Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Links between dead man, women sought

From Wire Reports

CINCINNATI – West Virginia police said Sunday they are sharing information with authorities investigating suspicious deaths and missing women in southern Ohio.

The chief of detectives in Charleston told the Associated Press that no direct link has been established between a man killed by a woman he attacked there this month and the cases in Chillicothe, Ohio. But Lt. Steve Cooper said the possibility is being looked into because women were the victims in both places and because of proximity – less than a two-hour drive from Charleston.

Cooper had said earlier that police are also investigating whether 45-year-old Neal Falls has links to several unsolved murders in Las Vegas.

Four women have died in Chillicothe under suspicious circumstances and two others remain missing. Messages were left Sunday for Chillicothe investigators.

Cooper said Friday that Falls likely attacked others before he beat and choked a woman he had met online. The victim grabbed his handgun and shot him once July 18, police said. Investigators said they later found axes, a shovel, handcuffs, cleaning supplies and other items in Falls’ vehicle.

Authorities said Falls, of Springfield, Oregon, rented a room in Henderson, Nevada, from 2000 until 2008. During that time, four prostitutes went missing. The dismembered bodies of three were found along highways.

Remains of 36 Marines to be brought home

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii – The military and a private organization are bringing home the remains of 36 Marines killed in one of World War II’s bloodiest battles.

The U.S. Marine Corps said a Florida-based private organization called History Flight recovered the remains from the remote Pacific atoll of Tarawa. A ceremony was planned in Pearl Harbor to mark their return.

History Flight has started identifying the remains, and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency will complete the effort.

The Marines will return the remains to their families after they’ve been identified.

About 520 U.S. servicemen who served in the Battle of Tarawa in 1943 are still unaccounted for.

The three-day battle taught the Marines lessons about amphibious landings that they went on to use in the war against Japan.

Clinton lays out plan for renewable energy

AMES, Iowa – Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton unveiled Sunday a plan aimed at combating climate change that includes proposed revisions in the tax code to promote renewable energy and goals for renewable sources for consumer electricity.

In Iowa, the nation’s second-leading wind energy producer, Clinton said people are “just not paying attention” if they don’t acknowledge climate change.

Clinton proposes, through tax incentives, to increase the amount of power derived from renewable sources to support every home in the United States within 10 years.

For instance, Clinton said she supports renewing the wind energy tax credit as part of over time shifting the U.S. energy system from one based on fossil fuels.

“We need to get the incentives fixed in our tax system which as you know are too heavily weighted toward fossil fuels,” Clinton said during a day of campaigning in central Iowa.

Clinton also hinted that her plans would impose changes on the coal industry, though she also pledged the government’s help for workers to make the transition.

“We can make a transition over time from a fossil fuel economy, predominantly, to a clean renewable energy economy, predominantly,” Clinton said later during an event at a central Iowa rural home.

Missing teens’ boat found capsized

TEQUESTA, Fla. – The Coast Guard said a boat belonging to two missing 14-year-old fishermen has been found off Florida’s Atlantic coast but neither boy was in or around the boat.

Petty Officer Steve Lehmann said the boat was found Sunday about 67 miles off Ponce de Leon Inlet in Volusia County.

According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Carly Black, the mother of Austin Stephanos, said, “We are going to find them today. We are going to bring them home.”

Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos were last seen Friday in the Jupiter area buying fuel for their 19-foot boat.

Lehmann said the boat was found capsized.

NFL Hall of Famer Joe Namath, who is Cohen’s neighbor, said during a news conference that both the boys are experienced boaters.

The families of the teens are offering a $100,000 reward in the search.

Survey finds U.S. gas prices down one cent

CAMARILLO, Calif. – The average price of gasoline has dropped a penny over the past two weeks to $2.82 a gallon.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that the current average sits 76 cents below the year-ago price.

The cheapest price recorded in the continental United States was $2.33 a gallon in Birmingham, Alabama.

The highest was $4.13 a gallon in Los Angeles. Lundberg said California saw huge wholesale price hikes during a brief supply shortage. She said supplies are flowing again and pump prices are poised to drop in the Golden State.

The national average price of diesel was down 6 cents over the same period to $2.86 a gallon.