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Tag: Accidents and disasters

  • Spain: numerous devices found after Ukrainian Embassy blast

    Spain: numerous devices found after Ukrainian Embassy blast

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    MADRID — Police in Spain detonated a suspicious parcel discovered at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spanish officials said Thursday, a day after a similar package sent to the Ukrainian Embassy ignited upon opening and injured an employee.

    “We can confirm a suspicious package was received at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, and are aware of reports of other packages sent to other locations throughout Spain,” the American embassy said in a response to an Associated Press inquiry.

    “We are grateful to Spanish law enforcement for their assistance with this matter,” it added.

    Spain’s police said the detonated parcel “contained substances similar to those used in pyrotechnics.”

    The action followed police reporting that multiple explosive parcels were sent in Spain over the past two days. Police said they were delivered to Spain’s Defense Ministry, a European Union satellite center located at the Torrejón de Ardoz air base outside Madrid and to an arms factory in northeastern Spain that makes grenades sent to Ukraine.

    Authorities said a bomb squad also destroyed an explosive device that was dispatched by regular post to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Nov. 24.

    Spain’s interior ministry, which is charge of the country’s police forces, said that the envelope intercepted at the American embassy’s security screening point was “of similar characteristics as the previous ones.” It was then detonated by authorities after a wide area was cordoned off by Spanish police around the embassy in the center of Spain’s capital.

    Spanish authorities have yet to determine who was responsible for the letters or link them to the war in Ukraine.

    The Russian Embassy in Madrid on Thursday condemned the letter bombs, saying in a tweet that “any threat or terrorist attack, especially those directed at diplomatic missions, are totally condemnable.”

    The package sent to the Ukrainian Embassy was addressed to the country’s ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev. The employee handling it was slightly injured when it burst into flames.

    In an interview Wednesday following the blast, ambassador Pohoreltsev told European Pravda, a news website linked to the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper, that the explosion could have been more serious but for the professional behavior of the injured employee.

    He said the parcel looked suspicious to the secretary of the ambassador because there was no return address and it did not look like a typical diplomatic post.

    “The package contained a box, which caused suspicion to the commandant and he decided to take it outside – with no one in the vicinity – and open it. After opening the box and hearing a click that followed, he tossed it and then heard the explosion,” said the ambassador.

    The embassy employee was treated for light wounds on his hand and later returned to work.

    Spain’s National Court is investigating the incident as a terrorist act.

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered stepped-up security at all of Ukraine’s foreign embassies abroad and asked his Spanish counterpart for a fast investigation.

    Two further Ukrainian embassies received threatening letters on Wednesday, Kuleba said on the sidelines of a high-level security meeting in Lodz, Poland, on Thursday.

    Kuleba added, without giving details, that “other disturbing events took place” on Wednesday, involving “the sending of very concrete threats to Ukrainian embassies.” He declined to specify the embassies in question.

    An initial assessment indicated the first five packages were likely sent from within Spain, Secretary of State for Security Rafael Pérez said. Police said all but one of the letter bombs were disposed of.

    Pérez said the one intact explosive device was from the air base and that it and its packaging would be part of the investigation.

    Officials said that package was sent to the director of the European Union Satellite Center. The center, known as SatCen, is an EU geospatial intelligence body, and and its missions include monitoring Ukraine.

    “The Spanish authorities were immediately alerted, they safely disabled the parcel and they have started their investigations,” said Nabila Massrali, EU spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

    “Nobody has been injured and the situation is under control.”

    The Defense Ministry package was addressed to Defense Minister Margarita Robles, Pérez said. Spain has contributed both military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.

    Robles was visiting Ukraine on Thursday to support its defense effort with another aid bundle. Authorities did not provide details about the aid, saying they did not want to give away sensitive information to Russia’s forces.

    Robles said the disturbing discoveries of recent days would have no effect on Spain’s full backing of Ukraine.

    “The police are investigating these packages, but let one thing be perfectly clear,” she said in Spanish. “None of these packages or any other violent act will change the clear and firm support that Spain and other NATO and EU countries have for Ukraine.”

    The arms factory targeted is located in the northeastern city of Zaragoza. The parcel was addressed to the factory’s director.

    A government official in Zaragoza said that both the arms factory and Ukrainian Embassy packages had the same email address listed as the sender. No further details were given.

    The sending of small explosive devices in postal parcels is not uncommon in many countries. They were a common occurrence for many years in Spain, especially during the most active years of the now-defunct armed Basque group ETA.

    Pérez said security was increased at public buildings following the discovery of the package sent to Spain’s prime minister. The move now has been extended to embassies, which already had extra security measures in place after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.

    —————

    Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, and Joanna Kozlowska in London contributed to this report.

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  • Hawaii volcano’s lava oozes toward key Big Island highway

    Hawaii volcano’s lava oozes toward key Big Island highway

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    KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Rivers of glowing lava oozing from the world’s largest volcano could swallow the main highway linking the east and west coasts of Hawaii’s Big Island as early as this weekend, and there’s nothing humans can do to stop it, experts said.

    Mauna Loa awoke from its 38-year slumber Sunday, spewing volcanic ash and debris into the sky. The molten rock is drawing thousands of awestruck viewers to Route 200 as it passes near Volcanoes National Park, and they endure a thick smell of volcanic gases and sulfur to watch the wide stream of lava creep closer.

    “It’s a thrill,” said Kathryn Tarananda, 66, of Waimea. She set two alarms to make sure she didn’t miss her chance to see the sun rise against the backdrop of the eruptions. “We’re out in the middle of raw nature. It’s awe inspiring that we live in this place. … I feel really, really fortunate to be an islander.”

    The lava tumbling slowly down the slope has drawn within several miles of the highway, which runs through old lava flows. Known as Saddle Road, it bisects the island, connecting the cities of Hilo and Kailua-Kona. If it becomes impassable, the alternative is a longer coastal road, adding several hours of driving time.

    Ken Hon, scientist in charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said Wednesday that at the current flow rate, the lava could reach the road in as little as two days, though it will likely take longer. “As the lava flow spreads out, it will probably interfere with its own progress,” Hon said.

    Lava crossed the Mauna Loa Observatory access road Monday night and cut off its power, Hon said. It’s the world’s premier station that measures heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The federal government is looking for a temporary alternate site on the Hawaiian island and is contemplating flying a generator to the observatory to get its power back so it can take measurements again.

    Meanwhile, scientists are trying to measure the gas emitted from the eruption.

    Anne Andersen left her overnight shift as a nurse to see the spectacle Wednesday, afraid the road would soon be closed.

    “It’s Mother Nature showing us her face,” she said, as the volcano belched gas on the horizon. “It’s pretty exciting.”

    Gordon Brown, visiting from Loomis, California, could see the bright orange lava from the bedroom of his rental house, so he and his wife went out for a closer view. “It is so bright, it just blows my mind,” Brown said.

    Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984. The current eruption is its 34th since written record keeping began in 1843. Its smaller neighbor, Kilauea, has been erupting since September 2021, so visitors to the national park were treated to the rare sight of two simultaneous eruptive events: the glow from Kilauea’s lava lake and lava from a Mauna Loa fissure.

    Officials were initially concerned that lava flowing down Mauna Loa would head toward the community of South Kona, but scientists later assured the public the eruption had migrated to a rift zone on the volcano’s northeast flank and wasn’t threatening communities.

    Gov. David Ige has issued an emergency proclamation to allow responders to arrive quickly or limit access as needed. He’s dealt with multiple volcanic eruptions during his eight years as governor, and said it’s impossible to redirect the glowing rock.

    “There is no physical way or technological way to change the course of where the lava flows,” Ige told a news conference, recalling how many wished it was possible in 2018, when Kilauea sent lava pouring across homes, farms and roads.

    “The power of Mother Nature and Madam Pele overwhelms anything that we can do,” Ige said, referring to the Hawaiian deity of volcanoes and fire.

    If lava does cross the highway, the Hawaii National Guard can help plan for alternatives and try to set up bypass routes, the governor said.

    ———

    Kelleher reported from Honolulu. Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon. Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu and Greg Bull and Haven Daley in Hilo.

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  • San Antonio truck stop engulfed by massive fire

    San Antonio truck stop engulfed by massive fire

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    SAN ANTONIO — A massive fire broke out at a San Antonio truck stop early Thursday, engulfing the convenience store in flames and sending a large plume of smoke into the air.

    Firefighters first received a call at about 5 a.m. Thursday about a fire that broke out inside the kitchen of a Denny’s restaurant that is attached to a Flying J Travel Center near Interstate 10, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said.

    All customers and employees safely made it out of the building, which was destroyed by the fire, San Antonio TV station KSAT reported.

    The flames quickly spread from the kitchen to the rest of the building, fueled by kitchen grease and windy conditions outside, Hood said.

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  • Prayers? Bombs? Hawaii history shows stopping lava not easy

    Prayers? Bombs? Hawaii history shows stopping lava not easy

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    HONOLULU — Prayer. Bombs. Walls. Over the decades, people have tried all of them to stanch the flow of lava from Hawaii’s volcanoes as it lumbered toward roads, homes and infrastructure.

    Now Mauna Loa — the world’s largest active volcano — is erupting again, and lava is slowly approaching a major thoroughfare connecting the Big Island’s east and west sides. And once more, people are asking if anything can be done to stop or divert the flow.

    “It comes up every time there’s an eruption and there’s lava heading towards habited areas or highways. Some people say ‘Build a wall’ or ‘Board up’ and other people say, ‘No don’t!,’” said Scott Rowland, a geologist at the University of Hawaii.

    Humans have rarely had much success stopping lava and, despite the world’s technological advances, doing so is still difficult and dependent on the force of the flow and the terrain. But many in Hawaii also question the wisdom of interfering with nature and Pele, the Hawaiian deity of volcanoes and fire.

    Attempts to divert lava have a long history in Hawaii.

    In 1881, the governor of Hawaii Island declared a day of prayer to stop lava from Mauna Loa as it headed for Hilo. The lava kept coming.

    According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Princess Regent Lili’uokalani and her department heads went to Hilo and considered ways to save the town. They developed plans to build barriers to divert the flow and place dynamite along a lava tube to drain the molten rock supply.

    Princess Ruth Ke’elikōlani approached the flow, offered brandy and red scarves and chanted, asking Pele to stop the flow and go home. The flow stopped before the barriers were built.

    More than 50 years later, Thomas A. Jaggar, the founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, asked U.S. Army Air Services to send planes to bomb a Mauna Loa vent to disrupt lava channels.

    Lt. Col. George S. Patton (who later became famous as a general in Europe during World War II) directed planes to drop 20 600-pound (272-kilogram) demolition bombs, according to a National Park Service account of the campaign. The bombs each had 355 pounds (161 kilograms) of TNT. The planes also dropped 20 smaller bombs that only had black powder charge.

    Jagger said the bombing helped to “hasten the end of the flow,” but Howard Stearns, a U.S. Geological Survey geologist onboard the last bombing run, was doubtful. In his 1983 autobiography, he wrote: “I am sure it was a coincidence.”

    According to the park service, geologists today also are doubtful the bombing stopped the lava flow, which didn’t end with the bombing. Instead, the flows waned over the next few days and didn’t change paths.

    Rowland said authorities could use a bulldozer to pile a big berm of broken rock in front of Daniel K. Inouye Highway. If the terrain is flat, then lava would pile up behind the wall. But the lava may flow over it, like it did when something similar was attempted in Kapoho town in 1960.

    Rapidly moving lava flows, like those from Kilauea volcano in 2018, would be more difficult to stop, he said.

    “It would have been really hard to hard to build the walls fast enough for them. And they were heading towards groups of homes. And so you would perhaps be sacrificing some homes for others, which would just be a legal mess,” he said.

    He said he believes most people in Hawaii wouldn’t want to build a wall to protect the highway because it would “mess with Pele.”

    If lava crosses the highway, Rowland said officials could rebuild that section of the road like they did in 2018 when different routes were covered.

    Hawaii County’s director of civil defense, Talmadge Magno, said Wednesday the county has no current plans to try to divert the flow, though he has had some discussions about it.

    Hawaii Gov. David Ige, who was governor during the 2018 Kilauea eruption, told reporters his experience showed him it’s not possible to overcome nature and Pele.

    Thinking you should physically divert lava is a Western idea rooted in the notion that humans have to control everything, said Kealoha Pisciotta, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner. She said people need to adjust to the lava, not the other way around.

    “We are not separate from nature,” she said. “We are a part of nature.”

    ———

    Associated Press writers Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu and Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.

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  • AP’s top 2022 photos capture a planet bursting at the seams

    AP’s top 2022 photos capture a planet bursting at the seams

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    Taken together, they can convey the feeling of a world convulsing — 150 Associated Press images from across 2022, showing the fragments that make up our lives and freezing in time the moments that somehow, these days, seem to pass faster than ever.

    Here: a man recovering items from a burning shop in Ukraine after a Russia attack. Here: people thronging the residence of the Sri Lankan president after protesters stormed it demanding his resignation. Here: medical workers trying to identify victims of a bridge collapse in India. And here: flames engulfing a chair inside a burning home as wildfires sweep across Mariposa County, Calif.

    As history in 2022 unfolded and the world lurched forward — or, it seemed sometimes, in other directions — Associated Press photographers were there to bring back unforgettable images. Through their lenses, across the moments and months, the presence of chaos can seem more encircling than ever.

    A year’s worth of news images can also be clarifying. To see these photographs is to channel — at least a bit — the jumbled nature of the events that come at us, whether we are participating in them or, more likely, observing them from afar. Thus do 150 individual front-row seats to history and life translate into a message: While the world may surge with disorder, the thrum of daily life in all its beauty continues to unfold in the planet’s every corner.

    There is grief: Three heart-shaped balloons fly at a memorial site outside the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman.

    There is determination: Migrants in a wooden boat float across the Mediterranean sea south of an Italian island, trying to reach their destination.

    There is fear: A man looks skyward over his shoulder, an expression of trepidation on his face, as he walks past homes damaged by a rocket attack in Ukraine.

    There are glimpses into calamity: Villagers gather in northern Kenya, in an area stricken by climate-induced drought.

    There is perseverance: A girl uses a kerosene oil lamp to attend online lessons during a power cut in the Sri Lankan capital.

    Don’t be blinded by all of the violence and disarray, though, which can drown out other things but perhaps should not. Because here, too, are photos of joy and exuberance and, simply, daily human life.

    A skier soaring through the air in Austria, conquering gravity for a fleeting moment. Chris Martin of the band Coldplay, singing toward the sky in Rio de Janeiro. A lone guard marching outside Buckingham Palace days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. An 8-year-old Afghan girl, her eyes locked with the camera, posing for a photo in her classroom in Kabul, days after a bombing attack at her school. Women taking a selfie at a ski resort in Lesotho.

    Finally, allow a moment to consider one of those pauses in humanity’s march: a boy drenching himself in a public fountain in a heat wave-stricken Vilnius, Lithuania, reveling in the water and the sun and the simple act of just being. Even in the middle of a year of chaos on an uneasy planet, moments of tranquility manage to peek through.

    — By Ted Anthony, AP National Writer

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  • Today in History: December 1, Ukraine chooses independence

    Today in History: December 1, Ukraine chooses independence

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    Today in History

    Today is Thursday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2022. There are 30 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Dec. 1, 1991, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.

    On this date:

    In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives when a deadlock developed among John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. (Adams ended up the winner.)

    In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln sent his Second Annual Message to Congress, in which he called for the abolition of slavery, and went on to say, “Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves.”

    In 1941, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito approved waging war against the United States, Britain and the Netherlands after his government rejected U.S. demands contained in the Hull Note.

    In 1942, during World War II, nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect in the United States; the goal was not so much to save on gas, but to conserve rubber that was desperately needed for the war effort by reducing the use of tires.

    In 1952, the New York Daily News ran a front-page story on Christine Jorgensen’s sex-reassignment surgery with the headline, “Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty”.

    In 1955, Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus; the incident sparked a year-long boycott of the buses by Blacks.

    In 1965, an airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began in which thousands of Cubans were allowed to leave their homeland.

    In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.

    In 1974, TWA Flight 514, a Washington-bound Boeing 727, crashed in Virginia after being diverted from National Airport to Dulles International Airport; all 92 people on board were killed. Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, a Boeing 727, crashed near Stony Point, New York, with the loss of its three crew members (the plane had been chartered to pick up the Baltimore Colts football team in Buffalo, New York).

    In 2005, a roadside bomb killed 10 U.S. Marines near Fallujah, Iraq.

    In 2009, President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops into the war in Afghanistan but promised during a speech to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to begin withdrawals in 18 months.

    In 2020, disputing President Donald Trump’s persistent, baseless claims, Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press that the U.S. Justice Department had uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election. Trump filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin seeking to disqualify more than 221,000 ballots in a longshot attempt to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the battleground state.

    Ten years ago: Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and took his own life in front of the team’s coach and general manager. Enrique Pena Nieto took the oath of office as Mexico’s new president, vowing to restore peace and security.

    Five years ago: Retired general Michael Flynn, who served as President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about reaching out to the Russians on Trump’s behalf. (Flynn would be pardoned by Trump after twice pleading guilty to lying to the FBI.)

    One year ago: As the Supreme Court heard arguments on a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, members of the court’s conservative majority signaled that they would allow states to ban abortion much earlier in pregnancy and possibly even overturn the nationwide right that had existed for nearly 50 years. (In June 2022, the court would use the Mississippi case to overturn its Roe v. Wade decision and remove women’s constitutional protections for abortion.) The U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, in a vaccinated traveler who returned to California after a trip to South Africa.

    Today’s Birthdays: Actor-director Woody Allen is 87. World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino is 83. Singer Dianne Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 83. Television producer David Salzman is 79. Rock singer-musician Eric Bloom (Blue Oyster Cult) is 78. Rock musician John Densmore (The Doors) is 78. Actor-singer Bette Midler is 77. Singer Gilbert O’Sullivan is 76. Former child actor Keith Thibodeaux (TV: “I Love Lucy”) is 72. Actor Treat Williams is 71. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is 70. Country singer Kim Richey is 66. Actor Charlene Tilton is 64. Actor-model Carol Alt is 62. Actor Jeremy Northam is 61. Actor Katherine LaNasa is 56. Producer-director Andrew Adamson is 56. Actor Nestor Carbonell is 55. Actor Golden Brooks is 52. Actor-comedian Sarah Silverman is 52. Actor Ron Melendez is 50. Contemporary Christian singer Bart Millard (MIL’-urd) is 50. Actor-writer-producer David Hornsby is 47. Singer Sarah Masen is 47. Rock musician Brad Delson (Linkin Park) is 45. Actor Nate Torrence is 45. Rock/Christian music singer-songwriter Mat Kearney is 44. Actor Riz Ahmed (Film: “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) is 40. Actor Charles Michael Davis is 38. Actor Ilfenesh Hadera is 37. R&B singer-actor Janelle Monae is 37. Actor Ashley Monique Clark is 34. Pop-rock-rap singer Tyler Joseph (Twenty One Pilots) is 34. Actor Zoe Kravitz is 34. Pop singer Nico Sereba (Nico & Vinz) is 32. Actor Jackson Nicoll is 19.

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  • Report: No altitude advice before Dallas air show crash

    Report: No altitude advice before Dallas air show crash

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    DALLAS — Just before a midair collision that killed six at a Dallas air show, a group of historic fighter planes was told to fly ahead of a formation of bombers without any prior plan for coordinating altitude, according to a federal report released Wednesday. The report did not give a cause of the crash.

    A P-63 Kingcobra fighter was banking left when it struck a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber behind the left wing during the Nov. 12 air show featuring World War II-era planes, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary findings. All six people aboard the planes — the pilot of the fighter and the bomber’s pilot, co-pilot and three crew members — died as both aircraft broke apart in flight, with the bomber catching fire and then exploding on impact.

    There had been no coordination of altitudes in briefings before the flight or while the planes were in the air, the NTSB said. The report said that the Kingcobra was the third in a formation of three fighters and the B-17 was the lead of a five-ship bomber formation.

    Eric Weiss, an NTSB spokesperson, said the agency is trying to determine the sequence of maneuvers that led to the crash. It is also examining whether such air shows normally have altitude deconfliction plans.

    “Those are precisely the types of questions our investigators are asking,” Weiss said. “What was the process? What’s the correct process? And what happened?”

    John Cox, a former airline captain with more than 50 years’ experience, was surprised that the NTSB found there wasn’t an altitude deconfliction brief before or during the flight. He said these take place in other air shows, but he’s not certain whether they’re standard for the Commemorative Air Force, which put on the Wings over Dallas show.

    A person familiar with the show’s operations that day said the air crews were given general altitude direction in their morning pre-show briefing. However, there was not a discussion of specific altitudes for each pass the aircraft were going to perform, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

    Typically fighters fly above bombers, and when a group is called to make a pass that could put planes at the same or nearly the same altitudes, they maintain a lateral separation from each other, the person said. In general, the person continued, it’s the responsibility of the air boss to set out a plan for maintaining either vertical or lateral separation.

    Wings Over Dallas was the group’s last show of the season, the person said.

    The NTSB said the fighter formation had been told by the air boss to proceed to a line that was 500 feet (152 meters) from where the audience was lined up at Dallas Executive Airport, while the bomber formation was told to fly 1,000 feet (304 meters) from the audience viewing area.

    The NTSB said a navigation device on the bomber “contained position information relevant to the accident” but a device on the fighter didn’t record during the flight.

    The Commemorative Air Force, which put on the show for Veterans Day, said Wednesday that they’re continuing to work with the NTSB and are grateful for that agency’s “diligence in looking into anything that could have been a factor to cause the accident.” The group said they can’t speculate on the crash’s cause.

    The Commemorative Air Force previously identified the victims as: Terry Barker, Craig Hutain, Kevin “K5” Michels, Dan Ragan, Leonard “Len” Root and Curt Rowe.

    All the men were volunteers who had gone through a strict process of logging hours and training flights and were vetted carefully, Hank Coates, CEO of Commemorative Air Force, said after the crash.

    Cox said the planes were flown by experienced pilots and that it’s “virtually certain” the pilot of the smaller, more maneuverable fighter didn’t see the bomber. He said understanding how this happened will be a central challenge for investigators.

    “What happened for two pilots of this skill level to end up in the same airspace at the same time?” said Cox, the founder of Safety Operating Systems, which helps smaller airlines and corporate flight services around the world with safety planning.

    The air show collision came three years after the crash of a bomber in Connecticut that killed seven, and amid ongoing concern about the safety of shows involving older warplanes.

    The B-17, a cornerstone of U.S. air power during World War II, is an immense four-engine bomber that was used in daylight raids against Germany. The Kingcobra, a U.S. fighter, was used mostly by Soviet forces during the war. Most B-17s were scrapped at the end of World War II and only a handful remain today, largely featured at museums and air shows, according to Boeing.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

    ———

    Follow AP’s full coverage of plane crashes: https://apnews.com/hub/plane-crashes

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  • Police: Deputy posed as teen online to sexually extort girl

    Police: Deputy posed as teen online to sexually extort girl

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    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A Virginia sheriff’s deputy posed as a 17-year-old boy online and asked a teenage California girl for nude photos before he drove across the country and killed her mother and grandparents and set fire to their home, authorities said Wednesday.

    Austin Lee Edwards, 28, died by suicide Friday during a shootout with San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies. The 15-year-old girl from Riverside, California, was rescued and is in counseling for trauma, family members and police said at a news conference Wednesday.

    Edwards, a resident of North Chesterfield, Virginia, appears to have posed as a teenager online to engage in a romantic relationship with the girl and obtain her personal information by deceiving her with a false identity, known as “catfishing,” police said.

    Authorities did not provide additional details about their communications and said they still need to comb through online accounts. Officials are looking into whether he victimized other minors across the country.

    It’s also unclear whether this was the girl’s first in-person encounter with Edwards or whether she was aware that he was coming to California, officials said.

    Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez said that because of the girl’s young age and trauma it will take time to complete their interviews with her and get answers to the many questions surrounding the case, such as whether she was coerced or threatened into leaving with him.

    “We don’t believe at this point she had anything to do with the murders,” he said.

    At some point, Edwards asked the girl for sexual photos and she stopped communicating with him, Gonzalez said, but detectives don’t yet know when that happened or whether Edwards killed her family in retaliation.

    Authorities believe Edwards parked his vehicle in a neighbor’s driveway, walked to the home and killed the family members before leaving with the girl on Friday. Officials have not yet determined how he entered the home, killed the victims or set the fire.

    The bodies found in the Riverside home — about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles in a suburban neighborhood of single-family homes where the loud rush of freeway traffic can be heard — were identified as the girl’s grandparents and mother: Mark Winek, 69; Sharie Winek, 65; and their 38-year-old daughter, Brooke Winek.

    “Nobody could imagine this crime happening to my family, to our family,” said Michelle Blandin, Mark and Sharie’s daughter and Brooke’s sister.

    A tearful Blandin said her parents and sister “lived and loved selflessly.” The killing of Brooke, a single parent, means that her daughters — the 15-year-old girl and her 13-year-old sister — are now motherless, Blandin said.

    A front window of the charred home in the Riverside cul-de-sac was boarded up Wednesday with a wooden cross. Dozens of candles had been laid on the sidewalk, along with bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals.

    Edwards is a former Virginia state trooper and was a sheriff’s deputy in Washington County, Virginia, at the time of the killings. The law enforcement agencies there said he did not show any concerning behaviors and no other employers disclosed any issues during background checks.

    Gonzalez called it “disgusting really” to see someone in law enforcement involved in such heinous crimes and wondered how he had been hired at two Virginia agencies.

    “How did this person get past a background investigation? How this person get past a polygraph investigation?” the chief said. “From what we understand so far about him, there’s really not a big rap sheet on this person or anything that would indicate that they can see that outcome.”

    Police are also looking into whether Edwards used his law enforcement weapon or government-issued laptop in the crimes.

    A neighbor on Friday called police to report Edwards’ red Kia Soul as a suspicious car and said the girl appeared to be in distress and involved in a disturbance with a man, Gonzalez said.

    Police were able to run the vehicle’s license plate and discovered that Edwards had filed a police report earlier this year regarding vandalism to the Kia, the chief said. The police report had Edwards’ cellphone number in it, which allowed investigators to ping his phone and quickly locate him in Southern California.

    He got into a gun battle with San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies and died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the coroner’s office said Wednesday.

    Blandin said she last saw her parents and sister on Thanksgiving, the day before they were slain.

    “We had a family debate, and it got heated, on if the brownies my mom made should be frosted with sprinkles or just left plain,” she said. “Little did I know, on that day, that would be the last time that my husband and I would see my parents and my sister again.”

    Blandin begged parents and guardians to use her family’s tragedy to start conversations about internet safety.

    “When you are talking to your children about the dangers of their online actions, please use us as a reference,” she said. “Tell our story to help your parenting. Not out of fear, but out of an example of something that did happen.”

    ——

    This story has been corrected to attribute a quote to Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez. It was incorrectly attributed to Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback.

    ——

    Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press Writer Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, contributed.

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  • Tornado threat continues as southern towns assess damage

    Tornado threat continues as southern towns assess damage

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    JACKSON, Miss. — Tornadoes damaged numerous homes, destroyed a fire station, briefly trapped people in a grocery store and ripped the roof off an apartment complex in Mississippi and Alabama, and meteorologists said the threat of dangerous storms remained Wednesday near the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

    The National Weather Service had warned that strong twisters capable of carving up communities over long distances were possible as the storm front moved eastward from Texas, threatening a stretch of the United States where more than 25 million people live. Emergency responders had no reports of fatalities, but were waiting for daylight to make sure.

    The “threat for supercells capable of all severe hazards continues,” forecasters said, after multiple tornado warnings were issued starting Tuesday afternoon and continued through the night.

    In the west Alabama town of Eutaw, video from WBMA-TV from showed large sections of the roof missing from an apartment complex, displacing 15 families in the middle of the night.

    “We’ve got power lines, trees just all over the road,” Eutaw Police Chief Tommy Johnson told WBRC-TV. “In the morning when we get a little daylight, we’re going to do a door-by-door search to make sure no one is trapped inside or anything like that.”

    A suspected tornado damaged numerous homes during the night in Hale County, Alabama, where the emergency director said more than a third of the people live in highly vulnerable mobile homes.

    “I have seen some really nice mobile homes tied down, but they just don’t stand a chance against a tornado,” Hale County Emergency Management Director Russell Weeden told WBRC just ahead of the storm.

    The weather service confirmed that tornadoes hit the ground in Mississippi. Images of the wreckage in Caledonia showed a grocery store damaged, a fire station shredded and a house toppled, but Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency Director Cindy Lawrence told WTVA-TV that everyone escaped injury.

    Hail stones crashed against the windows of City Hall in the small town of Tchula, Mississippi, where sirens blared and the mayor and other residents took cover. “It was hitting against the window, and you could tell that it was nice-sized balls of it,” Mayor Ann Polk said after the storm passed.

    High winds downed power lines, and flooding was a hazard as more than 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain fell within several hours in some places. More than 50,000 customers in Mississippi and Alabama were without electricity Wednesday morning, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility outages.

    About 100 people hunkered down in a tornado shelter in Starkville, Mississippi, where Craig Ceecee, a meteorologist at Mississippi State University, said he peered out at “incredibly black” skies. Ceecee has assembled a database of Mississippi tornado shelters, and found several towns without any.

    “I’ve had to go through events without (shelters), and trust me, they were scary,” Ceecee said.

    Meanwhile, heavy snow has snarled traffic in some parts of the Upper Midwest.

    Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport tweeted Tuesday afternoon that its runways were closed due to fast snowfall rates and reduced visibility. Air traffic websites showed some inbound planes circling or diverting to other airports such as St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Fargo, North Dakota. The National Weather Service reported nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow on the ground at the airport by noon.

    The airport said it was able to reopen its first runway hours later, and planes were landing as scheduled on Wednesday.

    ———

    Michael Warren in Atlanta, Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas; Michael Goldberg in Jackson, Mississippi; Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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  • Hong Kong official warns lockdown protests hurt security

    Hong Kong official warns lockdown protests hurt security

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    HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s security minister on Wednesday warned that the city’s protests against China‘s anti-virus restrictions were a “rudiment of another color revolution” and urged residents not to participate in activities that might hurt national security.

    Chris Tang said some events on university campuses and the city’s streets had attempted to incite others to target China’s central government in the name of commemorating a deadly fire in the country’s far west last week.

    “This is not a coincidence but highly organized,” he told reporters at the legislature.

    Protests erupted in major mainland cities over the weekend after the blaze that killed at least 10 in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region, prompted angry questions about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape were blocked by COVID restrictions.

    Crowds angered by severe restrictions called for leader Xi Jinping to step down in the biggest show of public dissent in decades.

    Smaller protests also emerged at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong, and Central over the past two days. The participants included mainland Chinese students and residents as well as locals. They held up white papers and chanted slogans such as “No PCR tests but freedom!” and “Oppose dictatorship, don’t be slaves!”

    The gatherings were the biggest in the city in more than a year under rules imposed by Beijing to crush a pro-democracy movement in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, which has a separate legal system from the mainland.

    Tang alleged that some active members of the widespread rallies in 2019 also took part in the latest Hong Kong events, noting some people planned the recent protests via social media platforms including some “anti-China” sites.

    “I have previously mentioned that we face national security risks. Some people are unwilling to give up and always want to endanger our national security and Hong Kong’s security. This is exactly the situation I am talking about,” he said.

    He said the city has to guard against these risks if residents do not want to return to what happened in 2019.

    The 2019 protests were sparked by a since-withdraw extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China. Critics worried the suspects would disappear into China’s opaque and frequently abusive legal system. Opposition morphed into months of violent unrest in the city as the protesters’ demands widened to include universal suffrage and other democratic aspirations.

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  • Official: Toxic fire suppressant spill in Hawaii ‘egregious’

    Official: Toxic fire suppressant spill in Hawaii ‘egregious’

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    A cleanup is underway after about 1,100 gallons of toxic fire suppressant was spilled at the Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility Tuesday, according to Hawaii Department of Health officials

    HONOLULU — A clean up is underway after about 1,100 gallons of toxic fire suppressant was spilled at the Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility Tuesday, according to Hawaii Department of Health officials.

    The Honolulu-Star Advertiser reported that the Aqueous Film Forming Foam is used to suppress fires caused by flammable liquids such as fuel and contain PFAS, so-called “forever chemicals” that are slow to degrade when released into the environment. Health investigators said excavators are currently digging up contaminated soil. No surface water was contaminated.

    According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, PFAS may lead to a higher risk of kidney and testicular cancer, increased risk of high blood pressure in pregnant women, among other health problems.

    “This is egregious,” Kathleen Ho, DOH’s deputy director of environmental health said in a news release. “AFFF contains PFAS forever chemicals — groundwater contamination could be devastating to our aquifer. While details are limited at this time, the Joint Task Force and Navy need to be transparent about how this happened.”

    Ho said that regulators “will hold the Department of Defense accountable and will press the operator to take any and all appropriate corrective action throughout the defueling and decommissioning process.”

    The release occurred above Adit 6, a passageway at the mauka end of the Red Hill facility, according to DOH, which said it was notified of the leak at about 3 p.m.

    “A DOH on-scene coordinator responded and preliminarily reported that the spill was not contained and AFFF has spilled into soil outside of the Red Hill facility and into the facility near Adit 6,” DOH said in a news release.

    No details were provided about the cause of the release, health officials said.

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  • Storms threaten major tornadoes, flooding around the South

    Storms threaten major tornadoes, flooding around the South

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    JACKSON, Miss. — Residents in several towns across Louisiana and Mississippi took cover as tornado sirens blared late Tuesday, and forecasters warned of the threat of strong twisters capable of tracking long distances on the ground as a severe weather outbreak erupted in the Deep South.

    There were no immediate reports of severe damage or injuries as multiple tornado warnings were issued starting Tuesday afternoon and continuing into the nighttime hours as heavy thunderstorms rolled from eastern Texas to Georgia and as far north as Indiana. The National Weather Service confirmed that tornados hit the ground in Mississippi on Tuesday evening and Alabama was in the forecast path of the storms during the overnight hours.

    More than 25 million people were at risk as the vast storm system. The national Storm Prediction Center said in its storm outlook that affected cities could include New Orleans; Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee; and Birmingham, Alabama.

    The NWS received reports of people trapped at a grocery store in Caledonia, Mississippi, just after 6 p.m. Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency Director Cindy Lawrence told WTVA-TV the people inside the grocery store made it out safely. Lawrence also said a family trapped in a house about a mile (1.6 kilometers) distant from the store escaped.

    Additional reports of property damage near Columbus were received by the NWS, according to Lance Perrilloux, a forecaster with the agency.

    Heavy rain and hail as big as tennis balls were also possible as forecasters said the weather outbreak was expected to continue into Wednesday.

    Craig Ceecee, a meteorologist at Mississippi State University, peered out at “incredibly black” skies through the door of a tornado shelter in Starkville. He estimated that about 100 people had already arrived as a lightning storm persisted outside.

    The Oktibbeha County Emergency Management agency is operating the shelter, about three miles (5 kilometers) from the university’s campus. Ceecee said the dome-shaped multipurpose facility capable of withstanding 250 mph (400 kph) winds.

    Before Tuesday’s storm, Ceecee built a database of Mississippi tornado shelters. He said there are several towns without any.

    “I’ve had to go through events without (shelters), and trust me, they were scary,” Ceecee said.

    In the small town of Tchula, Mississippi, hail stones crashed against the windows of City Hall, as the mayor and other residents took cover during a tornado warning. “It was hitting against the window, and you could tell that it was nice-sized balls of it,” Mayor Ann Polk said after the storm passed.

    It’s rare that federal forecasters warn of major tornadoes with the potential for carving damages across long distances, as they did in Tuesday’s forecasts. Tornado watches covering much of Louisiana and Mississippi were announced due to “a particularly dangerous situation,” the NWS said.

    “Supercells are expected to develop this afternoon and track northeastward across much of northeast Louisiana and central Mississippi,” the weather service said. “Parameters appear favorable for strong and long-tracked tornadoes this afternoon and early evening.”

    The most intense wave of the storm was projected to move through Mississippi between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., said Sarah Sickles, an NWS forecaster in Jackson, the state capital.

    “Multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms — some capable of long-tracked tornadoes with EF3+ damage potential — will be possible this afternoon into tonight over parts of the lower Mississippi Valley region and Mid-South,” the Norman, Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center said.

    Tornadoes with an EF3 rating on the Enhanced Fujita tornado scale can produce wind gusts of up to 165 mph (266 kph).

    All remaining classes at Mississippi State University’s main campus in Starkville switched to remote instruction Tuesday due to the weather. A Mississippi State women’s basketball game against the University of Louisiana-Monroe was to be played on campus, but the venue was closed to spectators. Alcorn State University and the University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg were closing early.

    Some of Mississippi’s public school systems also closed early.

    Flood watches were issued for parts of southeast Mississippi and southwest Alabama, where 3 to 5 inches of rain (8 to 13 centimeters) could lead to flash flooding, the National Weather Service said.

    Meanwhile, heavy snow was snarling traffic in some parts of the Upper Midwest.

    Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport tweeted Tuesday afternoon that its runways were closed due to fast snowfall rates and reduced visibility. Air traffic websites showed some inbound planes circling or diverting to other airports such as St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Fargo, North Dakota. The National Weather Service reported nearly 4 inches (10) of snow on the ground at the airport by noon.

    ———

    Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas; Michael Goldberg in Jackson, Mississippi; Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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  • Lawsuits claim negligence in Massachusetts Apple store crash

    Lawsuits claim negligence in Massachusetts Apple store crash

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    BOSTON — The family of a man who was badly hurt when an SUV crashed into an Apple store in Massachusetts, killing one person and injuring 20, sued the company, the driver and the property owners Tuesday in one of the first lawsuits filed over the crash.

    Matthew Timberger, of Falmouth, suffered broken bones and other serious injuries when the vehicle drove into the store in Hingham on Nov. 21, the lawsuit said. He and his family accuse the driver of negligently operating the vehicle, and Apple and the property owners of negligently failing to place barriers that might have prevented a car from entering the store.

    “The frontage of the Apple Store features tall glass windows and doors, reaching all the way to the ground. These glass windows and doors are not designed or engineered or reinforced in such a way where they would act as an effective barrier against a moving motor vehicle,” the lawsuit said.

    Neither Apple nor property owners and managers WS Development immediately responded to messages seeking comment.

    Doug Sheff, an attorney for the family, said that while there were no protective barriers in front of the store, the shopping plaza did have them in front of electrical fixtures and trash receptacles behind the building.

    Two store employees have also sued over the crash, though they did not name Apple as a defendant.

    Driver Bradley Rein has pleaded not guilty to charges that he was reckless when the SUV crashed through the window.

    Rein told police he was looking for an eyeglass store at the shopping center when his right foot became stuck on the accelerator, according to court documents. He said he used his left foot to try to brake but couldn’t stop the vehicle.

    A phone number could not be located for Rein, who was being represented by a public defender on the criminal charges. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had a lawyer representing him in the lawsuits.

    The Timberger family, including Timberger’s wife, Christina, and their two children, are seeking damages that include compensation for his injuries, lost earnings and harm to their family relationships.

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  • Hawaii volcano eruption has some on alert, draws onlookers

    Hawaii volcano eruption has some on alert, draws onlookers

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    HILO, Hawaii — The first eruption in 38 years of the world’s largest active volcano is attracting onlookers to a national park for “spectacular” views of the event, and it’s also dredging up bad memories among some Hawaii residents who have been through harrowing volcanic experiences in the past.

    It was just four years ago that Nicole Skilling fled her home near a community where more than 700 residences were destroyed by lava. She relocated to the South Kona area, only to find herself packing her car with food and supplies this week after Mauna Loa erupted late Sunday.

    Officials were initially concerned that lava flowing down the side of the volcano would head toward South Kona, but scientists later assured the public that the eruption migrated to a rift zone on Mauna Loa’s northeast flank and wasn’t threatening any communities.

    Still, the uncertainty is somewhat unnerving.

    “It just happened last night, so I really haven’t had a lot of time to worry about it yet, basically,” Skilling said Monday. “And thankfully, right now, it’s at the northeast rift zone. But if it breaks on the west side, that’s when we’re talking about coming into a large populated area. … That’s why I do have a little bit of PTSD.”

    Even though there were no evacuation orders, some people decided to leave their homes, prompting officials to open shelters in the Kona and Kau areas. Very few if any stayed in them overnight, Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth said, and they would be closing Tuesday.

    “Cleary the danger for the Kau area and Kona area has gone, so there’s really no need to have the shelter up there any longer,” Roth said.

    Despite that, some in the area were preparing for unpredictable changes.

    Kamakani Rivera-Kekololio, who lives in the south Kona community of Hookena, was keeping supplies like food and blankets in his car.

    “We’re being makaukau for anything,” Rivera-Kekololio said, using the Hawaiian word for “ready.”

    Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said Tuesday that the lava was flowing “not super fast” at less than 1 mph. It was moving downhill about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Saddle Road, which connects the east and west sides of the island. The flow was likely to slow down about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) from the road when it hits flatter ground.

    Lava crossed the Mauna Loa Observatory access road Monday night and cut off power to the facility, Hon added. It could move toward the county seat of Hilo, but that could take a week or longer.

    Meanwhile, scientists are trying to measure the gas emitted from the eruption.

    “It’s just very early in this eruption right now,” Hon said.

    The eruption is drawing visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is open 24 hours a day. “The viewing has been spectacular” especially before sunrise and at night, park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane said.

    Visitors there are currently able to witness two eruptive events: the glow from Kilauea’s lava lake and lava from a Mauna Loa fissure.

    “This is a rare time where we have two eruptions happening simultaneously,” Ferracane said.

    Hilo resident Lea Ferreira said she doesn’t plan to be one of those spectators. And she’s not worried about this eruption because she remembers the last one in 1984.

    “This is nothing. She came out quiet, very quiet,” she said, referring to Pele, the Hawaiian deity of volcanoes and fire. “In 1984, you could see the flow high in the air.”

    Ferreira said she could see only a bit of the glow and a “very small amount of lava” from Hilo.

    Some people were driving to get a closer look, but Ferreira won’t: “I’ll let her do her thing.”

    ———

    Kelleher reported from Honolulu. Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed.

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  • Lava from Hawaii volcano lights night sky amid warnings

    Lava from Hawaii volcano lights night sky amid warnings

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    KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Waves of orange, glowing lava and ash blasted and billowed from the world’s largest active volcano in its first eruption in 38 years, and officials told people living on Hawaii’s Big Island to be ready in the event of a worst-case scenario.

    The eruption of Mauna Loa wasn’t immediately endangering towns, but the U.S. Geological Survey warned the roughly 200,000 people on the Big Island that an eruption “can be very dynamic, and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly.”

    Officials told residents to be ready to evacuate if lava flows start heading toward populated areas. Monday night, hundreds of people lined a road as lava flowed down the side of Mauna Loa and fountained into the air.

    The eruption migrated northeast throughout Monday and spread out over the side of the volcano, with several distinct streams of lava running down the hillside.

    The eruption began late Sunday night following a series of fairly large earthquakes, said Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

    The areas where lava was emerging — the volcano’s summit crater and vents along the volcano’s northeast flank — are both far from homes and communities.

    Officials urged the public to stay away from them, given the dangers posed by lava, which is shooting 100 to 200 feet (30 to 60 meters) into the air out of three separate fissures roughly estimated to be 1 to 2 miles (1.6 to 3.2 kilometers) long.

    Volcanic gases wafting out of the vents, primarily sulfur dioxide, are also harmful.

    Air quality on the Big Island more generally is good right now, but officials are monitoring it carefully, said Dr. Libby Char, the director of the state Department of Health.

    Hon said air quality could deteriorate while the eruption lasts, which scientists expect will be about one or two weeks if the volcano follows historical patterns.

    Lifelong Big Island resident Bobby Camara, who lives in Volcano Village, said everyone across the island should keep track of the eruption. He said he’s seen three Mauna Loa eruptions in his lifetime and stressed the need for vigilance.

    “I think everybody should be a little bit concerned,” he said. “We don’t know where the flow is going, we don’t know how long it’s going to last.”

    Gunner Mench, who owns an art gallery in Kamuela, said he awoke shortly after midnight and saw an alert on his phone about the eruption.

    Mench and his wife, Ellie, ventured out to film the eerie red glow cast over the island, watching as lava spilled down the volcano’s side.

    “You could see it spurting up into the air, over the edge of this depression,” Mench said.

    “Right now it’s just entertainment, but the concern is” it could reach populated areas, he said.

    Seeing Mauna Loa erupt is a new experience for many residents of the Big Island, where the population has more than doubled from 92,000 in 1980.

    More than a third of the island’s residents live either in the city of Kailua-Kona to the west of the volcano, or about 23,000 people, and Hilo to the east, with about 45,000. Officials were most worried about several subdivisions some 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the volcano’s south that are home to about 5,000 people.

    A time-lapse video of the eruption from overnight showed lava lighting up one area, moving across it like waves on the ocean.

    The U.S. Geological Survey said the eruption had migrated to a rift zone on the volcano’s northeast flank. Rift zones are where the mountain rock is cracked and relatively weak — making it easier for magma to emerge.

    Lava could move toward the county seat of Hilo, but that could take about a week, Hon said at a news conference.

    Scientists hope the flow will parallel the 1984 eruption, where the lava was more viscous and slowed down.

    Mauna Loa has another rift zone on its southwest flank. Lava could reach nearby communities in hours or days if the volcano erupts from this area. But Hon said historically Mauna Loa has never erupted from both rift zones simultaneously.

    “So we presume at this point that all of the future activity is going to be on the northeast rift zone of Mauna Loa and not on the southeast rift zone,” he said. “So those residents in that area do not have to worry about lava flows.”

    Hawaii County Civil Defense announced it had opened shelters because it had reports of people evacuating from along the coast on their own initiative.

    The USGS warned residents who could be threatened by the lava flows to review their eruption preparations. Scientists had been on alert because of a recent spike in earthquakes at the summit of the volcano, which last erupted in 1984.

    Portions of the Big Island were under an ashfall advisory issued by the National Weather Service in Honolulu. It said up to a quarter-inch (0.6 centimeters) of ash could accumulate in some areas.

    “Volcanic gas and possibly fine ash and Pele’s hair may be carried downwind,” Gov. David Ige said, referring to glass fibers that form when hot lava erupts from a fissure and rapidly cools in the air. The wind stretches the fibers into long strands that look like hair. “So certainly we would ask those with respiratory sensitivities to take precautions to minimize exposure.”

    Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago.

    Mauna Loa, rising 13,679 feet (4,169 meters) above sea level, is the much larger neighbor of Kilauea, which erupted in a residential neighborhood and destroyed 700 homes in 2018. Some of Mauna Loa’s slopes are much steeper than Kilauea’s, so lava can flow much faster when it erupts.

    During a 1950 eruption, the mountain’s lava traveled 15 miles (24 kilometers) to the ocean in under three hours.

    Mauna Loa’s volume is estimated at least 18,000 square miles (75,000 square kilometers), making it the world’s largest volcano when measured from the ocean floor its summit.

    Tourism is Hawaii’s economic engine but Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth predicted few problems for those vacationing during the eruption.

    “It will be spectacular where it is, but the chances of it really interrupting the visitor industry — very, very slim,” he said.

    Tourism officials said no one should have to change Big Island travel plans.

    For some, the eruption might cut down on some travel time, even if there is more volcanic smog caused by higher sulfur-dioxide emissions.

    “But the good thing is you don’t have to drive from Kona over to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to see an eruption anymore,” Roth said. “You can just look out your window at night and you’ll be able to see Mauna Loa erupting.”

    ———

    Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jennifer Sinco Kelleher and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; Alina Hartounian in Phoenix; and Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska.

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  • $10M settlement announced in heat death of Georgia student

    $10M settlement announced in heat death of Georgia student

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    ATLANTA — The parents of a Georgia high school basketball player who collapsed while practicing outdoors in sweltering heat and later died announced Tuesday that they have agreed to a $10 million settlement with the school district.

    As part of the settlement, the Clayton County school system agreed to rename the gymnasium at Elite Scholars Academy for Imani Bell, who was a 16-year-old junior at the school when she died. A ceremony was set to be held Tuesday afternoon to commemorate that renaming, the family’s lawyers said.

    Imani’s father, Eric Bell, called the renaming of the gym a “great honor,” but said the settlement is “bittersweet.”

    “We’d trade everything to have her back here with us,” he said in a phone interview.

    Imani collapsed on Aug. 13, 2019, after running up the football stadium steps during required conditioning drills for the girls’ basketball team, her family said in the wrongful death lawsuit filed against administrators at the school. The temperature was in the high 90s Fahrenheit (more than 35 degrees Celsius) at the time and the area was under a heat advisory.

    Imani died later that day from heat-related cardiac arrest and kidney failure, the lawsuit said. An autopsy done by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found that she had no preexisting conditions and her death was due solely to heatstroke caused by strenuous physical exertion in extreme temperatures, the family’s lawyers said.

    Two coaches, Larosa Walker-Asekere and Dwight Palmer, were indicted in July 2021 on charges including murder and child cruelty in Imani’s death. That criminal case is ongoing.

    Imani’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit in February 2021. Online court records show that suit was settled last month. An attorney for the family, L. Chris Stewart, said the significant settlement amount sends a message to other school districts.

    “It sends a nationwide message to every school district and every athletic program … that the lives of our children matter over athletics, and every district needs to realize that no child should die from heat exhaustion,” he said. “We salute Clayton County for sending that message nationwide.”

    The family has started the Keep Imani Foundation, which their lawyers said will be funded in part by funds from the settlement. Eric Bell said it will offer scholarships for students and will help schools get cold tubs to help prevent heat stroke deaths.

    Bell said he wants to send a message to school officials: “Keep educating coaches, keep educating students about the dangers of heat and humidity, and try to be prepared for a situation like this.”

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  • EXPLAINER: What hazards are posed by Hawaii’s Mauna Loa?

    EXPLAINER: What hazards are posed by Hawaii’s Mauna Loa?

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    HONOLULU — Lava is shooting 100 feet to 200 feet (30 to 60 meters) into the air as Hawaii‘s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, erupts for the first time in nearly 40 years.

    For now, lava is not threatening any homes or communities and no evacuation orders have been issued. Lava could eventually reach neighborhoods as it flows downhill though it could take a week or more for molten rock to reach populated areas.

    Mauna Loa is spewing sulfur dioxide and other volcanic gases. They form volcanic smog, or vog, when they mix with vapor, oxygen and dust in sunlight. As a result, state health officials are urging people to cut back on outdoor exercise and other activities that cause heavy breathing.

    Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984. It’s smaller, more active neighbor, Kilauea volcano, has been erupting continuously for more than a year since September 2021.

    WHERE IS MAUNA LOA?

    Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, which is the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s not the tallest (that title goes to Mauna Kea) but it’s the largest and makes up about half of the island’s land mass.

    It sits immediately north of Kilauea volcano, which is well-known for a 2018 eruption that destroyed 700 homes and sent rivers of lava spreading across farms and into the ocean.

    Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago. The current eruption is its 34th since written history began in 1843.

    The Big Island is mostly rural and hosts cattle ranches and coffee farms but it is also home to a few small cities, including the county seat of Hilo which has a population of 45,000.

    It’s about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of Hawaii’s most populous island, Oahu, where the state capital Honolulu and beach resort Waikiki are both located.

    Mauna Loa’s volume is estimated at least 18,000 square miles (75,000 square kilometers), making it the world’s largest volcano when measured from the ocean floor to its summit.

    WHERE IS MAUNA LOA ERUPTING FROM?

    The eruption began Sunday night at its summit after a series of large earthquakes. It then spread to vents that formed in a rift zone where the mountain is splitting apart and it’s easier for magma to emerge.

    These vents are on the mountain’s northeast side and lava emerging there could head toward Hilo which is on the east side of the island.

    Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said he doesn’t expect additional vents to form on the volcano’s southwest rift zone during this eruption. That means communities to the west would be spared lava flows this time.

    Mauna Loa’s also erupted from the northeast in 1984. That time, lava headed toward Hilo but stopped a few miles short of the city.

    Historically, each Mauna Loa eruption has lasted a few weeks. Hon expects the current eruption to follow this pattern.

    IS MAUNA LOA EXPLODING LIKE MOUNT ST. HELENS?

    Mauna Loa is not exploding like Washington state’s Mount St. Helens did in 1980, killing 57 people. That eruption sent ash soaring over 80,000 feet (24,384 meters) and raining down as far as 250 miles (400 kilometers) away.

    The magma in Mount St. Helens tends to be stickier and traps more gas, making it much more likely to explode when it rises. It’s of a variety called composite volcanoes, which form concave cones.

    Mauna Loa’s magma tends to be hotter, drier and more fluid. That allows the magma’s gas to escape and lava to flow down the side the volcano the way it is starting to do now. Mauna Loa is a shield volcano, named because the long, broad flanks built by repeated lava flows give it the appearance of a warrior’s shield.

    In 1989, Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano, another composite volcano, belched an 8-mile cloud of ash that clogged all four engines of a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines jet. The plane fell 13,000 feet before all engines restarted and the plane landed without injury to the 245 people aboard.

    Mauna Loa released some ash this time but on a vastly smaller scale than these examples from composite volcanoes.

    WHAT HAZARDS ARE POSED BY MAUNA LOA’S ERUPTION?

    -Lava: Molten rock could cover houses, farms or neighborhoods, depending on where it flows. But lava from the northeast rift zone will likely take at least a week to reach populated areas allowing people time to evacuate if needed.

    -Volcanic gas: Mauna Loa is releasing volcanic gases, mostly sulfur dioxide. The gases are present in their highest concentrations in the immediate area around the summit crater or vents. But they also combine with other particles to form vog, which can spread across the Big Island and even waft over to the state’s other islands.

    Vog can give healthy people burning eyes, headaches and sore throats. It can send those with asthma or other respiratory problems to the hospital.

    -Glass particles: When hot lava erupts from a fissure and rapidly cools, it forms glass particles named “Pele’s hair” and “Pele’s tears” after the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes.

    The particles tend not to travel far from volcanic vents — maybe only a few hundred yards or a mile and won’t threaten many people, said Aaron Pietruszka, an associate specialist at the University of Hawaii’s Department of Earth Sciences.

    “It just literally looks like hair strands. And that’s where the fluid lava is stretched by the wind to make long, thin strands,” said Pietruszka.

    The glass bits — as short as a few millimeters or as long as a few inches — can be sharp.

    “You wouldn’t want to be digging your hands in it because you could get a cut,” Pietruszka said.

    An N95 or KF94 mask would protect against these glass particles but not against volcanic gas, said Dr. Libby Char, the director of the state Department of Health.

    “Pele’s hair” specimens from Kilauea volcano’s eruption are visible at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

    HOW SIGNIFICANT ARE MAUNA LOA’S GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS?

    Mauna Loa released about 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide per day during its 1984 eruption, according to USGS data.

    That’s equivalent to the annual emissions from 2,400 sport utility vehicles.

    Scientists say all of Earth’s volcanoes combined emit less than one percent of the carbon dioxide that humans produce each year.

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  • Drying California lake to get $250M in US drought funding

    Drying California lake to get $250M in US drought funding

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The federal government said Monday it will spend $250 million over four years on environmental cleanup and restoration work around a drying Southern California lake that’s fed by the depleted Colorado River.

    The future of the Salton Sea, and who is financially responsible for it, has been a key issue in discussions over how to stave off a crisis in the Colorado River. The lake was formed in 1905 when the river overflowed, creating a resort destination that slowly morphed into an environmental disaster as water levels receded, exposing residents to harmful dust and reducing wildlife habitat.

    The lake is largely fed by runoff from farms in California’s Imperial Valley, who use Colorado River water to grow many of the nation’s winter vegetables as well as feed crops like alfalfa. As the farmers reduce their water use, less flows into the lake. California said it would only reduce its reliance on the over-tapped river if the federal government put up money to mitigate the effects of less water flowing into the sea.

    “It’s kind of a linchpin for the action we need to see on the Colorado River,” said Wade Crowfoot, California’s natural resources secretary. “Finally we are all in agreement that we can’t leave the Salton Sea on the cutting room floor, we can’t take these conservation actions — these extraordinary measures — at the expense of these residents.”

    The deal announced Monday needs approval from the Imperial Irrigation District, the largest user of Colorado River water. The water entity’s board will take it up on Tuesday.

    Both the district’s general manager and board member JB Hamby applauded the deal Monday.

    “The collaboration happening at the Salton Sea between water agencies and state, federal, and tribal governments is a blueprint for effective cooperation that the Colorado River Basin sorely needs,” Hamby said in a statement.

    The $250 million will come out of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, which set aside $4 billion to stave off the worst effects of drought across the U.S. West.

    Most of the money is contingent on the Imperial Irrigation District and Coachella Valley Water District making good on their commitments to reduce their own use of river water. Both submitted proposals to cut back their usage for payment as part of a new federal program.

    The quarter-billion dollars will largely go to bolster and speed up existing state projects designed to lower the negative environmental impact of the drying lake bed. The state has committed nearly $583 million to projects at the sea, including dust suppression and habitat restoration. One project underway aims to create wetlands and ponds that will limit dust from blowing into the air while creating safe spaces for fish and birds, according to the state.

    The deal comes as the U.S. Interior Department and the seven states that rely on the river — California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming — scramble to stave off the worst impacts of the ongoing drought and historic overuse of the river. Lakes Powell and Mead, the key reservoirs that store river water and provide hydropower across the West, are only about a quarter full.

    After months of failed negotiations over a deal to drastically cut water use, the federal government in October said it would pay farmers and cities to cut back through activities like leaving fields unplanted or lining canals to prevent water from seeping into the ground. Proposals were due earlier this month. Meanwhile, the Interior Department has taken steps to unilaterally revise guidelines that govern when water shortages are declared, a move that could force states to further cut back.

    The Salton Sea, meanwhile, became its own political flashpoint in October when Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, then up for reelection, urged the federal government to withhold any environmental cleanup money unless California agreed to give up more water. That prompted criticism he was using communities who already suffer from poor air quality as a bargaining chip.

    The agreement marks a good step forward but key details still need to be fleshed out, said Frank Ruiz, Salton Sea program director for Audubon California. He worries that $250 million is not enough to mitigate all of the damage already done at the sea.

    “This is a great step but I think we need a lot more,” he said. “We need to continue discussing water sustainability in the region.”

    Broadly, he wants to see a more equitable distribution of the region’s water supplies and hopes the Salton Sea gets a guaranteed minimum amount of water even as overall use declines.

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  • Drying California lake to get $250M in drought funding

    Drying California lake to get $250M in drought funding

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The federal government said Monday it will spend $250 million over four years on environmental cleanup and restoration work around a drying Southern California lake that’s fed by the depleted Colorado River.

    The future of the Salton Sea, and who is financially responsible for it, has been a key issue in discussions over how to stave off a crisis in the Colorado River. The lake was formed in 1905 when the river overflowed, creating a resort destination that slowly morphed into an environmental disaster as water levels receded, exposing residents to harmful dust and reducing wildlife habitat.

    The lake is largely fed by runoff from farms in California’s Imperial Valley, who use Colorado River water to grow many of the nation’s winter vegetables as well as feed crops like alfalfa. As the farmers reduce their water use, less flows into the lake. California said it would only reduce its reliance on the over-tapped river if the federal government put up money to mitigate the effects of less water flowing into the sea.

    “It’s kind of a linchpin for the action we need to see on the Colorado River,” said Wade Crowfoot, California’s natural resources secretary. “Finally we are all in agreement that we can’t leave the Salton Sea on the cutting room floor, we can’t take these conservation actions — these extraordinary measures — at the expense of these residents.”

    The deal announced Monday needs approval from the Imperial Irrigation District, the largest user of Colorado River water. The water entity’s board will take it up on Tuesday.

    Both the district’s general manager and board member JB Hamby applauded the deal Monday.

    “The collaboration happening at the Salton Sea between water agencies and state, federal, and tribal governments is a blueprint for effective cooperation that the Colorado River Basin sorely needs,” Hamby said in a statement.

    The $250 million will come out of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, which set aside $4 billion to stave off the worst effects of drought across the U.S. West.

    Most of the money is contingent on the Imperial Irrigation District and Coachella Valley Water District making good on their commitments to reduce their own use of river water. Both submitted proposals to cut back their usage for payment as part of a new federal program.

    The quarter-billion dollars will largely go to bolster and speed up existing state projects designed to lower the negative environmental impact of the drying lake bed. The state has committed nearly $583 million to projects at the sea, including dust suppression and habitat restoration. One project underway aims to create wetlands and ponds that will limit dust from blowing into the air while creating safe spaces for fish and birds, according to the state.

    The deal comes as the U.S. Interior Department and the seven states that rely on the river — California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming — scramble to stave off the worst impacts of the ongoing drought and historic overuse of the river. Lakes Powell and Mead, the key reservoirs that store river water and provide hydropower across the West, are only about a quarter full.

    After months of failed negotiations over a deal to drastically cut water use, the federal government in October said it would pay farmers and cities to cut back through activities like leaving fields unplanted or lining canals to prevent water from seeping into the ground. Proposals were due earlier this month. Meanwhile, the Interior Department has taken steps to unilaterally revise guidelines that govern when water shortages are declared, a move that could force states to further cut back.

    The Salton Sea, meanwhile, became its own political flashpoint in October when Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, then up for reelection, urged the federal government to withhold any environmental cleanup money unless California agreed to give up more water. That prompted criticism he was using communities who already suffer from poor air quality as a bargaining chip.

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  • Hawaii’s Mauna Loa starts to erupt, sending ash nearby

    Hawaii’s Mauna Loa starts to erupt, sending ash nearby

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    Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, has started to erupt, prompting volcanic ash and debris to fall nearby

    HONOLULU — Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, has started to erupt, prompting volcanic ash and debris to fall nearby, authorities said Monday.

    The eruption began late Sunday night in the summit caldera of the volcano on the Big Island, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Early Monday, it said lava flows were contained within the summit area and weren’t threatening nearby communities.

    The agency warned residents at risk from Mauna Loa lava flows should review their eruption preparations. Scientists had been on alert because of a recent spike in earthquakes at the summit of the volcano, which last erupted in 1984.

    Mauna Loa, rising 13,679 feet (4,169 meters) above sea level, is the much larger neighbor to Kilauea volcano, which erupted in a residential neighborhood and destroyed 700 homes in 2018. Some of its slopes are much steeper than Kilauea’s so when it erupts, its lava can flow much faster.

    During a 1950 eruption, the mountain’s lava traveled 15 miles (24 kilometers) to the ocean in less than three hours.

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