“We don’t want to give out too much information because the investigation is ongoing,” Andrew Smith said.
Crews contain Reno brush fire
RENO, Nev. (AP) — As rain helped crews surround a brush fire that destroyed 29 homes and forced thousands to flee, the family of the blaze’s only known fatality said Saturday that prosecuting the man who admitted to starting it wouldn’t “do any good.”
June Hargis, 93, was found dead in a studio apartment next to her daughter’s home in Washoe Valley, where the fire started Thursday. Sheriff Mike Haley said her cause of death has not been established, so it’s not known if it was fire related. No other fatalities or major injuries were reported.
Fire officials say an “extremely remorseful” elderly man admitted Friday to accidentally starting the fire when he improperly discarded fireplace ashes outside his home in the valley’s north end.
Hargis’s son, Jim Blueberg, 68, told The Associated Press that he didn’t think filing criminal charges against the elderly man “would do any good.”
“The man had the courage to come up and say he did this. He’s remorseful. I think he’s punished himself enough. It was a silly, stupid mistake to make, there’s no doubt about that. But I just want him to know I forgive him, and my heart goes out to him,” he said.
His sister, Jeannie Watts, 70, had returned home from an errand to find the apartment next door and a barn with three horses inside engulfed in flames. She agreed that there was probably no need to file charges against the man.
“What good is that going to do? Everything is already gone,” Watts said.
“He’ll pay the rest of his life for that,” she added.
Jobs, re-election to top address
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vilified by the Republicans who want his job, President Barack Obama will stand before the nation Tuesday night determined to frame the election-year debate on his terms, using his State of the Union address to outline a lasting economic recovery that will “work for everyone, not just a wealthy few.”
As his most powerful chance to make a case for a second term, the prime-time speech carries enormous political stakes for the Democratic incumbent who presides over a country divided about his performance and pessimistic about the nation’s direction. He will try to offer a stark contrast with his opponents by offering a vision of fairness and opportunity for everyone.
In a preview Saturday, Obama said in a video to supporters that the speech will be an economic blueprint built around manufacturing, energy, education and American values.
He is expected to announce ideas to make college more affordable and to address the housing crisis still hampering the economy three years into his term, people familiar with the speech said. Obama will also propose fresh ideas to ensure that the wealthy pay more in taxes, reiterating what he considers a matter of basic fairness, the officials said.
His policy proposals will be less important than what Obama hopes they all add up to: a narrative of renewed American security with him at the center, leading the fight.
“We can go in two directions,” Obama said in the campaign video. “One is toward less opportunity and less fairness. Or we can fight for where I think we need to go: building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few.”
Northeast hit by winter weather
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A few inches of snow coated the Northeast on Saturday in a storm so rare this season in the East that some welcomed it.
“We’ve been very lucky, so we can’t complain,” said Gloria Fernandez of New York City, as she shoveled the sidewalk outside her workplace. “It’s nice, it’s fluffy and it’s on the weekend,” she said of the snow, which hadn’t fallen in the city since a rare October storm that that dumped more than 2 feet of snow in parts and knocked out power to nearly 3 million homes and businesses in the region.
By midafternoon, 4.3 inches of snow had fallen in Central Park and 3.4 inches at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Most of eastern Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, and central New Jersey saw about 4 inches of snow, with a few places reporting up to 8 inches. Flurries and freezing rain fell around Washington, D.C.
In Massachusetts, the National Weather Service says 11 inches fell in the Bristol County town of Acushnet. Cape Cod also saw high totals, including nearly 10 inches in Bourne, noteworthy in a season marked by a lack of snow throughout the Northeast.
The fast-moving storm left several inches of snow in Rhode Island, where the coastal areas took the hardest hit. More than nine inches fell in North Kingstown. Little Compton in Newport County was also hard hit, as eight inches fell there. The storm was expected to move out to sea overnight.
Police ID head found in park
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities have determined that a dismembered head and other body parts found in a rugged hillside park near the famed “Hollywood” sign are the remains of a man who lived in an a nearby apartment.
The victim was Hervey Medellin, a 66-year-old from Los Angeles, coroner’s Lt. David Smith said Friday night.
Investigators, who are searching for suspects, served a search warrant on a Hollywood apartment in the area a day earlier, but it wasn’t immediately clear if it was Medellin’s apartment.
“They did serve a search warrant last night. They are following clues, and the case is progressing. Guys are working around the clock to find out who did it and find the rest of the body,” police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Friday.
He did not elaborate on why the warrant was served or what, if anything, detectives found.
“We don’t want to give out too much information because the investigation is ongoing,” Andrew Smith said.