 NBCChicago.com Nicholas Wieme (inset) died from injuries sustained in a fall down a smokestack at the top of the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago. By Lauren Petty and Michelle Relerford, NBC Chicago A man died Thursday morning after falling 22 feet down a smokestack at the top of the Intercontinental Hotel on Chicago's Michigan Avenue. The man, identified as 23-year-old Nicholas Wieme of Chicago, was pronounced dead from injuries sustained in the fall. Firefighters said it appears the man went onto the roof of the hotel on the 500 block of Michigan Avenue to take photos. He apparently climbed a ladder along a smokestack to the top and was up there when he fell into the chimney around 1 a.m. The man became wedged in an elbow of the shaft, very close to the drop to the basement. After the fall, he was able to either text or call his girlfriend for help. "We had to cut a hole in the duct work and then slide him down the duct work," said Chief Michael Fox, chief of special operations for the Chicago Fire Department. "It turned very precarious because two feet after we made the hole was a drop that would have went 42 floors to the basement." Thirty firefighter companies were called and more than 100 firefighters assisted in the rescue. "We had to send crews from the top down on ropes to access his condition meanwhile monitoring the situation for toxic gases," Fox said. Firefighters said for a short time the man was able to speak with them before he lost consciousness. "We figured he lost consciousness because he wasn't communicating with us anymore," Fox said. Firefighters rescued the man and rushed him in critical condition to Northwestern Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The hotel issued a statement after the incident, noting it "holds the safety, comfort and well-being of our guests and employees as our top priority and concern." "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the guest at this difficult time. The hotel staff will continue to cooperate fully with authorities in their investigation."  |
12/13/2012
Man dies after fall down Chicago hotel's smokestack
9/11 'truther' group 'adopts' stretch of highway
| By James Eng, NBC News The Missouri Department of Transportation says it had no choice but to approve an application by a 9/11 "truther" group to "adopt" a stretch of state highway for litter pickup. The agency recently OK'd the application from the St. Louis 9/11 Questions Meetup Group under the Adopt-A-Highway program. The approval means the group will have two signs bearing their names erected next month on each end of a half-mile stretch of Olive Boulevard east of Lindbergh Road in the St. Louis area. In return, the group agrees to pick up litter along the stretch at least four times a year for the next three years. Some members of the St. Louis 9/11 Questions Meetup Group suggest that the U.S. government may have been involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Here's how the group describes itself on its website:
Holly Dentner, a state Transportation Department spokeswoman, said the state can't turn away a group's Adopt-A-Highway application based on the group's viewpoints. As long as the applicant fulfills the program's obligations, which include collecting litter at least four times a year and submitting an activity report to the state, it can participate, she said. "We can't deny an adopter group a section of highway to pick up trash just based on their belief or opinions," she told NBC News. "Should they not fulfill the obligations, we can cancel and remove the signs." A federal appeals court ruling in 2000 limited Missouri's ability to pick and choose highway "adopters." The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge's ruling that Missouri could not reject the Ku Klux Klan's application to adopt a stretch of Interstate 55 south of St. Louis. The Missouri Legislature later voted to name the stretch of highway in question the "Rosa Parks Highway," in honor of the black civil rights activist from Alabama. The KKK was eventually dropped from the Adopt-A-Highway program for failing to pick up litter. Other states have had Adopt-A-Highway controversies as well. In Georgia, a KKK chapter sued in September after the state rejected the white supremacist group's application. In 2005, the American Nazi Party adopted a stretch of rural highway outside Salem, Ore., but their signs were quickly vandalized and later removed. Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com Dentner said the St. Louis 9/11 Questions group is among more than 4,000 adopter groups who pick up a total of about 20,000 bags of trash along 6,463 miles of roads across the state a year. The program saves the state at least $1 million a year in trash collection costs, said Tom Blair, assistant district engineer for state Transportation Department in St. Louis. "Without the Adopt-A-Highway program, all roadsides in Missouri would be much dirtier," he said. Donald Stahl, organizer of the St. Louis 9/11 Questions Meetup Group, believes the World Trade Center towers did not collapse strictly as a result of being struck by airplanes hijacked by terrorists. He says they may have been brought down by a controlled demolition. As for why his group wants to adopt a highway: "Like all the other groups that do it, we like the free publicity," he told KSDK. Stahl did not respond to an email request from NBC News for comment. The group's philosophy doesn't sit well with Warren Nelson, of the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood. He and his wife lost their son, David Nelson, in the Sept. 11 attacks. "Certainly we would not be in agreement with an organization that believes that our U.S. government had anything to do at all with 9/11," he said. "No way." As to highway signs bearing the group's name, Nelson said: "I would not want to drive down and see a sign like that." More content from NBCNews.com:
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McAfee says he faked heart attack
H.W. Bush should be home by Christmas, hospital says
 Donna Carson / Reuters file Former President George H.W. Bush is seen in March 2012. By Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News Former President George H.W. Bush is improving after being hospitalized for bronchitis, and he should be home in time to celebrate Christmas with his family, the hospital said Thursday. "[I]nstead of battling the lingering effects of bronchitis, the focus of his treatment now centers on a physical therapy program designed to increase his strength in advance of his eventual discharge," The Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center said in a statement. Bush, 88, was admitted Nov. 29 for complications related to bronchitis. "Given his current pace of progress, doctors expect that President Bush will be able to celebrate Christmas at home with his family -- though no release date has been set at this time," the hospital added. Bronchitis is a common condition in which the bronchial tubes in the lungs become inflamed and produce mucus, which creates the need to cough, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can turn serious in people with weak immune systems, including children and the elderly. Symptoms such as chest pain, weakness and coughing typically last two weeks, but can linger for as long as two months. Bush served as the 41st president of the United States from 1989-1993, the capstone of a long career of public service. He lost his first bid for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1980, at which time Ronald Reagan chose him to be his running mate. He went on to serve two terms as Reagan's vice president. Bush had been a Texas Republican member of the House of Representatives in the 1960s and 1970s and head of the CIA from 1976-1977. The organization's headquarters in Langley, Va., was later renamed the "George Bush Center for Intelligence." Before moving to Texas, where made money in oil and petroleum, Bush served as a combat pilot during World War II and attended Yale University. He got married in 1945. Bush and his wife, Barbara, had six children; one, Robin, died as a child, according to his official WhiteHouse.gov biography. His son George W. Bush became the 43rd president of the United States; another son, Jeb Bush, was governor of Florida for nearly a decade, and is considered a top contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Just this week, Bush's granddaughter, Jenna Bush Hager, announced she was pregnant with her first child. In late 2004, Bush teamed up with Bill Clinton to raise money for the victims of the Asian tsunami. That effort was so successful, the two former presidents did the same for Katrina victims in 2005. More content from NBCNews.com:
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Fiscal cliff fight -- what it's really about
Washington (CNN) -- Get past the counterproposals and public sniping of the fiscal cliff negotiations and the issue comes down to a dominant theme of Washington politics of the past 50 years -- Republicans want to shrink the growing government, and Democrats don't. The nation faces automatic tax hikes on everyone and deep spending cuts that include the military in less than three weeks unless President Barack Obama and Congress reach agreement on another way to reduce the chronic federal deficits and debt. Obama demands more revenue from taxes, including higher rates on the top two income brackets. Republicans reluctantly agree to more revenue from unspecified reforms such as eliminating some deductions and loopholes, but so far refuse to accept higher rates on anyone. No deal is possible until a break occurs in the stalemate that has dominated deficit talks for two years and reflects the widening ideological divide in a country increasingly defined by partisan politics. The White House and the lead Republican negotiator, House Speaker John Boehner, continued their posturing this week, with both sides accusing the other of stalling the process by failing to offer realistic proposals. "More than five weeks ago, Republicans signaled our willingness to avert the fiscal cliff with a bipartisan agreement that is truly balanced and begins to solve our spending problem," Boehner told reporters Thursday. "The president still has not made an offer that meets those two standards." In particular, Boehner said Obama's proposal failed to offer the significant spending cuts needed to address the mounting deficits and debt. "It's clear the president is just not serious about cutting spending, but spending is the problem," the Ohio Republican said. Minutes earlier, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California argued that Obama and Congress already cut spending in budget battles of the past two years. Now, she said, Republicans want spending cuts to address most or all of needed deficit reduction. "At some point you are cutting the seed corn of our future," Pelosi told reporters, adding, "You're not going to reduce the deficit by ... only cutting your way to it because you will cut the prospects for job creation, which produce revenue." At the White House on Wednesday, spokesman Jay Carney complained Republicans have yet to offer details on which deductions or loopholes they would eliminate to raise revenue. "The president will not sign an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest," he declared. In the latest developments this week, the two sides exchanged counteroffers that included two shifts by the White House. Democratic sources said Obama lowered his revenue demand from $1.6 trillion to $1.4 trillion but also added changes to the corporate rate to his proposal involving income taxes. The Obama proposal contains his push to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for income up to $250,000 for families, or 98% of Americans. Rates would increase on income over that threshold, an outcome rejected by Boehner despite strong public support for it and growing cracks in his party's anti-tax facade. Obama "holds all the cards," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, conceded Wednesday on Fox Business Network. "He's the only man that can sign a bill from preventing tax increases. So we may have to do a fallback position where we're just trying to minimize the damage." At the same time, Johnson made clear his belief that the problem resulted from Democrats refusing to corral rising government spending that has fueled the growing deficits. Neither Obama nor Senate Democrats intend "to limit the rate of growth in government, and as a result, they have no plan for doing so," Johnson said. He and other Republicans note that 71% of every tax dollar now goes to support Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as well as paying off interest on the national debt. By 2026, the cost of those items would equal all federal tax revenue unless changes are made. "The president wants to pretend spending isn't the problem," Boehner said. "That's why we don't have an agreement." Democrats consider the entitlement programs to be the foundation of the social contract with Americans and therefore question any push for benefit cuts. Instead, they insist the programs can be strengthened through improved efficiency and other reforms, such as the $700 billion in Medicare savings under Obama's health care reform law of 2010 that Pelosi cited Thursday. After his re-election last month, Obama wants to secure increased revenue from higher taxes on the wealthy to minimize the amount of spending cuts in an overall deficit reduction package. Polls consistently show the public favors Obama's stance in the negotiations. Nearly half of Americans -- 49% -- say they approve of the president's handling of the talks, compared with 25% who say Boehner is doing a good job, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Wednesday. Meanwhile, a Bloomberg National Poll indicated that nearly two-thirds of respondents, including nearly 50% of Republicans, believe Obama's re-election gave him a mandate to seek higher taxes on the wealthy. Also Wednesday, an administration official said the Business Roundtable -- an association of CEOs of major corporations -- has dropped its opposition to raising tax rates on the top two income brackets after lobbying by the White House. However, Boehner and other Republicans complain that Obama's tax stance will harm small business owners who declare their profits as personal income and therefore will get hit by the rate increase above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families. "Raising tax rates will hurt small businesses at a time when we're expecting small businesses to be an engine of job growth in America," Boehner said Thursday. Asked about polling that shows most Americans favor raising rates on top income brackets, Boehner said: "Most Americans agree that spending is a bigger problem than raising taxes." Some small business owners interviewed by CNNMoney said they would continue with plans to expand even if the Obama proposal gets passed and raises their taxes. "If your business is good, you'll grow it. We'll figure out a way," said Chelsea Sloan, who started the Uptown Cheapskate retail franchise. "Business owners who say they'll stop hiring if tax rates go higher are blowing smoke." Both sides said they want a comprehensive agreement that reduces deficits and reforms the tax system. Democrats call for a two-step approach that would include Obama's tax plan and some spending cuts now, with broader tax and entitlement reform in the new Congress that convenes in January. Boehner made clear Thursday that the first step must include significant spending cuts. Meanwhile, two former Senate majority leaders told CNN on Thursday that both sides must be ready to compromise instead of sticking to party ideology. "The simplest way to put it is that we're at 24% spending, we're at 16% revenue," said Tom Daschle, the former Democratic senator from South Dakota. "We've got to bring those two closer together and that's how you get a balanced budget and ultimately that's how you get fiscal responsibility. You've got to bring those two together. You've got to raise revenue, you've got to cut spending and it can be done." To Trent Lott, the former Republican senator from Mississippi, it comes down to the principal negotiators. "There'll come a moment when the speaker is going to have to, you know, make a decision on that and the president will have to make a decision on what he's going to do in return on spending, but they need to do it in concert," Lott said. "It's like directing the orchestra. You've got to have the winds and the brass come together and they're not quite there." The House of Representatives is supposed to end its current session Friday and go home for the year, but Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, made clear the chamber would stay later than planned. CNN's Dana Bash, Paul Steinhauser, Caitlin Stark, Deirdre Walsh, Jessica Yellin, Ashley Killough and CNNMoney's Jose Pagliery contributed to this report.  |
Singer Jenni Rivera sings the national anthem at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in August. Rivera, 43, died Sunday, December 9, when the small plane she was traveling in crashed in the mountains of northern Mexico, her brother told CNN. 
Rivera attends the 2012 Billboard Latin Music Conference in April in Miami. 
Rivera performs at the 2012 Billboard Latin Music Awards in April in Miami. Rivera was known to fans as "La Diva de la Banda," or the Diva of Banda Music, establishing herself as a musical powerhouse with her Spanish-language performances of regional Mexican corridos, or ballads. In recent years, she had been working to crack the English-language U.S. market. 
Rivera at the SAGIndie Actors Only brunch in January during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. She reportedly was on the verge of crossover success with a sitcom inspired by "I Love Jenni," a Spanish-language reality TV show. 
Rivera performs during the Teleton 2010 in December 2010 in Mexico City. Rivera's performances of soulful ballads won her millions of fans on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. 
Rivera belts out a number during the 11th annual Latin Grammy Awards in November 2010 in Las Vegas. 
Rivera takes on the Mexican national anthem before the junior middleweight bout between Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora in September 2010 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. 
The singer kisses her son during a July 2009 concert in Los Angeles. 
Rivera arrives at Univision's Premio Lo Nuestro a La Musica Latina Awards in March 2009 in Coral Gables, Florida. 
Rivera, right, joins singers Vikki Carr, left, and Olga Tanon during the ninth annual Latin Grammy Awards in November 2008 in Houston. 
Lupillo and Jenni Rivera team up during the ninth annual Latin Grammy Awards in November 2008 in Houston. 
Rivera attends the Latin Recording Academy's Person of the Year tribute to ranchera star Vicente Fernandez in September 2002 in Hollywood, California. 
Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera died Sunday, December 9, when the small plane she was traveling in crashed in the mountains of northern Mexico, her brother told CNN. Rivera, 43, was known to fans as "La Diva de la Banda," or the Diva of Banda Music, establishing herself as a musical powerhouse with her Spanish -language performances of regional Mexican corridos, or ballads. Recently, she had been working to crack the English-language U.S. market. 
Federal police are on hand at a base near the plane crash site Sunday in Iturbide, Mexico. "The aircraft was destroyed, totally fragmented," an aviation official told CNN affiliate Televisa. Six others were killed, including the singer's publicist, attorney and makeup artists, her brother, Gustavo Rivera, told CNN en Espanol. 
A helicopter flies over the crash site Sunday as investigators search the area. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. 
Civil protection personnel and soldiers inspect the perimeter of the crash site Sunday. The plane took off early Sunday from Monterrey, Mexico, and shortly lost contact with air traffic controllers. 
Workers search around the accident scene in Mexico's Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. 
Security members work at the site of the plane wreckage. 
Forensic technicians arrive at a base set up by federal police near the plane crash site. 