Combined briefs

The driver of a parade float involved in a train wreck that killed four war veterans in Midland, Texas, on Nov. 15 told investigators that the oncoming train appeared to be stationary and that he didn’t notice anything wrong until he saw people jumping from the float, according to documents released Wednesday. Dale Hayden told National Transportation Safety Board investigators he was focused on his left-side rearview mirror as he crossed the tracks, looking for a bump in the intersection so he could provide a smoother ride. As he looked through his right window, the oncoming Union Pacific train appeared to have stopped, he said.

INDIANA

More than 50 hurt when school buses crash

A school bus slammed into the back of another one Wednesday afternoon, setting off a chain-reaction crash involving four buses in northern Indiana, leaving about 50 middle- and high-school students with minor injuries and a driver seriously injured. The crash injured 55 people, including three of the four bus drivers, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Chad Hill said. He said more than 100 students from Wawasee School Corp. were on the buses when the accident occurred about a mile north of North Webster. The exact cause of the accident likely won’t be released for days because the buses need to be inspected for any mechanical problems, Hill said.

NORTH CAROLINA

Feds open inspection into nuclear plant

Federal regulators said Wednesday that they are conducting a special inspection of a nuclear power plant outside Raleigh, N.C., that was forced to shut down last week after operators discovered corrosion and cracking in the reactor vessel’s covering. Two Nuclear Regulatory Commission specialist inspectors will join the on-site NRC inspectors “to assess the circumstances surrounding the discovery,” the agency said in a news release. Plant operator Duke Energy said last week it found a quarter-inch mark of corrosion and cracking in the covering of the reactor vessel, which contains heat produced by the nuclear core’s energy.

SYRIA

Opposition urges rebels to join key battle

Syria’s main opposition alliance Wednesday urged fighters from across the country to reinforce a rebel-held town under attack by President Bashar Assad’s troops and their allies from the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. With its appeal, the Syrian National Coalition sought to bolster embattled rebel forces in Qusair who for a fourth straight day Wednesday came under fierce assault by government troops. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in neighboring Jordan, called on Iran and Hezbollah to stop helping Assad, saying this activity “perpetuates the regime’s campaign of terror against its own people.”

CONGO

Fighting persists as U.N. chief arrives

M23 rebels fired two rockets into the eastern Congo city of Goma, killing one person and wounding four, officials said, in an apparent spillover from three days of fighting raging north of the city. The attack underscores the heightening tension in Congo and comes as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Congo’s capital far to the west for a two-day visit. He is expected to visit Goma, where a new U.N. military brigade is being formed to attack rebel groups and bring stability to the mineral-rich region. Wednesday marked the third day of fighting between the rebels and government forces just north of Goma after a nearly six-month lull, officials said.

NORTH DAKOTA

Flooding forces evacuation of 1,300 in town

A dam that threatened to give way and flood a North Dakota town was holding back the water Wednesday, though the 1,300 residents of Cavalier were still being told to stay away from their homes. Steady rainfall between Friday and Tuesday dumped about 9 inches of rain on parts of Pembina County, swelling creeks and rivers and sending water flowing across the countryside from west to east in the east-sloping county. The small town of Crystal flooded Tuesday, forcing a few residents from their homes, and people in Cavalier were told to evacuate Tuesday night as a precaution should the Renwick Dam be overwhelmed.

NEPAL

Octogenarians race to be oldest Everest climber

An 80-year-old Japanese extreme skier who climbed Mount Everest five years ago, but just missed becoming the oldest man to reach the summit, was back on the mountain Wednesday to make another attempt at the title. Unfortunately for Yuichiro Miura, the 81-year-old Nepalese man who nabbed the record just before he could in 2008 is fast on his heels. Miura on Wednesday was already in the “death zone,” the steep, icy, oxygen-deficient area close to the 29,035-foot summit. His rival, Min Bahadur Sherchan from Nepal, was at the base camp preparing for his own attempt on the summit next week.

ARIZONA

Solar plane departs on second leg of U.S. trip

A solar-powered plane is flying from Arizona to Texas on the second leg of a trip across the United States. The Solar Impulse is making the first attempt by a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel to fly across the U.S. The plane took off from Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport early Wednesday and was scheduled to arrive in Dallas early this morning. The plane flew its first leg from California in early May. From Dallas, it will fly to Lambert-St. Louis airport, Dulles airport in near Washington and New York’s John F. Kennedy airport. Each flight leg takes 20 or so hours, with multiday stops in each city.