TV reporter fired for wearing Trump hat at Minn. rally

October 6, 2018 at 12:00a.m.

ROCHESTER, Minn.

A southern Minnesota television reporter who wore a “Make America Great Again” hat to a Trump rally that he was covering has been fired.

James Bunner was a multimedia journalist for KTTC-TV in Austin. He wore the hat Thursday while covering President Donald Trump’s appearance in Rochester and images of him wearing the hat began appearing on Twitter.

News Director Noel Sederstrom said the station does not allow staff members to cover stories while wearing apparel from political campaigns. Sederstrom said Bunner was fired Friday.

Bunner doesn’t have a listed phone number and didn’t immediately return a social media message seeking comment Friday.

Quake, tsunami victims buried in mass grave

PALU, Indonesia

Volunteers are burying more victims in a mass grave a week after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the Indonesian city of Palu.

Ambulances on Friday brought a group of remains to the grave. Emergency services have been burying people as they are found after the disaster, which killed more than 1,550 people in and around the port city of Palu on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Officials believe more than 100 people are still missing.

One of the volunteers, 48-year-old Asep Junaedi, said 643 people had been buried in the grave so far.

Man charged after toxic letters sent to Trump, others

SALT LAKE CITY

A Navy veteran was charged Friday with threatening to use a biological toxin as a weapon by sending letters to President Donald Trump and other leaders containing ground castor beans, the substance from which the poison ricin is derived.

William Clyde Allen III, 39, told investigators he wanted the letters to “send a message,” though he did not elaborate, FBI investigators said in documents filed in U.S. District Court of Utah. Authorities zeroed in on Allen after finding his return address on the envelopes, according to the complaint.

The envelopes that tested positive for ricin also had a note that said “Jack and the Missile Bean Stock Powder,” the documents said.

U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber declined to comment on Allen’s mental state, but said the case is “no laughing matter.”

Rock used as doorstop turns out to be meteorite

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.

A Michigan man curious about a rock he’d used for decades as a doorstop now knows its secret: it’s a meteorite worth $100,000.

In fact, the nearly 23-pound hunk of iron and nickel is the sixth-largest meteorite found in Michigan, according to the Smithsonian Museum and Central Michigan University.

David Mazurek said he took his doorstop to the university for examination after seeing reports in January of meteorite pieces selling for thousands of dollars.

“I said, ‘Wait a minute. I wonder how much mine is worth,’” Mazurek said.

University Geology Professor Mona Sirbescu first identified the piece as more than just a rock. She then sent two small slices of the rock to the Smithsonian for confirmation.

“I could tell right away that this was something special,” she said. “It’s the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically.”

Associated Press