Three people taken to hospital – one in critical condition – as authorities investigate cause of explosion in community of Plum
Five people were found dead after a house explosion in western Pennsylvania destroyed three structures and damaged at least a dozen others, authorities said on Sunday.
The police chief of the community of Plum, Lanny Conley, said the bodies of four adults and one adolescent were recovered after the blast shortly before 10.30am on Saturday.
Continue reading...Search for victims continues as more than 2,200 structures damaged or destroyed and more than 2,100 acres scorched
As search and rescue crews continue to uncover the scale of the massive and devastating toll in the historic town of Lahaina, anger is building among residents over various aspects of the government response, from warnings during the inferno to aid distribution afterwards. Residents have asked why emergency sirens didn’t warn Lahaina residents in time to evacuate.
Officials have said there wasn’t time to adequately alert the city before the wind-driven firestorm tore through homes and businesses. Along with the lack of warnings, residents are questioning why plans weren’t in place to ensure a quick and effective response for victims still grappling with the ongoing issues caused by the fire, including contaminated water, widespread power outages, and a lack of response programming and infrastructure that could help streamline aid brought in from the outside.
Continue reading...Wyatt Kauffman slipped on a cliff and fell after ‘moving out of the way so other people could take a picture’
A 13-year-old North Dakota boy has survived falling 100ft from a ledge at the Grand Canyon’s north rim during a family trip.
Emergency crews needed two hours to rescue Wyatt Kauffman after he slipped on a cliff Tuesday and plunged nearly 100 ft (30 meters) at the Bright Angel Point trail, authorities said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Continue reading...Police served a search warrant to the Marion County Record’s Joan Meyer, 98, after the paper’s investigation into local restaurateur
The co-owner of a small Kansas newspaper whose offices and staff were raided by local police officers conducting a leak investigation has died after the situation left her “stressed beyond her limits”, according to the publication.
Joan Meyer, 98, collapsed on Saturday afternoon and died at her home a day after she tearfully watched officers who showed up at her home with a search warrant cart away her computer as well as an internet router, reported the Marion County Record, which she co-owned. After officers also photographed the bank statements of her son, Record publisher Eric Meyer, and left her house in mess, Meyer had been unable to eat or sleep, her newspaper said.
Continue reading...Darell T Caldwell of Maryland was finally apprehended after the multi-highway chase and vehicular theft spree injured five
A Maryland man stole an ambulance and left a wake of more than a dozen hit-and-run crashes in Virginia this weekend before being arrested in Washington DC, authorities said.
Virginia state police said there were no reports of serious injuries in Saturday’s crashes on portions of Interstate 66, Interstate 395 and the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
Continue reading...William Lai issues global appeal during US stopover after China denounces him as a ‘troublemaker’
Taiwan’s vice-president has urged the world to stand up against the “increased threat from authoritarianism” and reiterated a willingness to talk to China, in a speech made in New York during a brief US stopover condemned by Beijing.
William Lai, a frontrunner to be Taiwan’s next president at elections in January, said in New York on Sunday: “If Taiwan is safe, the world is safe, if the Taiwan Strait is peaceful, then the world is peaceful,” according to a read out from Taiwan’s presidential office.
Continue reading...Governor says death toll in Lahaina is expected to rise after ‘worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced’
At least 93 people have died in the fire that consumed the historic town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and officials warned that the effort to find and identify the dead was still in its early stages.
Meanwhile, anger at the government response to the deadliest wildfire in recent US history is mounting. Residents have raised questions over various aspects of the government response, from warnings during the inferno to aid distribution in the days since.
Continue reading...Fani Willis’s office will have former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan and journalist George Chidi testify before a grand jury
The office of the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, has issued summonses to former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan and journalist George Chidi to testify before a grand jury on Tuesday regarding Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state.
The announcement of the summonses confirmed previous reporting by the Guardian that Willis’s office in Atlanta on Tuesday would present evidence to a grand jury weighing charges against the former president. Prosecutors could ask the grand jury to hand up charges on Tuesday as well, having completed an internal review of evidence in the case weeks ago.
Continue reading...Rangers say Joy Cho fell off Teewinot mountain before dawn on Friday during a hike and seven companions rescued
A woman has died after falling off a mountain during a hike in Wyoming’s Grand Teton national park.
According to a National Park Service press release reviewed by CNN, Joy Cho of Simi Valley, California, fell off the west side of Teewinot mountain before dawn on Friday.
Continue reading...Isaiah Wartman and two others ordered to pay restitution over role in fraudulent fund claiming to help East Palestine victims
The manager of the 2020 campaign that launched the far-right politician Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress has been ordered to pay $25,000 for his role in a charity scam aimed at capitalizing on the East Palestine train crash.
Isaiah Wartman and his business partner Luke Mahoney must each pay $22,000 in restitution as well as $3,000 in investigative costs and fees as part of a settlement with the Ohio attorney general’s office, which prosecuted the case. Meanwhile, the settlement calls for a co-founder of the fake charity, Michael Peppel, to pay a $25,000 civil penalty and be banned from starting, running or soliciting for any charitable organization in the state.
Continue reading...Deal revives agreement from 20 years ago and will allow intelligence and training support for Peru’s air force
Peru announced an air security agreement with the US on Saturday in what the government described as a push to stop planes belonging to drug gangs from entering the South American country’s airspace.
The deal revives a bilateral security cooperation pact with the US from 20 years ago, according to a government statement, and will permit new intelligence and training support to flow to Peru’s air force.
Continue reading...At least 80 people killed in deadliest disaster in the state’s history, as questions asked about the local warning system
The death toll from the Maui wildfires in Hawaii has risen to 80 as search teams comb through the smouldering ruins of Lahaina and a new fire triggered the evacuation of another community on Friday night.
The Maui police department said the new fire was burning in Kaanapali in West Maui, to the north-east of the area that burned earlier this week.
Continue reading...At least 1,000 people reported missing following fires, as a new fire burns in Kaanapali in West Maui
Hawaii resident Ella Tacderan spoke to the Guardian about her experience of the devastation in Maui where her family home once stood.
“A nightmare” scene, Tacderan said:
Continue reading...Jill Tokuda says Hawaii ‘did not learn lesson’ from previous hurricane as death toll from devastating fires reaches 80
The Hawaii congresswoman Jill Tokuda told CNN on Saturday morning that she believes state officials underestimated the quickness and lethality of a wildfire that as of Saturday morning had killed at least 80 people there.
“It’s not like hurricane force winds are unknown to Hawaii, or dry brush, or red flag conditions,” Tokuda said on CNN when asked to address the wildfires in her home state, which were exacerbated by winds associated with a category four Hurricane Dora as it passed far to the south-west.
Continue reading...Officials argue ‘unborn child’ may not have rights under US constitution in lawsuit defense over prison guard stillbirth
In defending themselves against a lawsuit, Texas officials have argued that an “unborn child” may not have rights under the US constitution, putting them in tension with arguments made by the state’s attorney’s general’s office as well as Republican lawmakers to support restrictions to abortion.
A guard at the state prison in the community of Abilene filed the lawsuit in question after she asserted that her superiors barred her from going to the hospital while she experienced intense labor pains and what she suspected were contractions while seven months pregnant and on duty.
Continue reading...City’s entire five-officer police force seize computers, cellphones and reporting materials from Marion County Record
Local police in Marion, Kansas, conducted a raid on the offices of a local newspaper on Friday as well as the homes of the publication’s publishers and reporters.
Eric Meyer, the owner and publisher of the Marion County Record, told the Kansas Reflector that the city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies conducted the raid, which included the seizure of computers, cellphones and reporting materials.
Continue reading...Fast & Furious actor claims staffers at hardware store discriminated against him and two of his workers
The US actor and singer Tyrese Gibson is demanding more than $1m from Home Depot after he says staffers at one of the American hardware giant’s stores racially discriminated against him and two of his workers.
Gibson’s lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, recounts how he and two men who regularly provide construction services for the Fast & Furious actor went to a Home Depot in West Hills, California, on 11 February to buy some materials for a building project at the entertainer’s home.
Continue reading...Negotiating committee of Writers Guild of America says it is evaluating offer in substantial step forward
Hollywood TV and film writers represented by the Writers Guild of America are evaluating a counterproposal from studios that would end their ongoing strike of more than 100 days, marking a substantial step forward in negotiations.
“Your Negotiating Committee received a counterproposal from the AMPTP today,” the guild’s negotiating committee said in a statement referring to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. “We will evaluate their offer and, after deliberation, go back to them with the WGA’s response next week.
Continue reading...From Venezuela, the child died at a local Illinois hospital on Thursday evening after showing signs of illness
A three-year-old girl from Venezuela being transported to Chicago from Texas by bus with other migrants died at a local Illinois hospital after showing signs of illness, the Texas department of emergency management said on Friday.
“Once the child presented with health concerns, the bus pulled over and security personnel on board called 9-1-1 for emergency attention,” the TDEM said in a written statement.
Continue reading...Court filing alleges Jeffrey Ferguson, accused over death of wife Sheryl earlier this month, texted court clerk to say ‘I just lost it’
A southern California judge accused of killing his wife during an argument while drunk texted his court clerk and bailiff afterward to say he had shot her, prosecutors said Friday as they charged him with murder and sought new bail conditions.
A court filing from prosecutors says Orange county superior court judge Jeffrey Ferguson texted: “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.”
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