Fla. high-rise frame collapse kills 3 workers

BAL HARBOUR, Fla. -- Three workers were killed, trapped in wet concrete after a wooden frame collapsed at a high-rise construction site. Co-workers dug to try to free them, authorities said. A fourth worker was taken to a hospital with suspected heart trouble, he said. An initial report said another worker was missing, but fire Capt. Al Cruz said everyone was accounted for. The men were standing on the frame, working on the building's 26th floor, when the frame gave way, fire Chief Richard Martin said. A 3-foot layer of drying concrete fell onto the men and trapped them, he said. The cause of the frame collapse was not immediately pinpointed.

Alaska House passes marijuana legislation

JUNEAU, Alaska -- The Alaska House passed legislation Friday night that would restore criminal penalties for marijuana possession and make it tougher to buy the ingredients to manufacture methamphetamine. The bill was approved by the Senate last month and now goes to Gov. Frank Murkowski to sign into law. Murkowski sought to change Alaska's law on marijuana possession, which is considered the most liberal in the country. The Senate tacked on the marijuana provisions to legislation seeking to curb the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Prototype Mars space suit tested in Badlands

BISMARCK, N.D. -- Fabio Sau has been wearing a 47-pound, two-piece suit around the North Dakota Badlands, the highly eroded landscape in the western part of the state that researchers say resembles Martian terrain. Why? He's the guinea pig for an experimental Mars space suit that he and about 40 other students from five North Dakota schools developed under a $100,000 grant from NASA. The suit has a transparent helmet, rigid upper body section and back pack holding communications gear. It is "essentially a self-contained spacecraft," project manager Pablo de Leon said. It was developed in just over a year by students from the University of North Dakota, North Dakota State, Dickinson State, the state College of Science and Turtle Mountain Community College. It is designed so the wearer can walk up a 45-degree slope. The gloves, which must withstand low pressure and cold, have enough dexterity for tying a shoe, Sau said. Its boots are modified cold-weather hunting boots.

Chicago priest charged with sexually abuse

CHICAGO -- A priest already accused of molesting three boys was charged Friday with sexually abusing two others, authorities said. The Rev. Daniel McCormack was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, said Cook County state's attorney spokesman John Gorman. McCormack is accused of molesting a 10-year-old and an 11-year-old. He pleaded not guilty in March to charges that he molested three boys between September 2001 and January 2005. The boys were 8, 9 and 11 years old at the time.

Girl electrocuted while stretching on fence

BALTIMORE -- A 14-year-old girl was electrocuted Friday night in a city park after she leaned on a fence to stretch before a baseball game, fire officials said. Firefighters said a power line was sagging and touched the fence that the girl leaned on, said Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the Baltimore Fire Department. At about 8 p.m., teammates saw the girl put her foot on the fence in Druid Hill Park and then fall to the ground, Cartwright said. The girl was taken to Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her identity had not been released.

Calif. prison inmate takes female guard hostage

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A state prison was locked down Saturday after an inmate took a female guard hostage, authorities said. Officials at California State Prison, Sacramento were negotiating with the inmate, who took the guard hostage in a prison dining hall around 7 a.m., according to prison spokeswoman Lt. Joyce McClendon. The 41-year-old inmate, whose identity was not immediately released, was armed with a six-inch metal knife made in the prison, state corrections officials said.

-- From wire reports

He took the woman into an office area of the dining room.

The woman had not been harmed, officials said.

The inmate was serving a 26-year sentence for robbery and false imprisonment after being convicted in San Diego County. He was a maximum-security inmate assigned to work in the dining room.

The inmate was scheduled to be released from prison in August 2012.