California
San Francisco transit talks resume, strike looms
OAKLAND, Calif. – With a Sunday night deadline approaching, negotiations between the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit and two of its largest unions have intensified with a possible strike at stake.
As the parties went back to the bargaining table Saturday in Oakland for anticipated around-the-clock sessions, both sides described the talks as tense and said they’re far apart on key sticking points including salary, pensions, health care and safety.
About 400,000 riders use BART, the nation’s fifth largest rail system, on weekdays. A strike that could start as early as Monday would be chaotic for those commuters and affect every mode of transportation, clogging highways and bridges throughout the Bay Area.
Temperatures reach between 115 and 120 in Southwest
DEATH VALLEY, Calif. – Scorching heat blistered the Southwest on Saturday, where highs between 115 and 120 degrees were expected for parts of Arizona, Nevada and California through the weekend.
Forecasters said temperatures in sunbaked Las Vegas could match the record of 117 degrees Saturday; as of late afternoon, it was 115 degrees. Phoenix hit 119 degrees by mid-afternoon, breaking the record for June 29 that was set in 1994. And large swaths of California sweltered under extreme heat warnings, which are expected to last into Tuesday night – and maybe even longer.
The forecast called for Death Valley called for 128 degrees Saturday, but it was 3 degrees shy of that, according to unofficial reports from the National Weather Service. Death Valley’s record high of 134 degrees, set a century ago, stands as the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.
Oregon
Authorities looking for man find body near top of glacier
PORTLAND, Ore. – Authorities searching for a climber who has been missing on Mount Hood since last weekend said Saturday that they have found a body near the top of a glacier.
Oregon Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter crews made the discovery at an altitude of about 8,400 feet, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The sheriff’s office said officials believe there’s a high probability that the body belongs to Kinley Adams, a 59-year-old Salem dentist who failed to return June 22 from a climb on the west side of Oregon’s tallest mountain.
The terrain is extremely difficult and authorities weren’t able to reach the body on Saturday. Recovery teams will begin to try to reach the body early today.
Washington, D.C.
Family: American killed in Egypt was a teacher
WASHINGTON – The family of an American college student killed in Egypt during violent protests says their son cared passionately about the Middle East and was in the country to teach English to children and to improve his own Arabic.
Andrew Pochter, of Chevy Chase, Md., was killed Friday in Alexandria during clashes between government supporters and opponents. His family said in a statement Saturday that he was stabbed by a protester while observing the demonstrations.
“He went to Egypt because he cared profoundly about the Middle East. He had studied in the region, loved the culture, and planned to live and work there in the pursuit of peace and understanding,” the statement said.
The 21-year-old spent his spring semester studying in Amman, Jordan, as part of the AMIDEAST Education Abroad Program and was teaching in Egypt before returning in the fall to Kenyon College in Ohio. He majored in religious studies, was active in Hillel House – the campus center for Jewish life – and was a member of the rugby club and an organizer for the Middle Eastern Students Association, the college said.
Woman reports $17,000 stolen from drawer
EUGENE, Ore. – An Oregon woman residing in an assisted-living facility says she withdrew $17,000 in cash from the bank to buy a mobile home and pay some bills.
Four days later, she noticed it missing from a locked drawer.
The Eugene Register-Guard reports that 84-year-old Frances McComb withdrew the money June 17 and last saw it a day later.
On June 22, she found the drawer damaged and the money gone.
Police can’t tell whether the damage to the drawer happened before or after the reported theft.
McComb and her husband, Bill McComb, moved to the Eugene, Ore., facility earlier this month. Eugene is about 110 miles southwest of Portland.
Police are looking at a list of more than 100 visitors to the facility and dusted the drawer for fingerprints.
Associated Press
