ROBBERY ENDS IN CHASE, FATAL SHOOTOUT

SANTA FE» Law enforcement officers from three agencies returned fire at armed-robbery suspects during a chase, killing one and wounding the other, according to New Mexico State Police.

According to a news release:

A Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy, a Torrance County sheriff’s deputy and a state police officer fired at the vehicle after a passenger fired shots at them.

The pair fled after robbing a Starbucks at gunpoint. They were pursued more than 50 miles down U.S. 285; their vehicle left the road and crashed into a tree about 2 miles south of Clines Corners.

An unidentified man crawled out of the vehicle and was flown to a trauma center for treatment of gunshot wounds. The woman with him was found dead in the vehicle.

Russia jails five people over coal mine disaster that killed 51.

MOSCOW»A Russian court on Saturday ordered five people to remain in pretrial detention for two months pending an investigation into a devastating blast in a coal mine in Siberia that resulted in dozens of deaths.

Russian authorities reported 51 deaths after a methane explosion rocked the Listvyazhnaya mine in the Kemerovo region in southwestern Siberia on Thursday — 46 miners and five rescuers.

The tragedy appears to be the deadliest in Russia since 2010.

The Central District Court in the city of Kemerovo

ruled to jail the director of the Listvyazhnaya mine, Sergei Makhrakov, his deputy Andrei Molostvov and section supervisor Sergei Gerasimenok. They are facing charges of violating industrial safety requirements for hazardous production facilities that resulted in multiple deaths. If convicted, they may be imprisoned for up to seven years.

Two officials of the local branch of Rostekhnadzor, Russia’s state technology and ecology watchdog — Sergei Vinokurov and Vyacheslav Semykin — have also been jailed for two months on the charge of negligence that led to two or more deaths, punishable by up to seven years in prison as well.

Law enforcement officials said Friday that miners had complained about the high level of methane in the mine. Russia’s top independent news site, Meduza, reported that this year authorities suspended the work of certain sections of the mine nine times and issued fines of more than $53,000 for safety violations.

Three bodies found amid violence in Solomon Islands.

After days of riots in the Solomon Islands during which protesters called for Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to resign, set buildings ablaze and looted stores, authorities on Saturday said they had found the bodies of three people in a burnedout building. They are the first reported deaths after days of violent protests in Honiara, the nation’s capital.

The decision by the Solomon Islands’ central government to switch its diplomatic relationship from Taiwan to China in 2019 was the driving force behind the protests, according to experts, with the move exacerbating social and political fault lines dividing the nation.

Panel OKS bid to demolish Wright Brothers’ first bike shop.

DAYTON, OHIO» The city’s Board of Zoning Appeals has approved the city’s request to demolish a 129-year-old historic building that once was the site of the Wright brothers’ first bike shop.

The city wants to tear down the site because the building has deteriorated to a point where it can no longer be maintained and redeveloped, the Dayton Daily News has reported. Public safety concerns have been raised by some who fear the building could collapse.

While agreeing that most of the building should be demolished, the Dayton Landmarks Commission rejected the demolition request in September. The panel instead recommended that the city readvertise the property and encourage its renovation in a way that preserves the historic facade.

Preservation groups had opposed the city’s plan. They argued that keeping the building’s facade and incorporating it into a redevelopment project would make the project eligible for historic tax credits.

The board voted 5-1 this week to reverse the commission’s decision and gave the city permission to raze the property.

The shop was first built in 1892 to serve as the Wright brothers’ first bike shop. Soon thereafter,

Gem City Ice Cream Co. bought the property and that held it until 1975 when it was sold to another company.