Wildfires threaten 2 national park gems
LOS ANGELES — Strong winds on Monday pushed wildfires burning around two crown jewels of the National Park Service toward the doorstep of a century-old lodge and into an ancient grove of sequoias.
The fires in Montana’s Glacier National Park and outside California’s Yosemite National Park are threatening the natural and man-made icons.
A 14-square-mile fire that consumed a historic Glacier backcountry chalet last week moved toward Lake McDonald Lodge, a focal point for park visitors.
Rangers evacuated tourists, laid hoses and sprinklers around the hotel and are standing guard as the wind drives the blaze down the mountainside toward the lake’s shores.
Outside Yosemite, a wind-fueled fire drove deeper into a grove of 2,700-year-old giant sequoia trees. Officials said the fire had gone through about half the grove and had not killed any trees.
Mother describes Burning Man victim
RENO, Nev. — The mother of a man who died after plunging into an estimated 40-foot fire at the Burning Man festival says he was attending the festival in Nevada for the first time.
Authorities said Aaron Joel Mitchell wasn’t under the influence of alcohol, but toxicology tests are underway for other drugs.
Mitchell’s mother told the Reno Gazette Journal that her son worked in construction and loved the outdoors. Johnnye Mitchell also said her son was from McAlester, Okla., and had been living in Switzerland with his wife.
Authorities said Mitchell, 41, rushed past layers of security officers into the fire at the Burning Man festival’s signature ceremony Saturday night.
He was airlifted to the University of California, Davis hospital burn center in Sacramento, where he died Sunday morning.
The festival ended Sunday with the burning of another giant wooden figure. About 50,000 people attended that signature ceremony. More than 70,000 people attended the art and music celebration in the Black Rock Desert, about 100 miles north of Reno.
Mississippi Medicaid recovers $8.6M
JACKSON, Miss. — The Mississippi Division of Medicaid reported recovering $8.6 million from health care providers during the state budget year that ended June 30.
The agency said in a news release that the misspent money was found through audits of medical claims.
The agency said money can be recovered from providers or beneficiaries for many reasons, including “outright fraud,” such as a provider billing for health services a patient did not receive.
Medicaid is a government health insurance program for the needy, aged, blind and disabled and for low-income families with children.
The Medicaid budget in Mississippi is about $6 billion, with most of the money coming from the federal government. Mississippi is one of the poorest states, so it receives one of the highest levels of federal support.
For NYC festival, blood spilled again
NEW YORK — Revelry, cultural pride and newly tightened security mixed Monday at one of the largest U.S. celebrations of Caribbean communities, as the city tried to ensure safety at an event that has been marred by nearby violence. But some still happened.
One man was shot and another stabbed near the Caribbean Carnival parade route Monday evening, police said. Still, officials noted, an early-morning pre-parade celebration unfolded safely after its start time was moved to try to avoid trouble.
The daylong party drew smiling throngs, bouncing to the steel-drum beat of Brooklyn’s melting-pot Labor Day tradition.
“I’m Guyanese, Trini, Panamanian, Puerto Rican and Jamaican,” reveler Imani Woods told WCBS, expressing enthusiasm for a day of dancing and food.
Shootings near the march route have long been a concern. In 2015, an aide to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo was killed by a stray bullet. Last year, two people were killed and one wounded in shootings.
This year, a 22-year-old man was shot in the torso Monday evening, and a 20-year-old man was stabbed in the abdomen about an hour and a half later, police said.
A Section on 09/05/2017