WDEF News 12 - Covering America

Authorities name casualties in Colorado fire

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:46:16 -0400

DENVER (AP) — Bob and Barbara Schmidt dashed to their home on a dirt road in a heavily wooded area northeast of Colorado Springs as smoke from what would become the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history filled the air.

After quickly grabbing a few items, they spotted their neighbors.

"They were sitting on their porch, watching TV," said Bob Schmidt, adding his wife urged their neighbors to immediately flee as smoke rolled in at 4:35 p.m. on June 11. "They said they'd leave when they needed to."

Marc and Robin Herklotz told the Schmidts they hadn't gotten automated calls from authorities ordering them to evacuate and that, while they were packing and monitoring the approaching blaze on TV, they weren't panicking.

On Tuesday, authorities announced that the lone casualties of the Black Forest Fire were the Herklotzes, whose bodies were found in their garage on Jicarilla Drive by their car, as if they were trying to flee.

The fire has destroyed more than 500 homes and charred more than 22 square miles. It was 85 percent contained Tuesday.

In California, officials said it was an unattended campfire near a main route into Yosemite National Park that grew into a blaze that led to the evacuations of 1,500 people from 800 homes. Nearly half of those people were allowed to return as firefighters gained ground late Tuesday.

A wind-whipped wildfire in Arizona grew to nearly 8 square miles by Tuesday evening and was within 400 yards of some homes west of Prescott, authorities said. Hundreds of homes and people have been evacuated by the so-called Doce Fire, which began shortly before noon Tuesday.

In Colorado, Bob Schmidt said he had received a call June 11 telling him to leave immediately but that the Herklotzes said they did not get such a call. Their homes lay just outside the mandatory evacuation boundary announced on Twitter by the El Paso County at 3:34 p.m. that day. The zone was expanded to include Jicarilla Drive at 5:36 p.m.

El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said that someone had spoken to the Herklotzes on the phone at about 5 p.m. and heard a popping sound — most likely the fire racing through the thick trees.

Marc Allen Herklotz, 52, and Robin Lauran Herklotz, 50, worked at Air Force Space Command, which operates military satellites, and were based at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, the Air Force said in a written statement. He entered the Air Force in 1983 but most recently was working as a civilian employee, and his wife was an Air Force contractor.

The couple lived in a 3-bedroom house assessed at $281,000, according to property records. Schmidt said the Herklotzes were fixtures in the area, walking their dog every night and coming by to get eggs laid by the chickens Schmidt and his wife kept. A few weeks ago, he said, they worked filling in potholes on the narrow dirt cul de sac where they all lived.

"They loved the forest," Schmidt said of the couple.

Investigators continued searching Tuesday for clues to what started the wildfire. Authorities don't believe natural causes are to blame but haven't elaborated on a possible cause.

They concentrated on a 40-foot-by-40-foot area, but haven't said whether they think the fire was started accidentally or on purpose.

Maketa said that additional home loss is not anticipated, though the count would likely rise.

"What you're seeing today is not new damage," the sheriff said.

NC repeals law that allowed racial bias appeals

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:43:20 -0400

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina has repealed a landmark law that had allowed convicted murderers to have their sentences reduced to life in prison if they could prove racial bias influenced the outcome of their cases.

Gov Pat McCrory affixed his signature Wednesday.

Both proponents and critics say the repeal of the 2009 Racial Justice Act will restart the death penalty in a state that hasn't executed an inmate since 2006.

Republicans and McCrory said the law was so poorly crafted that it has allowed nearly all of the state's 156 death-row inmates to launch appeals under the law regardless of their race. They say the law impedes the will of unanimous jury decisions.

But Democrats argue there's plenty of evidence and studies that show those juries were racially biased.

Authorities: OH woman buried mother, cashed checks

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:04:49 -0400

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say an Ohio woman who buried her mother in her yard and cashed the dead woman's Social Security checks for 14 years has been sentenced to 30 days in prison.

Federal authorities say 66-year-old Patricia Hodges, of Marietta, also was sentenced Wednesday in Columbus to six months of home confinement and ordered to repay more than $141,000. Hodges had pleaded guilty to theft of government money for cashing Janet Kelly's checks.

Social Security officials say Hodges told them in 2011 that her mother was on a cruise. Authorities found that Kelly had died in 1997 and Hodges buried her in the backyard of the Lake Worth, Fla., home where they had lived.

Prosecutors say Hodges admitted concealing the death to collect benefits.

Hodges' attorney didn't return a call Wednesday.

Officials: Urban Outfitters pulls pill glasses

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:01:06 -0400

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Political leaders in drug-plagued Kentucky say retailer Urban Outfitters Inc. has responded to a multi-state campaign and stopped selling flasks, shot glasses and pint glasses that look like prescription pill bottles.

Gov. Steve Beshear released a statement Wednesday saying he was very pleased with the decision.

Urban Outfitters caters to teens and young adults. The Courier-Journal of Louisville (http://cjky.it/1asE1aa ) reported that the company issued a statement to the newspaper Tuesday saying it had stopped selling the items.

The company did not respond to telephone calls and emails requesting comment Wednesday.

Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers had also joined the push to get the retailer to pull the items, as did Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who joined 23 other states in calling on Urban Outfitters to pull the faux bottles.

4 shot, 3 dead at Ky. condo shooting

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:55:47 -0400

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police say three people are dead and a fourth is injured in a shooting at a condominium building in Louisville, Ky.

Asked if there was a suspect, police spokesman Dwight Mitchell says officers believe everyone involved was accounted for. He said the shootings took place inside an apartment but would not say whether there were other people inside at the time.

Mitchell also wouldn't indicate the ages of the victims and said the investigation was just beginning.

The shooting was reported shortly before 4:30 p.m. EDT.

Three Navy football players accused of sexual assault

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:11:39 -0400

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The U.S. Naval Academy has charged three Navy football players with sexually assaulting a female midshipman more than a year ago.

The academy said Wednesday that the male midshipmen are being charged with rape, sexual assault or other sexual misconduct, and making a false official statement.

Cmdr. John Schofield says the case is still in the pre-trial phase and declined further comment.

Earlier this week, the naval academy superintendent sent the case to Article 32 proceedings. They are the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing or grand jury investigation, and determine if there's evidence to proceed to court-martial.

The case comes as a string of sexual assault cases in the military has drawn attention and criticism in Congress, the Pentagon and the White House.

Woman stabbed, killed on Hollywood's Walk of Fame

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:11:18 -0400

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police say they've arrested three panhandlers for investigation of the fatal stabbing of a young woman who was taking photographs on Hollywood's star-lined "Walk of Fame."

Los Angeles police say they found the 23-year-old woman bleeding from multiple stab wounds near busy Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Homicide detectives say the woman and a friend were walking in the tourist-packed area where the three suspects were holding signs and panhandling.

They took cell phone photos of the men, which police say caused a dispute in which the victim was stabbed in the torso.

The woman later died at a hospital. Her identification hasn't been released.

The area attracts beggars and costumed street performers who demand cash for posed pictures with tourists.

Gehry refines design for Eisenhower Memorial in DC

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:39:33 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stone or bronze carvings depicting Dwight D. Eisenhower's accomplishments as Army general and president mark the latest creative change Architect Frank Gehry has made to his design for an Ike memorial park in Washington.

Early last year, Gehry planned to use bas reliefs carved on stone blocks to depict Eisenhower's achievements. He added 9-foot-tall bronze sculptures to the design in May 2012 after members of Eisenhower's family said the memorial needed stronger sculptural elements to show the 34th president's achievements more prominently.

Now Gehry is proposing that he use bas reliefs, either in stone or bronze, to serve as backdrops for the heroic-sized sculptures.

The Associated Press got an early look at the design changes, which will be reviewed Wednesday by the Eisenhower Memorial Commission.

Texas House panel approves new youth punishment

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:38:37 -0400

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas House panel on Wednesday endorsed a bill to create a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole after 40 years for 17-year-olds convicted of capital murder.

The Criminal Jurisprudence Committee sent the bill Wednesday to the full House, which is expected to vote before the end of the 30-day special session next week.

The bill has already passed the Senate, but House lawmakers say they may still consider more punishment options.

Currently, a 17-year-old convicted of capital murder in Texas is sentenced to life in prison without parole. But the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such a sentence is unconstitutional for minors.

Texas has more than 25 inmates sentenced to life in prison for crimes committed as juveniles.

Russia could stand in way of Obama's nuclear plan

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:37:12 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — By saying he intends to bargain with Russia over reductions in nuclear weapons, rather than make cuts on his own, President Barack Obama is asking for cooperation from a former Cold War foe that's in no mood to agree.

That doesn't mean the U.S. won't eventually shrink its arsenal beyond what is required by an existing U.S.-Russia treaty that took effect just two years ago. It probably will.

But it might not happen on Obama's watch.

Obama declared in Berlin on Wednesday that he wants to cut the number of U.S. nuclear arms by another one-third, which would shrink the total to between 1,000 and 1,100 weapons.

He said he would "seek negotiated cuts" with Russia, an approach some nuclear disarmament advocates called a dead end.