Battlefield declared a crime scene

Battlefield declared a crime scene

PETERSBURG, Va.

Virginia’s National Park Service says a portion of the Petersburg National Battlefield has been declared a crime scene after looting.

Chief of interpretation Chris Bryce said Saturday that park officials are in the process of assessing the damage. He said there were a number of places where the ground had been dug up earlier this week.

Petersburg National Battlefield is a 2,700-acre park, about 26 miles south of Richmond, that marks where more than 1,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died fighting during the Siege of Petersburg 151 years ago.

The battlefield remains open to visitors, he said, but a portion of it will be marked off limits as a result of the looting.

Tropical Storm Bonnie has slowed down, for now

CHARLESTON, S.C.

The latest on a tropical disturbance off the coast of South Carolina:

Tropical Storm Bonnie had not moved much Saturday evening but was expected to pick up some speed overnight.

The National Hurricane Center says the storm, located about 135 miles from Charleston, continues to produce rain across coastal South Carolina making for a wet Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Forecasters detected 40 mph winds in the storm Saturday night, making it the season’s second-named tropical storm, four days before the official start of hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean.

WHO rejects call to postpone Olympics

BERLIN

The World Health Organization on Saturday rejected a call from 150 health experts to consider postponing or moving the Rio Summer Olympics due to the Zika virus in hard-hit Brazil, arguing that the shift would make no significant difference to the spread of the virus.

The U.N. health agency, which declared the spread of Zika in the Americas a global emergency in February, said in a statement there is “no public health justification” for postponing or canceling the 2016 games, which run from Aug. 5 to 21.

2 more bodies found in Texas after rain, floods

HOUSTON

The bodies of two missing motorists were found Saturday in Texas, raising the death toll to four from flooding in the state after torrential rain inundated rivers and waterways, authorities said.

The threat of severe weather had lessened in Texas over the long Memorial Day holiday weekend and the focus is on homes that could be flooded by slowly rising waters. Evacuation orders were issued Saturday for parts of two Texas cities along the Brazos River near Houston.

Associated Press