NEWS OF THE DAY
Flood warnings: The National Weather Service issued flood warnings Saturday for the District of Columbia and surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia. Heavy rains caused several waterways to flood, including Rock Creek in the District of Columbia. Heavy rains caused a basement wall to collapse in an apartment building in southeast Washington, displacing 11 people, according to the district’s fire department.
Chemical plant fire: A factory that produces agricultural chemicals caught fire Saturday in Atmore, Ala., blanketing the area with potentially hazardous smoke and prompting an order for people to remain indoors. Police said the fire began before dawn at a factory operated by Tiger-Sul Products, and crews were still on the scene hours later. No injuries were reported. Police Chief Chuck Brooks said sulfur was burning in a warehouse, and up to 300 residents near the plant were asked to stay inside their homes as a precaution. The plant is located about 50 miles northeast of Mobile in a town of about 10,000 people.
Weapons case: A Pennsylvania man arrested last year outside New York City with a vehicle full of weapons for an alleged drug rescue plans to plead guilty. A person with direct knowledge of the case told the Associated Press that John Cramsey will plead guilty Monday. Cramsey, a gun range owner from East Greenville, Pa., and two other people were arrested outside the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City, N.J., in June 2016. They told authorities they were on their way to rescue a teenager from a drug den. Cramsey’s daughter had died from a drug overdose that year, and friends said her death spurred him to action. Police recovered weapons including a semiautomatic military-style rifle, a shotgun and five handguns.
Museum theft: Ohio police say a gold replica of the lunar space module has been stolen from the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta. Officers responded to an alarm at the museum just before midnight Friday and discovered the 5-inch high, solid-gold replica had been taken. Replicas of the lunar excursion module produced by Cartier were presented to Neil Armstrong and his two fellow astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, in Paris shortly after their historic space mission. Armstrong, a Wapakoneta native, became the first person to step onto the moon’s surface in July 1969. The FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are assisting the probe.
Package blast: A 73-year-old New York City man was badly burned after he opened a mysterious package left on his doorstep and it exploded, police said. The man had secondand third-degree burns to his torso and legs, and was hospitalized Friday in critical condition, said Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. Neighbors said the man was doubled over in flames when emergency crews arrived. The victim owns the Queens building but doesn’t live there. Police do not think the package had been sent through the mail.