Trust finds link to dubious dealers
The J. Paul Getty Trust has concluded it bought 350 ancient artifacts from dealers suspected or convicted of dealing in looted artifacts but has not informed Italian authorities, who are contesting the trust’s ownership of dozens of other items, a newspaper reported.
The internal review last year found that the 350 items in the Getty’s antiquities collection, including Greek, Roman and Etruscan artifacts, were valued at close to $100 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The review did not determine whether any of the objects were purchased illegally and concluded that most of the items likely would not have to be returned to their countries of origin.
SEDONA, Ariz.
Wildfire forces evacuations
A fast-moving wildfire burned 3,000 acres in northern Arizona on Sunday, forcing more than 500 homes and businesses to evacuate.
The flames raced up Wilson Mountain in the Secret Mountain Wilderness between Sedona and Flagstaff, said Connie Birkland, a fire information officer.
Sedona City Manager Eric Levitt said a siren went off in the area warning residents, business owners and campers to get out.
Smoke from the fire was visible 30 miles away.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
TRENTON, N.J.
Mayor arrested for interference
Jersey City’s mayor said he was arrested and roughed up by police over the weekend for intervening in an argument outside a beach bar.
Mayor Jerramiah Healy said he had just left Barry’s Tavern in Bradley Beach – a bar owned by his sister – about 2 a.m. Saturday when he saw a couple arguing in a nearby parking lot. He said the man was jumping on the hood of his girlfriend’s car.
After he calmly talked the man down, Barry said, police arrived and threw him on the ground and Maced him. When his wife tried to retrieve his glasses, police shoved her to the ground too, according to Healy.
A police spokesman told the Jersey Journal of Jersey City that Healy interfered in an investigation of the couple’s argument and ignored warnings from officers that he would be arrested if he didn’t leave.
Healy was charged with two disorderly persons offenses and resisting arrest.
He faces up to six months in jail and $2,000 in fines if convicted.