LOS ANGELES – Hundreds of people were allowed to return home Friday as firefighters gained ground against a 20,000-acre wildfire that cast such a smoky haze over the city that drivers turned on their headlights in the middle of the day. The blaze on the Los Angeles-Ventura county line was expected to be 35 percent contained by day’s end, fire officials said. Firefighters were aided by desert winds that let humid ocean air move inland. But the shift also pushed smoke over parts of Los Angeles and neighboring valleys, triggering health warnings.
Two tourists found dead near park
The bodies of two tourists were found in the wreckage of their rental car in a steep ravine outside Yosemite National Park, authorities said Friday. Xiaodong Yuan, 34, of Atlanta and his mother, Zhaohui Wang, 60, of Beijing apparently died from injuries suffered when their car rolled down the embankment, according to the Mono County Sheriff-Coroner’s Department. Foul play wasn’t suspected. The pair spent two nights in a cabin at Curry Village and checked out Sept. 23. A search began after they missed a flight Sunday from Las Vegas to Atlanta.
D.C.: Postal rate increases likely
Each penny increase in the price of gasoline costs the U.S. Postal Service $8 million, and that will drive mailing costs higher, the postmaster general said Friday. The agency expects to seek a rate increase in 2007, he said. That would come just a year after a 2-cent rate jump. On Tuesday, a Postal Service financial officer predicted that even with a rate increase in January, the post office would finish 2006 some $1.8 billion in the red. The 2007 increase will be needed to cover higher expenses over the past five years, including employee raises, fuel prices, heat for buildings, electricity, transportation and other costs, officials said.
Hawaii: New rules limit fishing
Hawaii has banned fishing around the tiny islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, home to endangered Hawaiian monk seals and sea turtles. The governor signed the new rules Thursday creating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands State Marine Refuge in the three miles offshore the largely uninhabited island chain, which stretch 1,200 miles across the Pacific Ocean. The rules also limit public access in the refuge, although traditional native Hawaiian cultural practices will be allowed.
Alabama: Fish free of oil pollution
The first samples of fish taken from the Gulf of Mexico since Hurricane Katrina showed no exposure to spilled oil, government scientists said Friday. Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducted the testing two weeks after Katrina hit aboard a ship on a voyage from Pensacola, Fla., to an area southwest of New Orleans. Additional testing for exposure to other contaminants continues. The storm released about 8 million gallons of oil from onshore and offshore Louisiana sites.
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