Washington

U.S. to donate 50,000 tons of food to N. Korea

The United States will donate more than 50,000 tons of food to North Korea in what the Bush administration says is a humanitarian decision unrelated to efforts to get Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program.

The specific types of food will be determined in consultation with the World Food Program, which oversees distribution, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said Wednesday.

U.S. efforts to meet their needs and to halt the weapons program are not linked, Ereli said in announcing the program. “Our decisions are made on humanitarian considerations solely,” he said.

California

Wildfires break out around the West

Wildfires raced through a national forest in Arizona and a desert community in southern California on Wednesday, burning several homes and threatening hundreds more in an outbreak fueled by gusting winds and scorching temperatures.

In Nevada, firefighters took advantage of calm winds to tame a fire that burned 750 acres near Carson City and sent up a plume of swirling smoke visible 30 miles to the north.

A 1,300-acre grass fire in California burned into an area of the Mojave Desert about 100 miles east of downtown Los Angeles which includes about 2,000 scattered ranches and homes, said Dave Dowling, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

A second fire in California broke out about 35 miles away but was not threatening any structures, authorities said.

In Arizona, flames forced the evacuation of an estimated 200 to 400 homes from a subdivision in a national forest about 20 miles northeast of Phoenix.

Nashville, Tenn.

Southern Baptists end boycott of Disney

Southern Baptists ended an eight-year boycott of the Walt Disney Co. for violating “moral righteousness and traditional family values” in a vote on the final day of the denomination’s annual convention Wednesday.

“We believe for the boycott to be effective, it had to have a beginning and an ending,” said Gene Mims, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention committee that put the Disney resolution before some 12,000 members at the meeting.

The Disney resolution, passed at the SBC’s 1997 convention in Dallas, called for Southern Baptists to refrain from patronizing Disney theme parks and Disney products, mainly because of the entertainment company’s decision to give benefits to companions of gay and lesbian employees.

Disney officials in California had no immediate comment.

Washington

Senator may block defense nomination

The senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee has warned the Pentagon that he may block the nomination of a new defense policy chief unless documents involving the departing policy head – Douglas Feith – are turned over for review.

The action by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., threatens to hold up another important presidential appointment as lawmakers remain deadlocked with the Bush administration over the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.

In this instance, Levin is trying to press a probe, begun two years ago, into how Feith and his subordinates shaped the administration’s view of the relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida before the U.S. invaded Iraq.

New York

Giant promotional ice pop melts, floods square

An attempt to raise the world’s largest ice pop in a city square ended with a scene straight out of a disaster film – but much stickier.

The 25-foot-tall, 17 1/2-ton treat of frozen Snapple juice melted faster than expected Tuesday, flooding Union Square in downtown Manhattan with kiwi-strawberry-flavored fluid that sent pedestrians scurrying for higher ground.

Firefighters closed off several streets and used hoses to wash away the sugary goo. Passers-by slipped in the puddles, but no serious injuries were reported.

Snapple had been trying to promote a new line of frozen treats by setting a record for the world’s largest ice pop, but called off the stunt before it was pulled fully upright by a construction crane. Officials said they were worried the thing would collapse in the 80-degree, first-day-of-summer heat.

Phoenix

Counselor sentenced for role in boy’s death

A camp counselor involved in the 2001 death of a 14-year-old who collapsed in triple-digit heat at a boot camp was sentenced to four months in jail.

Troy Hutty, 33, also was given three years of probation at Tuesday’s sentencing. Hutty was among camp supervisors who put the teenager, Anthony Haynes, in a motel bathtub to cool him down, and later found him face down in the water.

Haynes’ mother had sent him to the desert camp after he was caught shoplifting and slashed the tires on her vehicle. He died of complications from dehydration.

Camp director Charles Long, 59, was sentenced last month to six years in prison.

“Next week will be four years since I lost my baby,” said Haynes’ mother, Melanie Hudson, “and it could have been prevented by dialing three numbers.”

Three other counselors also were sentenced Tuesday for child abuse inflicted on other campers.