Digest
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Version 0 of 1. A city official on Sunday proposed new gas safety measures after a house explosion and fire killed a woman and injured three passersby. Saturday’s blast in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood happened after a stove was removed from a gas line that may not have been properly disconnected, authorities said. “I have been surprised to learn how easy it is for someone to improperly disconnect, replace or modify the connection between home appliances, like stoves and hot water heaters, and the gas line,” Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said. Authorities were conducting a search of the three-story house for clues to help determine the cause of the apparent gas leak thought to have triggered the explosion, which destroyed the front of the building. The blast follows two other fatal gas explosions in recent years in the city. One killed eight people in East Harlem last year. And two people died in an East Village explosion this year. — Associated Press An oven used for heating may have caused a house fire in north Minneapolis that killed three young children, fire officials said Sunday. Firefighters responded to the fire in the Jordan neighborhood just before midnight Saturday. They found the bodies of two of the children in a first-floor bedroom in the rear of the two-story house, Minneapolis Fire Chief John Fruetel said. A third child, found on the second floor, died at a hospital. All three were younger than 7, Fruetel said. Their names have not been released. Although the fire remains under investigation, Fruetel said the oven door was open and that the fire started at or near the stove, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. — Associated Press Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill to close a loophole in the state’s ban on importing, buying or selling elephant ivory or rhinoceros horns. Supporters said California is a major market for ivory, and the ban would help dry up demand. The measure by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) aimed to end the state’s exemption for selling ivory imported before 1977. She said clamping down on the illegal ivory trade will help bring an end to the poaching of elephants and rhinoceros. “Ninety-six elephants die every day for their ivory. Elephants and rhinos are being slaughtered at a faster rate than they are being born, which will result in their extinction if we don’t step up,” Atkins said in a statement Sunday. “The governor’s signature on AB96 strengthens enforcement against the illegal ivory trade in California, which will, in turn, help put an end to poaching.” Brown (D) announced Sunday that he signed the bill. — Associated Press |