Burned hot dogs lead to fatal fire

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Fire investigators in Birmingham say hot dogs left unattended on a stove led to a blaze that killed an 81-year-old woman and her son.

Authorities say the woman and her son who died Monday night are among four people in Birmingham to die in 2013 because of food left unattended on a stove. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief C.W. Mardis said 24 fires have started because of unattended food in the city this year.

AL.com reported the man was hospitalized at UAB for smoke inhalation and later died. The woman was found dead in a bedroom. Officials have not released the victims' identities.

20 are charged with sex crimes

ATLANTA - Authorities say more than 20 people have been arrested on charges related to child exploitation and prostitution in an operation designed to coincide with Atlanta's hosting the NCAA Final Four.

FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said a busy weekend in Atlanta increased probability of child prostitution and recovery of victims associated with it. The FBI Metro Atlanta Child Exploitation Task Force and eight local and state agencies worked together between April 4 and April 8 in Operation Intentional Foul. Emmett said 21 people were arrested.

Authorities said Brianne Marcelin, 23; Lovell Barnett and Kourtes Laster-Johnson, both 18; and Bryan Bailey, 29, were arrested along with 17 others.

Emmett said authorities recovered seven juvenile victims.

Big hole closes greenway section

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Officials in Murfreesboro have closed a section of a greenway after a second hole opened in the ground near the path.

City Engineer Chris Griffith told The Daily News Journal he doesn't believe the void is a sinkhole.

The hole is 8 feet across and about 4 feet deep. A crew dug into it and found wet soil, leading Griffith to suspect a leak in an irrigation pipe that runs under the hole, 22 feet down.

The hole formed under a lamp post along the Gateway trail, knocking it over.

The city fixed a similar hole that formed nearby last week and determined that one was caused by a leaking pipe.

Teen charged with school arson

DYERSBURG, Tenn. - Dyersburg police have arrested an 18-year-old student in connection with a fire set at Dyersburg High School that is being investigated along with several other fires in the area.

Police said Monday in a news release that Dillon McKinney has been charged with arson and burglary for the April 2 early-morning fire at the school. He is a student at the school, according to police.