Saturday, October 4, 2008

Two 26-year-old women struck and killed by taxis in East Village


A pair of young women were killed after a night on the town - one hit by a yellow cab and the other struck by two, police and witnesses said.

Stephanie Dees and Ann Sullivan, both 26, left Bella's Famous Brick Oven Pizza about 3:30 a.m. yesterday and were trying to cross 14th St. near First Ave.

A yellow cab - traveling west on 14th St. - hit the women, bouncing Dees into the opposite lane of traffic, police said. A second taxi then plowed into her, police said.

"I saw the two girls standing at the intersection side by side in the middle of the road," said Dexton McKenzie, 37, who was a passenger in the second cab.

"The next thing I saw was a head fly into the windshield and another girl flying toward a garbage can," McKenzie said. "I ran out of the car and saw tire tracks on the one girl's body and blood coming out of her mouth."

The two friends were seen playfully taking pictures of each other at the restaurant shortly before the East Village accident.

Dees and Sullivan died at Beth Israel Medical Center. Neither taxi driver faces criminal charges, police said.
"They were just two girls having fun," said an employee at the pizzeria.

"They saw a guy asleep on a table and they went behind him and snapped pictures of themselves," the worker said. "They appeared real good-natured. This is such a shame."

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

BUSH SIGNS AUTO LOAN PACKAGE

WASHINGTON, DC -- President George W. Bush on Tuesday signed into law
a mammoth spending bill that includes a $25 billion loan package for
troubled automakers.

The bill sets aside $7.5 billion in taxpayer funds needed to guarantee
$25 billion in low-interest loans to help General Motors Corp, Ford
Motor Co and Chrysler LLC produce more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.

U.S. automakers have said the taxpayer-backed loan package would give
them access to capital at a time when credit markets are shut and they
are being driven to invest in new technologies to meet tough new
federal fuel economy standards.

The $25 billion loan package, the biggest federal subsidy for the auto
industry since the 1980 bailout of Chrysler, cleared Congress last
weekend when the focus was on the debate over the $700 billion
financial rescue package.

Both presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican
John McCain, backed the auto loan package, which had strong support in
battleground election states like Michigan and Ohio.