Gwinnett Daily Post

Photo by Denis Poroy

SAN DIEGO -- Police in Escondido have resumed a search for missing teen Amber Dubois after a woman reported her children found what looked like human hair in a park.

Lt. Craig Carter said police are draining a pond at Kit Carson Park for a second day after the woman reported Thursday night that her daughters told her in May they found a bag of hair there.

Carter said the woman didn't make the connection to the search for Amber until another teen -- 17-year-old Chelsea King -- vanished last week about 10 miles south in San Diego. A body presumed to be Chelsea's was found Tuesday in a shallow lakeside grave.

Gas odor leads to prescription drug bust in NJ

FAIRVIEW, N.J. -- Police investigating the source of a gas odor at a northern New Jersey home instead found thousands of pills and other prescription medications worth $5 million.

Fairview Police Chief John Pinzone said three men and a 17-year-old boy were found inside the home Thursday night. Pinzone said they were using lighter fluid to remove labels from pill bottles and boiling cinnamon in a pot to mask the smell.

A search uncovered about 15,000 bottles of various prescription painkillers, AIDS medications and other pills. The prescriptions were written for multiple people and filled at pharmacies in New York and New Jersey, but authorities aren't sure how the four acquired the drugs or what they intended to do with them.

Feds look at worker fatigue in Conn. blast

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A federal agency investigating a power plant explosion in Connecticut that killed six workers last month said some workers were putting in long hours and they're looking into whether fatigue played a role.

Authorities said the Feb. 7 explosion at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown happened as workers were using natural gas to clean out gas lines.

U.S. Chemical Safety Board lead investigator Donald Homstrom said some workers were working 12-hour shifts, including some of those involved in cleaning the gas lines.

Kleen Energy declined to comment.

Girl, 6, killed after wandering onto Minn. freeway

BURNSVILLE, Minn. -- The Minnesota State Patrol said a 6-year-old girl wandered into freeway traffic near Minneapolis, where she was struck and killed by an SUV.

State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske said Kallie N. Palmer had been playing at a friend's house about 7:15 p.m. Friday

He said it's not clear what happened after that. Investigators are still trying to piece together the circumstances that led her onto Interstate 35W in Burnsville, about 20 miles south of Minneapolis.

Maine fire chief dies on way to fatal snow crash

THE FORKS, Maine -- A man who crashed his snowmobile into a tree in Maine has died -- along with a fire department chief who was on his way to rescue him.

The Maine Warden Service said Jason Dodge was snowmobiling with his brother Friday night when he crashed into a fir tree on a groomed trail in The Forks, an area noted for its camping and other outdoor activities. The warden service said the 37-year-old Dodge was wearing a helmet but suffered head and internal injuries when he lost control on a turn and hit the tree head-on.

The Forks fire Chief Brian Rowe was driving to the scene when he suffered what authorities call a ''critical medical episode.''

Key West man wins conch shell blowing title

KEY WEST, Fla. -- A sixth-generation Key West resident, who first blew a conch shell as a child, has won the island's 48th annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest in Florida.

Thirty-six-year-old Clinton Curry followed his two-toned toot Saturday with a portion of composer Aram Khachaturian's ''Sabre Dance'' on a single shell, earning applause from several hundred spectators.

Woman bitten by bear at Wis. zoo

MANITOWOC, Wis. -- Police said a bear bit off a woman's fingers at a Wisconsin zoo after she ignored barriers and warning signs to try to feed the animal.

The Lincoln Park Zoo in Manitowoc closed after the incident Friday morning. Police said the 47-year-old woman lost a thumb and a forefinger, and two other fingers were partially severed.