In Brief: Earthquake strikes off Northern California coast

EUREKA, Calif. – Officials said a powerful magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck Sunday night off the coast of Northern California, but there was no danger of a tsunami.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor struck at 9:18 p.m. PDT about four miles beneath the Pacific seabed and about 50 miles west of Eureka.

Sheriff’s and fire officials in Humboldt County, which includes most of the populated areas near the quake, said there have been no calls about damage or injuries.

USGS seismologist Susan Hoover said more than 300 people have reported feeling the temblor on their website.

The National Tsunami Warning Center said there is no tsunami danger for the region.

Marines identify pilot in F/A-18 crash

LOS ANGELES – The military pilot killed in a fighter jet crash during a training exercise in Nevada has been identified as Marine Capt. Reid Nannen.

Marine Aircraft Group 12 released the 32-year-old pilot’s name Saturday.

Nannen died when the F/A-18C went down March 1 on a Navy range training complex east of Naval Air Station Fallon. The Marine jet was on loan to the naval station.

The Hopedale, Ill., native was a student at the TopGun school there.

Nannen was survived by his wife, Sarah, and their four children.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

No leaks detected at nuclear dump site

CARLSBAD, N.M. – The U.S. Department of Energy says new air testing in the nation’s only underground nuclear repository shows no detectable radioactive contamination from a leak last month.

Officials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad said Sunday that instruments used to measure air quality and radioactivity were sent underground Friday and Saturday in the first step to resuming operations at the plant.

They say initial results indicate no contamination in the air or on the measuring equipment.

Federal officials say four more employees have tested positive for low levels of contamination, adding to the 13 tested immediately after the leak.

Authorities say none should suffer health effects.

WIPP officials say they may send personnel into the mine next week.

‘Band of Brothers’ inspiration dies at 90

PHILADELPHIA – William “Wild Bill” Guarnere, one of the World War II veterans whose exploits were dramatized in the TV miniseries “Band of Brothers,” has died. He was 90

His son, William Guarnere Jr., confirmed Sunday that his father died at Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Guarnere was rushed to the hospital early Saturday and died of a ruptured aneurysm Saturday night.

The HBO miniseries, based on a book by Stephen Ambrose, followed the members of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from training in Georgia in 1942 through some of the war’s fiercest European battles to the war’s end in 1945.

Its producers included Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.

Guarnere was portrayed by the actor Frank John Hughes.

Guarnere, whose combat exploits earned him his nickname, lost a leg while trying to help a wounded soldier during the Battle of the Bulge. His commendations included the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.