| Four killed, more than 20 hurt as storms slam region
Unseasonably warm temperatures and a cold front triggered heavy rains, high winds and at least one tornado that left four people dead and more than 20 injured Tuesday night in West Tennessee, according to emergency officials. Madison County Sheriff David Woolfork said two people were killed in the Huntersville community in western Madison County. The two were killed in their homes, officials said. Their names were not released. U.S. 70 was closed in that area because of propane leaks. .
Local contractors tapped for FUSD projects
Flagstaff Unified School District construction contracts from the bond sale to total nearly $53 million will go to Flagstaff-based contractors Straightline Builders, Inc. and Goodman Contracting, as well as H.A.C.I. Mechanical Contractors, Inc. and Centennial Contractors Enterprises, Inc. which have local presences.Bond funds will also be used to improve the FUSD bus fleet with an approximate total of 37 buses. Both FUSD superintendent Kevin Brown and assistant superintendent of operations Bob Kuhn expressed enthusiasm in the board-approved contractors."The tax money comes from local businesses and families and it should be spent and used with local subcontractors and contractors," Kuhn said.He said the selection criteria were based upon the contractor's proposal, knowledge of the district, knowledge of job contracting and availability to the district.The Bond Oversight Committee and FUSD governing board approved the contracts Tuesday during the FUSD board meeting.
Catalytic converters targeted by North County thieves
The loss is just one in a recent rash in thefts of the costly anti-smog devices that police say are sold to scrap metal recyclers for cash.The rash of thefts began in early January, and since then, more than a dozen catalytic converters have been stolen from vehicles in North County, police said. All of the thefts target late-model Toyota trucks and sport utility vehicles, they said."They pick those because they sit higher off the ground," making it easier for thieves to crawl underneath and remove the converter, which is attached inside the exhaust pipe, Escondido police Lt. Bob Benton said.The converters are stolen for the small amounts of precious metals they contain, including platinum, rhodium and palladium, and can fetch up to $100 at scrap metal yards, authorities said.The thefts do not cause serious damage to the vehicles, but can cost victims up to $3,500 in repairs, said Jennifer Baray, assistant service manager at Toyota of Escondido.Like pilfered copper pipes and wiring, police began seeing catalytic converter thefts when the price of the metals increased, authorities said."There's always some hot valuable that's being stolen because of its scrap value," said Fiona Everett, crime analyst for the Carlsbad Police Department.Frank Scafidi, spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, said there are no hard statistics on the frequency of the crime, which has grown into a nationwide problem."We started getting reports of these things early last year.
Contractor emerges as charity's Champion
Vandals destroyed the heater at the American Red Cross' headquarters on Sixth Street in Modesto last week, sending a shiver through the charity, but things began to warm up again Tuesday. Champion Industrial Contractors Inc. of Modesto donated the $2,500 deductible the Red Cross would have had to pay to replace the heating and air conditioning unit, said Rebecca Ciszek, executive director of the Red Cross's Stanislaus County chapter. Then the contractor installed a $5,702 replacement unit. The balance will be covered by insurance. By early afternoon, the place was heating up. "The classroom is nice and warm," Ciszek said about 1 p.m. "It took a little while because that room had been cold now for a week." The donation means the organization won't have to dig into its charity funds to fix the unit, Ciszek said.
Moffitt House got up and went
If you think you saw an old, two-story house moving along a Hallandale Beach road Sunday morning, you weren't hallucinating. It was actually the 90,000-pound, 102-year-old Moffitt House. Local historians say it is Broward County's second-oldest standing residence after the Stranahan House in Fort Lauderdale. Developers moved all 2,450 square feet of the historic home, made of sturdy Dade County pine, from its original location at 134 S. Dixie Hwy. to a few blocks south next to another historic home, the 84-year-old Curci House at 324 SW Second Ave. The hourlong feat was accomplished by Brownie Moving and Heavy Hauling, based in Fort Pierce. ''It went very smoothly,'' said developer Richard Shan, 45, noting the event had been planned for about a year.
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