Nation Roundup for Jan. 17

Historic Florida tree destroyed by fire

LONGWOOD, Fla. (AP) — Investigators are ruling out arson after one of the world’s oldest cypress trees caught fire and collapsed in central Florida.

Division of Forestry spokesman Cliff Frazier tells the Orlando Sentinel the fire was not the work of an arsonist. The exact cause has not yet been determined.

Seminole County Fire Rescue spokesman Steve Wright says the 118-foot-tall bald cypress tree named “The Senator” burned for several hours early Monday. Wright says a 20-foot section of the top fell first and then rest of the tree collapsed.

The county parks department says ring samples showed the tree was roughly 3,500 years old.

The tree was named for a 1920s state senator who donated what is now Big Tree Park to the county.

After shipwreck, U.S. couple missing

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota couple missing after a cruise ship capsized off the west coast of Italy are devout Catholics who spend part of almost every day at church, where he teaches religious classes and she hands out baked goods and other sweet treats to parishioners.

Church members described the kindness and good deeds of Jerry and Barbara Heil on Monday as a search continued along the Italian coast. The Heils are among more than two dozen people still missing after the Costa Concordia hit a reef and ran aground near Tuscany on Friday night.

Six people have been confirmed dead, and prosecutors are investigating the ship’s captain for manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a shipwreck. The ship’s owner said the captain, Francesco Schettino, caused the crash by deviating from the authorized course.

Man found dead in theater restroom

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado man who was missing for five days was found dead in a locked movie theater restroom after workers noticed an odor and forced their way in, authorities said.

Police had searched the area around the Fort Collins theater after the family of 66-year-old George DeGrazio reported him missing on Jan. 9 and his vehicle was found nearby.

DeGrazio died of a heart attack, Deputy Coroner James MacNaughton told KMGH-TV of Denver.

The man’s son, Dylan DeGrazio, told the station that he was upset that theater employees didn’t find his father’s body earlier.

“If I had the police department saying somebody disappeared in this area and we’re trying to locate him, I would be searching every nook and cranny of my establishment,” he said. “But that didn’t happen.”

Snowshoer found alive on mountain

SEATTLE (AP) — A 66-year-old snowshoer who was missing on Mount Rainier since Saturday was found alive Monday afternoon by a team of three rescuers, a national park spokeswoman said.

Yong Chun Kim, of Tacoma, Wash., was alert and conscious, and was cold but otherwise in stable condition, park spokeswoman Lee Taylor said. Rescuers were working to bring in a Sno-Cat snow vehicle to carry him out because weather conditions prevented a helicopter from landing in the area, she said.

“As soon as we heard he was alive, my sister, his wife, praised God and said ‘Hallelujah’,” Kim’s sister-in-law, Sang Soon Tomyn told The Associated Press after learning from relatives that Kim had been found. “We were so worried. We prayed every day.”

Steve Jobs action figure gets pulled

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The company that began advertising for an incredibly lifelike Steve Jobs doll won’t sell the figurines after all because of pressure from family and Apple lawyers.

In Icons had planned to offer the 1-foot-tall, lifelike figure dressed in Jobs’ trademark black mock turtleneck, glasses and jeans.

But the San Jose Mercury News reports the company posted a statement on its website Sunday saying it had received “immense pressure” to drop the plan and made the decision out of its “heartfelt sensitivity to the feelings of the Jobs family.”

The iconic Apple co-founder died Oct. 5 of complications from pancreatic cancer.