of the discovery...

A teenage girl survived a terrifying lightning strike after she was saved by the wire of her iPod. Schoolgirl Sophie Frost and her boyfriend Mason Billington, both 14, stopped to shelter under a tree when a storm struck as they were walking near their homes. Doctors believe Sophie survived the 300,000-volt surge only because it travelled through the gadget’s wire, diverting it away from her vital organs. The teenager was taken to hospital and is recovering from burns to her chest and legs while Mason suffered damage to his eyes. Both are expected to make a full recovery and Sophie...

When Washington State – which had not recorded a hunting fatality that involved a non-hunter in more than 25 years – saw two non-hunters killed during a single season last fall, more than eyebrows were raised. Also raised last year were voices—sometimes shrill—and blood pressures, but curiously, one of these tragic deaths elicited a lot more emotional reaction than the other. The first victim, Pamela Almli of Oso in Skagit County, was a hiker, and she was fatally shot while standing on a trail on the wide open slope of Sauk Mountain on the opening day of last year’s black...