Water-pump failure probed by officials

Water-pump failure probed by officials

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.

Federal authorities say they’re investigating the report of a water-pump failure in Illinois’ capital city.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Peter Boogaard wouldn’t comment on media reports that the failure was the result of hacking.

But he said in a statement Saturday that his agency and the FBI are gathering information about the failure, and there’s no data to indicate a public-safety threat.

Homeland security officials have said in the past that they investigate every piece of intelligence that comes into the agency.

Don Craven, a trustee for the Curran-Gardner Township Public Water District outside of Springfield, Ill., says the water pump burned out earlier this month.

He says the water district has multiple pumps and there was never a break in service to its 2,200 rural customers.

Syrian troops attack despite peace plan

BEIRUT

Syrian troops stormed a central town and a northwestern region in search of regime opponents Saturday, activists said, a day after the government agreed in principle to allow the Arab League to send observers to oversee a peace plan proposed by the 22-member bloc. At least 15 people were killed, activists said.

The attacks on the town of Shezar in the central province of Hama and on the restive Jabal al-Zawiya region near the Turkish border came as pressure mounted on Damascus to end its eight-month crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.

The unrest has killed more than 3,500 people since mid-March, according to U.N. estimates.

Former P&G CEO John Smale dies

CINCINNATI

John G. Smale enjoyed his work at Procter & Gamble, throwing himself into it through late nights and weekends as he rose from the toilet-goods division to the top of the consumer products giant. Decades later, the company still is reaping the benefits of those long hours and the ideas and plans they helped produce.

The former CEO and chairman, also a former General Motors Co. chairman, died Saturday in Cincinnati, a P&G spokesman said. He was 84. The Cincinnati-based company didn’t immediately give details about how he died.

“Life would be awful long if you were working at something you didn’t like to do,” Smale, a graduate of Miami University in Ohio, reflected in a 2009 interview with the university’s magazine. He said he spent years working until 10 or 11 p.m., and on weekends, “totally immersed in what I was doing” and “having a really good time.”

Officials: 32 homes destroyed in fire

RENO, Nev.

The estimated number of homes destroyed in a wind-fueled wildfire more than doubled Saturday to a total of 32, but Gov. Brian Sandoval said it’s a miracle scores more weren’t lost.

A re-evaluation of the 2,000-acre burn Saturday found much more destruction and damage than initially reported, Reno Fire Chief Mike Hernandez said.

The unusual, out-of-season blaze spread by gale-force winds and ripped through the Sierra foothills early Friday, forcing the evacuation of nearly 10,000 people. Most started returning to their homes Saturday afternoon.

“This was not only a wild land, urban-interface type fire, it was also a metro fire where we had homes that were actively burning in densely populated areas,” Hernandez said.

Associated Press