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Wildfire in park grows to 5,000 acres amid heat

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 30, 2007

HELENA, MONT.

Hot, dry and windy weather helped a wildfire near Glacier National Park grow to roughly 5,000 acres on Sunday and continue to threaten an evacuated lodge. The blaze had grown from 1,000 acres a day earlier and was just 2 percent contained, fire information officer Dale Warriner said. Elsewhere, a dozen homes were ordered evacuated in California's Santa Barbara County as a sprawling wildfire burned across 1,500 new acres. The blaze has charred about 32,000 acres, or 50 square miles, since it started July 4 and was 70 percent contained Sunday.

PHOENIX

Man in exorcism dies after struggle

Officers responding to a report of an exorcism on a young girl found her grandfather choking her and used stun guns to subdue the man, who later died, authorities said Sunday. The 3-year-old girl and her mother, who was also in the room during the struggle between 49-year-old Ronald Marquez and officers on Saturday, were hospitalized, police said. Their condition was unavailable. The relative who called police said an exorcism had also been attempted Thursday.

WASHINGTON

Dead birds close three train stations

Three Metro train stations were briefly closed Sunday while hazardous materials crews investigated dozens of dead birds and a substance believed to be a commercial pest poison. No human injuries were reported. Signs point to a contractor making a mistake, said Candace Smith, a spokeswoman for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The poison was spread outside at least six stations. "We want people to know they weren't in any danger," the spokeswoman said.

Seaweed, iron help in diabetes study

Tiny capsules made from seaweed and iron may help diabetics whose bodies reject insulin-cell transplants, according to a study published online Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine. Researchers trying to understand why those transplants work for some people with Type I diabetes, but not for others, found success in experiments with mice and pigs. Type I diabetes is the type usually beginning in childhood. It occurs when a person's immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that make insulin.

CAMARILLO, CALIF.

17-cent drop in gas cost is reported

The price of gasoline dropped about 17 cents over the last two weeks, according to a national survey released Sunday. The average price for regular was $2.88 a gallon, mid grade was $3.01 and premium was $3.12, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said.

HAMLIN, PA.

Second lightning strike is survived

Lightning can strike twice. Just ask Don Frick. Frick, 68, said he survived his second lightning strike Friday - 27 years to the day of his first - and emerged a bit shaken with only a burned zipper and a hole in the back of his jeans. "I'm lucky I'm alive," Frick told the Associated Press in a phone interview Sunday night. He was attending Hamlin's Ole Tyme Daz festival on Friday afternoon when a storm came up quickly. He and six others sought refuge in a shed shortly before lightning struck the ground nearby. The strike sent a shock through Frick and four others in the shed, he said.

[Last modified July 30, 2007, 00:28:16]