Nation briefs

TENNESSEE

Residents return after crash

Thousands of eastern Tennessee residents were returning home yesterday after they were evacuated when a CSX train car carrying hazardous material derailed and caught fire. An evacuation order was lifted for about 5,000 people who live within a 11/2-mile radius of the crash site, Maryville City Manager Greg McClain said yesterday at a news conference. Most of those evacuated received urgent knocks at their doors between midnight and 6 a.m. Thursday by emergency workers who told them they should leave immediately. The concern stemmed from the contents of the car that derailed: liquid acrylonitrile, a hazardous material used in multiple industrial processes. It's flammable and it's dangerous if inhaled. The Environmental Protection Agency says some effects of breathing acrylonitrile include headaches, dizziness, irritability and rapid heartbeat.

FLORIDA

66 stranded on Ferris wheel

A fire official said firefighters safely removed all 66 riders who were stranded aboard The Orlando Eye after the 400-foot Ferris wheel stopped moving for more than 45 minutes yesterday. Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kathleen Kennedy said power to the attraction was restored with a generator, and that firefighters, some on ladders, got riders out of the enclosed capsules by manually opening the doors. She says no one was hurt.

West Virginia

'Hazzard' car to lose flag

Bubba Watson says he's painting over the Confederate flag on his car made popular in "The Dukes of Hazzard" television series. The two-time Masters champ said yesterday that he'll replace it with the U.S. flag on the roof of the "General Lee 01." Confederate symbols have been the focus of debate since nine people were killed June 17 at an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. Authorities say the accused gunman had posed in photos with the Confederate battle flag. Watson said after his round at The Greenbrier Classic that his decision "was the right gesture for me to do." He also said the American flag sends a statement that everyone is "created equal."