Nation briefs 5/16

Billy Graham remains in stable condition after fall

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Evangelist Billy Graham remained in stable condition Saturday after injuring himself in a fall for the second time this year, hospital officials said. Graham, 85, fell at his home in Montreat on Friday. Preliminary test results indicated a possible hairline pelvis fracture. The accident was similar to one in early January, when Graham broke his hip in a fall in a hotel room in Jacksonville, Fla., Graham spokesman A. Larry Ross said Friday. Graham had partial hip replacement surgery and was hospitalized until Feb. 2.

Girder falls onto freeway near Denver; three killed

GOLDEN, Colo. -- A 40-ton steel girder dropped from a freeway overpass construction site into morning traffic on Saturday, crushing one car and killing all three people inside. The 100-foot-long girder sagged across three lanes of Interstate 70 west of Denver, shearing off the top of an SUV that was carrying a man, a woman and a young girl, said state patrol master trooper Ron Watkins. The accident occurred shortly after 10 a.m., Watkins said. The girder collapsed after temporary braces holding it in place gave way, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacy Stegman said. Authorities had not determined why, she said.

Official: Bald eagle off threatened list this year

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The American bald eagle -- the national symbol whose decline helped spur the Endangered Species Act and a ban on the pesticide DDT -- will be off the threatened species list this year, a top Bush administration official said Saturday. Craig Manson, the administration's point man on the Endangered Species Act, said it's time to concentrate recovery efforts on more needy species. "It's no longer endangered, but it's still deserving of special protection," Manson said in an interview. The birds still would be safeguarded under the federal Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940, which prohibits killing or selling the animals.

-- From wire reports