Leads and Nut Graphs

1.     One man is left dead this morning after a fatal accident, while two are recovering in the hospital. The accident occurred at the intersection of Post Road and Rollins Avenue, when Charles R. Lydon entered the intersection and collided with a fire engine. The fire engine was en route to an emergency call about a store fire when the crash occurred. Lydon was traveling at 40 mph when he entered the intersection and hit the fire engine, which was traveling at an estimated 25 mph. Lydon was killed instantly in the impact, while two of the firemen aboard the engine are in the hospital. Their condition is not known at this time. Authorities have not yet determined who was at fault.

2.     Reports issued today say that driving a small or midsize car may put you at risk when involved in an accident. In a report from the Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, bigger cars are given more advantages when involved in collisions. According to a study by the institute, large cars, such as station wagons and vans, have 40 to 50 percent better-than-average claim reports. Smaller cars, especially two-door models and sports cars, have the worst injury and repair records. Many of these small cars show injury claim frequencies and repair losses at least 30 percent higher than average claims.

3.     Children have a higher risk of choking to death on small foods, especially hot dogs. The Journal of the American Medical Association published an article today describing the dangers of children eating hot dogs. He says that children under the age of four should “never be given a while hot dog to eat”, and that hot dogs should not be cut sideways and given to a child. “If you were trying to design something that would be perfect to block a child’s airway, it would be a bite-size piece of hot dog”, says a researcher. It is estimated that every five days someone, somewhere in the United States, chokes to death on a hot dog. Other risky foods to avoid giving a young child include: candy, nuts, grapes, apples, carrots, and popcorn.

4.     A grief-stricken family mourns again today, as a mistake in the morgue leaves their late family member unburied. Last week, 51 year old Kristine Belcuore passed away of a sudden and unexpected heart attack. She left behind a husband and four children, which gathered to mourn along with their loved ones at her funeral last Saturday. The funeral, in which over 100 friends and relatives attended, cost more than $7,000. The family of the late Mrs. Belcuore had the casket closed during the funeral, and they never viewed the remains. As the family started to recover, today, they received a heartbreaking call from the county medical examiner. In an error in the morgue, Mrs. Belcuore’s body was left in the morgue while an unidentified woman’s body was buried in her place. The error was realized when the medical examiner’s office realized that the month-old corpse of the unidentified woman had disappeared. The unidentified woman was mistakenly put in Mrs. Belcuore’s casket by someone who likely misread the identifying tag. A relative of Mrs. Belcuore said, “We went through all the pain and everything, all over the wrong body, and now we have to go through it again.”