3 killed in 18-vehicle pileup

CLARION, Pa. -

An 18-vehicle pileup that occurred in whiteout conditions yesterday on a western Pennsylvania interstate left three people dead and dozens injured, authorities said.

Two people died at the scene on Interstate 80 and a third en route to a hospital, Clarion County Emergency Services director Vern Smith said.

Nine trucks, several of them tractor-trailers, and nine cars were involved in the crash that occurred at 1:40 p.m. in the westbound lanes of I-80 in Clarion Township, state police said.

"There was a whiteout. There was very heavy snow at the time with visibility virtually zero," Smith said.

State police said that two people who died were struck after exiting their vehicles at the scene. The pileup occurred a mile east of the New Bethlehem-Clarion exit.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -

A man who tried to buy an airline ticket using a fake ID was fatally shot yesterday after returning to his illegally parked car, where he lunged at an airport police officer with a knife during a confrontation, police said.

The man had multiple knives on him and suspicious items in his car that led to a bomb squad investigation, Columbus police Sgt. Rich Weiner said. The man was identified only as a Columbus-area resident in his early 40s pending notification of his relatives.

After the first shots were fired, the man got up and headed back toward the terminal, at which point a second airport officer shot him, Weiner said. It was unclear whether he was shot by both officers. He was shot multiple times, Weiner said.

Police are investigating the man's background and why he was using a fake ID to buy a ticket. He tried at one point to use a woman's ID, Weiner said.

DENVER -

The FBI is investigating the possibility that a homemade explosive set off near a Colorado NAACP office was a case of domestic terrorism.

Investigators also are considering many other possible motives and have not determined whether the nation's oldest civil rights organization was targeted, Denver FBI spokeswoman Amy Sanders said yesterday.

The blast happened at about 11 a.m. Tuesday outside a barbershop that shares a building with the NAACP's Colorado Springs chapter, about an hour south of Denver. There were no injuries and only minor damage.

Fraternities at the University of Virginia can get their parties started again with the blessing of the school's president after a semester of blistering criticism over campus sex assaults. But they'll have to do it without kegs.

Greek organizations have until Jan. 16 to agree to new drinking rules as a condition for ending a temporary ban on social activities, which UVa. President Teresa A. Sullivan imposed following a November Rolling Stone article describing a campus culture that fosters violence against women.

That article - focusing on an alleged gang rape at a fraternity house in 2012 - was later discredited by the magazine's editors, but campus and fraternity leaders have been under pressure nonetheless to propose reforms.

The new rules were proposed by the fraternities and approved by Sullivan. Among them: Kegs of beer and premade mixes of liquor and punch will be banned; beer must be served in closed cans, and "wine may be served upon request, poured visibly at the bar by a sober brother."

Fraternities also will be required to have bottled water and food available.

SANTA ANA, Calif. -

Seven Californians and two people in Utah have confirmed cases of measles likely contracted on trips last month to Disney theme parks in California, state officials said yesterday.

Three more California residents are suspected of having measles. All patients with confirmed or suspected cases of the illness visited Disneyland or Disney California Adventure between Dec. 15 and Dec. 20, according to the state's Department of Public Health.

- Daily News wire services