State Glance

Progress reported as crews work to stop fire

PRESCOTT — More firefighters are being assigned to a wildfire in the Prescott National Forest and progress is reported in efforts to keep it spreading, with fire managers on Saturday saying crews have cleared containment lines around 18 percent of the fire’s perimeter.

The fire has burned nearly 12 square miles of grass, brush and trees since lightning started it July 14 about 16 miles south of Prescott.

The number of firefighters and other personnel assigned to the fire rose to nearly 600 as of Saturday, backed up by bulldozers and fire engines.

Authorities: Arizona man fatally stabbed father

PRESCOTT — Authorities say a 33-year-old Arizona man fatally stabbed his father after an argument at the family’s home.

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that Greg Romero, of Congress, was being held on second-degree murder and other charges.

Authorities say the suspect began attacking his father Thursday after his parents returned home and found he drank a large amount of beer.

Romero is accused of throwing his phone and trying to harm his mother with two large kitchen knives before his father, 63-year-old David Romero, intervened.

Authorities say Greg Romero began to attack his father in a struggle that ended in the living room where the 63-year-old was stabbed in the chest.

Fallout from rape leads to Mesa hospital’s closing

PHOENIX — The operator of a Phoenix long-term care facility where an incapacitated patient was raped and later gave birth is closing one of its other hospitals.

Hacienda HealthCare announced Friday that it is shutting down Hacienda Children’s Hospital in Mesa.

The non-profit corporation says the 24-bed facility has four patients remaining. The hospital will stay open until those patients are discharged or a new owner can be found.

The hospital opened in 2015 and specialized in nonemergency, non-surgical care for medically fragile children not ready to go home.

Interim CEO Perry Petrilli cited rising costs from overhauling security and third-party monitoring at the Phoenix intermediate care facility where a patient was sexually assaulted.

US authorities investigate death of Mexican gray wolf

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Wildlife managers say investigators are looking into the death of a Mexican gray wolf that was found last month in New Mexico.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the male endangered wolf belonged to the Elk Horn pack, which has been roaming an area just west of the ArizonaNew Mexico state line.

Officials say there have been eight documented wolf mortalities in the first six months of 2019. They have not released any details about the circumstances of the deaths.