NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
Wildfires: Residents of a small Oklahoma town returned to their homes Sunday after being ordered to evacuate because of a wildfire threat. Keli Cain of the state Department of Emergency Management said the blaze threatened Martha, a town of about 150 people around 120 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. Cain said the fire was still burning but no longer threatened the town. Another wildfire that began in Texas and spread to Oklahoma on Friday was also still burning Sunday. Firefighters in both states battled the blaze, which has scorched about 42 square miles of land. The Oklahoma Forestry Services said another fire in northwestern Oklahoma has burned more than 375 square miles.
Discrimination case: A federal trial is scheduled to start Monday over claims by six black-owned funeral homes that a Mississippi Gulf Coast coroner illegally discriminates in favor of two white-owned competitors. The dispute revolves around cases where Harrison County pays for a body to be picked up, stored, autopsied or buried. U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett, in pretrial rulings, has indicated the key question will be proving whether Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove made the decisions about where to direct bodies in each instance. Hargrove and Harrison County argue that in many cases, others controlled where bodies went.
Deadly crash: A stolen car overturned Sunday near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., killing two children and injuring five others, authorities said. The Broward County Sheriff ’s Office said the car was carrying seven children 12 to 14 years old when the driver lost control. The names and ages of the dead were not released. The crash remains under investigation, and no further details were immediately disclosed.
Barbara Bush’s health: Former first lady Barbara Bush is in “failing health” and won’t seek additional medical treatment, a Bush family spokesman said Sunday. “Following a recent series of hospitalizations, and after consulting her family and doctors, Mrs. Bush, now age 92, has decided not to seek additional medical treatment and will instead focus on comfort care,” spokesman Jim McGrath said. McGrath did not elaborate as to the nature of Bush’s health problems. The Houston resident has been treated for Graves’ disease, which is a thyroid condition. Bush married George H.W. Bush in 1945. They had six children and have been married longer than any presidential couple in American history.
Elderly alumna: Florence Zimmerman showed up for a reunion over the weekend of hundreds of her fellow Hunter College alumnae — at age 103. The retired New York City judge joined former students Saturday at the school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that is part of the City University of New York. Zimmerman finished college in 1937 and later was one of the first female graduates of New York Law School. She then served as president of the New York Women’s Bar Association. Zimmerman was presented with a framed photo of herself as a student.