The school bus driver killed this week in an Alabama hostage drama took bullets for the children on his bus just as he would have for his own kids, his son says.

When a child boarded Charles Albert Poland Jr.’s bus, “they were no longer their parents’, they were his,” Aaron Poland told NBC News. “And I know that’s the reason why my dad took those shots. It was for his children, just like he would do for me and my sister.”

Authorities say Jimmy Lee Dykes, a Vietnam veteran and survivalist, boarded Poland's bus on Tuesday and demanded two children. When Poland refused, Dykes shot him, authorities say. They say Dykes took a 5-year-old boy hostage and has been holed up in an underground bunker with him ever since.

Poland, 66, had driven a school bus for Dale County since 2009. Authorities said they found four shell casings at the scene.

"I expected them to say he had a heart attack or got in to a car wreck. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he'd get shot, and shot four times," Poland's sister, Vicki Upchurch, said Thursday.

Upchurch, who lives in Athol, Idaho, told NBC station KHQ of Spokane, Wash., that Poland family grew up in northern Idaho, where much of the family still lives. Relatives were planning to travel from Idaho to Alabama for his funeral services this weekend.

"We will get through this," Upchurch said. "My brother was very religious. He had a deep faith."

Poland joined the Army in the 1960s and moved to Alabama, where he married and had lived ever since, Upchurch said. She said he retired as a diesel mechanic in 2009 and had been driving a school bus to help support his wife until she was able to retire.

"My brother would have done anything to protect those kids," she said.

Schools Superintendent Donny Bynum said in a statement Wednesday that "Mr. Poland was well-loved by all of us here at Dale County Schools."

Hostage suspect was loner, missed court appearance

Poland's wife, Jan, remembered the man known to friends as "Chuck" as a gentle, caring man in an interview with a local newspaper, The Dothan Eagle.

Dale County Board of Education

Dale County bus driver Charles Poland, 66, was killed Tuesday.

Friends and family gathered Wednesday at the couple's home in Newton, about a 15-minute drive from Midland City, according to the paper.

"He loved them," she said of the friends and family shocked by Poland's violent death. "He loved everybody and he was loved."

Terry Roberts, a firefighter and youth pastor in Newton, told the Eagle that he had known Poland for most of his life.

Those who knew him are in "total shock," Roberts told the paper.

"The kids, everybody's just in total shock," Roberts said. "I've got a young child, so it really hits home."

The Dale County Sheriff's Department offered its condolences to Poland's family in a press release Wednesday.

"It says in the Bible the meek will inherit the Èarth," Poland's brother-in-law Melvin Skipper told the Eagle. "He was the meekest man I knew."

Alabama bunker hostage boy's family is 'holding on by a thread'

While neighbors have described Dykes, 65, as a paranoid survivalist who was always digging in his yard with a shovel, Poland's neighbor Hilburn Benton told the Eagle that the bus driver once helped him complete a major yard project and asked nothing in return.

"He told me, 'You're my friend and you're my neighbor. I'm not charging you a dime,'" Benton told the paper.

Schools in Dale County and in neighboring Ozark city were to remain closed for the rest of the week, according to a release Wednesday from the Dale County Board of Education.

Prisoners working in a nearby park helped save three boys whose kayak overturned in a Washington state creek, fire officials said Thursday.

Three brothers -- ages 8, 10 and 16 -- were floating down Salmon Creek near Salmon Creek Regional Park Wednesday afternoon when their kayak overturned, Clark County Fire District 6 Chief Jerry Green told NBC News. The park is in Washington state just north of Portland, Ore.

Ten prison inmates from the Larch Corrections Center near Yacolt, Wash., were doing park maintenance when they heard screams for help and responded quickly, fire officials told The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver, Wash.

Inmate Nelson Pettis, 37, jumped into the strong current, floating downstream until he could grab the two younger boys and help them to a pile of floating debris, according to the newspaper.

"I don't think I was thinking at all," Pettis told The Columbian. "I was just really concentrating on getting them to safety."

Inmate Larry Bohn, 29, helped Pettis with the rescue: "They (the boys) were saying thank you repeatedly. They just seemed really scared," he told the newspaper.

The 16-year-old boy was able to swim to shore, Green told NBC News.

Inmate Jon Fowler, 28, waited for the rescue team to arrive and helped them inflate their rescue boat, The Columbian reported. Members of the Vancouver, Wash., Fire Department and Clark County Fire District 6 were part of the rescue team.

The water was "very cold" and estimated to be moving at 25 mph, Green said. The brothers were treated for mild hypothermia, but otherwise there were no other injuries, he said. Two of the inmates were also treated for hypothermia, Portland, Ore., NBC affiliate KGW reported.

Bohn and Pettis reportedly had taken off their shirts, wrapping them around the kids to keep them warm, The Columbian reported.

The boys' names were not released.

Green said he was "extremely impressed" with the prisoners' efforts and the fact that they jeopardized their safety.

"(They) stepped up and did what was the right thing to do," Green said.

"I don't think we're heroes by any means," inmate Fowler told The Columbian. "I think we just did what any good person would do."

Nancy Simmons, a spokesperson for the Larch Corrections Center, told NBC News the brothers want to thank the inmates who helped and a meeting with their family is in the works.

This correction facility houses inmates who are not there for violent crimes and who generally have four years or less left on their sentences, Simmons said.

Related stories:

• Teen's dramatic rescue from floodwater torrent in Australia
• Elderly woman rescued from tree hanging off cliff edge over creek in New York

Hadiya Pendleton's family faced the most heart-breaking of tasks Thursday: choosing the dress the 15-year-old shooting victim will wear at her funeral.

"It's been 48 hours of nothing but love, but now they need some time alone," cousin Shatira Wilks said.

The Chicago teen's death on Tuesday -- just a week after she performed during President Barack Obama's inaugural festivities -- put her loved ones in the spotlight.

They consoled the high school sophomore's many friends and cousins. They met with the mayor and spoke to the city's top cop.

Then they asked to be left alone for a day, so they could finalize plans to say farewell to a girl whose death had made headlines across the country and to grieve together.

For Pendleton's 10-year-old brother, Nate, known as Junior, that meant spending time in his big sister's now-empty room.

"He has been sleeping in her bed at night," Wilks said. "It's really sad. He was a serious little brother. And she loved being a big sister."

Pendleton was gathered with fellow members of the volleyball team in a park near the selective King College Prep High School when a gunman opened fire on the group Tuesday afternoon.

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Hadiya Pendleton's parents, Nate and Cleo, and her 10-year-old brother, whom she called Junior.

Police believe the shooter mistakenly thought the teens were members of a rival gang hanging out on disputed turf. He has not been caught.

Pendleton's mother, Cleopatra Cowley, told MSNBC's Al Sharpton on Thursday how she was at work when she got the call that her daughter had been shot.

"I took the first cab I could come across to get to my baby," she said, racked with sobs. "Never in a million years did I imagine I would be getting a call that my baby was shot."

She spoke of her daughter's love of books, her wide-eyed trip to Washington and her promising future.

"She loved life ... and she didn’t want to be anything more than she was – and that was just 15," Cowley said.

The pastor of the family's church said there is a sliver of consolation in the knowledge that the teen's death is stirring more debate about crime and guns in a city where more than 500 people were murdered last year.

"Something has to be done," Pastor Courtney C. Maxwell said, not long after Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he was putting 200 more cops on the street. "I pray something positive comes out of this."

He said he had known Pendleton for about five years and was working on the tribute he will read to mourners at the Greater Deliverance Temple Church.

"What do you say about a young person to her hurt parents, to a hurt community, to a hurt nation?" he said.

Related:

• Friend: Slain Chicago teen said, 'I think I got shot,' then 'she just fell'
• Gunned down after 'the happiest day of her life'
• After Hadiya's death, Chicago to put 200 more cops on the street

Multnomah Sheriff's Office

Mohamed Osman Mohamud in a booking shot taken upon his arrest Nov. 26, 2010. Mohamud was found guilty on terror charges Thursday.

A federal jury found an Oregon man guilty of federal terrorism charges on Thursday, rejecting the defense team's argument that Mohamed Mohamud was entrapped or induced by a yearlong FBI sting that began to target him when he was a teenager.

Mohamud was accused of leading a plot to detonate a bomb at Portland's 2010 Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. But the device he thought was a bomb was a fake, supplied by undercover FBI agents posing as members of al-Qaida.

Mohamud sat still, giving no visible reaction as Thursday's verdict was read. His attorney, Steve Sady, later said an appeal was being planned after the scheduled May 14 sentencing.

"We are disappointed with the verdict," Sady said. "We obviously though he was entrapped."

Mohamud faces up to life in prison at his sentencing.

Prosecutors had argued that Mohamud was predisposed to terrorism as early as 15 years old.

Mohamud, now 21, traded emails with an al-Qaida lieutenant later killed in a drone strike. He also told undercover agents he would pose as a college student while preparing for violent jihad.

"We are hopeful that this will bring closure and healing to all of us here in Portland," said Amanda Marshall, U.S. Attorney for Oregon. "This case has been a difficult case for the city of Portland. It's been a particularly difficult case for Mohamed Mohamud's community, for his family, for the Somali community."

Mohamud was never called to testify. Instead, the jurors saw thousands of exhibits and heard hours of testimony from friends, parents, undercover FBI agents and experts in counterterrorism, teenage brain development and the psychology of the Muslim world.

"Mr. Mohamud made a series of choices over a period of several years — choices that were leading him down a path that would have ended in violence," said Greg Fowler, who leads the FBI office in Portland. "His actions showed little regard for the rights and responsibilities that come with being an American or respect for the lives that he was prepared to take."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight told the jury earlier this week that the decision would be easy. Mohamud pressed a keypad button on a black Nokia cellphone and intended to kill people. Whatever else they might think about the methods of undercover agents or the government's decision to investigate a teenager, the underlying decision was Mohamud's and the motivation was hatred of the West.

"It's too early to tell about sentencing specifically," Knight said on Thursday. "We'll have to wait and see what further investigation, the presentencing report, will say about the defendant."

Sady had argued that Mohamud wasn't radicalized by online recruiters or friends with jihadist leanings, but rather by a Justice Department hungry for convictions that ignored every caution sign along the way. Undercover agents manipulated Mohamud's faith and plied him with praise and the promise of a life leading other jihadis, Sady said.

Mohamud could be ordered to serve life in prison.

Previous story: Trial in Oregon's alleged Christmas bomb plot to turn on 'entrapment'

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

WTMJ-TV

Crews fight a huge fire in Burlington, Wis., at a food processing plant on Thursday, January 31.

A raging eight-alarm fire at a southeastern Wisconsin food processing plant that drew more than 80 fire departments was mostly contained Thursday afternoon, officials said.

The fire that had ravaged the family-owned Echo Lake Foods plant in Burlington, Wis., since about 6:05 p.m. Wednesday was out except for a few hot spots, Burlington Mayor Robert Miller said Thursday.

Miller said the plant had been evacuated safely and there were no injuries to either employees or firefighters. Police evacuated 10 homes in the area and one apartment building, Miller said.

More than 80 fire departments from several counties in Wisconsin responded to the scene, taking turns to control the blaze. The Racine Hazardous Materials Unit was also on the scene monitoring air quality because the plant contained ammonia and liquid oxygen tanks, Burlington City Administrator Kevin Lahner said.

Since temperatures hovered around 15 degrees while the fire burned, firefighters were rotated in and out.

Fire department personnel that had been dispatched were released back to their departments, and nearby residents that had been evacuated were allowed to return to their homes, Lahner said.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation Thursday and there were no estimates of damage, Lahner said.

Echo Lake Foods makes egg products and breakfast foods and is the third largest employer in Burlington with more than 300 employees. Burlington has a population of about 10,000 people.

Last week in Chicago, more than 200 firefighters battled a five-alarm blaze at an abandoned warehouse. Freezing temperatures left six to eight inches of ice on the building's exterior as the fire within rekindled several times.

Two days after a teen who performed at President Obama's inauguration weekend was gunned down, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to yank 200 cops from desk jobs and make them fight crime on the streets.

The reassignment was recommended by city officials last week, according to NBC Chicago, but it took on new significance Thursday as 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton became the face of Chicago's stubbornly high murder rate.

The sophomore was shot dead Tuesday while sheltering from the rain with fellow members of the volleyball team in a park near her well-regarded high-school, in an upscale section of Chicago's South Side less than a mile from President Obama's home.

The bullet that struck her upper back was meant for someone else, police said. No arrests have been made, and police increased the reward in the case to $24,000.

“When any young person in our city is gunned down without reason, it demands action from all of us,” Emanuel said at a press conference.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, shown here at a conference on gun violence, is set to announce he will put 200 more cops on the street.

“As we grieve for Hadiya, we need to work together to protect our greatest resource, the children of the city of Chicago.”

Emanuel said when he took office he redeployed 570 officers who were on desk duty and credited that with reducing Chicago’s overall crime rate by 8.5%, even as its murder rate increased.

There were more than 500 slayings in Chicago last year. That's about half the number there were in 1974, but still represented an increase over the previous year at a time when other cities are reporting steady decreases in homicides.

Hopes that 2013 would be less bloody were dashed by a grim statistic: 42 people were killed in Chicago this month, making it the deadliest January in more than a decade, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The death of Pendleton -- a majorette with the King College Prep marching band who traveled to Washington to take part in inauguration festivities -- sparked outrage across the nation.

At the White House, a spokesman said the Obamas were praying for her family. On Capitol Hill, her name was invoked during debate over gun control.

Emanuel said the police have been getting tips about who might have killed Pendleton and wounded a 16-year-old friend – both innocent victims caught in what investigators suspect was a gang-related turf war.

The mayor had a message for anyone with information: “Please step forward. That is what a good neighbor does.”

Hadiya Pendleton, center, with her school marching band in Washington a week before she was shot dead in Chicago.

Related:

Friend: Slain Chicago teen said, 'I think I got shot,' then 'she just fell'

Gunned down after 'the happiest day of her life'

Chicago shooting victim Hadiya Pendleton starred in anti-gang video

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Nate Pendleton comforts his son Nathaniel, 10, and his wife Cleopatra in a neighborhood park where his daughter Hadiya was killed.

Police in Seattle are investigating how a large package of marijuana wound up being delivered to the stock room of a local Kmart store.

Police said the package -- 10 pounds of marijuana wrapped in garbage bags and encircled by packing peanuts and pages from a Korean newspaper soaked with cleaning fluid -- arrived at the store shortly after noon Monday.

Delivery information on the package shows it was originally to be shipped by UPS from Los Angeles to Philadelphia, police said, but it never made it to the City of Brotherly Love.

Instead, the return address was to a longstanding Kmart in the north end of Seattle.

Store employees called police, and the marijuana was placed into evidence.

“Today’s Blue Light Special: 10 Pounds of Weed,” quipped the Seattle PD’s blog headline announcing the marijuana’s seizure in an obvious joke on the chain's venerable in-store sales gimmick. A call to the Seattle Kmart's manager was not answered.

Though owning pot is legal in Washington state, that big of a stash wouldn’t appear to pass the legal sniff test.

Voter-approved Initiative 502 makes it legal for anyone 21 or over to possess up to only an ounce of marijuana, 16 ounces of “solid marijuana-infused product” (pot brownies, cookies and such) or 72 ounces of “marijuana-infused liquid.”

Washington’s Liquor Control Board is working on rules to implement the state’s new recreational marijuana law and faces a Dec. 1 deadline.

Related stories

• Help wanted: Official marijuana consultant (no, really)
• So where will all that 'legal' pot come from? Sale of pot stymied

In its attempt to accommodate Muslim students' religious needs, a Maryland high school now allows those students who have parental permission and good grades to leave class every day to pray.

According to The Washington Post, about 10 Muslim students at Parkdale High School in Riverdale, Md., leave class for about eight minutes every day to pray. They are part of the school's Muslim Students’ Association, Principal Cheryl J. Logan told the Post, adding that another student is hoping to raise his grades so he can join the others.

Logan told the newspaper some teachers became upset when Muslim students began praying during the school day, but she explained that schools have to accommodate students who wish to practice their faith.

“I’ve been real happy with how we’ve been able to deal with it without it becoming an issue,” Logan told the Post.

While schools may restrict how students exercise their religious rights, the First Amendment guarantees they can practice their faith on school property.

Guidance provided by the Department of Education stipulates that schools "have the discretion to dismiss students to off-premises religious instruction, provided that schools do not encourage or discourage participation in such instruction or penalize students for attending or not attending.

"Similarly, schools may excuse students from class to remove a significant burden on their religious exercise, where doing so would not impose material burdens on other students," the guidance reads.

Courts have for years tried to determine when accommodation crosses the line into unconstitutional endorsement of religion, said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. The question of accommodating the Muslim faith, however, is relatively new.

"Public schools can't play favorites with religion," Mach said. "Whatever schools do to accommodate students' beliefs, it must be done fairly, equally and not to promote any one faith or encourage religious devotion in general."

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, said he has so far heard no complaints from Muslims about the school's policy. 

"We’re definitely in favor of the policy of allowing Muslim students or students of any faith to hold student-initiated and student-sponsored prayers, as the Constitution guarantees," he said.

If, however, the school begins to strictly enforce the high grades policy and denies a student who is struggling with his or her grades to pray, the organization would take a stand against that practice, Hooper said.

"As a parent, it sounds like a good idea, but I’m not sure that it conforms with what is required in terms of allowing students to pray in schools," he said. 

Some schools that have introduced similar policies to accommodate Muslim students have met challenges in the past. A San Diego, Calif., elementary school that had set aside prayer time stopped doing so after it received criticism. The school ultimately reconfigured the schedule so Muslim students could pray during lunch.

Hooper said his organization has dealt with similar cases in the past but managed to reach a compromise with the schools.

Four years before she became the innocent victim of what may have been a gang turf war, Hadiya Pendleton starred in an anti-gang public-service video.

Courtesy the Pendleton family

Hadiya Pendleton and friends on her visit to Washington for President Obama's inauguration. She was shot in Chicago a week later.

She was a sixth grader at Carter G. Woodson Elementary School when she delivered a message against the kind of violence that led to her death in a Chicago park on Tuesday.

"Hi, my name is Hadiya... this commercial is informational for you and your future children," she says in the video, which was first reported by DNAinfo.com.

"So many children out there are in gangs, and it's your job to say no to gangs and yes to your future."

The other girl in the video pointed out that too many kids are killed by gang violence, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Police say that appears to be exactly what happened to Pendleton, who was hanging out with volleyball teammates after school when a gunman opened fire on a group of teens. Only a week before, she had been part of a performance at President Obama's inauguration festivities.

Investigators believe the park Hadiya and her pals were in may have been at the center of a turf war, even though the kids were not affiliated with any gangs.

Pendleton's cousin, Shatira Wilks, said most of the family had never seen the video – part of an anti-violence project with the non-profit Digital Youth Network -- before it surfaced after her death.

"But it shows you about Hadiya's personality. She has always been a part of anything that represented good. She never liked being part of anything negative and that is why so many people loved her," Wilks said.

"This video is an affirmation, an acknowledgement of where she stood -- and the tragedy behind it is this is exactly how she died."

The Digital Youth Network said the student-produced piece was part of a project to counter violence through media, and called Pendleton a “learner and a creative voice.”

 “We are inspired by the passion Hadiya and the youth of Chicago have shown for sculpting a better future for themselves and others and will continue to support these efforts in any way we can,” the group said in a statement.

 At a press conference Thursday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city saw "both an increase in gun violence and gang-related activities" in the past year.

“Before a flame becomes a fire… put it out," he said in announcing new anti-crime measures.

Related stories:

• Friend: Slain Chicago teen said, 'I think I got shot,' then 'she just fell'
• Gunned down after 'the happiest day of her life'
• After Hadiya's death, Chicago to put 200 more cops on the street

Courtesy Volusia County Sheriff

Authorities say tow truck driver Matthew Dollarhide, 19, pocket-dialed 911 while he was talking about selling drugs with two passengers. Police later arrested and charged Dollarhide with drug paraphernalia possession.

A conversation with two passengers landed an Orange City, Fla., tow truck driver in jail after his cell phone pocket-dialed 911 and dispatchers listened in.

Authorities say 19-year-old Matthew Dollarhide was surprised when a Volusia County Sheriff's deputy pulled him over on Tuesday and asked why they were talking about selling drugs.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports deputies were alerted at 9:42 p.m. local time Tuesday and sent to a location where dispatchers said the phone signal was coming from.

From the conversation, dispatchers learned that they were driving a tow truck and heard the name "Harry." Deputies pulled over a "Harry's Towing" truck moments later.

Deputies found a crack pipe on Dollarhide. He was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. He told police the pipe belonged to his father.

Also on NBCMiami.com: State senator, local sheriff's office seek ban on texting and driving

The family of an Alabama boy abducted from his school bus and being held in an underground bunker is "holding on by a thread," a state representative said Thursday as the hostage drama stretched into a third day.

The boy, a 5-year-old named Ethan, is receiving necessary medication and appears to be calm and doing well, a state senator said.

A source close to the investigation told NBC News on Thursday that authorities had also managed to get crayons and coloring books to the boy.

The child was kidnapped Tuesday after school when a man stormed the bus and presented a note demanding that two children be handed over to him, the source said. When the driver refused, the man shot and killed him and grabbed the boy, authorities said. Twenty-one other children on the bus were able to escape.

On Wednesday, a source close to the investigation identified the suspected gunman to NBC News as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, of Midland City, describing him as a loner and a survivalist who "does not trust the government" and holds "anti-American views."

Hostage negotiators were still talking to the man in his bunker through a PVC pipe, but after a second night ended with no sign of progress in negotiations, Alabama state Rep. Steve Clouse told the TODAY show: "We are all just hoping this can come to a safe end."

He said the boy's family was "holding on by a thread."

The Dothan Eagle quoted a neighbor, Michael Creel, as describing the bunker as a "homemade bomb shelter," roughly 4 feet wide, 6 feet long and 8 feet deep and covered by several feet of sand. James Arrington, police chief in neighboring  Pinckard, where the bus was assaulted, told reporters Thursday that Dykes had been known to stay in it for as long as eight days.

Alabama state Sen. Harri Anne Smith told TODAY that negotiators had delivered medication that the boy needed, provided by his mother, and that he was believed to be calm and doing well. His mother has "taken comfort in that," she said.

In the remote town of Midland City, just north of the Alabama-Florida state line, people prayed for the boy's safe release.

"Right now, the whole town seems like they're just in a mourning stage," convenience store manager Carl McKenzie told NBC station WSFA of Montgomery. "I would go take that child's place if I could, just to get him out of danger."

Bus driver praised
Authorities offered no hints to the gunman's motive. Clouse said the kidnapping appeared random.

Read more: Hostage suspect was loner, missed court appearance

The gunman burst onto the yellow school bus about 3:40 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said. When the driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, tried to stop him from taking children off the bus, he was shot and killed. The source close to the investigation told NBC News that four spent bullets were found at the scene.

Read more: Slain bus driver remembered as hero

The county school system said 21 students had made it off the bus safely and praised Poland as a fallen hero. But the gunman made off with the one child, possibly because the boy fainted during the siege, according to WSFA.

Clouse said gratitude was being expressed for Poland's actions, telling TODAY: "He started the day as a bus driver and ended it a hero."

Linda Williams, a county tax clerk whose cousin was married to Poland, described him to NBC News as "a good Christian man" who was active in church.

"It says in the Bible the meek will inherit the Earth," brother-in-law Melvin Skipper told the Eagle. "He was the meekest man I knew."

Poland's neighbor Hilburn Benton told the newspaper that Poland refused to accept payment for work on his yard two years ago. "He told me, "You're my friend and you're my neighbor. I'm not charging you a dime,'" Benton recalled.

Suspect faced previous charges
Dykes had been due in court Wednesday morning to face a misdemeanor charge of menacing James E. Davis Jr., a neighbor who accused him of firing a pistol at his truck Dec. 10. The Montgomery Advertiser reported that the dispute was over a makeshift speed bump.

Dale County Board of Education

Charles Albert Poland Jr., who had driven a school bus for Dale County, Ala., since 2009, was shot and killed.

Rhonda Wilbur told WSFA that Dykes was a longtime source of concern in the neighborhood because "he has been like a time bomb waiting for him to go off." Wilbur told reporters that Dykes had beaten her dog to death with a lead pipe.

In addition to the county sheriff's department, the FBI and a SWAT team were on the scene. A woman answering the phone at the Midland City Police Department said the FBI had taken over and that local police were no longer involved. Authorities ordered people living nearby to leave during the standoff.

Schools in Dale County and the nearby city of Ozark were closed for the rest of the week. Dale County schools said counselors would be available to help students, including those who were on the bus.

M. Alex Johnson, Gabe Gutierrez, Isolde Raftery and Alastair Jamieson of NBC News contributed to this report.

The Dothan Eagle via AP

A man boarded this stopped school bus in the town of Midland City, Ala., on Tuesday afternoon and shot the driver when he refused to let a child off the bus. The bus driver died.

WDIV

Dozens of cars and trucks were involved in a pileup on I-75 in Michigan on Thursday.

A massive chain-reaction crash on an interstate highway in Detroit on Thursday killed three people, including two children, and left at least 40 injured, local authorities said. That was the first of three major pileups reported on icy Michigan roads Thursday amid blinding snow squalls.

The accident on I-75 in Detroit, which involved cars as well as semi trucks, killed two children in one vehicle and one adult in another vehicle, Michigan State Police confirmed. There were six crash scenes over an approximately one-mile-long stretch, involving 30-35 vehicles, they said. In total, 300-400 vehicles were on the stretch of roadway, most of them blocked by the wreckage.

Motorists and passengers who were able to climb out of their vehicles huddled together on the side of the road, some visibly distraught, others looking dazed. A man and woman hugged under the gray, cloud-filled skies, a pair of suitcases next to them and a bumper on the ground behind.

Motorists interviewed by the Detroit Free Press described a sudden snow squall that whipped through the area, blinding them. Drivers slammed on their brakes and then slid on the icy road, they said.

"It got real bad, real quick," Greg Galuszka of Brownstown Township told the paper. "It turned to ice real quick."

The accident started in the southbound lanes of the I-75 bridge across the Rouge River in southwest Detroit, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

At least a dozen people were transported to area hospitals to be treated for injuries, including broken bones, head trauma and lacerations, the Free Press reported, citing Detroit EMS Chief Jerald James. He said at least 30 more people were treated for injuries at the scene.

Many people in the cars had left their vehicles and moved a safe distance from the crash, according to WDIV. The Red Cross was on the scene handing out blankets, food and beverages as authorities worked to clear the debris and get the busy thoroughfare reopened.

Michael Conroy / AP

Police and emergency personal work the scene of a pileup involving more than 40 vehicles, many of the semi truck trailers, on I-70 in Plainfield, Ind., Thursday.

Elsewhere in Michigan, a pileup of about 10 tractor-trailers and about six cars on westbound I-94 caused some injuries, but no fatalities had been reported, according to state police.

A third multiple-car crash took place on U.S. Highway 23 in Genesee County, according to Chris Swanson in the sheriff's office. What began with a rolled pickup truck quickly escalated into a massive pileup that included 52 cars and five semi-trucks, he said. There were no fatalities, though 14 people were transported to hospitals with varying degrees of injury, none of which was considered life-threatening, Swanson said.

The state's transportation department is providing frequent updates on all three accidents through its Twitter account. At about 3:30 ET, the department tweeted that all lanes of I-75 had been reopened.

Michigan didn't get its first major snowfall until after Christmas — later than usual. Like most of the Midwest, it was expected to get less snow than normal as major storm systems veered to the north and south of the state.

But Detroit is apparently now experiencing snow caused by the "lake effect," when a cold wave crosses over the warmer-than-normal water of the Great Lakes.

WXYZ-TV in Detroit reported a winter weather advisory in effect until 7 p.m. Thursday.

"Watch for bursts of heavy snow and icy roads.... Snow accumulations of 2-4 inches will be possible with these intense snow bands," with winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour, according to the forecast. "Visibilities could go close to zero in the heaviest bands of snow."

Meanwhile, another multicar crash was being reported on I-70 in Hendricks County, Ind., NBC affiliate WTHR reported. According to the initial accounts, that pileup involves dozens of vehicles and serious injuries. The report cites snow squalls and slippery roads there as well and says the interstate is shut down in both directions at the site west of Indianapolis, near mile marker 65.

Updated at 7:24 p.m. ET: An assistant district attorney in Texas was gunned down Thursday morning in what appears to be a targeted attack, police say.

Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was shot multiple times while walking from the parking lot toward the county courthouse at about 8 a.m. local time, officials said. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he later died.

When asked if Hasse appeared to have been targeted by his attacker, Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said, "I would say from all appearances it is. But we have no concrete information on that. We're pursuing every avenue right now."

NBCDFW.com

Authorities investigate the Kaufman County Tax Office drive-thru after a deadly shooting on Thursday.

"We suffered a devastating loss today. We lost a really, really good man. He was an excellent friend and a spectacular prosecutor. He will not be easily replaced. He will be sorely missed by everybody in the office," said Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney Mike McLelland. "I hope that the people that did this are watching because we are very confident that we are going to find you, pull you out of whatever hole you're in, bring you back and let the people of Kaufman County prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."

Chris Aulbaugh, the Kaufman Chief of Police, said no official arrests have been made in connection with the shooting but that they are following up on several leads, including multiple witness reports from various angles around the crime scene.

Agents with the ATF, FBI, the Texas Rangers and State Troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety are at the scene assisting local and county law enforcement with the investigation.

Also on NBCDFW.com: Friend of slain asst. DA speaks out

Police said witnesses have reported two shooters wearing all black, one or both of them possibly wearing a tactical-type vest, and driving an older, silver Ford Taurus. Aulbaugh said they have not yet confirmed that there were two people involved in the shooting and if the shooter(s) were wearing a tactical jacket as described.

Police taped off the parking lot near the Tax Assessor/Collectors office, which is near the courthouse and is commonly used by judges and prosecutors. Officers later expanded the taped-off area to include two city blocks. Several streets around the courthouse and parking lot are closed as the shooting is investigated.

Investigators said they were not aware of any threats made toward Hasse and that they didn't know of any cases that might explain the shooting, but that Hasse was aware of the dangers associated with his profession.

"Mark was fully aware of the dangers of this job. He accepted them readily and was, as I said before, an absolutely stellar prosecutor and good friend," said McLelland. "Tell the people that they have lost an outstanding man who will not be easily replaced."

Eric Smenner, a friend of Hasse's, told NBC 5's Scott Gordon that while it was too soon to say what may have led to the shooting, Hasse had dealt with cases involving methamphetamine in the county, gangs and white supremacist groups. He described Hasse as a hard-working lawyer who "loved to tell stories" and often put dangerous criminals behind bars.

Tonya Radcliffe, a board member on the Kaufman County Appraisal District whose office is adjacent to the scene of the shooting, said a staff member heard the gunshots and called police. Radcliffe said she and her staff of about 25 are in the building and under lockdown.

Also on NBCDFW.com: More coverage on this story

During the early stages of the investigation, a hospital, several schools and county buildings, including the Tax Assessor/Collector's office, were locked down as a precaution. With Thursday being the last day for people to pay property taxes without a penalty, officials advised Kaufman County residents that they could still pay taxes using the county's pay by phone option or make payments in person at sub-courthouses and drop boxes.

A 36,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunman is being offered with $10,000 coming from Kaufman County Crime Stoppers, $10,000 from a local Kaufman business and donations continue to pour in from local businesses. As always, tipsters may remain anonymous.

Anyone with information is asked to call Kaufman County Crime Stoppers at 1-877-TIPS-KCC.

NBCDFW.com Editor's Note: Greenville ISD was under lockdown due to a search for robbery suspects. The lockdown was not related to the Kaufman County shooting.

NBC 5's Randy McIlwain, Scott Gordon, Ken Kalthoff, Keaton Fox and Deborah Ferguson contributed to this report.

A Washington, D.C., area volunteer firefighter had to have his arm surgically reattached after suffering serious injuries in a crash on the Beltway early Wednesday morning.

Several other people were also hurt, though less seriously, when a fire truck was involved in a chain-reaction crash.

The fire crew, from the West Lanham Hills Volunteer Fire Department, had responded to a minor accident on the Beltway early Wednesday near the eastbound exit for John Hanson Highway when their truck was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer, reported News 4's Jackie Bensen.

A Jeep was also involved in the resulting collision and overturned. All the occupants of all three vehicles were injured, including four firefighters.

Read more at NBCWashington.com

The firefighter with the most severe injuries has not been named. But police said he was transported to MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore to have his arm surgically reattached.

Late Wednesday evening, authorities confirmed that his arm had been reattached and that blood was flowing into it. There was no update on his overall condition or other injuries.

Investigators say the fire truck was making a U-turn in a cut-through labeled "Emergency Vehicles Only" when it was struck. After responding to the earlier crash, the crew put the truck in an "out of service" status, meaning lights and siren were not in use.

The truck is authorized to use the cut-through, authorities said.

The accident is being investigated by Prince George’s Police, Prince George’s County Fire and Maryland State Police.

High winds and heavy rains brought more misery to the Eastern Seaboard Thursday, a day after a squall line thundered across the South and produced widespread flooding, tornadoes and violent storms that leveled homes and killed at least two people.

The National Weather Service issued watches and warnings predicting damaging winds, flooding and perhaps even more tornadoes as the storm system pushed toward the Atlantic.

Major cities including Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York were lashed by gusts of up to 60 mph Thursday, strong enough to topple trees and bring down power lines. The accompanying storms could bring up to an inch of rain per hour and lead to flash flooding, the weather service said. 

Even stronger winds, gusting to 65 mph, were predicted for Boston and parts of New England.

Nearly 430,000 homes and businesses were without electricity following the storm Thursday, about half of them in Massachusetts, according to National Grid and Western Mass. The rest of the outages were spread throughout the Northeast and included nearly 74,000 customers in Connecticut, 74,000 in Rhode Island and 37,000 in New Jersey, according to local utility providers.

Traffic delays were also in effect due to the windy conditions. Some flights to Newark International Airport were delayed more than two and a half hours and flights going to LaGuardia Airport in New York were delayed a little more than an hour, according to the FAA.

On Wednesday, eight different states confirmed tornadoes: Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi and Indiana.

The hardest-hit area was Adairsville, Ga., where a tornado ripped through Interstate 75, overturning cars and destroying homes and businesses.

“The sky was swirling,” Theresa Chitwood, who owns the Adairsville Travel Plaza, told the Associated Press.

Anthony Raines, 51, was killed when a tree crashed down on his mobile home, crushing him in his bed, Bartow County Coroner Joel Guyton told the Associated Press. Nine other people were hospitalized for minor injuries, authorities said.

Another death reported from the storms was in Tennessee, where a tree fell Tuesday onto a storage shed a man had taken shelter in.

David Goldman / AP

Workers look for personal belongings after a tornado struck Adairsville, Ga., Wednesday.

The Adairsville Supermarket, a 55,000-square-foot staple in the town since 1958, was reduced to a massive pile of rubble, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.  Only a few people were inside at the time of destruction, but all of them managed to escape unscathed, the store’s owner Dilip Patel told the newspaper.

Across the street, a hotel was also a nearly-flattened pile of rubble and most of the roof was gone.

“It was like you just opened it up with a can opener,” Trish Cooper, a hotel guest, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You could just see everything.”

The storms were largely caused by a mass of cold air and high winds colliding with warm, wet air from the Gulf of Mexico that brought balmy temperatures to much of the East and Midwest.

As the cold air takes hold, a return to winter proper follows suit.

Winter storm warnings were in effect Thursday in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, while parts of the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest hunkered down under wind chills predicted to dip as low as 55 degrees below zero in North Dakota.

"Dangerous wind chills of 20-50 degrees below zero are possible for the Dakotas and Minnesota," Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said.

In more populous areas, including the Twin Cities, wind chills had potential to reach minus 40 degrees, the weather service said.

Those in the Upper Midwest who escape the worst of the wind chills still won’t have it easy. Forecasters warned of heavy lake-effect snows from Wisconsin to Western New York.

Skip Butler / The Daily Tribune News via AP

Emergency crews rescue Brenda Mulkey, injured at her home when a suspected tornado touched down in Adairsville, Ga. Wednesday.

Related:

• Tornado rips through Georgia city as storms wreak havoc
• Full coverage from weather.com