Nation briefs 11/12/06

Hit-and-run driver kills mother, children

DENVER -- A mother and two children are dead after they were struck by a hit-and-run driver. The father, who was also hit, was in stable condition at Denver Health Medical Center, said Sonny Jackson, a Denver police spokesman. The parents were crossing the street legally in Denver's popular LoDo district Friday night, witnesses told police. Police tracked the pickup to an address in Westminster. Lawrence Trujillo, 36, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. Eric Phil Snell, 35, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to a crime.

Navy to help free ship museum from mud

NEW YORK -- It will be up to the Navy to try to free the USS Intrepid from its muddy berth in the Hudson River. The agreement -- hammered out after four days of talks between officials of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and the Pentagon -- comes after the floating carrier museum refused to budge Monday despite tugboats' attempts to pull it from the mud at its Manhattan pier. The ship has rested in the spot for 24 years. The Intrepid was at the center of World War II in the Pacific after it was deployed in 1943. It now serves as a memorial to the armed services, a tourist attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of people a year.

Wyo. natural gas pipeline fire kills bulldozer driver

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Flames shot hundreds of feet in the air Saturday, after a bulldozer hit a natural gas pipeline. The operator of the bulldozer was killed. Firefighters doused the fire within 45 minutes, said Gerry Luce, a Laramie County sheriff's spokesman. The operator's identity won't be released until relatives have been notified. The flames could be seen from several miles away, authorities said.

-- From wire reports