AP News in Brief 07-06-19
Volunteers assist with cleanup at the Ridgecrest, Calif., branch of the Kern County Library on Friday following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake that shook the region about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles Thursday. (Jessica Weston/The Daily Independent via AP)
California towns survey quake damage amid
more aftershocks
California towns survey quake damage amid more aftershocks
LOS ANGELES — Communities in the Mojave Desert tallied damage and made emergency repairs to cracked roads and broken pipes Friday as aftershocks from Southern California’s largest earthquake in 20 years kept rumbling.
The town of Ridgecrest, close to the epicenter, assessed damage after several fires and multiple injuries that were blamed on the magnitude 6.4 quake. A shelter drew 28 people overnight but not all of them slept inside amid the shaking.
“Some people slept outside in tents because they were so nervous,” said Marium Mohiuddin of the American Red Cross.
Damage appeared limited to desert areas, although the quake was felt widely, including in the Los Angeles region 150 miles away. The largest aftershock thus far — magnitude 5.4 — was also felt in LA before dawn Friday.
The odds of a quake of similar size happening in the next few days continued to dwindle and was only 6 percent on Friday, seismologists said.
US to pursue citizenship question on census, but path unclear
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Friday it will press its search for legal grounds to force the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, hours after President Donald Trump said he is “very seriously” considering an executive order to get the question on the form.
Trump said his administration is exploring a number of legal options, but the Justice Department did not say exactly what options remain now that the Supreme Court has barred the question at least temporarily.
The government has already begun the process of printing the census questionnaire without that question.
The administration’s focus on asking broadly about citizenship for the first time since 1950 reflects the enormous political stakes and potential costs in the once-a-decade population count that determines the allocation of seats in the House of Representatives for the next 10 years and the distribution of some $675 billion in federal spending. It also reflects Trump’s interest in reshaping how congressional districts are drawn.
“You need it for Congress, for districting,” he said Friday. “How many people are there? Are they citizens? Are they not citizens? You need it for many reasons.”
Utah police say body of slain college student recovered
SALT LAKE CITY — The body of a slain college student has been recovered in a Utah canyon about 85 miles away from a backyard in Salt Lake City where other remains were found last week, police said Friday.
The disclosure came in the case involving 23-year-old Mackenzie Lueck.
Authorities previously said some of her charred remains and personal belongings were found in a suspect’s backyard in Salt Lake City. The body was discovered Wednesday in Logan Canyon, north of the city.
“I spoke with Mackenzie’s family this morning. Another devastating call,” Salt Lake City police Chief Mike Brown said. “Despite their grief, we hope this will help them find some closure and justice for Mackenzie.”
The canyon is near Utah State University, where 31-year-old suspect Ayoola A. Ajayi sporadically attended classes for several years without earning a degree.
Police: Security officer’s gunshot warning caused stampede
CHICAGO — A stampede at a Fourth of July fireworks display that injured more than a dozen people at Chicago’s Navy Pier started when a private security officer shouted for bystanders to take cover, police said Friday.
Chicago police spokeswoman Kellie Bartoli said “approximately 13” people who fell or were trampled during the ruckus were hospitalized with minor injuries. The rush of people occurred shortly after a brawl that resulted in at least two stabbings.
The incidents happened just after 10 p.m. as thousands crowded Navy Pier on Lake Michigan’s shoreline. Police said they were searching Friday for two male suspects in the stabbings.
Authorities speculate that shortly after the stabbings, someone exploded a firecracker near a group of people, prompting shouts of “gun” or “shots fired.” Chief of Patrol Fred Waller told a news conference Friday that the ensuring panic was fueled by warnings to bystanders to take cover shouted by a member of a private security firm employed by Navy Pier.
From wire sources
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said that despite the fracas, the officer’s warning was appropriate.
Armed Utah teachers practice responding to school shootings
SPANISH FORK, Utah — Nancy Miramontes had 30 seconds to find the gunman.
The Utah school psychologist weaved through a maze of dusty halls before spotting him in the corner of a classroom, holding a gun to a student’s head. She took a deep breath and fired three shots, the first time she’s ever used a gun. One bullet pierced the shooter’s forehead.
“Nice work,” a police officer told her as they exchanged high-fives in front of cardboard props representing the gunman and student.
Miramontes recently joined 30 other Utah teachers at a series of trainings where police instructed them on how to respond to an active shooter. Teachers went through the shooting drill inside a warehouse set up to look like a school, then moved outside to a shooting range.
From wire sources
Active shooter training for educators is becoming more common nationwide, and Utah is one of several states that generally allow permit holders to carry guns in public schools. Other states, including Florida and Texas, have programs that allow certain teachers to be armed if they are approved under a set of stipulations.
Former Guard commander says Iran should seize a UK tanker
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran should consider seizing a British oil tanker in response to authorities detaining an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar, a former leader of the Islamic Republic’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said Friday.
The striking comment by Mohsen Rezaei came amid heightened tensions over Iran’s unraveling 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an accord that the U.S. withdrew from last year.
In recent days, Iran has broken through the limit the nuclear deal imposed on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium and plans on Sunday to boost its enrichment. In the past months, the U.S. has rushed thousands of additional troops, an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers and advanced fighter jets to the region.
Authorities in Gibraltar intercepted the supertanker Grace 1 on Thursday, saying they believed it to be violating European Union sanctions by carrying a shipment of Iranian crude oil to Syria. Spanish authorities said the seizure came at the request of the U.S.
A spokesman for the government of Gibraltar, who wasn’t authorized to be identified in media reports, said all 28 crew members remain on the vessel while being interviewed as witnesses. The crew is comprised of mainly Indian, Pakistani and Ukrainian nationals, he said.
Rich father-in-law has helped, complicated O’Rourke’s career
EL PASO, Texas — Beto O’Rourke was running for the El Paso City Council in 2005 when he asked to meet with the illustrious real estate investor William Sanders.
Sanders had earned a fortune and a reputation as a brilliant businessman in Chicago before returning to his remote hometown on the West Texas-Mexico border. He thought the aspiring politician was there to solicit a donation. But O’Rourke was seeking permission to marry Sanders’ daughter Amy, whom he’d met less than three months before.
“I sat down with him in his office and he was kind of an imposing figure and I was very nervous,” O’Rourke said in a phone interview. After he asked for Sanders’s blessing, it got worse: His future father-in-law spent “a lot of time talking about her previous boyfriend, whom he liked a lot.”
“It was a very awkward — very, very awkward — conversation.”
Thus began a complicated relationship that would color the personal and political life of O’Rourke, now seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
W.Va. coal billionaire Cline killed in helicopter crash
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Coal tycoon Chris Cline, who worked his way out of West Virginia’s underground mines to amass a fortune and become a major Republican donor, has died in a helicopter crash outside a string of islands he owned in the Bahamas.
Cline and his 22-year-old daughter Kameron were on board the aircraft with five others when it went down Thursday, a spokesman for his attorney Brian Glasser said Friday.
The death of the 60-year-old magnate led to eulogies from industry leaders, government officials and academics, who described Cline as a visionary who was generous with his $1.8 billion fortune.
“He was a very farsighted entrepreneur,” said Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association. “Chris was just one of those folks who had the Midas touch.”
Raney said Cline began toiling in the mines of southern West Virginia at a young age, rising through the ranks of his father’s company quickly with a reserved demeanor and savvy business moves.
