Nevada highway reopens after quake
LAS VEGAS — The cracked main highway between Las Vegas and Reno reopened Friday, 10 hours after a pre-dawn magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck western Nevada.
No injuries were reported, but officials said goods tumbled from market shelves, sidewalks heaved and storefront windows cracked shortly after 4 a.m. People from Salt Lake City to California’s Central Valley tweeted that they felt the quake.
Nevada Highway Patrol photos showed cracks on U.S. 95 before crews repaired them about 35 miles west of Tonopah. A detour to Nevada 360 had added more than 20 miles to motorists’ trips.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported Friday’s temblor struck just east of the Sierra Nevada. It was initially reported at 6.4 magnitude.
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It was centered about 4.7 miles deep, the agency said, and dozens of aftershocks were recorded.
Graham Kent, director of the Nevada Seismological Lab at the University of Nevada, Reno, said a 5.1 magnitude aftershock struck about 30 minutes after the initial quake.
State troopers and sheriff’s patrols from Esmeralda and surrounding Mineral and Nye counties checked highways for possible damage.
Nye County spokesman Arnold Knightly reported broken storefront glass, stress cracks on asphalt streets, loose hanging signs, items knocked off shelves and minor lifting of sidewalks.
State seismic network manager Ken Smith noted that Friday’s earthquake happened a few miles east of the site of a magnitude 6.2 temblor in July 1986 in California’s Chalfant Valley.
Charges dropped against Florida pastor
TAMPA, Fla. — Prosecutors Friday dropped misdemeanor charges against a Florida pastor accused of violating stay-at-home orders by holding Sunday services with hundreds of people in March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren said in a statement that the prosecution of Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of the River at Tampa Bay Church would not proceed. Warren said Howard-Browne has conducted operations responsibly since his arrest in March.
Howard-Browne had been charged with unlawful assembly and violating quarantine orders during a public health emergency. The pastor held services at the church despite local orders limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people, authorities said.
“Our office has determined that further prosecution or punishment would not provide increased protections for our community and is not needed to achieve any additional change in Pastor Howard-Browne’s behavior,” Warren said.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel that represents Howard-Browne, released a statement Friday calling the Howard-Browne’s arrest “politically motivated”and that the case should never have been brought.
Shortly after the arrest, Republican Florida Gov. Ron De-Santis exempted houses of worship from a statewide stay-at-home order.
5 U.S. sailors test positive a 2nd time
WASHINGTON — Five sailors on the aircraft carrier sidelined in Guam due to a covid-19 outbreak have tested positive for the virus for the second time and have been taken off the ship, according to the Navy.
The resurgence of the virus in the five sailors on the USS Theodore Roosevelt underscores the befuddling behavior of the highly contagious virus and raises questions about how troops who test positive can be reintegrated into their units.
All five sailors had previously tested positive and had gone through at least two weeks of isolation. As part of the process, they all had to test negative twice in a row, with the tests separated by at least a day or two before they were allowed to go back to the ship.
The Roosevelt has been at port in Guam since late March after the outbreak of the virus was discovered. More than 4,000 of the 4,800 crew members have gone ashore since then for quarantine or isolation. Earlier this month hundreds of sailors began returning to the ship to get ready to set sail again.
In a statement Friday, the Navy said the five sailors developed “influenza-like illness symptoms” and were immediately removed from the ship and put back in isolation. A small number of sailors who were in contact with them were also taken off the ship.
U.S. fighter jet crashes; pilot survives
PENSACOLA, Fla. — An F-22 fighter plane crashed during a routine training flight Friday morning and the pilot safely ejected from the aircraft, Eglin Air Force Base officials said.
The jet was part of the 325th Fighter Wing at the base, which is located east of Pensacola in Florida’s panhandle. It was about 12 miles northeast of the base when it crashed, the Air Force said in news release.
The pilot has been taken to the 96th Medical Group hospital on the base for evaluation and observation, the release said. He was reported to be in stable condition. The pilot’s name was not immediately.
No one else was on the air craft, officials said.
First responders from 96th Test Wing are on the scene, and an investigation is continuing.