News of the day from across the nation, March 1

Authorities said an elderly driver slammed into a marching band during a Mardi Gras parade on the Alabama coast, critically injuring four young people and leaving eight with less-severe injuries.

City spokesman Grant Brown says the band from Gulf Shores High School had just entered the parade route for Fat Tuesday when a vehicle behind the group lurched forward into the group.

On Wednesday, state officials will end a program that has helped pay residents’ bills since a series of ill-fated decisions by state-appointed emergency managers left the city’s water system contaminated with lead.

Since that 2014 disaster, the state has spent roughly $41 million in credits to help offset local utility bills.

The American Cancer Society estimates about 13,500 new cases of colon and rectal cancers will be diagnosed in Americans under 50 this year, with more than 95,500 cases of colon cancer and nearly 40,000 cases of rectal cancer in all age groups.

In his first major speech in Washington, D.C., as the nation’s top law enforcement official, Attorney General Jeff Sessions promised Tuesday to launch an aggressive crackdown on a surge in homicides and violent crime that he warned could be the harbinger of a long-term rise in street violence.