Alaska’s largest city sets high-temperature record
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Three Alaska cities, including the state’s largest, reached record-high temperatures on Independence Day, which an expert on Friday attributed to climate change. Anchorage hit 90 degrees for the first time at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The previous high for Anchorage was 85 degrees on June 14, 1969, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Clay. The average high temperature for July 4 is 75 degrees. Kenai and King Salmon also reached new high temperatures of 89 degrees.
CHICAGO – City police said a Fourth of July stampede at Navy Pier that injured more than a dozen people started when private security officers who might have mistaken a firecracker for gunfire warned bystanders to take cover. Three other people were stabbed when a fight broke out after a group of young males flashed gang signs, authorities said. Three people suffered nonlife-threatening injuries. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said his staff will review the incident but that he finds no fault with how it was handled.
LUFKIN, Texas – Police said a teenager from San Antonio is suspected of taking a tub of ice cream from a Walmart freezer in Lufkin, removing the top to lick the ice cream and then returning it to the freezer. A short video posted to social media last week showed the teenager laughing as she places the top back on the half-gallon container and returning it to the freezer. Lufkin police said they don’t intend to charge the teen with tampering with a consumer product. It’s not clear whether juvenile-justice authorities will charge her.
CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro oversaw a grand military parade to mark the country’s independence day Friday, reveling in his might as commander in chief. Maduro pumped his fist as soldiers marched past, tanks rolled by and fighter jets streaked overhead. Camouflaged special forces, guns drawn, shouted their loyalty as they paraded by the reviewing stand. “We look to the heavens, asking for peace,” Maduro said. “All the while our military exercises play out. We plead to God with our missiles pointed.”