October 18, 2021 4:22 am
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) – Officials say fire crews made significant progress overnight against a wildfire burning for nearly a week in Southern California coastal mountains. More than 1,600 firefighters battling the blaze in the Santa Ynez Mountains west of Santa Barbara on land and by air were able to stop its forward growth. Federal officials said Sunday the blaze was 78% contained. The Alisal Fire started last Monday and has scorched nearly 27 square miles. It is threatening about 400 structures. On Sunday, few hot spots remained, and officials say fire crews were focused on increasing containment.
October 18, 2021 4:21 am
Investigators believe a massive cargo ship dragging anchor in rough seas caught an underwater oil pipeline and pulled it across the seafloor, months before a leak from the line fouled the Southern California coastline. A team of federal investigators trying to chase down the cause of the spill boarded the Panama-registered MSC DANIT just hours after it arrived this weekend off the Port of Long Beach. That’s the same area where the leak was discovered in early October. During a prior visit by the ship during a heavy storm in January, investigators believe its anchor dragged for an unknown distance before striking the 16-inch steel pipe.
October 18, 2021 4:20 am
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – U.S. officials are working with Haitian authorities to try to secure the release of 12 adults and five children with a U.S.-based missionary group who were abducted by a gang notorious for killings, kidnappings and extortion. Police say the group was snatched by the 400 Mawozo gang on Saturday. As authorities seek the release of the group, local unions and other organizations expect to launch a strike Monday to protest Haiti’s worsening lack of security. The Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation is again struggling with a spike in gang-related kidnappings and other crimes. The kidnapping of the missionaries came just days after high-level U.S. officials visited Haiti and promised more resources for Haiti’s National Police to help reduce gang violences.
October 18, 2021 4:15 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Forecasters say a pair of tornadoes have been confirmed in western Pennsylvania over the weekend. The National Weather Service says an EF-0 tornado with estimated winds up to 85 mph touched down in the town of Shippingport before dawn Saturday. The storm uprooted trees and ripped the roof off a pavilion behind the municipal building. Another EF-1 tornado touched down in Monaca shortly before 6:30 a.m. Saturday and traveled two miles with estimated maximum winds up to 95 mph. It uprooted trees, sending one onto the windshield of a car, and ripped the roof off a mobile home before crossing the Ohio River into Freedom and causing more damage.
October 18, 2021 4:12 am
LANCASTER, Pa. — (WPXI)- At least six people suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a shooting at a Pennsylvania mall Sunday afternoon, authorities said. According to police, several men were arguing inside the Park City Center mall when multiple shots rang out, WPVI-TV reported. Police confirmed to the TV station that a woman and three men were shot during the incident and that two other women suffered minor injuries while trying to flee the shooting scene. According to Lancaster County 911, dispatchers received a call at 2:26 p.m. EDT about an active shooter at Park City Center in Lancaster, WMPT reported. Lancaster Online reported that multiple ambulances were sent to the mall for gunshot wounds and trampling injuries, according to a dispatch report. (PHOTO; Lancaster Online)
October 18, 2021 4:07 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Police are investigating after a man died as a result of being dragged by a car on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. According to investigators, officers and EMS responded to the intersection of Allegheny Avenue and Casino Drive following reports of a pedestrian hit by a vehicle at around 10:40 p.m. Saturday. First responders found a man pinned under the back of the vehicle. Rescue crews immediately started filling airbags to lift the car, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators said the man appeared to have been dragged about 150 feet. The driver of the vehicle remained at the scene to be interviewed by police. The victim’s identity has not yet been released.
October 17, 2021 8:01 am
NEW DELHI (AP) — At least eight people have died and a dozen are feared missing after a day of torrential rains in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Rescue operations were underway on Sunday after heavy rains lashed the state the day before, triggering flash floods and landslides, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported. The National Disaster Response Force and the Indian Army deployed teams to help with rescue efforts in two of the worst-hit districts, Kottayam and Idukki, where a dozen people are still feared missing. On Saturday, when the heavy rains began, television reports showed people wading through chest-deep waters to rescue passengers from a bus that was nearly submerged by the torrents flooding the roads. Officials said the intense rainfall has subsided, but they fear the death toll could rise as relief and rescue operations continue.
October 17, 2021 8:00 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Mask rules, vaccination mandates and business shutdowns have all landed in the courts during the COVID-19 outbreak, confronting judges with questions of science and government authority. Now they are increasingly being asked to weigh in on the deworming drug ivermectin. At least two dozen lawsuits have been filed around the U.S., many in recent weeks, by people seeking to force hospitals to give their COVID-stricken loved ones ivermectin, a drug for parasites that has been promoted by conservative commentators as a treatment despite a lack of conclusive evidence that it helps people with the virus. Interest in the drug started rising toward the end of last year and the beginning of this one, when studies — some later withdrawn, in other countries — seemed to suggest ivermectin had some potential and it became a hot topic of conversation among conservatives on social media.
October 17, 2021 7:58 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — New York real estate heir Robert Durst, who days ago was sentenced in a two-decade-old murder case, has been hospitalized after contracting COVID-19, his lawyer said Saturday, Defense Attorney Dick DeGuerin said he was notified that Durst was admitted after testing positive for the coronavirus. DeGuerin told multiple media outlets that Durst is on a ventilator. Additional details on his condition were not immediately made available. The Los Angeles Superior Court said in a statement Saturday that the court was notified someone present for the sentencing hearing for Durst on Thursday had tested positive for COVID-19. No additional COVID-19 cases have been reported. Durst, 78, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without a chance of parole for the murder of his best friend more than two decades ago. Durst, who has numerous medical issues, sat in a wheelchair with a catatonic stare during much of the sentencing hearing.
October 17, 2021 7:57 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An 11th-hour deal was reached Saturday, averting a strike of film and television crews that would have seen some 60,000 behind-the-scenes workers walk off their jobs and would have frozen productions in Hollywood and across the U.S. After days of marathon negotiations, representatives from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and from the studios and entertainment companies who employ them reached the three-year contract agreement before a Monday strike deadline, avoiding a serious setback for an industry that had just gotten back to work after long pandemic shutdowns. “This is a Hollywood ending,” union president Matthew Loeb said. “Our members stood firm.” The workers still must vote to approve it, but the strike has been called off with the tentative deal.
