Nation in brief: Fire in mountains prompts evacuations

WATSONVILLE, Calif. – California officials say a wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains has prompted mandatory evacuations of about 60 homes.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Cherie Alver said a trailer and two outbuildings have been destroyed since the fire broke out Sunday morning. Another 150 homes and 100 businesses are threatened. The blaze has burned about 600 acres and is 20 percent contained.

Battalion Chief Jim Crawford said winds in the area are expected to pick up overnight and more than 1,000 firefighters are expected to be taking on the blaze by this morning.

Feds interview crew of wayward airliner

MINNEAPOLIS – Federal investigators interviewed on Sunday the crew of the Northwest Airlines flight that overshot the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said investigators were interviewing the pilot and co-pilot in person in Minneapolis. He said the NTSB would not comment on the substance of the discussions until today at the earliest. Northwest Airlines is cooperating and doing its own internal investigation, said Chris Kelly, a spokesman for Northwest Airlines’ parent company, Delta Air Lines Inc.

Air traffic controllers tried for more than an hour Wednesday night to contact the Minneapolis-bound flight, which later turned around and landed safely. First officer Richard Cole has said he and the captain were not sleeping or arguing in the cockpit, but hasn’t explained their lapse in response and the detour.

FBI, ATF investigate fire at fuel depot

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Federal investigators entered a smoldering fuel depot for the first time Sunday to investigate what may have caused an explosion that forced hundreds to evacuate and spewed thick, toxic smoke across the region.

Both the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives dispatched more than 60 agents each to the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. in Bayamon, just west of San Juan, said ATF spokesman Marcial Orlando Felix. Several agents flew in from the U.S.

The explosion shattered windows and sent tremors across the San Juan area, setting off fires in 21 of the site’s 40 tanks that supply Caribbean Petroleum Corp.’s 200 Gulf gas stations on the island.

Crews on Sunday extinguished the last of the flames and the huge cloud of inky smoke that had towered over the capital began to dissipate. Hundreds of people who had been evacuated from their homes were starting to return.

Madoff associate Picower, 67, dies

PALM BEACH, Fla. – Jeffry Picower, a philanthropist accused of profiting more than $7 billion from the investment schemes of his longtime friend Bernard Madoff, was found at the bottom of the pool at his oceanside mansion and died Sunday, police said. He was 67.

Picower’s wife, Barbara, discovered his body and pulled him from the water with help from a housekeeper, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Medical Center at about 1:30 p.m.

Palm Beach police are investigating the death as a drowning, but have not ruled out anything on the cause of death.

Picower suffered from Parkinson’s disease and had “heart-related issues,” said family attorney William D. Zabel. He described Picower’s health as “poor.”

Picower’s body showed no visible injuries, said Joseph Sekula, spokesman for the Palm Beach Fire Department.

Picower had been accused by jilted investors of being the biggest beneficiary of Madoff’s schemes.