Seven people, including children, were killed Wednesday evening in Truxton, N.Y., when a trailer detached from a tractor-trailer rig and hit a minivan, authorities said.

Cortland County Sheriff's Capt. Mark Helms told NBC News that seven of the eight occupants of the minivan were killed. The accident occurred at approximately 6:05 p.m. ET Wednesday, according to a statement from the sheriff's office.

The four children and three adults who died in the accident were identified later Thursday.

Teresa Bush, 26, died in the crash along with her two daughters, Alexis Bush, 4, and Jasmine Bush, 5, according to the sheriff's office. Lena Beckwith, 21; Carino Vanorden, 24; Alyssa Mead, 7; and Tyler Mead, 4, also died.

The father of two of the children killed in the crash, Shawn Mead, was being treated at Upstate Medical Center with unspecified injuries, according to the sheriff’s office.

The two occupants of the tractor-trailer, which was hauling crushed cars for a salvage company, weren't injured in the accident, which occurred on Route 13 in Truxton, about 25 miles south of Syracuse.

The driver was identified as Ryan Dorward, 26, and his passenger as Duane Newton, 44. The investigation is ongoing.

There were thunderstorms in the area Wednesday evening, but it wasn't known whether weather played a role in the crash. Thousands of customers were reported to be without power in the area after the storms swept through.

NBC News' Matthew DeLuca contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published on Wed May 29, 2013 11:41 PM EDT

Two airplanes clipped while preparing to take off from the runway at Newark Airport Wednesday evening, officials said. 

Scandinavian Airlines Flight 908, headed to Oslo, clipped its left wing against the tail of ExpressJet Flight 4226, which was going to Nashville, officials said. The planes were taxiing for departure shortly before 7:30 p.m.

The Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A330 was directly behind the ExpressJet Embraer E145 on a taxiway, and was turning right to get onto another taxiway.

The ExpressJet plane was towed back to the gate, and the SAS plane taxied back to the gate. Passengers were taken off both planes. No injuries were reported. 

The accident is being investigated. Scandinavian Airlines, which has hubs in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, didn't immediately respond to telephone messages and emails seeking comment.

ExpressJet Airlines released a statement Wednesday night saying it is "working in coordination with officials to determine a cause." 

ExpressJet, which bills itself as the world's largest regional airline, operates as a United Express partner from United's Newark hub. United, which has headquarters in Chicago, is part of United Continental Holdings Inc.

Passengers aboard a Carnival cruise that returned to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Sunday said they spent hours in long lines waiting to get off the ship.

The Carnival Freedom docked at Port Everglades early Sunday morning, but some passengers said they were still stuck on the ship by the afternoon, according to NBC affiliate WPTV.

A sign posted at the port blamed the long lines on sequester cuts.

"Due to Federal budget cuts, U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffing has been reduced and wait times may be longer than usual," the sign read. "Thank you for your understanding and patience."

More from NBCMiami.com

Carnival acknowledged the longer wait times and said they shouldn't affect the itinerary for the ship, which was scheduled to depart later Sunday.

"The Customs and Immigration process for debarking guests has taken quite a bit longer than normal. It is our understanding that more than one cruise line at Port Everglades is experiencing similar circumstances," the company's statement said.

"We do not anticipate any impact to the ship's itinerary for the next voyage which will depart later today. We regret the inconvenience our guests have experienced during today's debark and clearance process."

NBCMiami.com

Related:

More trouble for Carnival: One ship stuck as a second limps home

First suit filed after Carnival Triumph mishap

Coast Guard finds fuel leak caused engine fire on Carnival Triumph

A winter storm swept across the Southwest and into the Great Plains on Wednesday, threatening as much as 2 feet of snow in some places and forcing the suspension of play at a pro golf tournament in Arizona.

“A busy clubhouse here in Tucson,” golfer Graeme McDowell posted on Twitter from the WGC/Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain. “Hot chocolates and teas and generally trying to warm up again.”

The storm had already left dozens of cars stranded on California roads. Treacherous weather there caused collisions that resulted in minor injuries. Part of busy Interstate 5 south of Bakersfield was closed because of ice.

As it moved east, the storm was expected to bring as much as 16 inches of snow to Flagstaff, Ariz., and high wind and blowing dust to Albuquerque, N.M., The Weather Channel reported.

In Colorado, transportation officials steeled for one of the most significant snows of the season. The western half of the state was bracing for as much as 10 inches of snow, The Weather Channel said.

The storm was expected to deliver a harder hit to the Plains. Snow was accumulating quickly Wednesday in Oklahoma, and NBC affiliate KSN reported that roads were packed with snow in southwest Kansas. Schools and churches in both states closed.

The storm picked up strength from moist air streaming up from the Gulf of Mexico and a blast of cold air delivered by an arctic high-pressure system over the Plains.

By Thursday, parts of Kansas could see 2 feet of snow, Nebraska up to a foot and a half and Iowa up to a foot. Sleet and freezing rain could snarl travel in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri, The Weather Channel reported.

More coverage from weather.com

By Friday, the threat of ice will reach parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky and into the Appalachian Mountains, forecasters said.

Forecasting models say parts of New England, including Boston, could be in for more snow this weekend — perhaps a foot or more in inland parts of Massachusetts and points north.

New England was hammered two weeks ago by a blizzard that dumped more than 3 feet of snow in some places, and last weekend a more moderate storm packing strong wind complicated flights there.

KCRA-TV

A woman plays with her dog in heavy snow in Northern California.

This story was originally published on Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:34 AM EST

U.S. gas prices have hit a four-month high with 32 straight days of increases at the pump bringing misery to spring breakers and job hunters.

The Automobile Association of America said Monday that the national average for a gallon of regular is $3.73 -- 43 cents more than a month ago -- with prices topping $4 in California and Hawaii.

"It's become the perfect storm," AAA spokeswoman Nancy White said.

White and other experts blamed a series of factors for the uptick that started in mid-January:

-- Some refineries are switching over from winter to summer fuel, which is more expensive to produce.

-- A Hess refinery in New Jersey that supplies 7.5 percent of the Northeast's gas is closing.

-- Midwinter maintenance has led some refineries to go offline temporarily.

-- Demand for gas is up, fueled in part by the return of more people to working.

The price hikes come at a bad time, however, for Americans who are still out of work or facing smaller paychecks because of higher payroll taxes.

"Try the bad gas prices while trying to find a job," one unemployed driver vented on the Facebook page for GasBuddy.com, which tracks fuel prices around the nation.

Patrick DeHaan, an analyst with the website, said many cities have seen increases of 8 cents to 20 cents in just the past week. "This is what we usually see in late winter, early spring, but prices have started to rally two months earlier than usual," he said.

He said his firm's unscientific user surveys suggest that the pinch at the pump could lead to less travel over spring break in March and April and changes in plans for Memorial Day and even the summer.

"There are people predicting that it will go over $5 a gallon," DeHaan said. "I don't believe that's possible, but it shows how concerned motorists are."

On the Facebook page, many posters were worried that the rise in gas prices could cause an economic meltdown.

"When you raise prices on gas people will stop spending money because they need to get back and forth to work and pay their bills each month," one wrote.

"If it's this high right now, imagine what it's gonna be here in a few months!" another fretted.

White of AAA said that based on historical trends, prices will likely continue to rise into the warmer months and driving season, but not at the same pace they did in 2011 and 2012, when developments in Libya and Iran caused big spikes.

"That is not so much part of the picture right now," she said. "But that could change should something else happen overseas."

This story was originally published on Mon Feb 18, 2013 3:24 PM EST

Kootenai County Sheriff, file

Joe Hundley was charged with assault after allegedly hitting a 19-month-old boy who had started to cry aboard a Delta flight.

A man accused of uttering a racial slur and slapping another passenger's crying toddler during a flight has been fired in the wake of the alleged incident.

Joe Hundley, 60, from Hayden, Idaho, was charged with assault after he allegedly hit the 19-month-old boy who had started to cry during the airplane’s descent, NBC station KARE reported.

According to court documents, the child’s mother Jessica Bennett alleges Hundley leaned over and said, "Shut that [N-word] baby up!" before slapping the child. This caused him to bleed and cry even harder, his mother told KARE.

'Offensive and disturbing'
The Boise Weekly reported that Bennett's story was supported by another passenger who was aboard the Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta on Feb. 8. That could not be independently confirmed by NBC News.

Hundley is no longer working for Idaho-based aircraft component manufacturer, Unitech, its parent company AGC Aerospace and Defense said in a statement on its website Sunday:

“Reports of the recent behavior of one of our business unit executives while on personal travel are offensive and disturbing. We have taken this matter very seriously and worked diligently to examine it since learning of the matter on Friday afternoon. As of Sunday, the executive is no longer employed with the company.

“We wish to emphasize that the behavior that has been described is contradictory to our values, embarrassing and does not in any way reflect the patriotic character of the men and women of diverse backgrounds who work tirelessly in our business.”

In an interview with KARE, Bennett said Hundley appeared intoxicated, accusing him of becoming increasingly obnoxious during the flight.

"He reeked of alcohol," Bennett said.  "He was belligerent and I was uncomfortable."

Hundley's attorney, Marcia Shein of Atlanta, has said that her client will plead not guilty to the charge.

Shein told Reuters that she has received hate mail over her defense of Hundley, but added that she believes her client has been misunderstood.

"He is not a racist," Shein said. "I'm going to make that real clear because that's what people are suggesting."

"There's background information people don't know about, and in time it will come out," she said.

The Spokesman-Review newspaper of Spokane, Wash., reported that Hundley had denied the allegations.

“I can only say it’s an absolute falsehood,” the Spokesman-Review quoted Hundley as saying. 

Unfortunately for the security at Denver International Airport, furry troublemakers are invading their large parking lot.

Officials with the U.S. Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services in the Denver area claim that rabbits are chewing wires under the hoods of cars, according to the Los Angeles Times. The animals are causing hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in damage.

Although officials have been removing 100 rabbits from the area every month, the damage continues. The persistent presence of rabbits can be attributed to the fact that the airport is surrounded by a prairie and the rabbits look to the vehicles for warmth and food.

"They come to the recently driven cars for warmth, and once they're there, they find that many of the materials used for coating ignition cables are soy-based, and the rabbits find that quite tasty," Wiley Faris, a spokesman for the nearby Arapahoe Autotek repair center, said.

Nearby apartment buildings have also been complaining about the animals. "A lot of people have called us," Faris said. "They return to their cars and either they won't start or they don't run well because the wires are all chewed up."

The perpetrators were identified by the fur and pellets they left behind.
 
The damage the rabbits cause can be very serious due to repair costs that can run into the thousands and are often not covered by insurance. Airport officials also say parking permits specify that they are not responsible for damages, putting the burden on the driver.

"I see at least dozens every morning. They go hide under the cars, and the cars are warm," airport shuttle driver Michelle Anderson told CBS Denver.

Although the rabbits have caused problems, officials have only received a handful of complaints according to Laura Coale, a spokeswoman for the airport.

"We have 53 square miles of land," she said. "We had 4.3 million parking transactions in 2012, and we only received three claims. People are not coming to us. They go to the newspaper and say their damage happened here. Why here, versus any other place in Colorado?"

Officials are exploring ways to help solve the problem, including fencing, perches for hawks and eagles, and even coating wires with coyote urine.

"Predator urine is a good deterrent," Faris said. "Either coyotes or foxes. And you can pick it up at any professional hunting shop. That stuff can take care of the critter damage pretty quick."