Fire at Peru rehab center kills 14

Fire at Peru rehab center kills 14

CHOSICA, Peru

A predawn fire swept through a drug rehabilitation center in a town on Lima’s outskirts Saturday, killing 14 people in the second blaze in Peru this year to claim the lives of addicts trapped behind locked doors in a private treatment residence.

The only known survivor of the blaze at the Sacred Heart of Jesus clinic escaped by jumping from the building’s second floor after the blaze broke out about 4 a.m., his brother said.

Local health director Pablo Cespedes said officials don’t yet know what caused the blaze. Thirteen bodies were found in bedrooms on the second floor and one on the first floor of the two-story home in Chosica, about 19 miles east of Lima, the coastal capital, he said.

Rescue efforts were complicated by locked doors and barred windows, said fire chief Fernando Campos.

Ski area rallies for climate change

ASPEN, Colo.

Aspen Ski Area hosted a ski race without snow Saturday to highlight the effect climate change has on the outdoor recreation industry.

Auden Schendler, Aspen Skiing Company’s vice president of sustainability, says “climate change is already pounding businesses and communities, whether you’re a ski resort, an insurance agency or a raft business.”

Saturday’s event also included a photography contest, and participants wearing white formed a giant white dot on the snowless slope to draw attention to the effects of climate change.

Organizers say the gathering in the Colorado ski town was part of more than 1,000 rallies taking place in more than 100 countries in an effort to “connect the dots” between extreme weather and climate change. The day’s events were organized by 350.org, an environmental group co-founded by Vermont activist Bill McKibben.

Costumed dogs fall short of record

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

Hundreds of tiny dogs dressed up like tacos, ballerinas and a variety of other things fell short of setting a world record, but organizers say they’re encouraged by the turnout for the inaugural Cinco de Mayo Chihuahua parade.

Organizer Mark Valentine says about 500 dogs, most of them Chihuahuas, showed up in costume for the parade Saturday. That’s a few hundred short of the goal of 700, which would have been a record.

Owners of the Chihuahuas lifted their pets into the air, creating a sea of miniature heads draped in sombreros, cowboy hats and bows.

Shaq earns Ph.D. in education in Fla.

MIAMI

Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal is a doctor now.

O’Neal received his doctoral degree in education from Barry University alongside 1,100 other students during commencement ceremonies Saturday.

The Miami Herald reports that O’Neal got on one knee so the chair of Barry’s organizational learning and leadership program could drape a light blue hood around O’Neal’s more-than-7-foot frame.

O’Neal then high-fived other graduates as he made his way back to his seat along with his manager, Cynthia Atterberry, who also received a doctorate in education.

The former All-Star and MVP earned a cumulative GPA of 3.813 while completing 54 credit hours at Barry, mostly through online courses and video conferencing over the last four years. O’Neal’s doctoral capstone project explored how CEOs and business leaders use humor in the workplace.

Associated Press