Date: 2/14/2009 SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Ten people who built a campfire won’t be charged with igniting a wildfire last fall that destroyed more than 200 homes in Santa Barbara and neighboring Montecito, prosecutors said Friday. Santa Barbara County District Attorney Christie Stanley said investigators could not prove who caused the wildfire that blackened […]
Date: 2/14/2009 By COLLEEN LONGAssociated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Two tenants were acquitted Friday of creating a deadly maze of illegal walls in their apartment building, forcing two firefighters responding to a blaze to jump to their deaths. Caridad Coste and Rafael Castillo had faced manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and other charges that […]
Date: 2/14/2009 By KRISTEN GELINEAUAssociated Press Writer SYDNEY (AP) — Outrage over the Australian wildfires that killed more than 180 people last week was white hot after police said some of the blazes may have been deliberately set. The prime minister said the culprits should “rot in jail,” and government officials threatened the maximum charge: […]
Date: 2/13/2009 By TANALEE SMITHAssociated Press Writer MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Authorities charged a man Friday with lighting one of the wildfires that killed more than 180 people in Australia, and whisked him into protective custody to guard him from public fury. Police said the suspect was charged with one count of arson causing death […]
Date: 2/5/2009 By AMY WESTFELDTAssociated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers tracking Sept. 11 responders who became ill after working at the World Trade Center site found many had lung problems years later in a study the authors said proves persistent illness in people exposed to toxic dust caused by the twin towers’ collapse. […]
It is very sobering to realize how many people are affected by carbon monoxide every year. These incidents always go up during natural disasters or power outages, like the one affecting so many right now. As much as we hear about carbon monoxide in the news, we rarely hear how many pets die. Smaller and […]
Date: 1/29/2009 By KRISTIN M. HALLAssociated Press Writer PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) — Storm-battered residents of several states hunkered down in frigid homes and shelters Thursday, expecting to spend at least a week without power and waiting in long lines to buy generators, firewood, groceries and bottled water. Utility companies in Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Arkansas and […]
Date: 1/23/2009 By GREG RISLINGAssociated Press Writer RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A prosecutor said Thursday that an auto mechanic was “a man bent on destruction” who ignited a wildfire that killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters in 2006. In opening statements for Raymond Lee Oyler’s murder trial, Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Michael Hestrin told […]
Date: 1/12/2009 By DENISE LAVOIEAssociated Press Writer BOSTON (AP) — For nearly a decade, Kathleen Hilton has been in jail, though she’s been convicted of nothing. Prosecutors say the grandmother set a fire that killed five people, including three young girls, because she was allegedly angry her son’s ex-girlfriend wouldn’t let him see his two […]
January 6, 2009 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DENVER — Investigators say a boiler vent damaged during a recent windstorm may have led to the high levels of carbon monoxide that left one college student dead. Denver’s Chief Deputy Coroner Michelle Weiss-Samaras says 23-year-old Lauren Johnson died Monday after being taken from a third-floor unit at Josephine […]