Texas

Second explosion rocks gas storage facility

A second explosion in less than 24 hours rocked a burning underground gas storage facility early Friday, prompting authorities to expand an evacuation zone around the site.

The fire at Duke Energy’s Moss Bluff natural gas facility intensified overnight, an official said. The second explosion was reported at 1:15 a.m. and was seen as far as 20 miles away, witnesses said.

No injuries were reported.

Authorities had decided to let the fire ignited in the first explosion Thursday burn itself out, a process they said would take several days. The explosion was blamed on leaking gas.

NEW YORK City

State officials leery of alcohol-inhaling device

A machine that lets drinkers inhale shots of alcohol went on display Friday night, even as one local lawmaker warned the device was “a disaster waiting to happen.”

The Alcohol Without Liquid vaporizer mixes the alcohol with pressurized oxygen. Makers say it takes about 20 minutes to breathe in one shot, giving drinkers the effect of alcohol without the drunkenness or hangover.

Democratic state Sen. Carl Kruger pledged to introduce legislation to ban its use, calling the inhaler, manufactured in England and distributed domestically by North Carolina-based Spirit Partners, a “new form of pipe smoking” and saying it could encourage underage drinking and drunken driving.

Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer’s office said the issue had been referred to the State Liquor Authority, and declined to comment.

SAN FRANCISCO

Two camp counselors found slain on beach

A soon-to-be married couple reported missing when they didn’t return to their jobs as camp counselors were found shot to death on a beach, apparently in their sleep, authorities said.

The bodies of Lindsay Cutshall, 23, of Ohio, and Jason Allen, 26, of Michigan, were discovered in sleeping bags by sheriff’s deputies who were rescuing a stranded hiker.

“They were shot in the head, presumably in their sleep because there was no disturbance at their camp site,” Lt. Dave Edmonds said. The victims had valuables nearby that weren’t taken, Edmonds said.

Police believe the couple had been camping in the Jenner area, about 75 miles up the coast from San Francisco, since Saturday. Authorities do not know when the couple was killed. Autopsies were planned for Friday.

Washington

U.S. begins surveillance flights on Canada border

As part of a dramatic boost in surveillance of the Canadian border, federal officials Friday dedicated the first of five planned bases for regular flights to look for drug runners and others crossing illegally by air or land.

The Bellingham Air Marine Branch is to have a staff of nearly 70, two helicopters, an airplane and a high-speed boat by year’s end. Similar bases have policed the Mexican border for three decades, but the new facility is the first on the Canadian border.

The five new bases, which will dot the border from Washington state to upstate New York, are a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as well as smuggling of illegal aliens and drugs, including British Columbia’s potent strains of marijuana. Similar bases have policed the Mexican border for three decades.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Bush spending neared $50 million in July

A fresh wave of ads pushed President Bush’s spending to nearly $46 million for July, the Republican’s highest level since he launched the first ad blitz of his re-election campaign in March, a campaign finance report filed Friday shows.

About $38 million of Bush’s July spending last month went to admaking firm Maverick Media. Ads have been Bush’s single biggest campaign expense, accounting for roughly $116 million of his campaign’s $209 million in spending through last month.

Mailings and related costs were another big expense, accounting for at least $30 million, followed by campaign staff, consultants and related costs, at least $16 million.