Cleveland airport: Signs of rebounding

Cleveland airport: Signs of rebounding

CLEVELAND

Officials say Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is showing signs of a rebound for the first time since United Airlines pulled its hub.

The Plain Dealer reports the airport has had two-consecutive months of increases in passenger traffic and seats available for booking compared with the same period last year.

Hopkins saw an increase in the number of flights in June for the first time since the airport lost its hub status. About 750,000 passengers used the airport in June, a 17 percent increase over June 2014.

Government air raids kill more than 80

BEIRUT

Syrian airstrikes on a Damascus suburb killed more than 80 people Sunday in one of the deadliest such raids of the four-year civil war, as fighting escalated in and around President Bashar Assad’s seat of power at a time when his overstretched forces have been losing ground elsewhere in the country.

The air raids struck the main market in Douma during rush hour, when hundreds of people were out shopping on the first working day of the week in Syria, activists said. The strikes appeared to have been launched in retaliation for the capture of an army base in a nearby suburb a day earlier by the Islamic Army rebel group, which enjoys strong support in Douma.

Target of manhunt is killed in California

RIDGECREST, CALIF.

An 18-day manhunt in the mountainous high desert of central California ended when two deputies opened fire on a man who pulled out a handgun during a confrontation on a rural road, authorities said Sunday.

Benjamin Peter Ashley, 34, was struck by several rounds after he failed to comply with orders to drop the weapon as he walked toward foothills east of Bakersfield on Saturday, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told The Associated Press.

Ashley, who was suspected of killing a retired dentist, taking three men hostage and wounding two deputies, may have turned the 9 mm handgun on himself after being shot by the deputies, Youngblood said. An autopsy planned for today will determine the cause of death.

Authorities: 4 dead in midair collision

SAN DIEGO

Two small planes collided midair while approaching an airport in southern San Diego County on Sunday, killing at least four people and sparking brush fires in a remote field where the wreckage landed, authorities said.

The collision occurred about 11 a.m., about 2 miles from Brown Field Municipal Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. Both planes – a twin-engine Sabreliner jet and a single-engine Cessna 172 – were approaching Brown Field, Gregor said.

US Army skydiver dies from injuries

CHICAGO

A U.S. Army skydiver who had served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan died Sunday from injuries suffered in a midair collision with another jumper during a stunt at the Chicago Air & Water Show, authorities said.

Corey Hood of Cincinnati, who turned 32 on Aug. 2, was pronounced dead Sunday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said Mario Johnson, a Cook County medical examiner’s investigator.

The Army Golden Knights and Navy Leap Frogs parachute teams were performing what is known as a “bomb burst” Saturday when the collision occurred, a Golden Knights spokeswoman Donna Dixon said.

Dixon said Hood collided with a member of the Navy’s precision skydiving team.

Associated Press