The nation in brief

The Nation in Brief

Fire officials check out a truck Thursday that was destroyed by a wildfire burning along Interstate 5 in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California.
Fire officials check out a truck Thursday that was destroyed by a wildfire burning along Interstate 5 in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California.

Truckers flee wildfire, leave rigs behind

SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. -- Truckers abandoned big rigs and motorists screamed in fear as they came dangerously close to an explosive wildfire that shut down about 45 miles of a major California interstate near the Oregon border that authorities were desperately trying to reopen.

The fire flared Wednesday afternoon in a rural area and devoured timber and brush on both sides of Interstate 5 as it nearly tripled in size overnight, officials said Thursday.

About 17 big rigs were abandoned along the interstate and at least four caught fire, Lt. Cmdr. Kyle Foster of the California Highway Patrol's Mount Shasta office said. At least two trucks were partially melted.

Also Thursday, California's insurance commissioner said that victims of the Redding fire and one in the Mendocino area -- the two largest blazes in the state so far this year -- have filed more than 10,000 claims so far totaling $845 million. The two fires destroyed or damaged a combined 8,800 homes and 329 businesses.

And, California's firefighting agency is about to exceed its $432 million budget and needs $234 million more, agency director Ken Pimlott said in a letter to lawmakers Thursday.

Twitter bans conspiracy theorist Jones

NEW YORK -- Twitter is permanently banning right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars show for posting a video Wednesday that the company said violates its policy against "abusive behavior."

The company said Jones won't be able to create new accounts on Twitter or take over any existing ones. Jones had about 900,000 followers on Twitter. Infowars had about 430,000.

The video in question showed Jones shouting at and berating CNN journalist Oliver Darcy for some 10 minutes in between two congressional hearings focused on social media.

Jones heckled Darcy in a public hallway where reporters were waiting to enter the House committee room. He criticized the journalist's reporting and appearance, saying that Darcy was "smiling like a possum that crawled out of the rear end of a dead cow. That's what you look like. You look like a possum that got caught doing some really nasty stuff -- in my view. You're a public figure, too."

Darcy has aggressively questioned social media companies about why they have allowed Jones to remain on their platforms.

Twitter had previously suspended Jones for a week. Other tech companies have limited Jones by suspending him for longer periods, as Facebook did, and by taking down his pages and radio stations.

States start new clergy-abuse inquiries

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York and New Jersey began new investigations into the Roman Catholic Church's handling of clergy sex-abuse allegations Thursday as the number of similar inquiries around the country continues to grow.

In New York, the state's attorney general issued subpoenas to all eight of the state's Catholic dioceses seeking any and all documents pertaining to allegations, findings from internal church investigations and payments to victims, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly.

Church leaders confirmed receipt of the subpoenas and vowed to work with Attorney General Barbara Underwood's civil investigation -- as well as any potential criminal investigations to come. The subpoenas were issued to the Archdiocese of New York in New York City as well as the dioceses of Albany, Brooklyn, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, Ogdensburg and Rockville Centre.

In New Jersey, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced a new task force that will look at how abuse allegations were handled in the seven dioceses in that state.

$200 added to Chicago officer's bail

CHICAGO -- A judge decided not to jail a white Chicago police officer and ordered him to pay only $200 on Thursday for giving media interviews that the judge said violated a court order not to talk publicly about why he shot a black teenager 16 times in 2014.

Officer Jason Van Dyke swiftly paid the additional bail to remain free as jury selection continued in his first-degree murder trial in the death of Laquan McDonald.

Judge Vincent Gaughan increased Van Dyke's bail by $2,000 from the $1.5 million paid previously in what amounted to a minor sanction, because Van Dyke only had to pay 10 percent of the $2,000, or $200, which he did immediately.

Van Dyke has pleaded innocent to charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct.

In the interviews, Van Dyke said that he shot McDonald because he feared for his life and the lives of other officers at the scene and that he acted as he was trained.

A video of the shooting released in November 2015 shows Van Dyke opened fire as McDonald walked away from police with a knife in his hand. The release of the video sparked large protests, the ouster of the police superintendent and demands for a police overhaul.

-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports

photo

AP/TERESA CRAWFORD

Jason Van Dyke (in white shirt), charged with murder in the 2014 shooting of a black teenager, leaves the Cook County jail in Chicago with his father, Owen (right), after posting bail Thursday.

A Section on 09/07/2018

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