Images show police were well-armed for sect raid

Images show police were well-armed for sect raid

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Police wore body armor, carried automatic weapons and were backed by an armored personnel carrier for a raid on a West Texas polygamist retreat, photos and video released Tuesday show.

Four still photos and a slice of video were released to The Associated Press by Rod Parker, spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which owns the raided Yearning for Zion Ranch near San Angelo in Eldorado.

Sect members took the photos and video during the first few days of a seven-day raid that involved police agencies from six counties, the Texas Rangers, the state highway patrol and wildlife officers. Authorities were looking for a teenage girl who had reported being abused by her 50-year-old husband.

Chicago police officer kills cougar in residential area

CHICAGO — Chicago police say an officer has killed a 150-pound cougar in a residential area on the city’s North Side.

Police say several residents reported seeing the cat early Monday, and the officer shot the animal in an alley.

Authorities say the cougar will be checked for any markings, chips or tags that would show if it was someone’s pet rather than a wild animal.

Confirmed sightings of cougars, also known as mountain lions or pumas, are rare in Illinois, but authorities in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette say they received several reports of cougar sightings during the weekend.

Wildfire forces evacuations

CROWLEY, Colo. — Strong winds threatened to blow a wildfire into a small southeastern Colorado town Tuesday, and authorities ordered all of its 1,100 residents to leave. Two other wildfires were burning in the state.

The size of the fire near Ordway wasn’t known, nor how close to town it had burned. Two air tankers were dispatched to fight the fire, and two state highways were closed to the town, 120 miles southeast of Denver.

Much of the state was under a National Weather Service red flag warning Tuesday, signifying high fire danger.

Colombian volcano erupts

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s Nevado del Huila volcano erupted in a shower of hot ash, prompting thousands of people to leave their homes Tuesday.

The remote volcano, 150 miles southwest of Bogota, erupted shortly before midnight Monday and appeared less active at daybreak.

The extent of the eruption was not clear, but even minor eruptions could cause landslides and flooding by melting the snow and ice cap atop the 17,484-foot volcano, and authorities maintained a red alert for settlements near the volcano.

Torch arrives in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Olympic torch came to Pakistan early today for what the pro-China government hoped would be a festive and trouble-free leg of its world tour.

Protests against China’s human rights record disrupted the torch’s passage through Western cities last week, and Pakistani authorities took pains to avoid any repeat during its short stay en route to Beijing.

A jetliner bringing the torch from the Persian Gulf sultanate of Oman arrived at the military section of Islamabad airport shortly after midnight. A Chinese Olympic official carried a lantern containing the flame down the steps to Pakistani sports chiefs and the Chinese ambassador.

Senators rip EPA over issue of drugs in water

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency was lambasted during a Senate hearing Tuesday for allowing the American public to learn that traces of pharmaceuticals are in much of the nation’s drinking water from an Associated Press investigative series, not the federal government.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, angrily chided Benjamin H. Grumbles, EPA assistant administrator for water, for the agency’s failure to require testing for drugs and for public disclosure of test results.

“When a story like this breaks, why is it necessary for Sen. [Frank] Lautenberg to call a hearing on this? Why aren’t you working on this night and day?” Boxer asked. “The Associated Press did your work — and they’re telling us what’s in the water.”

Associated Press