Colorado: Fires destroy homes, force evacuations

A handful of wind-fanned wildfires exploded Sunday across drought-stricken Colorado, consuming homes as residents helplessly fled and floating a blanket of hazy smoke over Denver that the governor likened to “nuclear winter.”

At the base of Storm King Mountain between Vail and Aspen, a 7,500-acre blaze had destroyed 40 structures including at least 24 homes; an estimated 3,000 people were forced to flee the nearby resort community of Glenwood Springs.

There were no reports of injuries. Much of the damage in the fire was in trailer parks, said Sheriff Tom Dalessandri.

New York City: Brooklyn Jewish group to start armed patrols

Citizens armed with shotguns will patrol the streets of the heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhoods because of comments a suspected terrorist made about targeting them, a rabbi said.

The patrols, to begin Sunday, are in response to comments Abdul Rahman Yasin made during an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on June 2, said Rabbi Yakove Lloyd, founder and president of the right-wing Jewish Defense Group.

Yasin, who is sought by the FBI in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, said in an interview from Iraq that he and his accomplices originally had targeted heavily Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

They later decided to attack the twin towers because they believed most of their occupants were Jewish, Yasin said. Six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured in the 1993 bombing.

Pennsylvania: Archaeologist to search for buried colonial fort

Somewhere beneath downtown Bedford lies a massive fort constructed by British and colonial troops protecting them against the French and Indians.

In a few weeks, an archaeologist will try to determine the exact location of Fort Bedford.

“There’s been no archaeological dig ever done before on this site,” said Linda Kennedy, who was hired to conduct a preliminary dig. “The town of Bedford has been built right on top of a portion of the fort.”

Built in the summer of 1758 by the troops of Col. Henry Bouquet, Fort Bedford was used as a staging area and for supplies headed west to Forts Ligonier and Pitt. The fort, which overlooks the Juniata River, is thought to stretch for about half a city block.

Florida: Shark bites boy’s leg

A shark bit a 10-year-old boy in the leg Sunday as he played in shallow surf off the Atlantic Coast, authorities said.

Corey Brooks was in stable condition after receiving 125 stitches to close the 8-inch wound on his right calf, said Connie Brigg, spokeswoman for St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach.

After he was bitten, Corey ran out of the water crying, said Lt. John Recca of Martin County Fire-Rescue. “The boy said he thought someone pinched him,” he said.

Washington, D.C.: Software piracy increases worldwide

Software piracy grew last year, breaking six years of progress by software companies to stamp out illegal use, a trade group reports.

A report being released today by the Business Software Alliance, which includes companies such as Microsoft, Apple Computer and Adobe, attributes the shift to growing computer markets in countries that traditionally have high piracy rates, such as Vietnam, China and India.

Vietnam has the highest business software piracy rate in the world, according to the study, at 94 percent. Russia, Ukraine, and other former members of the Soviet Union typically have high rates of unlicensed software as well.