The nation in brief

Cooler days to aidin wildfire relief

WINTHROP, Wash. -- Lower temperatures and lighter winds are forecast to descend on wildfire-stricken Washington state, helping firefighters battle flames that have been growing unfettered for a week and have covered hundreds of square miles.

While Sunday's weather had slight improvements on the high temperatures and gusty winds that have fueled the wildfires, the forecast for today and Tuesday calls for lighter winds and lower temperatures, said Spokane-based National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Koch.

On Wednesday, a "vigorous" front is expected to cover Washington, bringing rain to much of the state.

Sunday's official estimate puts the wildfire burning in north-central Washington at more than 370 square miles. It measured 260 square miles Friday.

Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers estimates that 150 homes have been destroyed but suspects that number could be higher. His deputies haven't been able to search parts of the county where homes are spread miles apart. No serious injuries have been reported, Rogers said.

Justice demandedfor dead NYC man

NEW YORK -- In a Sunday appeal from the pulpit, the Rev. Al Sharpton demanded justice for a man he said was choked to death by New York City police but added that citizens who attack police officers also should be held accountable.

The activist minister and television host spoke at Manhattan's Riverside Church three days after the death of Eric Garner on a Staten Island street.

The officer linked to what the police commissioner has said was an apparent chokehold has been stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty.

Chokeholds are banned under department policy. Garner's cause of death has yet to be determined.

Court records show that within the past two years, three men sued Daniel Pantaleo -- the officer seen wrapping his arm around Garner's neck -- over allegedly unlawful, racially motivated arrests. Garner was black.

In addition to Pantaleo, an eight-year NYPD veteran, a second officer who has been with the department for four years was taken off the street but retained his gun and badge.

Chicago violencekept girl indoors

CHICAGO -- The mother of an 11-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet fired into her friend's home during a slumber party didn't allow the girl or her twin brother to play outside because she was so afraid of Chicago's street violence, the girl's great-grandmother said Sunday.

Lourene Miller said that if her great-granddaughter, Shamiya Adams, was going to hang out with friends, she had to remain indoors.

"My granddaughter [the girl's mother, Shaneetha Goodloe] would cry every time she'd see a child killed on the news [and] Shamiya was never just out."

A police spokesman, Janel Sedevic, said Sunday afternoon that nobody has been arrested in Friday's shooting. He declined to say whether there were any suspects.

--Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports

A Section on 07/21/2014

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