DETROIT
Deaths tied to chemical
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning Thursday about using a common paint-stripping chemical to refinish bathtubs after tying it to 13 deaths in 10 states. The CDC said the alert was based on research that began at Michigan State University. Scientists found 13 deaths between 2000 and 2011 of workers using products containing methylene chloride to strip paint from residential bathtubs. Three of the deaths were in Michigan, and the remaining 10 were reported in nine other states, including the September death of a 30-year-old man in Ohio.
SAN DIEGO
7 Marines killed in crash
Seven Marines were killed in a midair collision of two attack helicopters in a remote part of Southern California, the Marine Corps said Thursday. The collision between an AH-1W Super Cobra and a UH-1Y Super Huey occurred about 8 p.m. Wednesday during a routine training mission ahead of deployment.
HOUSTON
Former CEO sentenced
After years of sentencing delays, a former KBR Inc. chief executive received two and a half years in prison Thursday for his role in a scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials in return for $6 billion in engineering and construction contracts. Albert “Jack” Stanley also must serve three years of probation and pay $1,000 a month in restitution after he is released. Stanley pleaded guilty in 2008 to conspiring in the decade-long scheme related to the company’s natural gas operations in Nigeria.
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.
Drowning suspect freed
A man who spent 18 months in an Australian jail for the drowning death of his wife during a diving trip in that country was acquitted of murder in Alabama on Thursday. A judge ended the trial with his acquittal ruling before the defense had even presented its case, saying prosecutors lacked evidence to prove Gabe Watson intentionally killed his wife. Watson, 34, had faced life in prison without parole if convicted.
Compiled from wire reports.
