California
Lawmakers pass first statewide plastic-bag ban
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California lawmakers have approved a measure that would make the state the first to impose a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags.
The Measure cleared the Senate on a 22-15 vote Friday and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown. It was approved by the Assembly a day earlier.
The bill would prohibit single-use plastic bags at grocery stores and large pharmacies in 2015 and at convenience stores in 2016. It includes $2 million in loans to help manufacturers shift to producing reusable bags and lets grocers charge 10 cents each for paper and reusable bags.
Wind, weather stoke wildfires, threaten homes
HAPPY CAMP, Calif. – A pair of wildfires sparked by lightning nearly three weeks ago was still growing Saturday while threatening as many as 250 homes in far Northern California.
Low humidity and warm weather helped the fires burning in the Klamath National Forest one mile east of the gold mining and logging town of Happy Camp continue its sweep through steep terrain packed with trees desiccated by the state’s extreme drought, Forest Service spokesman Marc Peebles said.
The two fires are the largest among about 20 that broke out in the forest when a thunderstorm moved through the area on Aug. 11. Originally located a few miles apart, they merged by Saturday morning and together charred more than 90 square miles, about 21 square miles more than a day earlier.
Washington, D.C.
Pentagon reports more strikes on Iraq insurgents
WASHINGTON – The U.S. military says fighter aircraft and unmanned drones have struck Islamic State militants near Iraq’s Mosul Dam.
Officials said the airstrikes destroyed an armed vehicle, a fighting position and weapons and significantly damaged an Islamic State building.
U.S. Central Command says it has conducted a total of 115 airstrikes across Iraq.
The operations in Iraq have cost about $560 million since mid-June, the Pentagon said Friday.
Nicaragua
22 trapped gold miners rescued, escaped
BONANZA, Nicaragua – Rescue workers and trapped miners alike frantically dug away at opposite sides of rock and mud that blocked a Nicaragua gold mine, finally succeeding in freeing at least 20 men even as efforts to reach those still missing continued Saturday.
Two of the freelance miners escaped shortly after the Thursday morning slide, and officials said another 20 were brought out late Friday. Mirta Lagos, an official of the ruling Sandinista Party who was at the site, said five families reported they have a miner missing.
Algeria
Ukrainian civilian plane crashes in mountains
ALGIERS, Algeria – A Ukrainian civilian cargo plane crashed in the mountains near the far southern desert city of Tamanrasset in the early hours of the morning Saturday, reported the state news agency.
The Antonov An-12 carrying seven crew members was on its way to Equatorial Guinea when it went down at about 2:40 a.m. about nine miles south of the airport in a mountainous area after making a technical stop there, the report said.
Associated Press
