American Scene

MICHIGAN

Boy raises 1 million pennies

CARLETON — A Michigan school has a million thanks to give to a fourth-grader.

Ten-year-old Andrew Niemi of Carleton has been collecting pennies since a day after Christmas in 2006. He held fundraisers to reach his goal of 1 million. Andrew finally picked up his last cent in March.

Last week, Andrew presented a $10,000 check to St. Patrick Catholic School.

His mother, Connie Niemi, says the money will go toward equipment, including audiovisual hardware, two large classroom maps and a concrete bench for the peace garden.

NORTH DAKOTA

Bike business kicks into high gear

BISMARCK — Four-dollar-a-gallon gas is good for business — if you run a bike shop.

Commuters across the country are dusting off their old two-wheelers — or buying new ones — to cope with rising fuel prices, bicycle dealers say.

“Everyone that comes in the shop is talking about the gas prices,” said Barry Dahl, who opened Barry’s Bikes in Bismarck in April. He sold more than 50 bicycles in the first month, double the projections in his business plan.

About 18 million bicycles have been sold annually in the U.S. in the past few years, accounting for about $6 billion in annual sales, said Fred Clements, executive director the National Bicycle Dealers Association in Costa Mesa, Calif.

Bicycle shops across the country are reporting strong sales so far this year, and more people are bringing in bikes that have been idled for years, he said.

COLORADO

Problems found in voter database

DENVER — A test run of a new state database to check voter eligibility in this year’s elections found several glitches, Colorado officials said.

Problems included difficulties in accessing the system from polling sites and a slowdown when many election workers were connected at the same time. The database replaces multiple county systems.

FLORIDA

Diving pelican slams swimmer

TREASURE ISLAND — A swimmer is recovering after a pelican apparently diving for fish slammed into her face off Florida.

Debbie Shoemaker of Toledo, Ohio, was in the water Thursday near St. Petersburg when the pelican’s beak opened a gash in her face. She needed 20 stitches. The bird died.

The chief of the St. Petersburg Fire Department says he never heard of a diving pelican colliding with anyone.

An expert surmises that the bird was diving for fish and hit Miss Shoemaker by accident.

The 50-year-old woman returned home Friday.

HAWAII

Tourism gets $3 million boost

HONOLULU — Tourism officials will use $3 million from an emergency fund to try to lure more travelers from North America, Hawaii’s main source of tourists. The goal is to convince them that the state is still a good value despite an increase in airfares.

The expenditure follows a dip in tourist arrivals.

ILLINOIS

Genetics key to growing big fruit

CHICAGO — The secret behind growing large tomatoes lies not in the fertilizer or the perfect soil conditions, but in just a few genetic changes that over time have resulted in tomatoes 1,000 times bigger than their wild ancestors, U.S. researchers said yesterday.

Without these changes, tomatoes would be little more than berries on a bush.

“The cherry tomato would be considered very large compared to what is found in the wild,” said plant geneticist Steven Tanksley of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Mr. Tanksley has been working to understand the genetic changes that allowed humans to transform wild tomatoes — which are naturally about the size of a blueberry — into modern varieties such as the beefsteak tomato, which can weigh a pound or more.

“Humans began domesticating plants in the last roughly 10,000 years. They had no knowledge of genetics and no knowledge of breeding, but somehow they rendered these changes genetically on plants,” Mr. Tanksley said.

Mr. Tanksley focused on the genetic changes that give rise to a large number of compartments or locules inside the tomato — a plant that originated in the Americas.

KANSAS

Couple rescued from car roof

GIRARD — Firefighters rescued a man and woman trapped by floodwaters on the roof of a car for five hours in Crawford County. Sheriff’s deputies said Ryan O’Brien, 21, and Albany Mattick, 19, alerted authorities to their situation at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

Because of the fast floodwaters, the pair had to wait until daylight for firefighters to launch a boat to get them.

MAINE

Ban on watercraft ruled as lawful

PORTLAND — The state’s ban on personal watercraft on Lake St. George is constitutional, Maine’s supreme court ruled.

The case has ramifications for hundreds of lakes and ponds with watercraft bans. The ruling said riding personal watercraft is not a fundamental right and is therefore subject to restrictions.

MASSACHUSETTS

Students shave heads for charity

CAMBRIDGE — At least 12 teenage students in Groton, Mass., plan to attend their prom with bald heads after agreeing to shave them for charity, school officials say.

Lawrence Academy Director of Admissions Tony Hawgood said the students, including a 15-year-old girl, paired with a local Little League team to shave their heads for the cancer charity St. Baldrick’s, the Boston Globe said yesterday.

Mr. Hawgood said the stunt generated nearly $15,000 in donations.

“It’s a wonderful thing to see the kids getting behind each other,” Mr. Hawgood said.

Kathryn Isabelle Lawrence, the 15-year-old girl who gave up her hair for charity, said she didn’t regret it.

“I’m a little chilly,” she told the Globe. “I just decided it would be a really good thing to do.”

The newspaper said the bald volunteers raised funds by having people either pledge funds or bid for the right to cut participants’ locks.

PENNSYLVANIA

Six killed in two-car crash

WEST SPRINGFIELD — An official in the Erie County Coroner’s office says six people died in a two-car accident on Interstate 90, three miles inside the Pennsylvania-Ohio border.

Chief Deputy Coroner Korac Timon says that four men and two women died Saturday when the minivan they were traveling in crossed the median and hit a car head-on at about 4 p.m. The van came to rest on its roof.

Mr. Timon says a seventh person in the van and the woman driving the other car were taken to a hospital. Both are expected to survive.

Officials did not release names of those involved in the accident.

TEXAS

Children among 5 bodies at home

HOUSTON — The bodies of five people, including three young children, were found Saturday afternoon on a sprawling property with several structures in northeastern Houston, police said.

A neighbor made the grisly discovery after seeing a man’s body on porch next to a .22-caliber rifle, investigators said.

The bodies of a woman between 20 and 30 years old and a boy thought to be about 10 were found in one part of the home, Houston police Sgt. John Chomiak.

The bodies of a young boy and girl were found in another part of the home, described by authorities as a simple wooden structure that was divided in the middle by the porch.

Investigators declined to speculate on the causes of death, although they said there were no obvious signs of a struggle. They also declined to release identities of the victims.

Houston police Lt. Dan Harris said a neighbor became concerned after seeing one of the family’s bulls running around unattended in the wooded area near the home.

Neighbors described the victims as a private, Spanish-speaking family who lived on the property for the past six or seven years. The father had built the home himself.

WISCONSIN

Medical copter crash kills 3

MADISON — A medical helicopter on a return flight from dropping off a patient crashed after takeoff, killing the surgeon, nurse and pilot aboard, officials said yesterday.

The University of Wisconsin Hospital Med Flight helicopter was returning to Madison on Saturday night from the Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse when it crashed, UW hospital spokesman Aaron Conklin said.

The other Med Flight helicopter that serves the university hospital system has been grounded, Mr. Conklin said. The families of the victims have been notified, but the names were not immediately released.

From wire dispatches and staff reports