National Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

SOUTHWEST


FIVE DEAD AFTER GRASS FIRES DESTROY 100 HOMES IN OKLAHOMA, TEXAS


CROSS PLAINS, Texas – By the time the smoke cleared yesterday, more than 100 homes across wildfire-stricken Texas and Oklahoma lay in ruins and at least five people were dead.


The hardest-hit community during Tuesday’s blazes was a West Texas ranching and oil-and-gas town of 1,000 people about 150 miles from Dallas, Cross Plains. Cross Plains also lost about 50 homes and a church after the flames raced through grass dried out by the region’s worst drought in 50 years.


Two elderly women there were killed after being trapped in their homes, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, Sparky Dean, said. And in Callisburg, another woman fell and broke her hip and could not get out of her home before it was destroyed, firefighters said. No information was immediately available on the fourth death in Texas. A fifth person was killed in Oklahoma.


– Associated Press


WASHINGTON


REPORT CRITICIZES HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT


Weaknesses in FEMA’s response system during Hurricane Katrina were just one symptom of major management challenges at the Homeland Security Department, an internal report issued yesterday concludes. The report by the department’s inspector general also questions Homeland Security’s ability to oversee properly billions of dollars worth of contracts it awards annually. The inspector general’s findings were issued as the nearly three-year-old department struggles to revamp its programs and resources to prioritize top risks. – Associated Press


ARMY CALLED SLOPPY IN KEEPING TRACK OF PARTS, TOOLS


The Army can’t account for $68 million, or 15%, of unclassified parts and tools shipped to contractors for repairs in 2004 because it doesn’t demand receipts, congressional auditors said yesterday.


“Although the [Defense Department] policy requires the military services to confirm receipt of all assets shipped to contractors, the Army is not consistently recording shipment receipts in its inventory management systems,” the Government Accountability Office said in a 34-page report.


– Associated Press


DRUG BEATS TAMOXIFEN FOR PREVENTING BREAST CANCER RECURRENCE


The federal Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved a new use for Femara, a medication already licensed for treating advanced breast cancer. It now can be given as initial therapy to women past menopause who have early breast cancer, the agency said. In today’s New England Journal of Medicine, a study reports that Femara was more effective at preventing recurrences than the current gold standard, tamoxifen.


– Associated Press


WEST


49 PEOPLE ACCUSED OF BILKING RED CROSS HURRICANE FUNDS


FRESNO, Calif. – The number of people indicted in a scheme that bilked thousands of dollars from a Red Cross fund designated for Hurricane Katrina victims has risen to 49, federal authorities said.


At least 14 suspects worked at a Red Cross call center in Bakersfield and are accused of helping family and friends file false claims for aid money, a spokeswoman for American Attorney McGregor Scott in Sacramento, Mary Wenger, said.


Six have pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges since the first indictments were announced in October, she said Tuesday. The fake claims drained at least $200,000 from the fund.


– Associated Press


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