LAS VEGAS
Cirque du Soleil performer dies after fall during show
A Paris-born performer in Cirque du Soleil’s “Ka” died after a fall during a show Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Sarah Guyard-Guillot was pronounced dead late Saturday at a hospital after falling about 50 feet from the show’s stage.
Visitor Dan Mosqueda of Colorado Springs, Colo., said the 31-year-old acrobatic performer was being hoisted up the side of the stage when it appeared that she slipped free of her safety wire and plummeted to an open pit below the stage.
“Initially, a lot of people in the audience thought it was part of the (show),” he said. “But you could hear screaming, then groaning, and we could hear a female artist crying from the stage.”
The show momentarily continued, then stopped, and the crowd was dismissed.
NEW YORK
Sightseeing helicopter loses power, lands in Hudson River
A charter helicopter carrying a family of four Swedes on a sightseeing tour of New York City lost power shortly after takeoff Sunday and made an emergency landing on the Hudson River, authorities said.
The pilot and occupants were uninjured.
The helicopter landed shortly before noon in the section of the river near 79th Street by the New York City Marina.
Deputy Fire Chief Thomas McKavanaugh said the helicopter had taken off from the Wall Street Heliport and lost power after 12 minutes in the air.
The pilot used the craft’s pontoons, and it remained upright as it landed.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the helicopter, a Bell 206, is registered to New York Helicopter, which offers sightseeing tours.
TOPEKA, Kan.
Judge refuses to block parts of new state abortion law
The chief federal judge in Kansas refused Sunday to temporarily block parts of a new state abortion law, including a requirement that providers’ websites link to a state site with information they dispute.
Under the law, a provider’s home page will have to link to a Kansas Department of Health and Environment site on abortion and fetal development.
— From news service reports
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