Washington
Sheriff: 3 killed in massive landslide
SEATTLE – A massive landslide of dirt, trees and rocks in rural Washington killed three people Saturday, injured at least eight others and destroyed six houses, authorities said.
The slide – at least 135 feet wide and 180 feet deep – hit just before 11 a.m., Snohomish County authorities said.
The landslide completely blocked State Route 530 near the town of Oso, about 55 miles north of Seattle. Also blocked was the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, and there were concerns about possible downstream flooding affecting more homes.
Authorities believe the slide was caused by ground water saturation from recent heavy rainfall.
Texas
Barge leaks oil in Galveston after collision with ship
McALLEN, Texas – A barge carrying 924,000 gallons of thick, tarry fuel oil collided Saturday with another ship in the Houston ship channel and was leaking oil, officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement Saturday it received a call about 12:30 p.m. from the captain of the 585-foot ship Summer Wind reporting its collision with a barge.
The barge was being towed from Texas City to Bolivar at the time. Kirby Inland Marine, owner of the tow vessel Miss Susan and the barge, was working with the Coast Guard and Texas General Land Office at the scene Saturday, according to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard did not give an estimate of how much oil had leaked into Galveston Bay.
Rhode Island
Lawmaker to step down after FBI raids home, office
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox is resigning from his leadership post and will not run for re-election, he said Saturday, a day after federal and state authorities raided his Statehouse office and home as part of a criminal investigation they would not detail.
The 52-year-old Providence Democrat, who became the nation’s first openly gay House speaker in 2010, said he planned to serve out the remainder of his term through the end of the year, but that “my personal focus going forward will be on my family and dealing with the investigation.”
Fox has represented Rhode Island’s capital in the General Assembly for more than 20 years and is one of the state’s most powerful politicians.
The Friday raids were carried out by the U.S. attorney’s office, FBI, IRS and state police. Boxes of evidence were carried off after agents spent hours at both his home and office Friday. Officials will not say whom or what they are investigating.
California
Southern California sees decline in bank robberies
LOS ANGELES – Southern California used to be known as the “Bank Robbery Capital of the World.”
Not anymore.
The number of robberies has declined, part of a larger trend that has seen crime rates fall across the nation, the Los Angeles Times reported in Saturday’s editions.
There were 212 bank robberies last year – the lowest since the 1960s – in a seven-county region overseen by the FBI’s Los Angeles office.
At the height of the robbery spree in the early 1990s, the region saw 2,641 bank heists. During the worst year in 1992, more than two dozen Los Angeles banks were looted in a single day.
Associated Press
