Sierra snowpack well above average

Sierra snowpack well above average

SAN FRANCISCO

Back-to-back California storms blanket the Sierra Nevada in snow, more than twice the snowpack level compared to this time last year, with winter still nearly two weeks away.

At the same time last year, the Sierra snowpack was 47 percent of average, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

A series of systems starting around Thanksgiving dropped several feet of fresh powder in some mountain areas.

In the southern Sierra, Mammoth Mountain has recorded nearly 6 feet since Oct. 1. The ski resort claims to have the deepest snowpack in the country right now.

The newspaper says mountain snowpack provides about 30 percent of the yearly fresh water supply for California, which has struggled with drought in recent years.

Search begins for 4 missing at mine

CLEAR CREEK, W.Va.

A West Virginia mine rescue team is searching for four people reported missing at an underground coal mine.

The state Office of Miner’s Health, Safety and Training says in a news release it began assisting the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday. The search is at Elk Run Coal Co.’s Rock House Powellton Mine near Clear Creek.

The statement says an abandoned ATV the four were believed to be riding was found near the mine entrance. Members of the state mine safety office and mine parent company Alpha Natural Resources entered the mine Sunday afternoon to begin the search.

According to the mine safety office, coal has not been mined at the underground location for two years.

7 wounded in shooting near settlement

JERUSALEM

Israeli officials say seven people have been wounded, one critically, in a shooting Sunday night by a suspected Palestinian assailant outside a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

The Magen David Adom rescue service said the Israelis were standing at a bus stop at the entrance to Ofra, a settlement in the northern West Bank, when they were shot.

The rescue service says a 21-year-old woman was shot in her upper body and is in critical condition. The others wounded included two 16-year-old girls who were slightly hurt.

The Israeli military says the shots were fired from a Palestinian vehicle. It says troops in the area opened fire and were searching for the vehicle.

Pence aide is not expected to be next chief of staff

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s top pick to replace chief of staff John Kelly, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill the role.

Ayers, who is chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, was seen as the favorite for the job when Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would leave around year’s end. But a White House official said Sunday that Trump and Ayers could not reach agreement on Ayers’ length of service and that he would instead assist the president from outside the administration.

Ayers confirmed the decision in a tweet Sunday, thanking Trump and Pence for giving him the opportunity to work in the White House. “I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the MAGA team to advance the cause,” he said.

Associated Press