California: Suspect in wildfire pleads innocent

An unemployed cook pleaded innocent Friday in federal court to starting a wildfire that threatened some of the world’s largest and oldest trees.

Peri Dare Van Brunt, 45, was charged with lighting a campfire without a permit, sparking a blaze that has burned nearly 150,000 acres in Sequoia and Inyo National Forests and endangered groves of massive sequoias.

Van Brunt declined to comment as she left court.

The maximum penalty on the charge is five years. Van Brunt was placed in a drug-treatment program after her father posted a $35,000 bond earlier this month.

Van Brunt told authorities she was smoking methamphetamine the night before the fire started July 21.

The fire continues to burn and is about 87 percent contained. About 1,600 firefighters are still fighting the blaze that has cost about $40.7 million to fight.

California: Priest cleared of rape

A Roman Catholic priest was acquitted Friday on charges he raped a 16-year-old girl who worked at his church.

The Rev. Miguel Flores, 34, was cleared of three counts of forcible rape, three counts of sex with a minor and single charges of making threats and intimidating a witness.

After the jury left the courtroom, the priest said he thanked God and the jury.

Prosecutors alleged Flores raped the girl, who was hired to do clerical work, in January at St. Paul Church in Tranquillity, where he worked previously. They said he also sexually assaulted the girl in February in his living quarters at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Hanford.

The charges carried a maximum penalty of 26 years in prison. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno said Flores could return to active ministry next year.

New York: 2 killed in elevator

A construction elevator plunged 19 stories Friday, killing two workers, officials said.

Investigators were looking into whether a snapped cable caused the accident at the planned headquarters of investment banking firm CIBC World Markets. The structure is planned as 35 stories with 1.2 million square feet of office space.

One worker was thrown from the elevator and the second was trapped when it fell 19 stories to the ground.

Washington: Bodies of U.S. pilots found at crash site

The bodies of two U.S. Army pilots whose helicopter crashed into a hillside in South Korea were found Friday, more than a day after the chopper was reported missing on a training flight.

Defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the crash site was about 13 miles south of Camp Page, an American base at Chuncheon, 50 miles east of Seoul, the South Korean capital.

The AH-64A Apache attack helicopter had taken off early Thursday from Camp Page. It slammed into a hillside above a car tunnel. No one on the ground was injured.

The 8th U.S. Army, whose headquarters is in Seoul, identified the pilots as 1st Lt. Dustin Shannon, 23, and Chief Warrant Officer James Wallenburg, 40. Both were from B Troop, 1st Battalion, 6th Cavalry Brigade. Their hometowns were not released.