California
Post office named for country star Haggard
BAKERSFIELD — About 300 people turned out in Bakersfield, California, to celebrate the naming of a post office for Merle Haggard in his hometown.
The late country music legend’s sister and widow were among those at a Friday ceremony near downtown honoring Haggard, who helped create the twangy “Bakersfield Sound.”
The event fell on the two-year anniversary of Haggard’s death — and what would have been his 81st birthday.
Haggard rose from poverty and prison to international fame through his songs about outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride. His hits include “Okie From Muskogee” and “Sing Me Back Home.”
Missouri
Man dies after brick thrown at windshield
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri man died after a brick fell off an oncoming vehicle and smashed through his windshield.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the crash happened Saturday evening about 60 miles northwest of St. Louis on Highway 47 in Lincoln County.
The Missouri Highway Patrol says 73-year-old Frederick Lueck, of Troy, Missouri, was driving east when the brick crashed through the windshield of his Chevrolet Impala. Then the car hit several poles and a sign before stopping.
Frederick Lueck died at the scene. His passenger, 67-year-old Kathleen Lueck of Troy, Missouri, declined treatment after the crash.
The State Patrol says it didn’t have any information about the westbound vehicle the brick fell off of.
Montana
Coal mining company considers bankruptcy
BILLLINGS — A Colorado company with three coal mines in Montana and one in Wyoming says in a statement to shareholders that it may consider bankruptcy.
Englewood-based Westmoreland Coal Co. is facing declining demand and more than $1 billion in debt.
The company said in its recently released annual report that it may seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors and a reorganization of the company.
Yellowstone Public Radio reports that Westmoreland executive Jesse Noel said Thursday that the company has debt to restructure and he doesn’t know what’s going to happen.
Noel is Westmoreland’s director of environmental and regulatory affairs. He was participating in a discussion of coal and oil industry representatives at the invitation of U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte.
The company has 14 mines and a power plant in the U.S. and Canada.
Massachusetts
Paper business dating back to 1800s sold
NORTH ADAMS — A North Adams stationery store with roots in the 19th century has been sold to a New York paper manufacturer.
The Berkshire Eagle reports Crane Stationery was bought by Mohawk Fine Papers Inc. of Cohoes N.Y. on Wednesday for an undisclosed purchase price.
Mohawk says it will continue operating Crane’s factory and maintain its 270-person workforce with no intention of eliminating jobs. The stationery shop sells products like boxed paper, wedding invitations and greeting cards.
Crane Currency, a manufacturer of paper products used to print national currencies, was co-founded in 1801 by Zenas Crane. The company is now operated by the fourth generation of the same family.
Washington
McKinney, civil-rights leader, dies at 91
SEATTLE — The pre-eminent civil-rights leader in Seattle has died.
The Seattle Times reports the Rev. Dr. Samuel B. McKinney died Saturday at an assisted-living center in Seattle. He was 91.
McKinney took part in civil-rights demonstrations in Seattle, Alabama and Washington, D.C. in the 1960s, and talked his college classmate, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — their fathers were pastors and friends — into coming to Seattle in 1961, which would be King’s only visit to the city.
McKinney, a 40-year pastor of the Central Area’s Mount Zion Baptist Church, helped launch the city’s first black-owned bank after local banks restricted loans to African Americans. He served as an original member of the Seattle Human Rights Commission, which successfully advocated for passage of Seattle’s first fair-housing act.
South Dakota
Allegiant Air jet skids off snowy runway
SIOUX FALLS — No one was hurt when an Allegiant Air jet skidded off a snowy runway in Sioux Falls.
Allegiant spokeswoman Krysta Levy says Flight 456 carrying 155 passengers and six crew members from Las Vegas touched down at Sioux Falls Regional Airport just before noon Sunday when heavy snow and crosswinds caused the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 to slide 20 feet off the runway.
Levy says passengers walked down the plane’s rear stairs and were taken by buses to the terminal.
Maintenance workers are inspecting the jetliner. Levy says the plane came to rest with its front wheels in a patch of grass, and remained upright and level.
She says the return flight to Las Vegas was canceled because of deteriorating weather in Sioux Falls.
