In the Nation | Philadelphia Inquirer | 2011-04-13 - Philadelphia Inquirer

The Paris-bound A380, carrying 520 people, was taxiing to a runway when its left wingtip crashed into the tail of the regional jet stopped on an intersecting taxiway, whipping the smaller jet around nearly 90 degrees. The Comair flight, which had just arrived from Boston, had 66 people aboard. - AP

Study: Recidivism rate little improved

ATLANTA - More than 40 percent of ex-cons commit crimes within three years of their release and wind up back behind bars, despite billions in taxpayer dollars spent on prison systems that are supposed to help rehabilitate them, a study said.

The study released Wednesday by the Pew Center on the States concluded that the nation's recidivism rate had only marginally improved even as spending on corrections departments has increased to about $52 billion a year from about $30 billion a decade ago.

About 43 percent of prisoners who were let out in 2004 were sent back to prison by 2007, either for a new crime or violating the conditions of their release, the study found. That number was down from 45 percent during a similar period beginning in 1999.

Lawmakers should consider alternative sentences for nonviolent offenders, said Adam Gelb of the center's Public Safety Performance Project. - AP

Suspect charged in synagogue blast

CLEVELAND - A suspect in an explosion Thursday at a Santa Monica, Calif., synagogue that shattered windows and punched a hole in a building was charged in federal court with fleeing to avoid prosecution.

Ron Hirsch, 60, violated federal law when he traveled from California to Ohio sometime between Thursday and Monday, when he was arrested in suburban Cleveland Heights, a court affidavit said Tuesday.

The FBI said Hirsch is a transient known to spend time at synagogues and other Jewish centers seeking charity. He was wanted in California on state charges of possessing a destructive device.

The explosion near Chabad House Lubavitch of Santa Monica sent chunks of concrete and a heavy pipe crashing into the roof of a nearby home. Investigators had no motive for the blast. - AP

Elsewhere:

Former Sen. Bob Dole (R., Kan.) was honored Tuesday with a bronze plaque on a Washington corner, to be placed on the entrance path to the World War II Memorial. Former Senate colleagues including Vice President Biden gathered to dedicate the plaque. Dole, 87, was gravely wounded while fighting in Italy in 1945 and later became a champion for veterans.