Official: Islamic State broke into Palmyra museum

Official: Islamic State broke into Palmyra museum

DAMASCUS, Syria

Islamic State fighters broke into the museum of Palmyra, though a Syrian official said its artifacts have been removed and are safe, while the U.S.-led coalition conducted airstrikes on the group’s installations near the captured ancient town – the first such reported attack in the central province of Homs.

The Department of Defense said in a statement that U.S.-led coalition aircraft had attacked an IS position near Palmyra, which goes by the modern name Tadmur, destroying six anti-aircraft artillery systems and an artillery piece.

Residents being ordered to evacuate

Cities in northern Texas and southwestern Oklahoma are ordering some residents to evacuate amid warnings from the National Weather Service about potentially historic flooding.

A judge in Wichita Falls, Texas, near the Oklahoma line, issued an order Saturday urging residents of the city and the surrounding county to evacuate if they live within a half-mile of either side of the Wichita River.

Evacuations also were ordered in Elk City in southwestern Oklahoma after torrential rain forced the closure of part of an interstate highway and threatened to flood homes.

Pipeline that leaked wasn’t equipped with auto shut-off

LOS ANGELES

The pipeline that leaked thousands of gallons of oil on the California coast was the only pipe of its kind in the county not required to have an automatic shut-off valve because of a court fight nearly three decades ago, a county official said.

The original owner of the pipeline skirted the Santa Barbara County requirement by successfully arguing in court in the late 1980s that it should be subject to federal oversight because the pipeline is part of an interstate network, said Kevin Drude, deputy director of the county’s Energy and Minerals Division. Auto shut-off valves are not required by federal regulators.

Woman celebrates her 116th birthday

INKSTER, Mich.

A Detroit-area woman turned 116 Saturday, but she offers no secret for a long life.

“There’s nothing I can do about it,” Jeralean Talley of Inkster said ahead of her birthday weekend.

Talley will celebrate her birthday twice, including a party today at her church, New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist. The Gerontology Research Group considers her to be the oldest person in the world, based on available records, followed by Susannah Jones of Brooklyn, N.Y., who turns 116 in July.

Missouri suspect in death of woman, teen son is killed

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

A man accused of holding his former girlfriend captive in a crate at their home in western Missouri then fatally shooting her and her teenage son, was shot and killed Saturday, authorities said.

Law-enforcement officers killed James Barton Horn Jr., 47, at a state wildlife area in western Missouri, south of Knob Noster, Henry County Sheriff Kent Oberkrom said.

Authorities had been searching for Horn since late April when he was charged in the kidnapping of 46-year-old Sandra Kay Sutton. Prosecutors said Sutton told police that Horn kept her in a wooden crate off-and-on for four months at their home in Sedalia, some 90 miles southeast of Kansas City, Mo.

Associated Press