NATIONAL BRIEFS

ALASKA: Midair crash kills boyfriend

A pilot was communicating by radio with her boyfriend before their planes collided last week, killing him, a federal investigator said. The two pilots took off from different western villages Friday and met in the air on the way to Bethel, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Clint Johnson told the Anchorage Daily News. Kristen Sprague, 26, was flying a Cessna 207 operated by freight carrier Ryan Air, according to state troopers. She made an emergency landing with one wing seriously damaged and wasn't hurt. A Cessna 208 Caravan crashed and burst into flames near the village of Nightmute, about 400 miles west of Anchorage, killing Scott Veal, 24, of Kenai. Each was the only person aboard.

MASSACHUSETTS: Mother, 2 teens shot dead

A woman and her two children were shot dead early Monday in Lawrence, and the mother's live-in boyfriend was taken into custody, authorities said. Milka Rivera, 39, her son Max Montanez, 16, and daughter Sachary Montanez, 19, were killed, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. Rivera's live-in boyfriend for the last five or six years, Jose Luis Tejeda, 40, will be charged with three counts of murder, Blodgett said. He is not the children's father. The prosecutor said there was no clear motive for the killing, which appeared to be in the "spectrum of domestic abuse."

INDIANA: SUV hits buggy, girl killed

A sport utility vehicle hit two horse-drawn carts carrying Amish children on a rural road Monday, killing one of the youngsters and injuring five others, police said. The accident occurred in Middlebury, Elkhart County Sheriff's patrol officer Ryan Huff said. A horse pulling two two-wheel carts ridden by six children turned from a private drive into the road just as the SUV approached, the sheriff's department said. The SUV hit the horse and the first cart, killing Jenna Miller, 10. Four of the surviving children had "incapacitating" head injuries. The female driver of the SUV, age 60, was not injured, Huff said.