2003 National News Headlines
NOTE: Since the article links on this page are over a decade old, they might not be valid any more.
Dec. 21, 2003
Another disaster just days away from the end of the year. A 13-car CSX freight train derailed on Thursday, Dec. 18 in Arlington, Virginia caused cancellations on Thursday and Friday for Virginia's Virginia Railway Express commuter line, Maryland's MARC commuter line, as well as Amtrak's lines that run south from Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. Five of the train cars contained sulfuric acid residue. For more information:
Feb. 22, 2003
Due to heavy snowfall, at about 11:45 AM, 90% to 95% of the roof at a Toys 'R' Us in Lanham, Maryland collapsed. No one was seriously injured. For more information:
- CNN: Searchers sift rubble after roof of toy store collapses
- USA Today: Severe weather rocks East killing five
- MSNBC: Severe weather pounds Eastern U.S.
- NBC 4 TV: Roof Collapses on Md. Store; Crews Search For Victims
- WJLA TV: Roof Collapses at Toys R Us, People Trapped
- WUSA TV: Officials Are Cautiously Optimistic No One Was Killed In Collapse
Feb. 18, 2003
As many as five to eight million credit cards may have been exposed when a hacker broke into a credit card processor. For more information:
- CNET: Hackers view credit-card accounts
- CNN: Hacker accesses 5.6 million credit cards
- CNN: Discover says its cards hacked
A major snowstorm along the East Coast has caused several roofs to collapse as well as deaths from heart attacks and carbon monoxide poisoning. For more information,
Train Incidents
June 20, 2003
In Commerce, California, a freight train carrying lumber derailed after becoming a runaway train. Tons of lumber landed on several homes, injuring at least twelve. Commerce is located near Los Angeles. For more information:
- CNN: Runaway train cars derail near Los Angeles
- CNN: Residents watch train demolish homes
- CNN: Frank Buckley: Train diverted to avoid city center
- KABC-TV Los Angeles: Residents, Officials Want Probe of Decision to Sidetrack Train
- KABC-TV Los Angeles: Runaway Freight Train Derails
February 18, 2003
Up to 100 people died in a South Korean train station when a man tried to blow up a subway train. For more information, see the following CNN article.
February 9, 2003
Two trains suffered problems in two days. On February 9, 2003, a Canadian National Railway Co. train derailed in Illinois, resulting in a toxic fire. Tamaroa, Illinois was evacuated. The previous day, a Eurostar train going from London to Paris broke down on a bridge. Passengers broke windows to get air into the train cars. For more information, see these CNN articles.
Space Shuttle Columbia Lost
Feb. 1, 2003 - 17 years and 4 days after the space shuttle Challenger disaster, NASA announced this morning that the space shuttle Columbia on descent to Cape Canaveral at an altitude of 200,000 feet disintegrated over noth central Texas at around 8:00 AM CST. Columbia carried seven astronauts, including the first Israeli astronaut. The shuttle was scheduled to land in Florida at 8:16 AM CST and was traveling at Mach 18 (12,500 mph) at the time of the tragedy. The debris field is reported to be at least 100 miles by 10 miles.
If you took pictures or video of the shuttle disintegration, NASA would like to see it. The instructions are available at the Johnson Space Center web site.
For more information:
- ABC News: Shuttle Disaster
- CNET: Space shuttle Columbia lost on re-entry
- CNET: Columbia collectibles soar on eBay
- CNN: Lost: Space Shuttle Columbia
- CNN: NASA looks to fuel tank in investigation
- CNN: Lawmakers vow to investigate shuttle disaster
- CNN: NASA weighed retiring Columbia in 2001
- CNN: Columbia shuttle breaks up over Texas
- CNN: Witnesses describe 'big bang' and 'ball of fire'
- CNN: Astronauts mourn shuttle loss
- CNN: Israel in mourning over astronaut loss
- USA Today: Columbia astronauts presumed dead
- USA Today: Residents of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas saw trails in sky
- USA Today: Columbia breaks into flames over Texas, killing 7 astronauts
- USA Today: Columbia travel path graphic
- Washington Post: Shuttle Disintegrates in Flames over Texas
Commuter Plane Crashes in North Carolina
Jan. 8, 2003 - In the first major commercial plane crash in over a year, US Airways Express/Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashed today during takeoff at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was unable to gain altitude on takeoff and crashed into an US Airways maintenance hangar at the airport.
The Beech/Raytheon 1900D turboprop plane was headed for Greensville-Spartanburg International Airport in Greenville, South Carolina. The plane carried 19 passengers and two crew members. There were no survivors. Family members of these twenty one people may call 1-800-679-8215 for more information.
Flight 5481 declared emergency before crash," a CNN article, is at the URL http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/01/08/plane.crash/index.html.