NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — South Carolina’s biggest wildfire in more than three decades — a blaze four miles wide — destroyed dozens of homes Thursday and threatened some of the area’s world-famous golf courses at the height of the spring tourist season. The flames, fed by tinder-dry scrubland, forced hundreds of people to flee. The fire got within 1½ miles of Route 17, the main coastal road that links beachfront towns and is lined with restaurants, beachwear stores and trinket shops. By Thursday evening, the flames were about 3 miles west of the highway.
Georgia: Swine flu probe
A unique type of swine flu has been diagnosed in seven people in California and Texas, up from the two reported earlier this week, U.S. health officials said Thursday. Health officials said it’s not a cause for public alarm: The five in California and two in Texas have all recovered, and testing indicates some mainstream antiviral medications seem to work against the virus. Still, it is a medical mystery. None of the people were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu.
Airport’s tower is evacuated
A Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said an Atlanta airport tower was evacuated after a lightning strike, but workers are now heading back inside. The spokeswoman said the workers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were evacuated at 8:49 p.m. Thursday after a smoky odor was detected in the tower during a thunderstorm. She said arrivals and departures had already been suspended because of the storm and wind shear. She said arrivals are resuming and departures were expected to resume about 9:30 p.m.
Michigan: Frozen at home
No criminal charges will be filed in the death of a 93-year-old man who froze inside his home after an electric utility installed a power-limiting device because of unpaid bills, a prosecutor said Thursday. A Bay County prosecutor called Marvin Schur’s death a “terrible tragedy” but said no crimes were committed. Neighbors found Schur’s body on Jan. 17 in his house in Bay City. The windows were frosted over, icicles hung from a faucet and the World War II veteran lay dead on the floor in a winter jacket over four layers of clothing.
N. Hampshire: Frat hazing
Police said two college students have been arrested over a pledging ceremony where fraternity initiates were burned with a hot World War II-era bayonet. Henniker police said 25-year-old Nicholas Weiss and 22-year-old Kevin Phelps were each charged with four misdemeanor counts of student hazing this week. Police said the two used the heated bayonet to brand at least seven other New England College students at the Sigma Alpha Beta fraternity house last fall. Police started investigating after pledges went to the school infirmary with severe burns.
Nebraska: Teacher sentenced
A former teacher who fled to Mexico with a 13-year-old student was sentenced in Omaha on Thursday to eight to 10 years in prison. Kelsey Peterson, 27, pleaded guilty in January to two state counts of first-degree sexual assault of a minor. She is to serve her sentence simultaneously with a six-year federal prison sentence for transporting a minor across state lines to have sex. She also must register as a sex offender. Authorities said Peterson was the boy’s sixth-grade math teacher.
Mexico: Military emergency
A bill that would let Mexico declare temporary states of emergency and expand the army’s power in a bloody fight against powerful drug gangs drew immediate fire Thursday from human rights activists who say soldiers should not be doing the job of police. President Felipe Calderon’s proposal, which centers on the idea of declaring drug trafficking hotspots “domestic security” zones, would give the army access to civilian court and police files.
Britain: Train robber parole
A parole board adjourned Thursday without deciding whether to release Ronnie Biggs, a veteran of the “Great Train Robbery” who wants to spend his final years with his son. The Parole Board of England and Wales said a decision should be reached by July, when Biggs would have served the 10 years necessary to qualify. Biggs, 79, received a 30-year sentence for his role in the train caper. Biggs was part of a gang who stopped a mail train on the Glasgow-to-London line on Aug. 8, 1963, making off with more than 125 bags jammed with cash.
From Herald news services
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