Calif. wildfire grows

Calif. wildfire grows

GOLETA, Calif.

Stoked by winds, a wildfire burning west of Santa Barbara roared down mountain slopes toward the Pacific Ocean, shutting down California’s major coastal highway and forcing a group of firefighters to seek shelter behind a fire engine as flames licked at them.

As the blaze grew to more than 6 square miles, authorities warned Friday that the region’s notorious afternoon and evening “sundowner” gusts would recur through the next two days.

Weekend fire dangers already were expected to worsen with the arrival of an extreme heatwave across the Southwest.

Parents admit ‘gifting’ girl to man

PHILADELPHIA

A 51-year-old Bucks County man was arrested after he was found living with 12 girls, including a teenager he considered his wife, and a baby and a toddler he fathered with her, authorities said Friday.

Some of the children were hiding in the small house.

The oldest girl, now 18, told police she was the mother of two of the girls, a 3-year-old and a 6-month-old, Krimmel said.

The teen’s parents, Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus, of Quarryville, Lancaster County, also were arrested after they told police they had “gifted” their daughter to Lee Kaplan four years ago.

The girl was 14 at the time, and Daniel Stoltzfus gave her to Kaplan as thanks “for helping his family out of financial ruin,” according to the criminal complaints.

Auschwitz guard, 94, is convicted

DETMOLD, Germany

A 94-year-old former SS sergeant was found guilty Friday of 170,000 counts of accessory to murder and sentenced to five years in prison for serving as an Auschwitz guard, in a verdict that survivors from the Nazi death camp hailed as a long-overdue victory.

Reinhold Hanning, sitting in a wheelchair, listened attentively but showed no reaction as Presiding Judge Anke Grudda read the ruling in state court in Detmold, Germany.

She said Hanning was a cog in a “perfectly functioning machinery” of destruction, helping operate the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland where some 1.1 million people, primarily Jews, were killed.

FedEx trafficking charges dropped

SAN FRANCISCO

A criminal trial nearly two years in the making alleging FedEx knowingly delivered illegal prescription drugs to dealers and addicts ended suddenly Friday when prosecutors moved to dismiss all charges against the shipping giant.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted the request in a two-page order that did not indicate why prosecutors were dropping the case.

The U.S. attorney’soffice said it would have no comment on the decision.

FedEx was indicted in 2014, and the trial began Monday.

Disney to post signs warning of gators

ORLANDO, Fla.

Construction workers have put up a waterfront barrier at the Grand Floridian hotel in Walt Disney World, three days after a toddler was killed by an alligator at the resort.

Meanwhile, Disney World released a photo of signs it plans to erect. The red, white and black signs say “Danger! Alligators and snakes in area. Stay away from the water. Do not feed the wildlife.”

Previously, signs had said simply “no swimming.”

Combined dispatches