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Nation news briefs
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CUSTOMERS SETTLE BILLS FORGOTTEN IN BOSTON BLASTS: BOSTON (AP) — Amid the chaos and fear in the moments after the Boston Marathon explosions, many restaurant customers fled without settling their tabs.

Rattlesnake Bar and Grill owner Tony Castagnozzi understands the gravity of the situation, but he figures the unpaid bills totaled about $3,000. Since the April 15 blasts, he says about a dozen customers have made good on their bills, helping him recoup about $1,200.

The honest customers come from Colorado, Florida, Virginia and across New England. Other restaurants report similar experiences.

David Christmas, of Acton, says he paid his $35 tab and added a $15 tip because "it's the right thing to do."

PRESSURE COOKER IN MICH. HOTEL HAD FOOD: DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Police say a pressure cooker left in a suburban Detroit hotel bathroom that prompted a three-hour evacuation had food inside and posed no threat.

Dearborn police Lt. Douglas Topolski told The Associated Press Tuesday a guest likely used the appliance to bring food to a family event Sunday in the 770-room Adoba Hotel. Pressure cookers have gotten attention after two were used in the Boston Marathon bombings.

This month, a Saudi man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on charges of lying about why he was traveling with one. The man says he brought it for his nephew, who told AP he wanted it to cook lamb.

QE2 ASTEROID TO FLY BY EARTH FROM SAFE DISTANCE: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An asteroid more than 1½ miles long will zoom past Earth this week from a far-off distance.

The big rock called Asteroid 1998 QE2 will make its closest approach Friday. It will keep a safe distance of 3.6 million miles, or 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon. You won't be able to see it without a powerful telescope.

It's believed to be about 1.7 miles long, or about nine times the length of the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship. But that has nothing to do with its name. The letters and number in the name represent the timing and sequence of the asteroid's discovery in 1998.

Scientists will use large radar telescopes to study its shape, rotation and surface features.

POLICE: GIRL RODE WITH DOG IN CAGE ON PA. TURNPIKE: MILLVALE, Pa. (AP) — Two parents face charges after authorities say motorists spied a 10-year-old girl riding in a dog cage in the back of a pickup truck in western Pennsylvania.

Police say it happened around 7 p.m. Monday on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Millvale, just outside Pittsburgh. Authorities say they responded after getting reports from motorists who saw the girl riding in the back of the truck in the cage.

Her mother, 29-year-old Abbey Carlson, and stepfather, 30-year-old Thomas Fishinger, are now facing charges of endangering the welfare of a child. Police say they told them the girl had said she wanted to be with the dog.

 

DERAILMENT, BLAST NEAR BALTIMORE RATTLES HOMES: ROSEDALE, Md. (AP) — A CSX freight train crashed into a trash truck and derailed Tuesday in a Baltimore suburb and the explosion that followed rattled homes at least a half-mile away, sending a plume of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles, officials and witnesses said.

In the third serious derailment this month, the dozen or so cars went off the tracks at about 2 p.m. in Rosedale, a Baltimore eastern suburb. Hazmat teams were on the scene, but Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said at a news conference that no toxic inhalants were burning. Officials did not order an evacuation.

The truck driver was taken to the hospital in serious condition and two CSX workers aboard weren't hurt, fire officials said.