DATELINES

Storm could set off mudslides

Light showers fell on parts of Northern California bracing for heavy rain and strong winds Wednesday that could unleash mudslides on communities struggling after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. Water levels could rise in small rivers and creeks and debris flows could hit areas scarred by flames, including where a November wildfire killed 86 people and destroyed nearly 15,000 homes.

A week of storms has left authorities concerned about the potential danger for thousands of people living in foothill and canyon areas devastated by last year’s wildfires. Wind-whipped flames roared across immense areas of the state, leaving hillsides bare of vegetation.

Suit filed over pain meds given to dying patients

An Ohio man said Wednesday he was stunned to learn of allegations that his wife’s hospital death last year was caused by a doctor’s order for a fatal dose of pain medication.

David Austin said he called an ambulance in September after his wife, Bonnie Austin, had trouble breathing. A doctor told him she was brain dead after she suffered cardiac arrest.

An attorney filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Tuesday on David Austin’s behalf, the second lawsuit accusing the doctor accused of ordering that near-death hospital patients get potentially fatal doses of pain medicine without their families’ knowledge.

Theft of church painting puzzles Belgian police

It’s probably not a long-lost painting by Michelangelo. It almost certainly wasn’t stolen by a sophisticated gang of international art thieves. But the disappearance of a painting that a priest claimed resembled a work by the Renaissance master has Belgian investigators scratching their heads.

The wood-mounted art piece — “The Silence of Our Lady” — was snatched last Friday from the Saint Ludger Church in the town of Zele, 30 miles northwest of Brussels. The priest, Jan Van Raemdonck, believes it could be a Michelangelo and says an Italian art expert was due any day to come and authenticate it.