NEWS OF THE DAY
Distiller fined: Jim Beam was fined $600,000 this month after a July warehouse fire sent a plume of alcohol into the Kentucky and Ohio rivers, killing fish. The distiller agreed to the fine from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. The fire started when lightning struck a huge barrel warehouse near the WoodfordFranklin County line. About 40,000 barrels of whiskey were destroyed, with the runoff pouring into nearby Glenns Creek and then downstream into the rivers. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources found dead fish along 62 miles of Glenns Creek and the Kentucky River.
Dollar mugging: A 60yearold man who was kicked and punched while defending his partner during a $1 mugging in New York City on Christmas Eve has died. Juan Fresnada died at the Bronx hospital where he was taken in critical condition after the mugging Tuesday, police said. Officers have released surveillance images in hopes of finding suspects. His partner, Byron Caceres, said Fresnada suffered the fatal blows while urging him to run to safety, which he did. Police said the two men were walking in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx around 1:30 a.m. when several muggers approached them and demanded their property. When they refused, they were attacked. The muggers took $1 from the men and fled, police said.
Workplace deaths: Two workers apparently became overcome by fumes and died while cleaning a chemical tank at a business near Houston, authorities said. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said deputies responded to the plant Saturday in Pasadena where they found two men dead at the scene. Witnesses told deputies that the men had climbed inside the tank to clean it and were overwhelmed by fumes. The sheriff ’s office did not say what kind of chemical was involved.
Plane crash: A small plane crashed in the Maryland suburbs of the nation’s capital Sunday, hitting a home’s carport and killing the lone person aboard the aircraft, authorities said. The plane came down in the neighborhood of Lanham, striking the carport before it broke into pieces, said Mark Brady of Prince George’s County emergency services. The plane and the carport caught fire. Brady said there were no reports of injuries on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to take over the investigation, according to Brady. The home is about 2 miles from an airport in College Park, Md. Lanham is in the northeastern section of suburbs near Washington. Police shooting: A federal judge has ruled that city of Dallas is not liable for an offduty police officer fatally shooting a man in his own apartment last year. The judge dismissed the city from the civil lawsuit that the family of Botham Jean filed after he was killed by Amber Guyger. The ruling leaves the former officer as the sole defendant in the suit. Guyger was found guilty of murder for Jean’s death and sentenced to a decade in prison. She testified at trial that she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own on the floor below and thought he was an intruder.