Three dead in Casper, Wyo., campus attack
CASPER, Wyo., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Two people were killed in an attack Friday at Casper College in Casper, Wyo., and a third died in a related incident in a Casper neighborhood, police said.
Police Chief Chris Walsh said two people were killed at the school's Wold Physical Science Center, but he declined to specify what type of weapon was used and he did not provide details about the location of the off-campus death, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.
The newspaper said Walsh declined to address reports a bow and arrow were used in the attack but he said no firearms were involved.
Police have cordoned off a street in a part of Casper where there were reports of a body on the street, the newspaper said.
Walsh said no suspects were at large.
Obama urges public pressure on tax rates
HATFIELD, Pa., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama, speaking Friday at a toy manufacturer, urged Americans to get involved in his push to keep lower tax rates for middle-class taxpayers.
"The key is, the American people have to be involved," Obama said at The Rodon Group in Hatfield, Pa., the only U.S. manufacturer of K'NEX building toys. "It's not enough for me to do this on my own."
At the Capitol, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said talks about averting the looming fiscal cliff are at a stalemate and said a White House proposal wasn't serious.
"There's a stalemate. Let's not kid ourselves," Boehner told a news conference. "Right now we're almost nowhere."
If Congress takes no action by the end of the year, the lower income tax rates enacted during the administration of former President George W. Bush will expire and Obama said that would result in a $2,200 increase in the average middle-class family's tax bill.
Toxic gas released in N.J. rail crash
PAULSBORO, N.J., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A railroad bridge collapsed Friday morning, sending three tank cars loaded with vinyl chloride into a South Jersey creek.
About 184,000 pounds of toxic gas were released into the atmosphere after the 7:15 a.m. accident, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Everyone within a half mile of the bridge over Mantua Creek in Paulsboro was advised to evacuate while those at a greater distance were told to remain inside with doors and windows closed.
Some box cars in the 86-car train also derailed.
At least 66 people were treated at Underwood-Memorial Hospital in Woodbury, N.J., for respiratory problems, including 11 brought in by ambulance.
Supreme Court: No decision on gay marriage
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court, after spending most of the day preparing new orders, took no action Friday on the 10 same-sex marriage cases on the docket.
The next chance the court has to issue order will be Monday.
Scotusblog.com said nothing so far has eliminated the possibility that some action on same-sex marriage could be announced Monday, but there also is no indication that such an announcement would occur.
The 10 petitions before the court concern only three laws that were struck down by lower courts, Scotusblog.com said.
One law is the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, limiting access to federal marital benefits or programs to marriages of a man and a woman. Another is a 2009 Arizona law, Section O, that limits marital state employee benefits to those who can marry in the state; gays and lesbians are barred from marrying in Arizona.
Another is Proposition 8, the California constitutional amendment voters approved four years ago that withdrew a right of same-sex couples to marry in the state after the state Supreme Court ruled laws banning same-sex marriage violated the state Constitution.
Afghanistan, Pakistan seek cooperation
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Afghanistan and Pakistan are working to increase cooperation to deal with terrorism and other challenges faced by the two countries, officials said.
Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in Islamabad Friday for talks focused on common issues, Khaama Press reported.
During the talks, Pakistan gave Afghanistan a draft of a Strategic Partnership Agreement.
Leaders of the two countries recently met during a U.N. General Assembly session in New York and agreed to complete the agreement by 2013.
Khar said Pakistan wants to see stability in war-torn Afghanistan.
Rassoul said the launching of attacks against Pakistan from Afghanistan would not be permitted.
