By BRUCE SCHREINER and TIM EASLEY from the Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Firefighters in Kentucky’s largest city rescued a construction worker on a demolition team who fell into a void Thursday and became trapped in rubble, requiring a tedious, hourslong operation to dig him out.

The rescue was shown live on local Louisville television stations hours after the worker fell into a hole and debris fell on top of him around noon. Paramedics were on hand to place the worker onto a stretcher, cover him with a blanket and transport him to an ambulance.

One rescue worker patted the worker on the back as he was being hoisted out.

Louisville Fire Chief Brian O’Neill said the worker was conscious and alert when he was rescued after being “completely buried” 10 to 12 feet (3 to 3.7 meters) below ground. He said the worker hadn’t been able to move but was able to communicate in Spanish with multilingual members of the team.

“He was in a lot of pain,” O’Neill said. “This is a pretty severe accident.”

The worker was taken to the University of Louisville Hospital, where his injuries were being assessed.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg called it an “incredibly difficult trench rescue,” and said he had met with the victim’s mother to update her on his condition. The family was waiting to see the man at the hospital Thursday night.

A hospital spokesperson did not respond immediately to an email query about the worker’s condition.

The man had been part of a demolition team working at the site and fell into what the fire chief described as a “void space.” Five other workers were with him at the site of a former corrections building that is being demolished to make way for a medical campus.

The rescue team — specialized in trench rescue and confined space rescue — arrived within minutes, O’Neill said.

“He got very fortunate that he had a little bit of a void space around him,” O’Neill said. “So he was able to breathe.”

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The fire chief said the worker was buried and pinned in place by gravel, dirt and large chunks of concrete, which required the rescue team to dig him out by hand, clearing the area around the man’s arms and chest so he could receive medical aid. He said rescue workers also used a vacuum truck with a large pipe to suck up smaller debris, and they used propane tanks to push hot air into the hole to keep the worker warm.

“We are moving tons and tons of debris by hand, by buckets,” O’Neill said, describing the process. “Imagine a person at the bottom of a funnel. You have to shore up everything else that’s going to keep cascading down to create a safe space and then continue to dig this person out.”

Rescuers continued to work through Thursday evening after night fell. Officials had a crane and ladders going into the hole, which was several feet wide. The worker was freed around 8:30 p.m.

The fire chief called it a “very long, very tedious, very slow-going process to do it safely, to make sure that you do not cause additional injury to the individual.”

Once the firefighters got the worker out, it was a “tempered celebration,” O’Neill said.

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“This is what our firefighters do,” he said. “This is why we took this job. We want to help people. And it’s not like the movies.”

Earlier this week just a few miles away, a Louisville manufacturing plant exploded, killing two workers and damaging dozens of nearby homes. The cause of the explosion is not yet known.

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Associated Press writer Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed reporting. Schreiner reported from Shelbyville, Kentucky.

MADRID (AP) — At least 10 people died in a blaze at a nursing home in Zaragoza, Spain, before firefighters managed to extinguish it , local authorities reported on Friday.

Authorities were alerted of the blaze early Friday morning in Villa Franca de Ebro, about 30 minutes from the northeastern city.

The cause of the fire was not yet known, local media reported.

Jorge Azcon, head of the regional government of Aragon, whose capital city is Zaragoza, confirmed the deaths and said on X, formerly Twitter, that all government events in the region were cancelled for the day.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also expressed his shock over the fire and deaths.

The fire took place just weeks after devastating flash floods in Valencia killed more than 200 people and destroyed thousands of homes. The floods were the worst natural disaster in Spain’s recent history.

From the Associated Press

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) — A 20-year-old man tossed an explosive device into the California courthouse where he was about to be arraigned on a gun charge and the explosion left five people with minor injuries and shut down the court complex and other nearby city buildings, police said.

The explosion occurred Wednesday morning in Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000 in California’s central coast region. The suspect ran away after the explosion and was captured as he tried to get into his vehicle parked nearby.

The man, who is from Santa Maria, was wearing body armor underneath his jacket, according to Santa Barbara County Undersheriff Craig Bonner, and was booked on attempted murder and explosives charges. Officials are also investigating whether the suspect is tied to a series of recent arsons.

Officials said it appeared the courthouse attack was related to his earlier arrest on a gun possession charge and not terrorism or an act of political violence.

“We do believe this is a local matter that has been safely resolved and that there are no outstanding community safety concerns,” Bonner said.

The suspect had been arrested last July for illegal gun possession and was to be arraigned Wednesday. When he entered the courthouse and approached the screening station he tossed a bag that then detonated.

Bonner said three of the five victims suffered burns. All were treated and released from a hospital. None were court employees.

Authorities evacuated a five-block radius of businesses, homes and a school after the explosion. The courthouse will be closed Thursday as police complete their investigation, and filing extensions will be offered for those affected by the shutdown.

Shane Mellon told KSBY-TV that he was at the courthouse when he heard what sounded like chairs falling over.

“It was a loud bang,” he said, adding the bailiff escorted him and others out.

Mellon said he saw what looked like a sweater smoldering and a man screaming while four or five people got on top of him, trying to keep him restrained.

“I think this could have been way worse than it was if not for the deputies just jumping on top of that guy,” Mellon said.

Santa Maria is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles. The courthouse, which houses state and county courtrooms, was where Michael Jackson was tried and acquitted of sexual abuse two decades ago.

From the Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — U.K. transport officials and police said Thursday they are investigating a “cyber-security incident” that hit the public Wi-Fi networks at the country’s biggest railway stations.

Passengers trying to log onto the Wi-Fi at stations including Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and 11 London terminuses on Wednesday evening were met by a page reading “We love you, Europe,” followed by an anti-Islam message listing a series of terror attacks.

Network Rail, which manages the stations, said the Wi-Fi had been switched off and no passenger data was taken.

“British Transport Police are investigating the incident,” Network Rail said in a statement. “This service is provided via a third party and has been suspended while an investigation is under way.”

The incident follows a more disruptive cyberattack in early September on Transport for London, which runs the capital’s bus, subway and suburban train system.

TfL said some customer names, contact details and potentially bank account details were exposed in the attack, which is being investigated by the National Crime Agency.

A 17-year-old was arrested over the attack, questioned and bailed without being charged.

Weeks on, the attack continues to affect the transit company’s ability to provide some online services such as refunds and real-time transit information.

From the Associated Press

GENOA, Italy (AP) — Violent clashes between rival fans after a Genoa derby resulted in nearly 40 people being treated for injuries at a local hospital, including 26 police officers, authorities said on Thursday.

Fans also clashed on a city bridge and outside the stadium before Wednesday night’s Italian Cup match, in which Sampdoria beat Genoa in a penalty shootout.

Police in riot gear were targeted as fans threw fireworks, bottles and other objects at each other.

Police used water hoses to bring the fans under control.

Since Genoa is in Serie A and Sampdoria is in Serie B, it was the only meeting this season between the two city clubs that share Luigi Ferraris Stadium. They hadn’t met in more than two years.

By AMY TAXIN from the Associated Press

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Six firefighters remained hospitalized Friday after their truck rolled over on a highway on their way back from working a 12-hour shift battling one of three massive blazes burning in Southern California. Two others were released after the crash, officials said.

Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said a total of eight firefighters were injured, and all are hand crew members who were returning from the Airport Fire Thursday evening when a ladder in the road caused the truck to swerve, strike a guardrail and overturn. The crash occurred on the California State Route 241 just north of Portola Hills.

“It is the most challenging assignment that anybody can be assigned to,” Fennessy told reporters Friday. “This is obviously a huge tragedy for our family.”

Two firefighters were stable and released Thursday night, he said.

“Many of the injured are going to be hospitalized for quite a while,” Fennessy said. He declined to discuss details of the injuries due to privacy laws.

Dr. Humberto Sauri, Orange County Global Hospital’s medical director of trauma services, where two firefighters are patients, said one is in critical and stable condition, and the other “quite critical,” He declined to provide further details.

The collision remains under investigation, California Highway Patrol Lt. Hope Maxson said.

With the blaze still burning, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties sent in hand crews to fill in, Fennessy said. The fire was 51 percent contained Friday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

At least one firefighter was flown by helicopter, with others taken by ambulance to hospitals.

“All of our crews that were involved are going through a formal critical incident stress debriefing at our headquarters right now,” Fennessy said after the crash. “You can only imagine how traumatic it is for their brother and sister firefighter to see them injured like that on the freeway.”

By BRUCE SCHREINER and DYLAN LOVAN from the Associated Press

WHITESBURG, Ky. (AP) — Residents of a tiny Appalachian town struggled Friday to cope with a shooting involving two of its most prominent citizens: a judge who was gunned down in his courthouse chambers and a local sheriff charged with his murder.

“It’s just so sad. I just hate it,” said Mike Watts, the Letcher County circuit court clerk. “Both of them are friends of mine. I’ve worked with both of them for years.”

It wasn’t clear what led to the shooting. The preliminary investigation indicates Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines shot District Judge Kevin Mullins multiple times following an argument inside the courthouse, according to Kentucky State Police.

Mullins, 54, who held the judgeship for 15 years, died at the scene, and Stines, 43, surrendered without incident. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder.

The fatal shooting stunned the tight-knit town of Whitesburg, the county seat, with a population of about 1,700 people, 145 miles (235 kilometers) southeast of Lexington.

Stines was deposed on Monday in a lawsuit filed by two women, one of whom alleged that a deputy forced her to have sex inside Mullins’ chambers for six months in exchange for staying out of jail. The lawsuit accuses the sheriff of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” the deputy.

The now-former deputy sheriff, Ben Fields, pleaded guilty to raping the female prisoner while she was on home incarceration. Fields was sentenced this year to six months in jail and then six and a half years on probation for rape, sodomy, perjury and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device, The Mountain Eagle reported. Three charges related to a second woman were dismissed because she is now dead.

Stines fired Fields, who succeeded him as Mullins’ bailiff, for “conduct unbecoming” after the lawsuit was filed in 2022, The Courier Journal reported at the time.

Those who know both the sheriff and the judge had nothing but praise for them, recalling how Mullins helped people with substance abuse disorder get treatment and how Stines led efforts to combat the opioid crisis. They worked together for years and were friends.

Those who knew Stines also were struggling to understand how someone they described as a family man could kill someone.

Jessica Slone, a distant relative of Stines’ and a lifelong resident of Letcher County, said she was shocked when she heard the news. She was at the dollar store with her nephew when he told her Mullins had been shot.

“I was like seriously? Is he okay? And he said ‘No, he’s dead,’” she said. “But at the time, I didn’t know that Mickey had done it. When I found out I was grocery shopping and I got really emotional and started praying.”

She said Stines was close with his children and worked hard to get fentanyl and methamphetamine off the streets of the community and help people dealing with substance use disorder get into recovery.

Patty Wood, the widow of District Judge Jim Wood, Mullins’ predecessor, said she has been close friends with Stines and his family for years. She said she was shocked by the shooting and the arrest of Stines.

“You couldn’t find a better person on the face of the earth than Mickey Stines. I don’t know what happened,” she said.

“I know Mickey’s character. And I know there had to be something that did it,” she said. “I just cannot believe that he just went in and shot him for no reason.”

Jennifer L. Taylor, a Whitesburg attorney, said Stines has a big heart and was looking forward to retiring from law enforcement, she said. In a recent conversation with her, Stines brought up that he might go to law school. Mullins, she said, “took his time out to listen to people.”

“Keep our community in prayers,” Taylor said. “It’s going to be a rough time.”

Several people also reflected on how a relatively quiet day in court quickly turned chaotic.

Watts said he saw Mullins and Stines together shortly before noon Thursday — about three hours before the shooting — when he went into the judge’s chambers to ask him to sign some papers. Mullins and Stines were getting ready to go out to lunch together, Watts said.

It seemed like an ordinary interaction, except that Stines seemed quieter than usual. He thought the pair had a good working relationship and knew of nothing that could have prompted the violent encounter.

Watts, who was on another floor in the courthouse, never heard any shots and only learned of the shooting shooting when his son called to tell him there was an “active shooter” in the courthouse.

Taylor said she was at her law office a short distance from the courthouse, when the shooting happened Thursday. “We just saw cars flying by,” she said. “I’m still in shock. It’s unreal.”

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said his office will collaborate with a regional commonwealth’s attorney as special prosecutors in the criminal case, since the lead county prosecutor, Matt Butler, recused himself and his office. Butler said he and the judge married two sisters, and their children act like siblings.

“We will fully investigate and pursue justice,” Coleman said on social media.

Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Laurance B. VanMeter was in Whitesburg on Friday and said he was visiting to show his support for the community and “our Kentucky Court of Justice family,” he said. “They are obviously in shock and grieving.”

VanMeter commented on the swirl of social media speculation about what triggered the shooting.

“I know it’s hard to do, but I would hope that people on social media would just respect their privacy and their grief and let them mourn,” he said. “It’s just a tragic, horrific situation.”

Letcher County’s judge-executive closed the county courthouse on Friday.

It was unclear whether Stines had an attorney — state police referred inquires to a spokesperson who did not immediately respond by email.

Mullins served as a district judge in Letcher County since he was appointed by former Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009 and elected the following year.

---

Researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.

By Kim Chandler from the Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Four people were killed and 17 others injured when multiple shooters opened fire Saturday in what police described as a targeted “hit” on one of the people killed at a popular nightlife spot in Birmingham, Alabama.

The shooting happened shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday in Five Points South, a district filled with entertainment venues, restaurants and bars that is often crowded on weekend nights. The mass shooting, one of several this year in the city, unnerved residents and left city officials pleading for help to both solve the crime and address the broader problem of gun violence.

“The priority is to find these shooters and get them off our streets,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said at a Sunday press conference.

The shooting occurred on the sidewalk and street outside Hush, a lounge in the entertainment district. Blood stains were visible on the sidewalk outside the venue on Sunday morning.

Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said authorities believe the shooting targeted one of the people who was killed, possibly in a murder-for-hire. He said a vehicle pulled up and “multiple shooters” got out and began firing, then fled the scene.

“We believe that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that particular person,” Thurmond said.

Police said approximately 100 shell casings were recovered at the scene. Thurmond said law enforcement was working to determine what weapons were used, but they believe some of the gunfire was “fully automatic.” Investigators were also trying to determine whether anyone fired back, creating crossfire.

In a statement late Sunday, police said the shooters are believed to have used “machine gun conversion devices.” The devices make semi-automatic weapons fire more rapidly.

Some surviving victims critically injured

Police said officers found two men and a woman on a sidewalk with gunshot wounds and they were pronounced dead there. An additional male gunshot victim was pronounced dead at a hospital, according to police.

Police identified the three victims found on the sidewalk as Anitra Holloman, 21, of the Birmingham suburb of Bessemer; Tahj Booker, 27, of Birmingham; and Carlos McCain, 27, of Birmingham. The fourth victim pronounced dead at the hospital was pending identification.

By early Sunday, after victims began showing up at hospitals, police had identified 17 people with injuries, some of them life-threatening. Four of the surviving victims, in conditions ranging from good to critical, were being treated at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital on Sunday afternoon, according to Alicia Rohan, a UAB spokeswoman.

Gabriel Eslami, 24, of Trussville, said he was in a long line of people waiting to get into the club when “all of the sudden, gun shots everywhere.”

He took off running. “I look back and there are bodies laid out on the sidewalk with gun smoke still in the air. It looked like something from a horror movie,” Eslami said.

He said he didn’t realize he was wounded until he suddenly lost feeling in his leg. A friend took him to the hospital, where he was treated and released.

A popular nightspot rocked by gunfire

The area of Birmingham is popular with young adults because of its proximity to the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the plethora of nearby restaurants and bars.

Geoffrey Boshell, a 22-year-old biomedical engineering student who lives nearby, said he was working on a school project when he heard a burst of rapid pops that he said sounded like automatic gunfire.

“I heard it, looked out my window and immediately see people screaming, fleeing the scene,” Boshell said.

The shooting in the bustling and popular area was unnerving, he said. “I’m not sure scared is the right word. Just very disturbed that it was happening right outside where you are living.”

The shooting was the 31st mass killing of 2024, of which 23 were shootings, according to James Alan Fox, a criminologist and professor at Northeastern University, who oversees a mass killings database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with the university.

Three of the nation’s 23 mass shootings this year were in Birmingham, including two earlier quadruple homicides.

Woodfin expressed frustration at what he described as an epidemic of gun violence in America and the city.

Mayor pleads for a solution to gun violence

“We find ourselves in 2024, where gun violence is at an epidemic level, an epidemic crisis in our country. And the city of Birmingham, unfortunately finds itself at the tip of that spear,” he said.

The Birmingham mayor also urged state and federal officials to give cities more tools to address gun violence. He put both hands behind his back to illustrate what it is like for cities to combat crime. Alabama last year abolished the requirement to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public.

Woodfun said there is an “element” in the city that is too comfortable carrying Glock switches — which convert semi-automatic handguns to deliver more rapid fire — and assault-style rifles with the intent of doing harm.

“Elected officials locally, statewide and nationally have a duty to solve this American crisis, this American epidemic of gun violence,” the mayor said.

The Biden administration was coordinating with federal, state and local officials in their investigations into the shooting, Stef Feldman, director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, said in a statement.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris join Americans across the nation in praying for the families affected by this senseless violence,” Feldman said.

___

This story has been corrected to lower the number of injured to 17 from 18, based on amended information from the police. ___

From the Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A 29-year-old man in Denmark faced a whopping 86 preliminary charges Friday for driving at high speed on motorcycles, riding on the rear wheel — also at high speed — and endangering others, police said, adding that the man had mounted a camera on his motorcycle helmet which provided investigators with several hours of footage of how he drove.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it,” Amrik Singh Chadha of the police in eastern Denmark said in a statement. “There is no doubt that it has been a big and unconventional case for us to investigate.”

When detained in May for riding a motorcycle with no license plates and without having a valid permit, police found a video camera had been mounted on the man’s helmet which had recorded how he drove on the rear wheel at high speed. Police said that it led to the man facing 25 cases of preliminary charges for that alone. He has not been identified.

The incriminating videos also led to an additional 38 preliminary charges of reckless driving for speeding over 100% above the limit. On top of that, the footage led to a series of other charges related to the man’s driving which the police considered likely to endanger the life and safety of others.

After months of watching the incriminating footage, police on Friday went public. The preliminary charges are one step short of formal charges.

In Denmark, reckless driving includes driving more than 100% above the speed limit, driving at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour (124 miles per hour) or above and driving with a blood alcohol level above 2.0.

A 2021 law allows police to confiscate vehicles for reckless driving besides giving hefty fines and suspending a driving permit. Under Danish law, a driver is considered to be driving under the influence of alcohol if the blood-alcohol level is equal to or exceeds 0.5g per thousand.

Police said several of the man’s video recordings had been posted on social media and shared with a larger group of people. They also were able to identify two others on the footage and seized their vehicles, the statement said.

The man likely faces a prison sentence.

By  JUAN A. LOZANO from the Associated Press

DEER PARK, Texas (AP) — A pipeline fire that forced hundreds of people to flee their homes in the Houston suburbs burned for a third day Wednesday, with officials saying they don’t expect it to be extinguished until sometime Thursday evening.

Officials said residents who had to evacuate would be allowed to return to their homes starting Wednesday evening.

Authorities have offered few details about what prompted the driver of an SUV to hit an aboveground valve on the pipeline on Monday, sparking the blaze.

Here are some things to know about the situation with the pipeline fire:

What caused the fire?
Officials say the underground pipeline, which runs under high-voltage power lines in a grassy corridor between a Walmart and a residential neighborhood in Deer Park, was damaged when the SUV driver left the store’s parking lot, entered the wide grassy area and went through a fence surrounding the valve equipment.

Authorities have offered few details on what caused the vehicle to hit the pipeline valve, the identity of the driver or what happened to them. The pipeline company on Wednesday called it an accident. Deer Park officials said preliminary investigations by police and FBI agents found no evidence of a terrorist attack.

Deer Park police won’t be able to reach the burned-out vehicle until the flame has been extinguished. Once the area is safe, the department will be able to continue its investigation and confirm specifics, city spokesperson Kaitlyn Bluejacket said in an email Wednesday.

The valve equipment appears to have been protected by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. The pipeline’s operator has not responded to questions about any other safety protections that were in place.

Who is responsible for the pipeline?
Energy Transfer is the Dallas-based owner of the pipeline, a 20-inch-wide (50-centemeter-wide) conduit that runs for miles through the Houston area.

It carries natural gas liquids through the suburbs of Deer Park and La Porte, both of which are southeast of Houston. Energy Transfer said the fire had diminished overnight and was continuing to “safely burn itself out” on Wednesday.

Energy Transfer also built the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been at the center of protests and legal battles. The company’s executive chairman, Kelcy Warren, has given millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

What’s being done to extinguish the fire?
Energy Transfer said its crews were working Wednesday to install specialized isolation equipment on both sides of the damaged section that will help extinguish the fire.

Once the equipment is installed, which could take several hours of welding, the isolated section of the pipeline will be purged with nitrogen, which will extinguish the fire, company and local officials said. After that, damaged components can be repaired.

“The safest way to manage this process is to let the products burn off,” Energy Transfer said.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Deer Park officials said repair work on the pipeline to help speed up the process to put out the fire wasn’t expected to be completed until 6 p.m. on Thursday. Once finished, the fire was anticipated to be extinguished within two to three hours.

How have residents been impacted?
Authorities evacuated nearly 1,000 homes at one point and ordered people in nearby schools to shelter in place. Officials said that starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, residents in Deer Park and La Porte who had to evacuate would be allowed to return to their homes. A portion of a highway near the pipeline would remain closed, officials said.

Hundreds of customers lost power. Officials said Wednesday afternoon that only two customers remained without electricity in the Deer Park and La Porte area. Repairs to all of the power distribution lines affected by the fire had been completed.

Deer Park’s statement said Energy Transfer was “prioritizing the safety of the community and environment as it implements its emergency response plan.”

“We appreciate the patience and understanding of all residents during this ongoing situation,” Deer Park officials said.

By late Tuesday, about 400 evacuees remained, and some expressed frustration over being forced to quickly flee and not being given any timeline for when they will be able to return.

“We literally walked out with the clothes on our backs, the pets, and just left the neighborhood with no idea where we were going,” said Kristina Reff, who lives near the fire. “That was frustrating.”

What about pollution from the fire?
Energy Transfer and Harris County officials have said that air quality monitoring shows no immediate risk to individuals, despite the huge tower of billowing flame that shot hundreds of feet into the air, creating thick black smoke that hovered over the area.

Houston is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries and plants and thousands of miles of pipelines. Explosions and fires are a familiar sight, and some have been deadly, raising recurring questions about industry efforts to protect the public and the environment.