Nation briefs 6/8/16

At least 5 dead after truck hits bicyclists

COOPER TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A fire official confirmed at least five people were killed after the driver of a pickup truck plowed into a group of bicyclists along a street in western Michigan. Cooper Township fire chief Terry Emig told WZZM-TV Tuesday night at least five of the people struck died. The group was hit earlier in the evening near a park in the Kalamazoo area, south of Grand Rapids. Kalamazoo County undersheriff Paul Matyas told local media at least eight people were hit, and some of those were children. He said the driver struck the bicyclists and fled on foot but later was arrested. The Associated Press left messages seeking comment from Matyas and Emig. No further details were available. A news conference was scheduled for late Tuesday.

Massacre suspect faces November trial

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The federal death-penalty trial of a white man charged with shooting and killing nine black parishioners during a Bible study at their Charleston church will be in November, a judge announced Tuesday. Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel set Nov. 7 to begin selecting jurors for the federal trial of Dylann Roof, 22, who faces numerous counts, including hate crimes, in the June 17 shootings at Emanuel AME Church. That's about two months before Roof's state death-penalty trial. Roof faces nine counts of murder in state court in a trial set to begin in January. Handcuffed and clad in a gray-striped prison jumpsuit, Roof attended Tuesday's hearing but did not address the court.

Father gets life for selling daughters

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- A Tennessee man who sold his daughters to a man who raped them and used them in child pornography was sentenced to life in prison. Federal prosecutors said in a news release U.S. District Judge J. Ronnie Greer sentenced the 63-year-old father Monday. They said Greer called it one of the most horrible crimes he'd seen. The news release said the mother also was involved and had been sentenced to 18 years. In court documents, prosecutors said the arrangement went from about February 2011 to August 2012. The release said the girls were 12, 14 and 16 when police discovered what happened to them.

Colin heads to sea after soaking Florida

Colin headed out to sea Tuesday after dumping as much as 9 inches of rain on parts of Florida, forcing at least one city to pump partially treated sewage into the Gulf of Mexico ocean because the system was overloaded with rainwater. Colin flooded roads and caused power outages in Florida, and a team investigated a possible tornado related to the storm that damaged homes and toppled trees in Jacksonville. The city of St. Petersburg said it was pumping sewage into Tampa Bay because its sewer system had been overloaded with rainwater in leaky sewer pipes. Although the storm was out to sea, forecasters said Colin is expected to produce additional rainfall of up to 2 inches across far eastern North Carolina and as much as 5 inches across central Florida through Tuesday evening.

-- From wire

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