NATION & WORLD BRIEFS

Kansas reporter files suit against police chief in office raid

One of the reporters who works at the small Kansas newspaper that was raided by authorities last month filed a federal lawsuit against the police chief Wednesday.

Deb Gruver says she believes Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody violated her constitutional rights when he abruptly snatched her personal cellphone out of her hands during a search where officers also seized computers from the Marion County Record’s office, according to the lawsuit. That Aug. 11 search and two others conducted at the homes of the newspaper’s publisher and a City Council member have thrust the town into the center of a debate over the press protections in the First Amendment.

Cody didn’t immediately respond to an email or text message from The Associated Press on Wednesday seeking comment.

The city administrator directed questions about the lawsuit to its attorney, Brian Bina, and outside counsel, Jennifer Hill. Neither attorney immediately returned phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Remains of Vermont POW buried at Arlington National Cemetery

ARLINGTON, Va. – The remains of a Vermont World War II soldier who died as a prisoner of war in the Philippines in 1942 were laid to rest Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery.

Army Pfc. Arthur Barrett, of Swanton, was a member of the 31st Infantry Regiment when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Barrett was among thousands of U.S. and Filipino service members captured and held at prisoner of war camps. More than 2,500 died at Cabanatuan camp during the war, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Barrett, 27, died on July 19, 1942, and was buried alongside other prisoners in a common grave. His remains were exhumed again in 2018 and sent to an agency lab in Hawaii for DNA and other analysis. The agency announced in July of last year that Barrett’s remains had been identified.

Forecasters warn high winds, low humidity raise Hawaii fire risk

HONOLULU – The National Weather Service on Wednesday warned gusty winds and low humidity have increased the risk that fires could spread rapidly in the western parts of each Hawaiian island, three weeks after a deadly blaze tore through a coastal Maui town during a similar alert.

But the agency said winds would not be as powerful compared to Aug. 8 when flames burned down much of Lahaina, killing at least 115 people and destroying more than 2,000 structures. The fire was the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.

The agency issued a Red Flag Warning for the leeward sides of the Hawaiian Islands through Thursday afternoon. It said gusts, low humidity and dry grasses and trees could contribute to “extreme fire behavior.” It urged people to delay activities that could throw off sparks.

No injuries reported after train derails on South Dakota rail bridge

NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. – No injuries or hazardous spills have been reported in a train derailment in a southeastern South Dakota town that also saw a rail bridge partially collapse.

The derailment happened shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday in North Sioux City, the Union County Emergency Management office said in social media posts. Nineteen cars derailed as the train traveled over the rail bridge, which partially collapsed. It’s unclear whether the collapse caused the derailment or happened because of the derailment.

Of the derailed cars, 14 were empty hopper cars and five were loaded with ethanol, officials said. None of the derailed ethanol cars was leaking following the derailment, officials said.

Television station KTIV reported that the derailed train was operated by D & I Railroad, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A message left Thursday for the railroad by The Associated Press seeking comment was not immediately returned.