May 17, 2021 4:20 am
HOUSTON (AP) – A tiger that frightened residents after it was last seen briefly wandering around a Houston neighborhood was transported to a wildlife sanctuary on Sunday after police found the animal a day earlier following a nearly week-long search. Noelle Almrud, senior director of the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch says the 9-month-old male named India is now being cared for at the animal sanctuary in Murchison, Texas, located southeast of Dallas. Authorities had been looking for the tiger since it was spotted May 9 in a west Houston neighborhood and was nearly shot by an off-duty deputy before being whisked away in a car by Victor Hugo Cuevas, who police allege is the owner. Cuevas’ attorney says his client doesn’t own the tiger.
May 17, 2021 4:17 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A smoky wildfire churning through a Los Angeles canyon community gained strength Sunday as about a thousand residents remained under evacuation orders while others were warned they should get ready to leave. There was zero containment. No structures have been damaged and no injuries have been reported in the wildfire that broke out late Friday in the Santa Monica Mountains. Vegetation in the area is very dry and hasn’t burned in more than 50 years. The cause of the fire near Topanga State Park has been deemed “suspicious” and is under investigation. Two suspects were detained for questioning.
May 17, 2021 4:15 am
SIBLEY, Iowa (AP) – A fiery train derailment in northwest Iowa has sent thick black smoke billowing into the air, prompting authorities to evacuate part of a small, nearby town. The derailment happened around 2 p.m. Sunday on the southwest edge of Sibley, which is a town of about 3,000 people roughly 200 miles northwest of Des Moines. Images of the derailment posted online show dozens of train cars piled up along the tracks with flames and a large plume of smoke. Union Pacific said 47 cars derailed. Local media reports say authorities evacuated an area within 5 miles of the derailment. Sibley Fire Chief Ken Huls told KIWA radio the train was hauling fertilizer and ammonium nitrate. No injuries were reported immediately.
May 17, 2021 4:14 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A former suburban Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree manslaughter in Daunte Wright’s death is scheduled to appear in court via videoconference. Former Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter has an omnibus hearing, also known as a pretrial hearing, Monday afternoon in Hennepin County. The hearing is to go over evidence and determine if there is probable cause for a case to proceed. Wright was a 20-year-old Black motorist who was killed April 11 after a traffic stop. The former Brooklyn Center police chief has said he believes Potter meant to use her Taser on Wright but fired her handgun instead.
May 17, 2021 4:11 am
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israeli warplanes have staged another series of heavy airstrikes in Gaza City hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gaza’s Hamas rulers would rage on. The attack was heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed. The strike early Sunday was the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. The Israeli military said it attacked the homes of nine Hamas commanders. There have been no immediate reports of injuries from Monday’s attacks, and in the predawn darkness there is little information on the extent of damage inflicted.
May 17, 2021 4:06 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Authorities in western Pennsylvania say first responders freed a man and woman from a car found on railroad tracks in Pittsburgh. Police say a Pittsburgh officer noticed the four-door vehicle on the tracks shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday. Firefighters and medics and firefighters were able to get the man and woman out of the car and carry them over the railing. They were taken to a hospital and considered to be in stable condition. Police said they believe the car may have entered the CSX tracks from a service road in nearby McKees Rocks.
May 17, 2021 2:30 am
BUFFALO TWP., Pa. — One person is dead and another in jail after a shooting at a graduation party in Washington County on Saturday. Richard Lawrence Rollison, 54, was charged with homicide after a shooting incident at his home in the 500 block of Pleasant Valley Road, Buffalo Township. According to the criminal complaint, police responded to the shooting at 10 p.m. and found that one person was shot twice in the chest. Spent shell casings were found around the victim, the document states. The victim was identified as William Newman Jr. Pennsylvania State police said witnesses reported that during a graduation party at the home they heard a “pop” around 9:50 p.m. and Rollison was found in the sunroom with the victim lying on his back on a concrete slab outside the sunroom. A witness reported that she asked Rollison if he had stabbed the person, and he responded, “no, I shot him.” Police said Rollison is known to carry a firearm, and a handgun belonging to him was found on the bed in his bedroom and matched the caliber of the spent shell casings. According to the document, all the witnesses reported that Rollison and the victim were the only ones outside. He is currently held in the Washington County Jail after bail was denied. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 24.
May 16, 2021 8:21 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Joe Biden, under political pressure, agreed to admit four times as many refugees this budget year as his predecessor did, but resettlement agencies concede the number actually allowed into the U.S. will be closer to the record-low cap of 15,000 set by former President Donald Trump. Refugee advocates say they are grateful for the increase because it’s symbolically important to show the world the United States is back as a humanitarian leader at a time when the number of refugees worldwide is the highest since World War II. But they’re frustrated, too, because more refugees could have been admitted if Biden hadn’t dragged his feet. “About 10,000 to 15,000 is what we’re expecting,” said Jenny Yang of World Relief, adding that Biden’s inaction for months after taking office in January was “definitely problematic.” Biden first proposed raising the cap to 62,500 in February in a plan submitted to Congress, but then refused to sign off on it for two months before coming back April 16 and suggesting he was sticking with Trump’s target. Democratic allies and refugee advocates lambasted him, saying he was reneging on his campaign promise in the face of bipartisan criticism over his handling of an increase in unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border. Weeks later, on May 3, Biden raised the cap. So far this year only about 2,500 refugees have arrived, with less than five months left before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
May 16, 2021 8:17 am
LONDON (AP) — Travelers in England were packing their bags, bartenders were polishing their glasses and performers were warming up as Britain prepared Sunday for a major step out of lockdown — but with clouds of worry on the horizon. Excitement at the reopening of travel and hospitality vied with anxiety that a more contagious virus variant first found in India is spreading fast and could delay further plans to reopen. Cases of the variant have more than doubled in a week in the U.K., defying a sharp nationwide downward trend in infections and deaths won by hard-earned months of restrictions and a rapid vaccination campaign. A surge testing and stepped-up vaccination effort was being conducted in the northern England areas hardest hit by that variant. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the variant, formally known as B.1.617.2, is more transmissible than the U.K.’s main strain and “it is likely it will become the dominant variant. This isn’t over yet,” Hancock told the BBC on Sunday. “The virus has just gained a bit of pace and we’ve therefore all got to be that bit much more careful and cautious.”
May 16, 2021 8:15 am
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 33 people Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territory’s militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago. The Gaza Health Ministry said 12 women and eight children were among those killed, with another 50 people wounded in the attack. Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gaza’s top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in a separate strike in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground. Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire. But targeting the group’s leaders could hinder those efforts. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.
