San Francisco

Diocese settles a dozen abuse lawsuits for $16M

The Archdiocese of San Francisco has agreed to pay more than $16 million to settle a dozen lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by a once-popular priest.

Attorneys announced the agreements Friday, days before the first of several planned trials was to begin with plaintiffs alleging they were abused by the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard.

The settlement works out to an average of $1.3 million for each plaintiff, but attorneys said the individual amounts varied and would not be disclosed.

The settlement is roughly comparable to a similar agreement reached last month with 10 other plaintiffs who said they were molested by Pritchard when he was pastor at St. Martin of Tours parish in San Jose.

San Francisco Archbishop William Levada again apologized to victims.

Colorado

More to evacuate as wildfire spreads

Firefighters warned dozens of homeowners to prepare to evacuate Saturday as hot, dry winds spread a wildfire across 2,000 acres of southern Colorado.

The flames had burned to within 100 yards of Greenwood, chasing about 50 families from their homes, 25 miles west of Pueblo. As fire crews stood guard over the small community Saturday, 40 more homes were put on alert.

“We could see the trees explode,” said Bill Mauger, 73, who watched with his wife as the fire climbed ridgelines. “You could hear crackling and smoke come off the trees. It was like a bomb going off.”

About 400 firefighters struggled against temperatures in the 90s and gusting winds Saturday. At midday, officials estimated only 1 percent of the fire was contained, fire behavior specialist Bob Irvine said.

In all, 14 large wildfires were burning across more than 700,000 acres in eight states Saturday, according to the

Tennessee

Suspect held in fires at two black churches

Police on Saturday arrested a suspect believed to have set fires that burned two black churches in Tennessee, but investigators said they had no reason to believe the blazes were a hate crime.

Sparta police expected to charge the man with arson on Monday. He was being held without bail Saturday on unrelated charges. Authorities were not releasing his name.

“At this point, we have no evidence to support in any way that it was a hate crime,” detective Allen Selby said. “The only way I could characterize this was criminal activity.”

Five vacant houses were burned Friday along with the two churches, all in the same neighborhood.

Sparta, a town of 5,000 people about 75 miles southeast of Nashville, was on edge following the blazes. About 5 percent of the town’s residents are black, according to census figures.

Meanwhile in Virginia, a small fire and anti-gay graffiti were found Saturday at a church belonging to the United Church of Christ, a denomination that endorsed same-sex marriage last week.

A Virginia State Police fire investigator was on the scene Saturday, but declined to comment.

Minnesota

Governor signs plan to end legislative shutdown

The first partial government shutdown in Minnesota history ended early Saturday as Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a temporary spending plan and lawmakers agreed on the outline of a two-year budget.

“I’m pleased to announce agreement has been reached by the legislative leadership to put Minnesota back to work,” Pawlenty announced around 2 a.m.

The Legislature overwhelmingly approved the “lights on” measure to send 8,900 furloughed state employees back to their jobs by restoring funding until Thursday.

Lawmakers now have until Wednesday night to hash out the final details of the two-year budget or risk another shutdown – but that’s considered unlikely. Pawlenty said lawmakers had a framework for the budget.

Minnesota had never before had to suspend services because of a budget dispute. The last state government shutdown was in Tennessee in 2002.

Many states often miss their deadline for enacting new budgets. But Minnesota, unlike other states, has no law that automatically extends spending past the end of its fiscal year if a new budget is not approved.