2 from grounded tug relieved from duties
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A tugboat captain and second mate have been relieved of duty after their vessel ran aground on the same reef as the Exxon Valdez 20 years ago.
The tug Pathfinder was scouting for ice along Alaska's oil shipping lanes Dec. 23 when it ran aground on Bligh Reef. It spilled an estimated 100 gallons of diesel fuel.
The tug's operator, Crowley Marine, says the two crew members were relieved of their duties two days later and are not being paid. Their names weren't released.
Natural gas piped in to blow up building
HEMET, Calif. (AP) — Police say someone tried to blow up a gang task force building in Southern California by piping in natural gas.
Police say two officers from the Riverside County-based task force evacuated the building early Thursday after arriving for work and smelling a strong odor.
Hemet police Lt. Duane Wisehart said authorities have not found a detonation device, but they believe whoever piped in the gas through the roof intended to cause an explosion.
Anthrax spores are linked to drums
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The anthrax spores that infected a New Hampshire woman are the same strain as spores found on an electrical outlet and two drums used at a gathering she attended in early December, medical investigators said.
Test results received Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the match between the patient's strain and the contaminated items at the United Campus Ministry Center in Durham.
The results bolster the theory that the woman swallowed anthrax spores propelled into the air during a Dec. 4 drum circle at the center, said Dr. Elizabeth Talbot, adviser to the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Disney kin denies guilt on drugs, guns
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The grandson of Walt Disney has pleaded not guilty to drug and gun charges in Los Angeles.
Patrick Disney Miller was being held in lieu of $550,000 bail after his arraignment Thursday on 19 felony counts.
The 42-year-old Miller was arrested earlier this month after a search warrant was served at his suburban Woodland Hills home.
Authorities say police found 13 handguns, a rifle, illegal assault rifle and various drugs. Miller is barred from owning guns or ammunition following a 2005 conviction on drug possession in Fresno.
Slain man had been about to leave job
LAKESIDE, Calif. (AP) — The wife of the California casino official killed by an ex-employee says her husband was about to leave his job because he didn't like being ordered to fire people.
Raymundo Casillas Jr. was the head of the Barona Gaming Commission in San Diego County. He was killed Tuesday when Donnell Roberts went to his office and opened fire, then turned the gun on himself.
Casillas' wife, Julie, says her husband didn't want to fire Roberts from his job as a commission investigator and thought he deserved better.
Dead animals due to religious rituals?
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Investigators say some kind of religious ritual may be behind the discovery of the remains of 400 to 500 dead animals at a Philadelphia house.
Officer George Bengal, director of law enforcement at the Pennsylvania SPCA, says investigators spent hours combing through the home in the city's Feltonville neighborhood Wednesday.
He says the animals were apparently used in some kind of religious ritual. The remains include deer, turtles and other animals.
Authorities are trying to find the people who lived in the rented home.
Motorized bar stool to go on sale again
NEWARK, Ohio (AP) — Officials in Ohio will have to try again to sell a motorized bar stool from an unusual drunken driving case.
The child support agency in central Ohio's Licking County says the winning bidder in an eBay auction did not come through with payment for the bar stool crashed by Kile Wygle in March.
Wygle was arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
The county wants to sell the contraption to pay child support owed by Wygle. A high bid of $1,125 was reached in the eBay auction that ended Dec. 13.