Propane blast kills 1, injures 8 others
FARMINGTON, Maine -- A propane explosion leveled a newly constructed building after fire crews arrived to investigate the smell of gas Monday, killing one firefighter and injuring at least eight other people, including six fellow firefighters, officials said.
The explosion shattered the two-story building that housed LEAP Inc., a nonprofit that serves people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities, just a couple of months after it was finished. The blast was so powerful it blew a vehicle across an intersection and damaged nearby buildings. Paper, insulation and building debris rained on the area.
The blast killed 68-year-old Fire Capt. Michael Bell and injured his brother, Fire Chief Terry Bell; five other firefighters; a maintenance worker for LEAP; and an ambulance worker, officials said.
Four of the firefighters were in the intensive care unit at Maine Medical Center in Portland, while the maintenance worker was being treated at a hospital in Boston, officials said.
The blast hit around 8:30 a.m. in a town in western Maine, about 70 miles north of Portland.
The smell of gas was detected when the first workers arrived and the building evacuated before most workers had arrived for the day, said Scott Landry, a member of the Farmington Town Select Board.
Gov. Janet Mills -- who is from Farmington and whose office said she knew the firefighter who died -- said the state fire marshal's office will investigate.
Video online at arkansasonline.com/917explosion/
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Judge refuses to halt abortion ban
OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma judge is refusing to halt a ban on a common second-trimester abortion procedure following a ruling that abortion-rights proponents have decried as a "rogue" decision that could threaten women's reproductive rights.
Oklahoma County District Court Judge Cindy Truong on Monday denied a motion for a temporary injunction that would keep the law from taking effect while the case continues.
The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights challenged the law approved by the state's GOP-controlled Legislature and signed into law in 2015. The law would prevent the use of instruments used in dilation and evacuation procedures commonly performed in the second trimester.
Oklahoma has agreed not to enforce the ban until the state Supreme Court considers an emergency motion from the plaintiffs.
Epstein victims compensation bid denied
A group of women who say they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein suffered a setback Monday in their decadelong legal fight over a plea deal that allowed the financier to avoid a lengthy prison term.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra, federal judge in West Palm Beach, Fla., ruled that the women were not entitled to compensation from the U.S. Justice Department, even though prosecutors violated their rights by failing to consult them about the 2008 deal to end a federal probe that could have landed Epstein in prison for life.
Epstein killed himself in August in the federal jail in New York where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
One of the women's attorneys, Paul Cassell, said they are considering an appeal.
"We are disappointed that no remedy will be awarded for the proven violation of the victims' rights that the government caused in this case," he said.
Several of Epstein's victims sued the Justice Department in 2008 over its handling of his plea negotiations, in which his victims were purposely kept in the dark by state and federal prosecutors in South Florida.
They kept the legal case alive for years, even after Epstein finished serving a 13-month jail term, paid financial settlements to victims and registered as a sex offender, arguing that prosecutors had violated the federal Crime Victims' Rights Act.
Marra, who ruled in February that prosecutors had violated the rights of Epstein's accusers by secretly reaching an agreement that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to state charges, wrote Monday that the federal rights act did not authorize a restitution award.
The U.S. attorney's office in Miami declined to comment.
Measles epidemic sees no new cases
NEW YORK -- The nation's worst measles epidemic in 27 years could be in its final stages as a week went by with no new reported cases.
"To get to zero is tremendously encouraging," said Jason Schwartz, a Yale University expert on vaccination policy.
The current epidemic emerged about a year ago and took off earlier this year, with most of the cases reported in Orthodox Jewish communities in and around New York City. It started with travelers who had become infected overseas but spread quickly among unvaccinated people.
In the spring, 70 or more new cases were being reported every week. Not long ago, the nation saw many measles cases in a whole year.
So far this year, 1,241 cases have been confirmed -- a number that didn't rise last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday. The last time the CDC reported no new measles cases was 11 months ago.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 09/17/2019