Greek ferry disaster strands hundreds
ATHENS, Greece – Hundreds of passengers and crew endured a second night of smoke, frigid temperatures and gale-force winds as they waited to be evacuated from a burning ferry adrift early Monday in rough seas between Italy and Albania. At least one person died and two were injured in the risky rescue operation.
The Italian coast guard said 201 of the 478 people on the ferry, sailing from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy, had been evacuated by early Monday. Most were airlifted by helicopter to other merchant vessels sailing nearby, though a few were flown to hospitals in southern Italy to be treated for hypothermia.
Greek Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said 10 merchant ships were in the area assisting rescue efforts, and that those who had already taken on dozens of passengers from the stricken ferry would remain in the area until the operation was over. Only then would it be determined where they would go.
Details emerge on officer, suspect deaths
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – A northern Arizona police officer killed over the weekend was shot repeatedly at close range by a domestic-violence suspect after asking the man if he could pat him down for any weapons, authorities said Sunday.
Flagstaff Officer Tyler J. Stewart, 24, died Saturday at Flagstaff Medical Center shortly after being shot multiple times.
Stewart had responded to a domestic-violence call from the suspect’s girlfriend at about 11 a.m. Saturday, police Sgt. Margaret Bentzen said. The woman told the officer she had an argument with Robert W. Smith, 28, and that he had left the area.
Stewart later found Smith at an apartment complex where he questioned the man.
When Stewart asked the suspect if he could check him for weapons, Smith pulled a gun from his pocket and opened fire on the officer from about 2 feet away, according to the statement.
Stewart did not have time to return fire, and Smith continued to shoot the officer repeatedly even after he had sustained serious wounds and was on the ground, Bentzen said
Police boss: More dialogue needed
NEW YORK – A day after the funeral of one of two police officers gunned down in their patrol car, the city’s police commissioner called Sunday for a “lot less rhetoric and a lot more dialogue” to defuse the tension between police officers and the population they protect.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Commissioner William Bratton said the “pent-up frustrations” that have caused people to take to the streets in recent weeks go far beyond policing policies across the nation.
“This is about the continuing poverty rates, the continuing growing disparity between the wealthy and the poor. It’s still about unemployment issues. There are so many national issues that have to be addressed that it isn’t just policing, as I think we all well know,” he said.
Bratton said rank-and-file officers and much of America’s police leadership feels under attack, including “from the federal government at the highest levels.”
Activists rip BLM’s mustang plan
RENO, Nev. – Wild horse advocacy groups are criticizing federal land managers’ plans to permanently remove more than 750 mustangs from the Nevada range beginning late next month.
But the organizations are split on the Bureau of Land Management’s plans to treat as many as 250 mares with the fertility control drug PZP-22 before releasing them back to the wild.
BLM officials say they plan to remove 460 horses in their Carson City and Battle Mountain districts, and 310 horses in their Winnemucca and Elko districts to reduce an overpopulation of the animals on public land.
Activists are unified in their opposition to the horses’ removal but offer differing opinions on the wisdom of injecting mares with PZP-22.
Some call it a humane alternative to removing horses from the range, while others say it’s risky.
Associated Press
