Alaska wildfire grows, forces evacuations
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Officials said rain forecast this week in Alaska may help crews gain control over a massive wind-whipped wildfire, forcing dozens of people to flee to shelters and move some of their animals to safety at rodeo grounds.
The Funny River Fire in the state’s Kenai Peninsula covered nearly 248 square miles as of Monday morning and was 30 percent contained, according to the Alaska Interagency Management Team.
No injuries or structure damage has been reported, officials said. Authorities on Sunday ordered the evacuation of 1,000 homes and other structures in the sparsely populated area 60 miles south of Anchorage – Alaska’s largest city, where haze from the fire has lingered for days.
Soldier, widow sue former Gitmo prisoner
SALT LAKE CITY – An American soldier blinded in Afghanistan and the widow of another soldier killed there have filed a $44.7 million wrongful death and injury lawsuit against a Canadian man who was held at Guantanamo Bay and pleaded guilty to committing war crimes when he was 15.
Layne Morris of Utah and Tabitha Speer of North Carolina filed their lawsuit Friday in federal court in Utah against Omar Khadr, who signed a plea deal in 2010 that he committed five war crimes, including the killing of U.S. soldier Christopher Speer, in 2002.
As part of the deal, Khadr admitted to throwing the grenade that killed Speer and injured other soldiers, including Morris, who lost sight in one eye from the shrapnel, the lawsuit states. The Toronto-born Khadr is serving the remainder of his eight-year sentence in Canada.
Morris and Tabitha Speer are concerned that Khadr might get his hands on money from a $20 million wrongful imprisonment lawsuit he filed against the Canadian government, said Don Winder, a Salt Lake City-based attorney who is representing them.
Nigeria says abducted girls have been located
ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria’s military has located nearly 300 school girls abducted by Islamic extremists but fears using force to try to free them could get them killed, the country’s chief of defense said Monday.
Air Marshal Alex Badeh told demonstrators supporting the much-criticized military “we can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back.”
A human-rights activist close to negotiators said a deal to swap the girls for detained Boko Haram members was agreed last week and then scuttled at the last minute by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Man holding breath, causes tunnel crash
MANNING, Ore. – A 19-year-old man told investigators he caused a three-car crash when he fainted while holding his breath as he drove through a tunnel northwest of Portland, Oregon, state police said.
Daniel J. Calhon, of Snohomish, Washington, told investigators he fainted Sunday afternoon while holding his breath in tunnel near the community of Manning, according to a news release. His car, a 1990 Toyota Camry, drifted across the centerline and crashed head-on with a Ford Explorer.
Both vehicles struck the tunnel walls before a pickup hit the Camry.
Associated Press
