Officer shot while responding to fire

Officer shot while responding to fire

OREGON CITY, Ore.

A man suspected of shooting a police officer who responded to a fire at his home was later found dead, authorities said Sunday.

The officer, whose identity was withheld, was shot responding to the house fire about 1 p.m. Sunday. The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Sunday evening that he was flown to a hospital and that it was not releasing any information about his condition.

Police had received reports of a man with a handgun in the area of the fire, the release said, forcing firefighters to wait nearby rather than immediately confront the blaze. The sheriff’s special weapons and tactics team, comprising officers from several local agencies, found the suspect and confronted him.

Alabama airport reopens after threat

BIRMINGHAM, Ala

The Birmingham airport reopened Sunday after a threat prompted an investigation by bomb technicians, flight diversions and a two-hour evacuation of hundreds of passengers.

Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport officials said in a Facebook post about 6:30 p.m. that the airport was secured and normal operations were resuming.

Airport authority spokeswoman Toni Bast said an airport employee found a note containing the threat in a bathroom about 4 p.m. and turned it over to police. She said bomb squads swept the terminal but found nothing.

Syrian: Foreigners to blame for polio

DAMASCUS, Syria

A Syrian government minister said Sunday that foreign fighters who have come to the country to wage jihad are responsible for the outbreak of polio in the rebel-controlled north.

Last week, the United Nations health agency confirmed 10 polio cases in northeast Syria, the first confirmed outbreak of the disease in the country in 14 years, raising a risk of it spreading across the region.

Minister of Social Affairs Kindah al-Shammat told The Associated Press on Sunday that jihadis from Pakistan were to blame.

Teacher killed by student honored

SPARKS, Nev.

A Nevada math teacher killed by a 12-year-old student in a schoolyard shooting that also wounded two students was remembered for his character, selfless acts and military service at a memorial service Sunday.

Speakers hailed Michael Landsberry for trying to talk the shooter into turning over the semiautomatic handgun before the youth shot him in the chest as students arrived for class Oct. 21 at Sparks Middle School.

The attack lasted only about three minutes and ended with student Jose Reyes turning the gun on himself. The boy got the gun at home.

Obama blasts GOP candidate in Va.

ARLINGTON, Va.

President Barack Obama cast Republican Ken Cuccinelli on Sunday as part of an extreme tea-party faction that shut down the government, throwing the political weight of the White House behind Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the final days of a bitter race for governor.

Seeking an upset, Cuccinelli cast this week’s Virginia gubernatorial election as a referendum on Obama’s troubled national health care law.

National issues that have divided Democrats and Republicans spilled into the race and colored the final hours of campaigning ahead of Tuesday’s vote. As one of just two gubernatorial races in the nation, the results of Tuesday’s elections could hold clues about voter attitudes and both parties’ messages heading into the 2014 midterm elections.

Associated Press