National Roundup

New York
Amtrak ridership hits record levels in fiscal 2013
NEW YORK (AP) — Amtrak ridership increased in the first six months of fiscal year 2013, with ridership in March setting a record as the single best month ever in Amtrak’s history, the railroad said Tuesday.
Ridership grew 0.9 percent from October 2012 to March compared to the prior year despite disruptions from weather including Superstorm Sandy. Amtrak said 26 of 45 routes had rider increases.
The railroad said October, December and January also set individual monthly records. Amtrak expects to end the fiscal year at or above last year’s record of 31.2 million passengers.
“The continued ridership growth on routes across the country reinforces the need for dedicated, multi-year federal operating and capital funding to support existing intercity passenger rail services and the development of new ones,” Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman said.
Routes with ridership growth in the October-to-March period included the New York City to Georgia route, the Palmetto, up 10.5 percent, and the Coast Starlight, which operates between Los Angeles and Seattle, up 10 percent.
Amtrak said ridership was up 9.8 percent on the Illini/Saluki, which operates between Chicago and New Orleans; 8.9 percent on the San Joaquin in California, 8.6 percent on the Piedmont in North Carolina and 8.2 percent on the Wolverine route in Michigan.

New Jersey
Police: 6-year-old accidentally shot by 4-year-old
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — Authorities are deciding whether to charge anyone after police say a 6-year-old was shot in the head by a 4-year-old in New Jersey.
The older boy is in serious condition.
Authorities are still investigating how the younger child obtained the .22-caliber rifle from his family’s Toms River home Monday night.
Police Chief Michael Mastronardy says the children were outside the 4-year-old’s home when the boy went inside, got the rifle and shot the 6-year-old about 15 yards away. It’s not clear if the 4-year-old pulled the trigger or if the rifle accidentally discharged.
The parents of the 4-year-old were home at the time.
No names have been released.
The shooting comes amid debate over gun control laws in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting.

New Mexico
Driver dead as school bus runs into embankment
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two students remained hospitalized a day after their school bus went off a road and crashed in an embankment in northern New Mexico.
The bus driver died and nine students were injured Monday when the bus crashed off State Road 111 near La Madera in Carson National Forest, Rio Arriba County sheriff’s spokesman Jake Arnold said. The mountainous, isolated area is popular for hunting, hiking and camping.
Images from a KOB-TV helicopter showed the bus lodged in the embankment, in an area of mesas, sagebrush and rocky terrain. It appeared to have gone off a cliff around 15 miles from the students’ schools in Ojo Caliente, a resort town known for its hot springs. The roads are surrounded by mesas, sagebrush and rocky terrain.
Seventh-grader Xavier Varela told the Albuquerque Journal the accident occurred without warning.
“I was listening to music, and all of a sudden the bus comes off the road,” he said outside a hospital in Espanola, where he was evaluated and released. “I was the only one who stayed in the seat; everyone else was on the floor.”
The driver, Pat Valdez, 69, died at the scene, possibly of a heart attack or other medical condition, authorities said.
The bus was carrying nine elementary, middle and high school students at the time. Two of the students who attend schools in the tiny, rural school district of Mesa Vista had broken bones.

Texas
Austin expected to be next stop for Google Fiber
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Google Inc. is expected to name tech-savvy Austin as the second city where the search giant will offer its ultra-fast home Internet service.
Google and Texas Gov. Rick Perry scheduled a Tuesday morning announcement in Austin. Industry groups and observers are widely expecting Austin to receive Google’s fiber-optic network that’s capable of reaching speeds far greater than average cable-modem connections.
Last summer, Kansas City became the first metro area in the U.S. to receive Google Fiber.
Heather Gold, president of the nonprofit Fiber to the Home Council Americas, said the Austin rollout would be an “exciting validation” of the Google service.
Google Fiber offers “gigabit” Internet service — about 100 times faster than a basic cable modem — for $70 a month.

California
UCLA water polo player arrested for alleged rape
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials say a UCLA water polo player has been arrested after a female acquaintance reported that he raped her in a campus residence hall.
The school’s athletic department released a statement Monday saying 18-year-old Hakop Kaplanyan was arrested without incident April 2, the same day the woman gave the report to campus police.
Los Angeles County jail records show Kaplanyan was released on bail two days later and is scheduled to return to court April 25.
Campus officials say Kaplanyan has been suspended from the university. He can appeal his status.
According to the team’s website, Kaplanyan is a redshirt freshman from Glendale, Calif., who plays the attacker position.

Washington
FBI asked to look at recording from McConnell office
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The FBI has been asked to look into whether Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign headquarters was bugged after a recording of a private campaign meeting surfaced in a liberal-leaning magazine.
McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton said his staff is working with the FBI because of what he called “Watergate-style tactics” to bug the office.
Mother Jones magazine published the recording of the February meeting in which McConnell aides were discussing research into potential Democratic challengers, including actress Ashley Judd, who later decided not to run. Aides talked on the recording about Judd’s political positions, religious beliefs and mental health.
Benton said a recording device had been placed in McConnell’s office without consent. Neither the FBI in Louisville nor the magazine immediately returned telephone calls seeking comment.