Six die in house fire, including four children

Six people, including four children, died in a house fire early Monday in San Bernardino while two girls and a man managed to escape.

The victims, who were all related, included three girls ranging in age from 8 to 12, a boy who was 4 or 5, and two women, said Fire Department Battalion Chief Allen Simpson. No names were released.

Investigators believe an improperly extinguished cigarette may have caused the fire, said Fire Department Battalion Chief Howard Bennett.

Neighbors heard screams about 3:20 a.m.

Neighbor Mariela Mendez said she and her parents ran to the house and found a man yelling “Open the door! Open the door!” at two girls scrambling to open a metal security door. The girls finally managed to open the door and escaped, Mendez said.

Montana

Evacuations under way as wildfire spreads

Hundreds of people began leaving their homes Monday night as a wildfire threatened to choke off the main escape route from West Glacier and the surrounding area, fire officials said.

The fire, burning in and around Glacier National Park, made a dangerous run during the early evening, burning toward U.S. Highway 2, the primary route in the area.

People were leaving West Glacier and numerous tourist havens outside the park. The National Park Service headquarters also was being evacuated, and officials began setting backfires to try to slow the fire’s advance.

The smoke plume from the 9,300-acre blaze could be seen from miles, fire information officer Tom Kempton said.

Pittsburgh

Urban League hears Bush’s economic pitch

President Bush promoted his economic policies as a way to “greater opportunity and hope” in an appeal to black Americans who were cool to his candidacy in 2000. His Democratic opponents reminded the same audience that thousands of blacks have lost their jobs during Bush’s presidency.

“I think the president has a bad case of wishful thinking,” Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt said.

Bush’s speech Monday to the National Urban League marked the first time he and his rivals for the White House addressed the same group, but their paths did not cross. The seven Democratic candidates who agreed to appear at the forum were scheduled some five hours after the president.

Bush told the Urban League that the economy as showing signs of improvement and urged Congress to approve languishing legislation to help low-income Americans.

Texas

Lawmakers flee in effort to thwart redistricting

Democratic state lawmakers fled Texas on Monday for the second time in three months to thwart a Republican drive to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

Eleven of the 12 Democrats in the state Senate left for Albuquerque, N.M., as a first special session called by the governor to address redistricting drew to a close and he called a second special session, which began Monday afternoon. The second session could last up to 30 days.

“We’re availing ourselves of a tool given to us by our Texas Constitution to break a quorum,” Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos said at a hotel in Albuquerque. “It’s not about Democrats; it’s about democracy.”