BOY, 11, SURVIVES 200-FOOT SLIDING FALL IN UTAH: SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An 11-year-old boy was airlifted to a hospital but is expected to recover after he tumbled down a 200-foot rock slope while hiking with this family near a scenic waterfall in northern Utah, authorities said Monday.
The Utah County Sheriff's Office said Cesar Varvagan of Orem tumbled down the rocky, steep slope Sunday in Provo Canyon.
The boy, who was awake and talking to rescuers, was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, having hurt his head, back and hip and possibly broken his collarbone, officials said.
His condition improved overnight, and he was expected to be released from the hospital Monday, the sheriff's office said in a statement. The boy's parents declined through law enforcement to be interviewed.
Sgt. Spencer Cannon said the fall occurred while the boy was hiking on a steep trail next to Bridal Veil Falls.
He took a few jumping steps before tumbling down a steep slope with loose rocks and stones. He landed on a trail along the Provo River, Cannon said.
"Once he took those first couple steps, it's not a sure footing at all. He tumbled and rolled most of the 200 feet," Cannon said. "It was a fall, but it was more of a rolling fall than it was straight down a cliff."
UNARMED FLA. MAN SHOT BY DEPUTIES IN DRIVEWAY: PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say two Florida Panhandle deputies shot and wounded an unarmed man in his driveway over the weekend.
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said Monday that the deputies responded to a 911 call about a possible burglary early Saturday and found 60-year-old Roy Middleton searching through the car. The deputies reported they told Middleton to show his hands multiple times, but he lunged out of the car and spun toward them. Morgan said the deputies feared for their safety and opened fire, hitting Middleton in the leg.
Middleton has said he was searching his mother's Lincoln Town Car for a loose cigarette when the deputies approached.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.
WOMAN ARRESTED IN DC CATHEDRAL VANDALISM: WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman was arrested Monday after green paint was found splattered inside two chapels at the Washington National Cathedral, and police were investigating her in connection with two similar incidents on the National Mall, authorities said.
Tian Jiamel, 58, was arrested inside the cathedral shortly after the paint was found and charged with defacing property, police and cathedral officials said. Investigators were hoping to question her about the vandalism on the Mall, including at the Lincoln Memorial, but a language barrier was complicating those efforts, Assistant D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said soon after the arrest.
Police believed she was homeless. No motive was given.
Green paint was found early Friday morning on the Lincoln Memorial, and symbols were found painted in green later Friday on another statue on the Mall.
PA. ROW HOUSE COLLAPSE INJURES 2 BABIES, 6 OTHERS: PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A natural-gas explosion on a densely populated city block on Monday razed a row house and injured eight people, including two babies and a contractor, and sent dozens of neighbors pouring out of their homes.
Some neighbors fled for safety while others immediately set to work helping rescuers locate victims in the rubble.
The explosion and house collapse, which critically injured the contractor, came less than two months after the city was stunned by a collapse that Tkilled six people at a downtown demolition site when a large wall fell on an adjacent thrift store.
TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER: REPEAL STAND-GROUND LAW: MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The mother of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin joined a prominent African-American lawyers organization in vowing Monday to keep the pressure on legislators to repeal or overhaul "stand your ground" self-defense laws.
Sybrina Fulton repeated her assertion that neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman "got away with murder" in the 2012 killing of her son largely because of Florida's self-defense law, which generally removed a person's duty to retreat if possible in the face of danger. It was the first of its kind in the nation when passed in 2005. Now, about two dozen states have similar laws, but the focus of repeal efforts is squarely on Florida.
"We have to change the law so that this doesn't happen to someone else's child," Fulton told reporters at the National Bar Association's annual meeting. "My son wasn't doing anything wrong. He was simply walking home. He wasn't a suspect."
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, has rejected calls for a special legislative session on "stand your ground" from protesters who have been occupying part of the Capitol in Tallahassee since Zimmerman was acquitted earlier this month by a jury in Sanford. Zimmerman claimed self-defense in shooting the 17-year-old Martin during a fight; Martin's supporters say Zimmerman profiled and followed him because Martin was black.
2 'REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NJ' STARS CHARGED WITH FRAUD: NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two stars of the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" were indicted Monday on federal fraud charges, accused of exaggerating their income while applying for loans before their TV show debuted in 2009, then hiding their improving fortunes in a bankruptcy filing after their first season aired.
Teresa Giudice, 41, and her husband Giuseppe "Joe" Giudice, 43, of Montville Township, were charged in a 39-count indictment with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, bank fraud, making false statements on loan applications and bankruptcy fraud.
The couple submitted fraudulent mortgage and other loan applications from 2001 through 2008, a year before their show debuted on Bravo, making phony claims about their employment status and salaries, the indictment said.
Prosecutors allege the Giudices received about $4.6 million in mortgages, withdrawals from home equity lines of credit and construction loans. In some instances the couple filed fake W-2s and tax returns.
Joe Giudice also failed to file tax returns for the years 2004 through 2008, when he is alleged to have earned nearly $1 million, the government said. During that time his income allegedly fluctuated wildly; the indictment states he made $323,481 in 2005 and $26,194 in 2006.
