CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A powerful flare-up on the western edge of Southern California’s largest and most destructive wildfire sent residents fleeing Sunday, as wind-fanned flames churned through old-growth brush in canyons and along hillsides toward coastal towns. Crews with help from a fleet water-dropping planes and helicopters saved homes as unpredictable…
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A man accused of killing a St. Louis County police officer in 2016 will not face the death penalty. A judge on Friday set the first-degree murder trial for 19-year-old Trenton Forster for Feb. 4, 2019. Forster is accused in the shooting death of 33-year-old officer Blake Snyder. Prosecutor Robert McCulloch…
By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr., Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A pre-winter storm that roared through the Deep South and coated half of North Carolina and portions of Virginia in snow pushed northward on Saturday, leaving motorists to brave potentially icy roads and utility crews trying to restore heat and light to thousands. Forecasters were warning that…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Police officers in St. Louis have come under gunfire for the second time in three days. The Post-Dispatch reports that officers exchanged gunfire with someone inside a car who had been firing an assault rifle at a pickup truck Friday afternoon. Police say that immediately after that shooting, the car turned…
By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr., Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — An unusually heavy December snowfall across much of the Deep South tapered off Saturday, icy road conditions were still a threat and thousands remained without electricity throughout the region. Forecasters warned that moisture on the roadways could freeze overnight and cause black ice to form. The National…
FALLBROOK, Calif. (AP) — A week of destructive fires in Southern California is ending but danger still looms. Well into what’s considered the wet season, there’s been nary a drop of rain. That’s good for sun-seeking tourists, but could spell more disaster for a region that emerged this spring from a yearslong drought and now…
By JIM SALTER, Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — With St. Louis closing in on 200 homicides for 2017, the mayor and other civic leaders are renewing a push to get guns off the streets. St. Louis has seen 196 homicides so far this year, continuing an alarming four-year trend. The annual homicide total has risen…
By JULIE WATSON and KRYSTA FAURIA, Associated Press FALLBROOK, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters in Southern California were on high alert for dangerous fire potential even before the first blazes broke out. But once flames met ferocious winds, fire crews were mostly powerless to stop infernos that destroyed more than 500 buildings, killed dozens of horses and…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A suspected carjacker who hit a family’s vehicle last spring, killing a 9-year-old boy, is now charged with murder. St. Louis County prosecutors on Friday charged 17-year-old Darian Cummings with second-degree murder in the death of Caleb Lee. Police say the boy had just returned from a Disney World trip with…
By AMANDA LEE MYERS and JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press BONSALL, Calif. (AP) — A routine day at an elite training center for racehorses transformed into terror and chaos in minutes, with hundreds of thoroughbreds stampeding out of their stalls in a desperate attempt to flee a Southern California wildfire that set their barns ablaze. Turned loose…