250-year-old church damaged in fire
SAN GABRIEL, Calif. -- A fire early Saturday destroyed the roof and most of the interior of a California church that was undergoing renovation to mark its 250th anniversary celebration.
Fire alarms at the San Gabriel Mission rang about 4 a.m., and when firefighters responded to the historic structure they saw smoke rising from the wooden rooftop, San Gabriel Fire Capt. Paul Negrete said.
He said firefighters entered the church and tried to beat back the flames, but they had to retreat when roofing and other materials began falling.
"We were trying to fight it from the inside; we weren't able to because it became unsafe," he said.
After evacuating the church, the crew was joined by up to 50 firefighters who tried to douse the 50-foot-high structure from ladder trucks, he said.
"The roof is completely gone," the captain said. "The fire traversed the wood rapidly; the interior is pretty much destroyed up into the altar area."
The cause of the fire was under investigation, Negrete said.
Tropical storm downgraded over N.Y.
MIAMI -- A tropical storm that dropped heavy rain on mid-Atlantic states and southern New England was downgraded twice as it moved over New York, forecasters said.
Post-tropical cyclone Fay was about 30 miles south of Albany and had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its Saturday advisory. The forecasters said the advisory would be its last for the system, which was expected to continue moving north.
Fay had closed beaches and flooded shore-town streets after it made landfall as a tropical storm Friday afternoon in New Jersey. It weakened once it hit land and was expected to dissipate today, forecasters said.
Forecasters again decreased expected rain totals from Fay. The post-tropical low was expected to produce 1 to 2 inches of rain, with flash flooding possible in some areas.
The forecast track put the system moving into western New England and then southeastern Canada today, forecasters said. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect for the system.
Ruling clears Indians' state convictions
OKLAHOMA CITY -- An American Indian man convicted in Oklahoma of first-degree murder and another who pleaded guilty to manslaughter had their convictions vacated because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that much of the eastern part of the state remains a reservation on which tribal members are subject to federal and tribal law, not state law.
The moves were part of an effort to vacate the convictions of American Indians prosecuted, convicted and sentenced in Oklahoma's state courts. The court's 5-4 landmark ruling Thursday in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation case means that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to pursue criminal cases against American Indian defendants in the eastern half of Oklahoma that includes most of Tulsa, the state's second-largest city.
After the Creek ruling, justices vacated the convictions of Joe Johnson Jr., who had been serving a life sentence for a fatal shooting in Seminole County, and Travis Wayne Bailey, who had been serving 36 years for killing a man in a crash while high on methamphetamine. They and two convicted sex offenders have won new trials, The Oklahoman reported.
Justices concluded that Congress had never officially terminated the reservations' autonomy before combining what had been the Indian and Oklahoma territories into the state of Oklahoma in 1907, leaving the federal courts in charge of judging and punishing crimes on the reservations.
U.S. citizens told of arrest risk in China
The State Department warned U.S. citizens living in or traveling to China that they may face arbitrary arrest, the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing.
"Exercise increased caution in the People's Republic of China (PRC) due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws for purposes other than maintaining law and order," the State Department said in a travel advisory on its website that was also emailed to U.S. citizens registered as being in China. "This arbitrary enforcement may include detention and the use of exit bans."
The warning, sent Saturday morning U.S. time, says Chinese security forces may "detain and/or deport" American citizens for "sending private electronic messages critical of" China's government.
"U.S. citizens may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime. U.S. citizens may be subjected to prolonged interrogations and extended detention for reasons related to 'state security,'" the warning added.
Tensions between the U.S. and China have risen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump and other administration officials have blamed China for taking insufficient actions to contain the virus's spread.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
