ANCHORAGE, Alaska | DMN — A heat wave hitting Alaska may not rival the blazing heat of Phoenix or Las Vegas, but to residents of the 49th state, the days of hot weather feel like a stifling oven – or a tropical paradise. With temperatures topping 80 degrees in Anchorage, and higher in other parts of the state, people have been sweltering in a place where few homes have air conditioning. They’re sunbathing and swimming at local lakes, hosing down their dogs and cleaning out supplies of fans in at least one local hardware store. Mid-June normally brings high temperatures in the 60s in Anchorage, and just a month ago, it was still snowing. The weather feels like anywhere but Alaska to 18-year-old Jordan Rollison, who was sunbathing with three friends and several hundred others lolling at the beach of Anchorage’s Goose Lake.
“I love it, I love it,” Rollison said. “I’ve never seen a summer like this, ever.” State health officials even took the unusual step of posting a Facebook message reminding people to slather on the sunscreen. Some people aren’t so thrilled, complaining that it’s just too hot. “It’s almost unbearable to me,” said Lorraine Roehl, who has lived in Anchorage for two years after moving here from the community of Sand Point in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. “I don’t like being hot. I’m used to cool ocean breeze.” On Tuesday, the official afternoon high in Anchorage was 81 degrees, breaking the city’s record of 80 set in 1926 for that date.
Other smaller communities throughout a wide swath of the state are seeing even higher temperatures. All-time highs were recorded elsewhere, including 96 degrees on Monday 80 miles to the north in the small community of Talkeetna, purported to be the inspiration for the town in the TV series, “Northern Exposure” and the last stop for climbers heading to Mount McKinley, North America’s tallest mountain. One unofficial reading taken at a lodge near Talkeetna even measured 98 degrees, which would tie the highest undisputed temperature recorded in Alaska.
That record was set in 1969, according to Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the online forecasting service Weather Underground. “This is the hottest heat wave in Alaska since ’69,” he said. “You’re way, way from normal.” It’s also been really hot for a while. The city had six days over 70 degrees, then hit a high of 68 last Thursday, followed by five more days of 70 degrees and up. The city’s record of consecutive days with temperatures of 70 or above was 13 days recorded in 1953, said Eddie Zingone, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service who has lived in Anchorage for 17 years. The heat wave also comes after a few cooler summers – the last time it officially hit the 80 mark in Anchorage was 2009. Plus, Tuesday marked exactly one month that the city’s last snow of the season fell, Zingone said.
“Within a month you have that big of a change, it definitely seems very, very hot,” he said. “It was a very quick warm-up.” With the heat comes an invasion of mosquitoes many are calling the worst they’ve ever seen. At the True Value Hardware store, people have grabbed up five times the usual amount of mosquito warfare supplies, said store owner Tim Craig. The store shelves also are bare of fans, which is unusual, he said. “Those are two hot items, so to speak,” he said. Greg Wilkinson, a spokesman with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, said it’s gotten up to 84 degrees at his home in the Anchorage suburb of Eagle River, where a tall glass front lets the sunlight filter through. “And that’s with all the windows open and a fan going,” he said. “We’re just not used to it. Our homes aren’t built for it.”
Love or hate the unusual heat, it’ll all be over soon. Weather forecasters say a high pressure system that has locked the region in clear skies and baking temperatures has shifted and Wednesday should be the start of a cooling trend, although slightly lower temperatures in the 70s are still expected to loiter into the weekend.
A 14-year-old boy who allegedly murdered his great-grandmother has told a court how he and a friend took turns hitting her with a hatchet and a hammer so they could kill her and steal her money. Antonio Barbeau gave the chilling details as he testified in the trial of his friend Nathan Paape, who has pleaded not guilty to the grisly crime in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in September last year. Barbeau told the court that the weekend before the murder of 78-year-old Barbara Olson, he and Paape had talked about ways to get money and how they could steal from his great-grandmother. On the day of the murder, they asked Barbeau’s mother for a ride to ‘a friend’s house’ and then they walked two miles to the home, where Olson found them in the garage.
‘We were going to try to scare her to get money and use force if needed,’ said Barbeau, who has already been convicted in the case and is now awaiting his sentencing. When asked what type of force they planned to use, Barbeau said: ‘An attack, I guess to kill.’ She invited them into her home and as she turned her back to call Barbeau’s mother, Barbeau hit her on the head with the hatchet, the Shaboygan Press reported. He said he then ran to the bathroom as he was feeling sick but that when he emerged, he saw Paape hit the woman with the hammer multiple times. ‘She was still yelling when I went to the bathroom, but had stopped when I returned,’ he said.
Barbeau then hit Olson with the hatchet again, and said Paape then took the weapon from him and hit her once or twice too. The account came in stark contrast with Paape’s, the Shaboygan Press reported. Paape claimed the robbery and murder were Barbeau’s idea and that he only hit Olson twice with a hammer because he feared his friend would turn on him. Paape thought Barbeau was joking about killing Olson, his lawyer said. But Barbeau said his friend never suggested he thought it was a joke. He has pleaded not guilty but if convicted, he faces life in prison and a minimum 20 years in prison.
Barbara Olsen’s body was found in a pool of blood outside her home last September. Once the teens realized Olsen was dead after the horrific attack, they attempted to drag her body to the car, leaving a trail on blood through the house, police said last September. After failing to load Olsen into the vehicle, they dumped her in the garage. The boys then allegedly stole several items, including a purse, loose change and jewelry. The perpetrators then hopped into Olson’s car and sped off. They eventually dumped the vehicle in the parking lot of a local bowling alley and walked to a nearby eatery, where they shared a pizza.
The teens later returned to the abandoned car and tried to wipe off their fingerprints, the complaint states. They left some of their loot in plain sight, along with the car keys, hoping that someone would steal the vehicle and get blamed for Olsen’s murder. They locked the weapons in the trunk of the car, along with a bloody piece of cloth. Olsen’s body was discover in the driveway of her Westridge Drive home and 12 hours later, the boys were arrested.
ASHLAND, Ohio | DMN — A fourth suspect is in custody in the alleged forced labor of a mentally disabled woman held captive with her young daughter, according to federal prosecutors in Ohio. Dezerah Silsby, 21, turned herself in and is scheduled to appear in court Thursday afternoon, authorities said. The two victims were held in an apartment crowded with people and animals for more than a year, and the woman was forced to perform manual labor and threatened with dogs and snakes to keep them compliant, authorities have said.
Federal prosecutors said the people accused of holding the pair in Ashland, about 60 miles south of Cleveland, collected the woman’s government benefits and beat her in order to get painkillers for themselves. They kept her in a room with a free-ranging iguana and ordered her to feed the reptile fruits and vegetables her daughter was denied, according to court papers. “The living conditions were simply subhuman,” said Steven Dettelbach, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. The mother and daughter were sometimes forced to eat dog food, according to a law enforcement source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation. They were also frequently denied access to the bathroom, FBI Special Agent Eric Smith told reporters on Tuesday.
Officials earlier said 26-year-old Jordie Callahan, 31-year-old Jessica Hunt and 33-year-old Daniel Brown were arrested and charged with forced labor. Callahan is facing an additional count of witness tampering, the U.S. attorney’s office in Cleveland said. Callahan’s mother, Becky, told CNN that the accusations are false, and that the alleged victim was allowed to leave the apartment whenever she wanted. “She was giving them a couple hundred dollars a month for staying there. She was getting her own food. She wasn’t being starved,” Callahan’s mother said.
Andy Hyde, who has represented Callahan, told CNN on Wednesday that prosecutors are wrongly characterizing the relationships among the alleged victims and the suspects. “It was clear in my discussions that they were never forced. This group were all friends,” said Hyde. “There are photographs … (of) them all drinking beer together, laughing, joking on a couch. Traveling to other places together. They moved to several different residences together.” Investigators stated Callahan and Hunt in 2011 persuaded the mother to move into the apartment they shared with Hunt’s four sons and “numerous” animals, knowing she “suffered from a cognitive disability and received monthly public assistance payments.”
According to prosecutors, Callahan showed police a mobile-phone video of the mother, identified in court papers as S.E., beating her child. S.E. told police that she had been told to do so by Callahan and Hunt and that Callahan threatened to show police the video if she “messed up” or went to authorities. Hyde told CNN that the mother has given different accounts, from denying she beat the child, to admitting to doing so once to saying she was forced to do it. “Her story has changed so many times I think it strains credibility to believe what she is saying,” Hyde said. “This is not a slave labor case at all. They were friends.”
Houston is not known as a place that thrives on history. It was something I first noticed when I moved here a decade ago. There is a penchant for tearing down old buildings for the sake of new ones but today, Houston decided to preserve a bit of it’s storied history. The Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation recommended Wednesday that the Astrodome be renovated with public funds — not demolished. The historic landmark would be reinvented as a state-of-the-art conference and exposition center, capable of hosting a large number of sports, convention and community events.
Nicknamed the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Astrodome has been planted in Houston for more than four decades. From the highs of Houston sports to the lows of human misery after Hurricane Katrina, the dome has been home to history. Now, it’s caked with dust, covered with mold and infested with rats. It hasn’t been used in four years because of safety issues. The maintenance fees cost the county $2 million to $3 million a year. It would cost $120 to tear it down. The price tag to renovate the dome is $194 million and it would take 30 months to complete, according to HCSCC officials.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett praised the proposal. ”The concept is excellent,” Emmett said. “It not only preserves an iconic structure, but it gives Houston and Harris County a truly unique and historic venue for conferences and events. Meeting planners around the world will want to use the space.” The plan for the Astrodome is to remove seats, raise the floor to street level and add glass at four compass points. It would be a “gateway” to Reliant Stadium. “We want everybody to go to the Super Bowl through the Astrodome,” said HCSCC Executive Director Willie Lostin. “It has taken a long time to get to this point,” Emmett said. “But I believe the concept for repurposing the Astrodome will give us a facility that will garner much attention and will make us the events capital of the world.” The plan to restore it goes to Harris County commissioners next week. If they agree to the proposal, it would likely need voter approval before it’s a done deal.
WASHINGTON, D.C. | DMN — FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged the law enforcement agency uses drone aircraft in the United States for surveillance in certain difficult cases. Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that drones are used by the FBI in a “very, very minimal way and very seldom.” He did not say how many drones the FBI has or how often they have been used. A federal law enforcement official said the aircraft have been used for surveillance in hostage situations and also when suspects have taken refuge behind barricades. “We use it sparingly in dangerous situations where the risk to agents lives are at stake,” the official told CNN.
The FBI previously acknowledged using unmanned surveillance aircraft this year to monitor the situation where a boy was held hostage in a bunker in Alabama. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, asked Mueller whether the FBI had guidelines for using drones that would consider the “privacy impact on American citizens.” Mueller replied the agency was in the initial stages of developing them. “I will tell you that our footprint is very small,” he said.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein expressed concern over drone use domestically. “I think the greatest threat to the privacy of Americans is the drone and the use of the drone, and the very few regulations that are on it today and the booming industry of commercial drones,” the California Democrat said. Mueller said he would need to check on the bureau’s policy for retaining images from drones and report back to the panel. “It is very narrowly focused on particularized cases and particularized needs and particularized cases,” said Mueller. “And that is the principal privacy limitations we have.”
Members of Congress and privacy advocates have pressed for regulations on the use of drones. Targeting Americans with lethal force in counterterror operations overseas was a controversy that flared publicly during confirmation hearings for CIA Director John Brennan earlier this year. Senators aggressively sought the administration’s legal reasoning for those operations. Some lawmakers were critical of the practice and questions were raised about whether drones might ever be used against U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism who were on American soil. Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, staged a filibuster in March over the issue. Attorney General Eric Holder told Paul in a letter that said in part, “the U.S. government has not carried out drone strikes in the United States and has no intention of doing so.”
TROPICAL STORM BARRY TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL022013
145 PM CDT WED JUN 19 2013
...SECOND TROPICAL STORM OF THE SEASON FORMS IN THE SOUTHERN GULF OF
MEXICO...
DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT
TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWO HAS STRENGTHENED...AND IS NOW TROPICAL
STORM BARRY...THE SECOND TROPICAL STORM OF THE 2013 HURRICANE
SEASON. DETAILS WILL FOLLOW IN THE NEXT REGULAR ADVISORY AT 4 PM
CDT.
SUMMARY OF 145 PM CDT...1845 UTC...INFORMATION
--------------------------------------------------
LOCATION...19.6N 95.1W
ABOUT 75 MI...115 KM ENE OF VERACRUZ MEXICO
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...40 MPH...65 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...W OR 280 DEGREES AT 10 MPH...16 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1005 MB...29.68 INCHES
Don’t bury the Jays. Matt Snyder says Toronto — with Josh Johnson looking good — could still have a say in an AL East race that’s shaping up to be wild. Power Rankings
TROPICAL STORM BARRY TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL022013
145 PM CDT WED JUN 19 2013
...SECOND TROPICAL STORM OF THE SEASON FORMS IN THE SOUTHERN GULF OF
MEXICO...
DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT
TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWO HAS STRENGTHENED...AND IS NOW TROPICAL
STORM BARRY...THE SECOND TROPICAL STORM OF THE 2013 HURRICANE
SEASON. DETAILS WILL FOLLOW IN THE NEXT REGULAR ADVISORY AT 4 PM
CDT.
SUMMARY OF 145 PM CDT...1845 UTC...INFORMATION
--------------------------------------------------
LOCATION...19.6N 95.1W
ABOUT 75 MI...115 KM ENE OF VERACRUZ MEXICO
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...40 MPH...65 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...W OR 280 DEGREES AT 10 MPH...16 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1005 MB...29.68 INCHES
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* PUNTA EL LAGARTO TO BARRA DE NAUTLA MEXICO
FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA OUTSIDE OF THE
UNITED STATES...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL
METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.
DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 100 PM CDT...1800 UTC...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWO
WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 19.7 NORTH...LONGITUDE 95.1 WEST. THE
DEPRESSION IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 10 MPH...16 KM/H. A
GENERAL WESTWARD TRACK WITH A DECREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS EXPECTED
LATER TODAY AND THURSDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...THE CENTER WILL
REACH THE COAST IN THE STATE OF VERACRUZ THURSDAY MORNING.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 35 MPH...55 KM/H...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. THERE IS A STRONG LIKELIHOOD THAT THE DEPRESSION WILL BECOME
A TROPICAL STORM LATER TODAY. WEAKENING WILL OCCUR AFTER THE
CENTER CROSSES THE COAST ON THURSDAY. AN AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER
PLANE IS CURRENTLY APPROACHING THE DEPRESSION.
THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1006 MB...29.71 INCHES.
HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
----------------------
RAINFALL...THE DEPRESSION IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAINFALL
ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES WITH MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 10 INCHES
ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MEXICO. THESE RAINS COULD CAUSE
LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODING AND MUD SLIDES...ESPECIALLY IN
MOUNTAINOUS AREAS.
WIND...TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING
AREA BY EARLY THURSDAY.
CHICAGO, Illinois | DMN — Authorities have positively identified the body of a man recovered from Lake Michigan Wednesday morning. It has been identified as that of a University of Chicago student who disappeared a week ago. The body may have been in the water for some time, police said. The Marine Unit initially responded to the lakefront near the 3900-block of South Lake Shore Drive after fishermen said they spotted a body in the water. Austin Hudson-Lapore’s father was in Chicago from New Mexico as recovery teams pulled the body from the water. He said at that time he believed the body was his son but awaited confirmation.
“He is still in the grieving process, totally shaken by the discovery of this body, but at the same time, he has to wait for the positive identification. But he is in shock, wants to be close to his family, but he did think that it is good to have friends that he never knew, which is us working with him, the media working with him. It brings him some comfort,” said family spokesman Andrew Holmes before the ID was confirmed. An autopsy has to be performed to determine an exact cause of death.
“I got out and walked over to the lakefront, and I looked to my right, and I saw something in the water that appeared to be a log. So I looked a little closer, and it appeared to be a dummy, so I stopped fishing and went to look again, and then I asked a person that was over there exercising to come down and confirm. So they got excited, and they left, so that’s when I called 911,” said Eddie Hudson, the fisherman who spotted the body. The search for the missing University of Chicago third-year student brought new clues Tuesday. A search dog was brought in to help look for Hudson-LaPore, 20. The search dog apparently picked up on the young man’s scent and pulled its handler directly to the shoreline at Promontory Point.
Hudson-LaPore was last seen after his final exams nearly one week ago. On Monday, the family looked at some surveillance video near the route Hudson-LaPore may have taken, but there was no sign of the missing student. A roommate says Hudson-LaPore left his Hyde Park apartment in the 5300-block of South Kimbark between 8:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Wednesday night and took keys, but left behind his cell phone and wallet with his ID. His father believes his son may have walked to the lakefront to watch Wednesday’s storm roll in, because the third-year biochemistry student was fascinated by the weather. Family members set up two websites to help in the search for the missing student: www.FindAustinHudson.com and www.FindAustinHudson.tumblr.com. They have released a video on the websites, and are asking anyone with information to come forward. Hudson-LaPore is described as 5’7″ and weighing 110 pounds. He has dark blonde hair and blue eyes, and was last seen wearing black gym shoes and blue jeans.
Vernon Armentor, 48, who allegedly made unauthorized use of a credit card belonging to Texas Equusearch, is in the Galveston County Jail on $20,000 bond.
GALVESTON, Texas | DMN — Texas Equusearch, the search and recovery group, has suffered a financial and emotional blow in learning that a volunteer allegedly made unauthorized use of a group credit card, said founder and director Tim Miller. Vernon Armentor, 48, was arrested Monday in the organization’s office on outstanding traffic warrants and was also charged with credit card abuse, Miller said Wednesday. Miller started the organization in August 2000 after his daughter, Laura Miller, was abducted and killed. Laura Miller was 16 years old when she disappeared in 1984 from League City.
At the time, Armentor, who was also a teenager, was Laura Miller’s boyfriend. “I’m sick about it,” Miller said of the theft allegations. “That was my daughter’s boyfriend and would have been my son-in-law. It’s a disgrace to Laura and a disgrace to Equusearch.” Armentor became a suspect after the group’s treasurer noticed a number of cash withdrawals showing up on the credit card statement, Miller said. After reviewing surveillance video from automatic teller machines, Miller said he was surprised to see Armentor making the withdrawals. “I nearly broke down and cried when I saw him on the video,” Miller said. “I’ve always been there for him.”
Miller said he couldn’t estimate the amount of the loss at this point. “I would say this is only the beginning of the investigation,” he said. Discovery of the loss comes at a bad time for the all-volunteer group, which has been struggling financially in recent months, Miller said. “I seriously don’t know if we’re going to survive it,” he said. Miller said he had received a call at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday from the family of a young woman missing in Louisiana and, for the first time ever, he said he had to tell the family there was nothing Equusearch could do. “Maybe some kindhearted person out there will remember all the good things we did and will step up and help us out a bit,” Miller said. “Or maybe it’s God’s way of saying, ‘You all have done a good job and now it’s time to do something else.’ ”
U.S. taxpayers have spent more than $3 million dollars looking for Jimmy Hoffa in the past four decades. Why can’t the Louisville, Kentucky police department and the F.B.I. search for Andrew Compton? It’s not like there is not a confessed killer in the Compton case who has told police where to find Andrew’s body. Back in 2010, police in Louisville, Kentucky “indefinitely suspended” searching for 18-year old Andrew Compton. Nine days of searching for the Sullivan University student turned up no evidence. Compton disappeared on October 28, 2010 from his dorm. Police questioned and later arrested 40-year-old Gregory O’Bryan, who he met online. Authorities say O’Bryan initially lied to them, but later confessed to having sex with the 18-year-old at his Highlands apartment. He told detectives Compton died while having sex.
O’Bryan says he put Compton’s body in a TV box and then threw it in a dumpster. Police believe Compton’s body was transferred to a landfill in Medora, Indiana. Detectives, police recruits, and cadaver dogs spent nine days searching through 5,000 tons of trash, often using excavators and rakes. But were unable to find Compton’s body. The latest FBI attempt to find Jimmy Hoffa has ended in yet another dead end. Authorities announced today that they are calling off the excavation of a field in Oakland Township, Michigan, that was once owned by a reputed Michigan mob boss.
An aging former mob boss told federal agents that Hoffa was buried in a shallow grave under a concrete slab in the field after he was murdered in 1975. The agents found the slab, but not Hoffa’s remains. The government has followed up on some 15 credible leads as to the whereabouts of the once-powerful union leader, but his final resting place remains a mystery. ‘We did not uncover any evidence relevant to the investigation on James Hoffa,’ said Robert Foley, head of the FBI in Detroit. ‘I am very confident of our result here after two-days-plus of diligent effort. As of this point, we’ll be closing down the excavation operation.’
Previous searches have included the suburban Detroit home a former mob enforcer and an eastern Michigan horse farm and a backyard swimming pool. It has also been claimed Hoffa’s remains are entombed beneath the former Giants Stadium in New Jersey and beneath the headquarters of General Motors. All investigations into Hoffa’s whereabouts have turned out to be both costly and fruitless. It’s not that Jimmy Hoffa is less important, especially to his family but Andrew Compton is just as important and the police never should have stopped looking for him.
Snyder: AL East roundup
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* PUNTA EL LAGARTO TO BARRA DE NAUTLA MEXICO
FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA OUTSIDE OF THE
UNITED STATES...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL
METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.
DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 100 PM CDT...1800 UTC...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWO
WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 19.7 NORTH...LONGITUDE 95.1 WEST. THE
DEPRESSION IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 10 MPH...16 KM/H. A
GENERAL WESTWARD TRACK WITH A DECREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS EXPECTED
LATER TODAY AND THURSDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...THE CENTER WILL
REACH THE COAST IN THE STATE OF VERACRUZ THURSDAY MORNING.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 35 MPH...55 KM/H...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. THERE IS A STRONG LIKELIHOOD THAT THE DEPRESSION WILL BECOME
A TROPICAL STORM LATER TODAY. WEAKENING WILL OCCUR AFTER THE
CENTER CROSSES THE COAST ON THURSDAY. AN AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER
PLANE IS CURRENTLY APPROACHING THE DEPRESSION.
THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1006 MB...29.71 INCHES.
HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
----------------------
RAINFALL...THE DEPRESSION IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAINFALL
ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES WITH MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 10 INCHES
ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MEXICO. THESE RAINS COULD CAUSE
LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODING AND MUD SLIDES...ESPECIALLY IN
MOUNTAINOUS AREAS.
WIND...TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING
AREA BY EARLY THURSDAY.
Vernon Armentor, 48, who allegedly made unauthorized use of a credit card belonging to Texas Equusearch, is in the Galveston County Jail on $20,000 bond.
