ORINDA, Calif. — Two men working as window-washers were set on fire and severely burned after they rode a cherry picker into a power line Saturday morning while stunned attendees of the Orinda Farmers Market in California watched in horror. Two explosions and an arc of fire erupted above a parking lot when the bucket of the cherry picker veered into the high-voltage transmission line, causing a chaotic scene at the outdoor market. “I look up and see this ball of fire and smoke,” said an Orinda resident. “One guy was slumped over the controls, unconscious and on fire. The other guy was on his back on fire.”
Mom finds kids on Facebook
A mother whose two children were reported missing 15 years ago has tracked them down in Florida using Facebook. The children’s father, Faustino Utrera, took off with them in 1995 when they were ages 2 and 3, a San Bernardino deputy district attorney said. The mother had found her daughter’s Facebook profile after searching for her name on the social networking site in March, Rowley said. An official said Saturday that the now 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy have been placed in custody in Florida.
Illinois: Police look for body
Investigators searched a muddy stretch of central Illinois on Saturday for the remains of the fourth wife of Drew Peterson, the former suburban Chicago police officer awaiting trial for the murder of his previous spouse. Drew Peterson, 56, is a suspect in the disappearance and possible slaying of Stacy Peterson, who was 23 when she was last seen in October 2007. No one has been charged in the case, and her body has never been found. Drew Peterson is charged with first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose body was found in a dry bathtub at her home.
Indiana: Wedding party crash
A bride and groom who were among 14 people injured in a shuttle bus crash that killed a member of their wedding party were married Saturday at an Indianapolis hospital just hours after the accident. Lauren Magee and Tom Hanley were among seven people taken to Methodist Hospital for treatment, a hospital spokeswoman said. After tending to the injured, she said, staff prepared a conference room for the wedding. “It was an emotional ceremony,” she said.
Rhode Island: Burglar’s nap time
Police said a Rhode Island man broke into an East Providence home and fell asleep on a hallway floor. East Providence police said 29-year-old Jeremy Menard was found sleeping in the basement of the two-family home Friday morning and arrested. Resident Carmine Balzano said his wife found Menard. Menard was arraigned on breaking and entering charges Friday. He was released and is due back in court in August.
New Jersey: Senior pranksters
Seven students are facing numerous charges for placing rabbits, mice, roosters and chickens inside ceilings at their high school as part of a senior prank. Denville police said the students are all boys. Officers went to Morris Knolls High School shortly before midnight Tuesday after a custodian reported seeing people inside the building. Police said the boys got in through an open window and that most of the animals were stolen from farms. They face various charges including burglary, criminal mischief and conspiracy.
Israel: Soldiers seize aid ship
A defiant Israel enforced its 3-year-old blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza on Saturday, with naval commandos swiftly commandeering a Gaza-bound aid vessel carrying an Irish Nobel laureate and other activists and forcing it to head to an Israeli port instead. The bloodless takeover stood in marked contrast to a deadly raid of another Gaza aid ship this week. However, it was unlikely to halt snowballing international outrage and demands that Israel lift or at least loosen the devastating closure that confines 1.5 million Palestinians to a small sliver of land and only allows in basic humanitarian goods.
Egypt: Ruling on citizenship
An appeals court on Saturday upheld a ruling that orders the country’s Interior Ministry to strip the citizenship from Egyptians married to Israeli women. The case underlines the deep animosity many Egyptians still hold toward Israelis, despite a peace treaty signed between the two countries 31 years ago. The government has not released figures of Egyptians married to Israeli women, but some estimates put the number around 30,000. The court also said officials should take into consideration whether a man married an Israeli Arab or a Jew when making its decision to revoke citizenship.
From Herald news services
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