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California fire agency employee charged with arson spent months as inmate firefighter

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection employee charged with starting five brush fires spent months as an inmate firefighter after being convicted of causing a fatal collision, according to officials and public records. Robert Hernandez, 38, was arrested last Friday at the Howard Forest Fire Station in Healdsburg, California, on suspicion of arson to forest land, Cal Fire said. Hernandez worked as an apparatus engineer for the agency, operating and maintaining fire engines and water tanks during emergency responses. A court complaint filed by ...

Reservoir becomes Poland’s hero for preventing flooding

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland — Grateful Poles are heaping praise — and coming up with fond names — to honor their silent hero that just saved them: a floodwater reservoir that spared the cities of Opole and Wroclaw from imminent flooding that ravaged parts of Central Europe. “National Hero,” the “King of Gold” and “Raciborz Reservoir the Great.” Some social media entries even suggest that the Lower Raciborz Reservoir floodplains should be named after Poland’s famous goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Located on the Oder River, the ...

harming the Mekong that feeds millions

Cambodia hopes a new canal will boost trade. But it risks harming the Mekong that feeds millions. By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Associated Press PREK TAKEO, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia has broken ground to build a $1.7 billion, China-funded canal to eventually link its capital Phnom Penh to the Gulf of Thailand. The hope is that the 180-kilometer-long (110 miles) canal will cut transport costs and reduce dependence on Vietnamese ports. Cambodia’s plans to build the massive canal linking the Mekong to a port on on its own coast on the Gulf of Thailand are raising alarm that the project could ...

‘Terrifying’ twister damages homes and trees in English town but causes no casualties

LONDON (AP) — A rare tornado touched down in England, toppling trees, tearing off roof tiles and terrifying residents. Nobody was injured by the twister that struck Aldershot, a town about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of London, at midday Friday as thunder and rain pounded down. “The trees in the back garden were bent over and it was freaking us out,” local resident Louise Le Poidevin said. “Everything was lifted off the ground, the leaves were in a big spiral going round. I thought the doors and windows would come in, the noise was terrifying, then a gazebo came flying ...

Weather

Marquette and vicinity: Today, a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 5 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 74. South wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 15 mph. Tonight, a 20 percent chance of showers adn thunderstorms before 9 p.m. Partly cloudy, witha low around ...