After train derails, Iowa town evacuated
SIBLEY, Iowa -- An evacuation order remained in place Monday for part of a northwest Iowa town as firefighters worked to extinguish a burning train after a weekend derailment.
About 47 cars derailed Sunday afternoon near Sibley, including several cars that were carrying hazardous materials. The resulting fire created a thick plume of black smoke but no injuries were reported.
Sibley is a town of about 3,000 people roughly 200 miles northwest of Des Moines. The west end of the town was evacuated after the derailment.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Robynn Tysver said the railroad's hazardous materials experts worked with first responders through the night to contain the blaze.
Tysver said several cars involved in the derailment were carrying hydrochloric acid, potassium hydroxide and asphalt. An empty tank car on the train had been carrying liquid ammonia nitrate.
The railroad said the cause of the derailment remains under investigation, but witnesses reported that a bridge had been damaged underneath the train.
Robin Eggink told the Des Moines Register that she and her husband noticed the train slowing down followed by a big cloud of smoke as they were eating at a Pizza Hut outside of Sibley on Sunday. The family drove near the site of the smoke and saw the train split in two on both sides of a bridge before firefighters ordered them out of the area, Eggink said.
Arrest made in Los Angeles wildfire
LOS ANGELES -- An arson suspect was arrested in connection with a Los Angeles wildfire that forced evacuations in canyons where thick vegetation hasn't burned in more than 60 years, authorities said Monday.
The man detained Sunday near the fire zone was being treated for smoke inhalation, said Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas. He did not identify the suspect or offer details about the investigation.
"We feel we have the right person," Terrazas said at a news conference.
The wildfire near Topanga State Park was 23% contained by Monday evening. Despite burning trees and heavy brush, its growth was slowed with the aid of cool, moist weather, and its size remained at about 2 square miles, authorities said.
Air tankers battled the blaze after being unable to fly in the morning because of cloud cover.
No buildings were damaged and no injuries reported in the blaze that broke out late Friday in the Santa Monica Mountains. It grew rapidly Saturday -- forcing about 1,000 Topanga Canyon area residents to flee their homes.
Evacuation orders were lifted Monday evening.
High court declines workplace case
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court has declined hear a case that would have let justices decide whether a single use of the N-word in the workplace can create a hostile work environment.
On Monday, the high court said it would not take on the case of a former Texas hospital employee who said he was subjected to a hostile work environment, including graffiti in one elevator that used the racial slur. As is typical, the court did not comment in turning away the case. It was one of many the court rejected Monday.
Robert Collier said that during the seven years he worked as an operating room aide at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, white nurses called him and other Black employees "boy." He also said management ignored two large swastikas painted on a storage room wall. He sued the hospital after he was fired in 2016.
The hospital's lawyers had urged the court not to take Collier's case. In a statement to The Associated Press, hospital spokesman Michael Malaise noted that there is no evidence "that any Parkland employee was responsible for the alleged graffiti or that it was directed specifically at Mr. Collier."
23 people saved from boat off California
SAN DIEGO -- Twenty-three people were rescued off a suspected smuggling boat that was intercepted off the coast of Point Loma early Monday, officials said.
The boat was spotted shortly before 2:50 a.m. by a video surveillance system operated by the U.S. Border Patrol, officials said. The boat was drifting near rocks off Sunset Cliffs Boulevard near Osprey Street, according to San Diego police.
A Coast Guard cutter deployed a small boat, but the panga's operator ignored commands to stop.
After the boat's engine died, it drifted closer to shore and became stuck in the surf line where officials feared it might capsize.
San Diego lifeguards and San Diego Harbor Police were summoned, and the Coast Guard pulled the panga from the surf line and removed people off the boat.
Border Patrol agents interviewed the passengers and determined all 23 were illegally in the U.S., said Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Jeffrey Stephenson.
The panga was seized and the investigation is ongoing, officials said. Stephenson said the boat's operator has not yet been identified.
Earlier this month, three people were killed when a smuggling boat broke apart on the rocks near Cabrillo National Monument.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports