LOS ANGELES — Residents of the San Fernando Valley breathed air free of smoke and ash for the first time in four days Wednesday under brilliant blue skies.
Gone were the convulsive winds that at times reached gale force. Deadly fires have blackened more than 34 square miles and destroyed more than 50 homes.
“I’ve been crying for days,” said Tanya Valdivia, 32, as she searched what was left of her mobile home. “I guess it’s just a natural thing, but when you’ve lost everything, you’re going to be upset.”
The fires forced thousands of people to evacuate and were blamed for two deaths. One man died in the flames, and a motorist was killed in a crash as a fire neared a freeway.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Mother cremated, benefits kept
The family of a dead elderly woman cremated her remains on a makeshift barbecue and continued collecting her retirement checks amounting to more than $25,000, authorities said. Ramona Allmond’s daughter and grandson were arrested Sunday on suspicion of embezzlement, elder abuse and disposing of a body without a permit. Allmond, 84, of Corning likely died of natural causes, though investigators were still trying to determine the exact cause of death, said a Tehama County sheriff’s official. A detective said they may have been trying to honor Allmond’s desire to die at home and be cremated.
D.C.: Cheney’s heartbeat restored
Vice President Dick Cheney was treated “without complication” Wednesday for an abnormal heartbeat, his office said, making a short visit to a hospital to restore his normal rhythm with an electric shock. It was the second time in less than a year that Cheney, a 67-year-old who’s had four heart attacks, had experienced and been treated for an atrial fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart.
N.Y.: Killing blamed on boredom
Prosecutors say a homeless man told them he killed a New York City college student because he was bored. Prosecutors filed a signed statement in court in which Jeromie Cancel admits killing 19-year-old Kevin Pravia last month, but Cancel pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder at his arraignment Wednesday.
Md.: Man to be free after 21 years
A man convicted of killing a woman 21 years ago in Baltimore is being freed from prison because prosecutors say they don’t have enough evidence to retry him. James Owens, 43, was ordered freed Wednesday. He was convicted in 1988 in the strangling death of Colleen Williar, largely based on the testimony of a co-defendant. The co-defendant later recanted, and prosecutors say other witnesses in the case are dead and evidence has been destroyed. Owens’ attorney says his client is overwhelmed by the news.
Texas: Ike destroys turtle nests
Hurricane Ike may have dealt a blow to the world’s most endangered sea turtle. The storm erased nesting areas for Kemp’s Ridley turtles by washing away dunes and beaches on battered Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island, said the director of the Sea Turtle and Fisheries Ecology Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University in Galveston. The number of Ridley nests on the upper Texas Gulf Coast has risen every year since 2003, reaching 16 last year. But six of the nests were on Bolivar Peninsula, which was nearly wiped clean by Ike.
Somalia: Pirates negotiate anew
Somali pirates holding a weapons-laden Ukrainian ship have withdrawn their threat to blow up the vessel if a ransom is not paid, and said Wednesday they are negotiating for its release. The pirates, whose original $20 million ransom demand appears to have decreased to $8 million, had threatened to destroy the MV Faina by early Tuesday. “We have withdrawn it,” spokesman Sugule Ali told The Associated Press by satellite phone from the ship, which pirates seized off the coast of Somalia on Sept. 25.
Chile: ‘Caravan of Death’ sentence
A retired Chilean army general, Sergio Arellano, 88, has been sentenced to six years in prison for the killing of five dissidents during the former military dictatorship. The killings occurred during the co-called “Caravan of Death” a few weeks after the bloody 1973 military coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The Caravan was a military party led by Arellano that toured the country in October 1973 seeking out dissidents. Official reports say it killed more than 90 political prisoners. Arellano, 88, was one Pinochet’s closest aides.
Switzerland: Georgia-Russia talks falter
The first high-level talks between Russia and Georgia since their war, broke down Wednesday, but international sponsors said the negotiations had only hit a procedural snag and will resume next month. The delegations from Russia and its allies in the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia left the talks before their scheduled end. The talks were called to discuss several issues including whether both sides were complying with an EU-brokered cease-fire, security, the return of refugees and human rights and what steps need to be taken.
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