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Colin Jeffery

Colin Jeffery

Major bridge into Quincy, IL, closed

Saturday, 20 April 2013 07:17 Published in Local News

WEST QUINCY, Mo. (AP) — One Mississippi River bridge connecting Missouri and Illinois is now closed due to the fast-rising river, and a second one is scheduled to close on Saturday.

The Quincy Memorial Bridge connecting Quincy, Illinois and West Quincy, Missouri was closed Friday afternoon. A second bridge at Quincy remains open.

Transportation officials say the Champ Clark bridge at Louisiana, Missouri will close at noon today as the river is rising near the eastern approach to the bridge.

Several inches of rain in recent days has caused flooding on the Mississippi. It is expected to crest at many spots this weekend but remain high for several days after that.

Authorities: "Boston suspects acted alone"

Friday, 19 April 2013 17:55 Published in National News

BOSTON - USA Today - The city and its suburbs remain in lockdown Friday afternoon as a massive manhunt combs the area for the teenaged surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. 

Authorities are focusing a house-to-house sweep in Watertown for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the brother of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who died following a dramatic early Friday morning shootout with police. 

Police say Dzhokhar is armed and fear he is wearing an explosive vest. Authorities no longer believe there are other accomplices. The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said investigators have been running down leads on possible associates of the suspect bombers, all of which have produced no other suspects. 

During the overnight and early-morning pursuit of the suspects, the official said authorities recovered a handful of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), including one in the possession of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. All of the devices appeared to be homemade "fused'' explosives. 

Police took Tamerlan Tsarnaev to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center following the gunfight with police at about 1:20 a.m. Friday. Dr. David Schoenfeld said medical personnel tried to revive him. He had multiple gunshot wounds and burn and gaping blast wounds that appeared to have come from an explosive device strapped to his body. 

The brothers' acts continue to befuddle authorities, family and friends that know them. Students at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Dzhokar was a student, say they saw him on campus following Monday's bombings. 

lnvestigators have not found any formal links so far to an international terror group. 

Dzhokar's escape prompted Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to order the city of Boston and its surrounding suburbs locked down and its residents to remain in their homes. The Boston Red Sox and Bruins postponed Friday night games. Businesses in Watertown, Newton, Waltham, Belmont, Cambridge and the Alston and Brighton neighborhoods of Boston were requested to remain closed and residents to remain indoors until the suspect is caught. Massachusetts shut down all mass transit, including buses and trains, in Boston and surrounding suburbs, Kurt Schwartz, director of Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said. 

The Tsarnaev family is believed to have moved to the USA in 2003. They had lived in Kazakhstan for several years after fleeing war-torn Chechnya. Tamerlan attended Bunker Hill Community College in nearby Charlestown as a part-time student for three semesters from 2006 to 2008. He studied accounting. 

In an telephone interview from Russian with the Associated Press, the brothers' father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said Dzhokhar is "a true angel" and "an intelligent boy." In subsequent media interviews, he said his sons had been framed for Monday's bombings. 

Ruslan Tsarni, an uncle who had not spoken to his brother's sons since December 2005, urged Dzhokhar to turn himself in to authorities. Meeting with reporters Friday outside his home in Montgomery County, MD., Tsani said he believed the brothers may have been recently "radicalized." Tsarni says he was unaware of any military or weapons training they may have received. Tsarni called the brothers "losers" and said they had brought his family shame. 

Their names were not known to law enforcement officials before the bombings, which killed three people and wounded 176. Authorities are reviewing the brothers' possible ties to Chechnya - an area of Russia plagued by Islamic insurgency - a law enforcement official who is not authorized to comment publicly told USA TODAY. 

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is believed to have dropped a backpack laden with explosives at the site of Monday's second explosion. He was pictured wearing a white baseball cap in video images released by the FBI Thursday. His page on the Russian social networking site Vkontakte says he attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, graduating in 2011, the year he won a $2,500 college scholarship from the city of Cambridge. On the website, his world view is described as "Islam" and he says his personal goal is "career and money." 

Larry Aaronson, a neighbor and retired history teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, got to know Dzhokhar while taking photos of the high school wrestling team and other school activities. 
"It's completely out of his character," Aaronson said of Dzhokhar's alleged role in the bombings. "Everything about him was wonderful. He was completely outgoing, very engaged, he loved the school. He was grateful not to be in Chechnya." 

Dzhokhar was not overtly political or religious, Aaronson says. "He spoke and acted like any other high school kid."

Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency after the flash flooding yesterday and in anticipation of further flooding expected this weekend.

Nixon is sending Missouri National Guard members to Clarksville and other cities along the Mississippir. The State Emergency Operations Center is also monitoring the flooding and is coordinating with local agencies to provide emergency services. 

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