In brief: More bodies found in burned homes after California fires
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Two more bodies were found in the burned ruins of homes in California, bringing the death toll to five from two of the most destructive wildfires in the state in recent memory.
Both fires continued burning Thursday, but cooler weather and rain helped firefighters gain ground on the blazes that have destroyed more than 800 homes.
Official identifications have not yet been made, but the sheriff’s office said the two bodies found in Lake County were presumed to be those of Bruce Beven Burns and former San Jose Mercury News police reporter Leonard Neft.
Shirley Burns said her 65-year-old brother-in-law might have been sleeping in his trailer and didn’t realize the fire was speeding toward him on Saturday. “It came in very fast, it was a monster,” she said from her home in Lodi.
Neft’s wife and daughter were not immediately available for comment on Thursday. He last spoke with his family on Saturday before authorities found his burned-out car on a route he would have used to escape.
Suspect’s friend put on notice by feds
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Federal authorities have told a friend of the man accused of fatally shooting nine black parishioners in a Charleston church that he’s under investigation, a step one legal expert says often serves as a warning that charges are imminent and legal counsel is advised.
Joey Meek, 21, of Lexington, South Carolina, was notified by a so-called target letter earlier this month that he is under investigation for lying to police and for knowing about a crime before or after it was committed but failing to report it, a federal law enforcement official told the Associated Press.
Meek told the Associated Press that Dylann Roof occasionally stayed with him at a mobile home in Red Bank, about 20 miles from Columbia, before the June 17 shootings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Meek said he and Roof were school friends but went their separate ways. Then, just weeks before the shooting, Roof started coming around again.
Lucas museum unveils new design
CHICAGO – The team behind George Lucas’ art and movie museum released revised renderings Thursday showing more green space at the Chicago site but no radical changes to the undulating, futuristic building stoking passions in a city that guards its Lake Michigan shoreline with religious-like devotion.
Images that will be presented to City Council next week show designers have significantly shrunk the lakefront building while preserving a smooth, tapering, dune-like form topped with an observation deck resembling a floating disc – a shape that critics have compared to Jabba the Hutt.
Defenders of what will be known as the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, have said the design is loyal to Chicago’s history of making bold architectural statements and its devotion to keeping the lakefront open, accessible and green.