Posted on Sun, Jun. 22, 2008
Navy christens new submarine
GROTON, Conn. - The Navy's newest attack submarine, the New Hampshire, was christened yesterday, delivered eight months ahead of schedule and $54 million under budget. The sub was christened by the widow of a pilot killed in the 9/11 attacks.
"I believe I'm looking at heroes," Cheryl McGuinness of Portsmouth, N.H., said, looking at the ship's crew. "You all are my heroes." Her husband, Thomas McGuinness, was copilot of American Airlines Flight 11, which hit the World Trade Center's north tower.
Navy officials, politicians and shipyard workers were among the thousands who gathered to celebrate the christening of the 337-foot nuclear-powered submarine, which will have a crew of 134. The sub was built by General Dynamic's Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding.
- AP
Calif. firefighters control wildfire
WATSONVILLE, Calif. - A Northern California wildfire was almost fully contained yesterday after forcing thousands to evacuate, destroying several homes and closing a six-mile stretch of Highway 1. It had charred 630 acres, or less than a square mile.
Evacuation orders remained in place yesterday for the roughly 2,000 people who fled their homes Friday. Some evacuees spent the night at a shelter set up at a local school. About 650 firefighters were working in hot, dry weather to contain the blaze.
A thunderstorm brought cooler weather and moisture yesterday afternoon, but firefighters feared lightning could ignite more fires in the parched vegetation. The cause of the fire was still under investigation, a fire department spokesman said.
- AP
Heat wave still grips Calif. coast
LOS ANGELES - A blistering heat wave blanketing much of the California coast over the last week showed no signs of letting up yesterday as temperatures headed back toward triple digits.
Power was restored yesterday to almost all the 8,000 customers who were blacked out the day before when electrical demand skyrocketed, said Terry Schneider, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "The system is under tremendous strain to meet the energy demand," she said.
One death has been linked to the heat, a 77-year-old woman who apparently left her car near the California-Arizona line south of Lake Havasu, Ariz., on Monday in search of her elderly husband, who was hospitalized for treatment of burns. Temperatures hit 116 in the area Monday.
- AP
Elsewhere:
A guard was stabbed to death Friday by two inmates at a federal prison in central California, officials said. A statement released by the U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater said Jose Rivera, 22, was stabbed by two prisoners with homemade weapons.
A charter bus carrying more than 50 students from Kansas to a church camp in Texas slammed into the back of a pickup truck, killing the truck's driver. No one on the bus was injured in the accident yesterday afternoon on Interstate 35 north of Oklahoma City, the state highway patrol said.
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