Around The Nation

Greyhound bus rolls over on Utah desert highway\nGREEN RIVER, Utah -- A Greyhound bus rolled onto its side Tuesday on a desert stretch of Interstate 70, injuring 28 passengers and the driver and five seriously, authorities said.\nThe bus driver told the Utah Highway Patrol he either blacked out or fell asleep.\nFive passengers were airlifted to a Grand Junction, Colo., hospital. Nine others were taken to hospitals for treatment of less harmful injuries, while others were treated at the scene, authorities said. In all, 32 passengers and a driver were on board.\nA spokeswoman for St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Center in Grand Junction said she could not immediately provide condition reports on the injured.\nThe accident happened just before 8:30 a.m. about 30 miles west of Green River in southeastern Utah, said Lt. Steve Esplin of the Utah Highway Patrol. The bus, which was headed from Las Vegas to Denver, drifted to the right shoulder, and after the driver corrected himself, the bus then rolled onto its right side, authorities said.\nMan killed during Masonic initiation\nPATCHOGUE, N.Y. -- A man was killed during a Masonic initiation ceremony when another member fired a gun loaded with real bullets instead of the expected blanks and shot him in the face, police said Tuesday.\nA 76-year-old man alleged to have fired the shot was charged with manslaughter.\nWilliam James, 47, was shot while participating in an induction Monday night at the Southside Masonic Lodge, Suffolk County police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.\nDetective Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said the ritual that went "tragically wrong" involves making a loud noise to frighten the new member.\nGay N.J. couples seek marriage licenses\nASBURY PARK, N.J. -- A day after the first gay wedding in New Jersey, several same-sex couples turned out at City Hall early Tuesday, hoping to obtain marriage licenses before the state attorney general sought an injunction barring officials from issuing any more.\nThe first couple to successfully file their application Tuesday were Donna Harrison, 42, and her seven-year partner, Kathy Ragauckas, 41, who both live in Asbury Park.\n"We're Americans, we pay our taxes, we love each other and there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to express that," Harrison said.\nShortly after the office opened at 9 a.m., at least seven couples began entering the office as they sought the necessary paperwork. No ceremonies were scheduled for Tuesday because there is a 72-hour waiting period after obtaining a license.\nWater taxi capsize claims second life \nBALTIMORE, Md. -- A second person has died as a result of the capsizing of a water taxi in Baltimore Harbor, as recovery crews continued working to locate three missing people since the accident, officials said Tuesday.\nThe 36-foot pontoon boat overturned Saturday near Fort McHenry when a sudden thunderstorm struck the harbor with wind gusts of up to 55 mph, throwing all 25 people on board into the chilly water.\nThe second victim, a woman, died at Harbor Hospital, fire chief William Goodwin said. He refused to identify her.\nA hospital spokeswoman confirmed the woman died Monday night but would not release any other information.\nThe boat, which had set out from Fort McHenry on a trip across the harbor to Fells Point, was equipped with life jackets but passengers were not required to wear them.\nA 60-year-old woman, Joanne Pierce of Cumberland County, N.J., died after the accident Saturday and three people -- a couple who planned to marry and a 6-year-old boy -- disappeared.\nSearchers met Tuesday and made maps of the area, marking off sections of the harbor they had already covered.