California

Fire levels 64 homes; hundreds evacuated

A wildfire destroyed at least 64 homes in a subdivision near Shasta Lake and forced hundreds of people to flee, officials said Thursday.

The blaze, started by sparks from a lawn mower, has scorched 3,000 acres, said Kevin Colburn, spokesman for the state forestry department. The fire was 40 percent contained, but a shift in the wind overnight pushed the fire southward, he said.

The 64 homes were in a subdivision just south of Lake Shasta and east of Redding, said CDF spokesman Jim Sweet.

More than 300 people were evacuated Wednesday, and a shelter was set up at a nearby school.

Florida

22-year inmate freed after DNA clears him

A man who served 22 years in prison for rape was freed early Thursday after DNA evidence proved he was not the attacker.

Wilton A. Dedge, 42, walked out of the Brevard County Jail with his parents just hours after the test results, which had been ordered last month by a judge. The state Legislature in 2001 passed a law that allowed DNA retesting in older cases.

At two trials, the victim, age 17 at the time of the attack, identified Dedge as the man who slashed her with a knife and raped her twice in 1981. She had originally described her attacker as being 6 feet tall and weighing 160 to 180 pounds. Dedge at the time was 5 feet 6 and about 125 pounds.

California

Fifth person dies from West Nile infection

A fifth person has died from a West Nile virus infection in California, which has had no deaths from the disease until this year, and officials are stepping up efforts to eradicate mosquitoes.

The virus has spread across most of the United States since it was detected in New York in 1999. About 500 people have been infected so far this year, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The California Department of Health Services reported 116 infections in the state as of Wednesday, with most cases in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties. The latest victim, Richard Shaddox, 81, who died Tuesday, lived in San Bernardino County.

Detroit

Diocese begins church trials in abuse cases

The Archdiocese of Detroit said Thursday it had begun church trials for three priests accused of molesting children and was about to start proceedings for a fourth, as the Roman Catholic Church works through a backlog of hundreds of abuse claims against clergy nationwide.

The archdiocese did not release the names of the four priests or any details of the accusations. Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Walter Hurley said judges met last week to start the closed-door hearings, which will determine whether the men can remain priests.

Arizona

Dust storm triggers fiery wrecks; four killed

A blinding dust storm rolled across an interstate highway, causing a string of fiery crashes that killed at least four people and injured 42.

Authorities began pulling apart crumpled tractor-trailer rigs in search of other bodies early Thursday.

Twelve big rigs, along with a bus and nearly a dozen other vehicles, crashed Wednesday night on Interstate 10.

Two wrecks were in the Tonopah area, about 45 miles west of Phoenix; a third was 75 miles west of Phoenix.

Virginia

Custody battle could be first test of anti-gay law

A woman who had a child with her lesbian partner after entering into a civil union in Vermont is now suing for custody in Virginia, where a new law recently went into effect banning civil unions.

The state’s leading gay rights organization, Equality Virginia, said the lawsuit could bring the first challenge to Virginia’s anti-gay law, which many legal scholars call the most restrictive in the nation.

A hearing is scheduled Friday to determine whether Lisa Miller-Jenkins has sole parental rights over her biological daughter, 2-year-old Isabella. Lisa’s former partner, Janet Miller-Jenkins, is contesting the action, claiming Vermont has jurisdiction over the case.