International News

International News

BRISTOL, Connecticut (AP):

A Connecticut mother who was charged with drunken driving while she had a child in the car has been granted access to a programme that allows her to avoid prosecution.

A Bristol Superior Court judge placed 34-year-old Amy Demaine in the programme during a hearing Wednesday.

The 'New Britain Herald' reports Demaine told the judge "this was the biggest mistake of my life" and pledged it would never happen again.

Police say Demaine was seen driving erratically in the wrong lane before she was arrested January 8. She had a six-year-old child in the vehicle.

Charges will be dropped in April 2019 if she successfully completes the programme.

SUPERIOR, Wisconsin (AP):

A tank containing crude oil or asphalt exploded at a large refinery in Wisconsin on Thursday, injuring several people and prompting fire officials to urge people living near the still-burning plant to evacuate their homes.

No fatalities have been reported, but at least 11 people were being treated at hospitals in Superior, where the blast happened, and nearby Duluth, Minnesota.

The explosion at the Husky Energy oil refinery happened at about 10 a.m., Superior Fire Chief Steve Panger told The Associated Press.

Panger said the fire was out by 11:20 a.m., although smoke could still be seen rising from the plant. Superior police later tweeted that the fire had reignited and urged residents living within a one-mile radius of the refinery to leave.

Police blocked roads around the refinery in Superior, which is home to about 27,000 people and borders Minnesota to the north and the tip of Lake Superior.

PHOENIX, Arizona (AP):

A sea of teachers clad in red shirts flowed towards the Arizona Capitol yesterday for an unprecedented walkout that closed most of the state's state schools.

It was part of an educator uprising that bubbled up in other parts of the nation and spread west.

Waving signs and red balloons, tens of thousands of teachers and their supporters headed through downtown Phoenix for a rally at the state Capitol to demand a 20 per cent raise for teachers, about $1 billion to return school funding to pre-Great Recession levels and increased pay for support staff, among other things.

Widespread protests also were under way in Colorado, where some schools have shut down.