National Roundup

California
Crews battle huge wildfire near Yosemite
TUOLUMNE CITY, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of firefighters were digging trenches, clearing brush and starting back blazes to keep a wildfire raging north of Yosemite National Park out of several mountain hamlets.
Inaccessible terrain, strong winds and bone-dry conditions have hampered their efforts to contain the Rim Fire, which began Aug. 17 and has grown to become one of the biggest in California history.
Firefighters were hoping to advance on the flames Monday but strong winds were threatening to push the blaze closer to Tuolumne City and nearby communities.
"This fire has continued to pose every challenge that there can be on a fire...," said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "It's a very difficult firefight."
The fire has consumed nearly 225 square miles of picturesque forests. Officials estimate containment at just 7 percent.

Ohio
Couple married 65 years die only 11 hours apart
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Relatives of an Ohio couple who died at a nursing home 11 hours apart on the same day say their love story's ending reflects their devotion over 65 years of marriage.
The Dayton Daily News reports that Harold and Ruth Knapke died in their shared room Aug. 11, days before their 66th anniversary.
Their daughters say they believe their father willed himself to stay with his wife despite failing health until they could take the next step in their journey together. He went first; she followed.
They had a joint funeral Mass, with granddaughters carrying Ruth's casket and grandsons carrying Harold's casket. The cemetery procession stopped at the farm house where the couple had raised six children. The current owners surprised the family by flying a flag at half-staff.

Maine
Libraries help Canadian library that was ruined
FARMINGTON, Maine (AP) — Libraries across Maine are collecting donations to help rebuild the library destroyed when a runaway train exploded in Canada earlier this summer.
Farmington Public Library Director Melanie Coombs launched the effort because the Maine community is the sister city of Lac-Megantic, Quebec. The July 6 explosion and fire killed 47 people.
Coombs tells the Sun Journal the Canadian community's library lost its entire collection of 60,000 books, except for the few that customers had borrowed. It also lost irreplaceable records and photos documenting the town's history.
Coombs reached out to libraries across Maine, including at schools and colleges, and they agreed to put donation cans at their circulation desks. The cans, which say "Libraries are the heart of the community," will accept donations through mid-September.

Nebraska
Man kills self after letting abducted wife go
IMPERIAL, Neb. (AP) — A man who abducted his estranged wife from the Lincoln hair salon where she works set her free about 30 hours later, then shot and killed himself in a southwestern Nebraska cornfield, authorities said Sunday.
Officers heard a gunshot coming from the cornfield about two miles northwest of Imperial Sunday night a little more than an hour after 38-year-old Julie Hanes emerged unharmed, Nebraska State Patrol Capt. Jim Parrish said at a news conference. They found Dwayne Lawrence dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head a short time later.
Hanes was taken to Chase County Community Hospital, where Imperial police Chief Rob Browning said she told him that Lawrence planned to kill himself and that she had tried talking him out of it, The Imperial Republican reported.

New Jersey
3 killed, 6 hurt in SUV crash in northern NJ
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A pregnant woman and a child were among three people killed in an SUV crash that left six others injured in northern New Jersey, authorities said Sunday.
The crash happened Saturday night on Route 15 near an intersection in Jefferson Township. Investigators said the vehicle suddenly swerved and left the roadway before overturning, ejecting several passengers.
Lucila Colon, 62, and Tevia Booth, 11, died at the scene, while Julissa Colon, 36, died later at a hospital, Morris County prosecutors said.
The SUV's driver, 37-year-old Luis Torres of Jersey City, was being held Sunday on $750,000 cash bail. He's charged with three counts each of aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide and five counts of assault by auto.

New York
Instagram, other sites go down in server crashes
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon's unit that runs Web servers for other companies had problems Sunday that coincided with outages or slowdowns on several popular websites.
AirBnB says its site was one of those affected. Other services that were slow or unavailable included Instagram and Twitter's Vine video-sharing application.
Online home rental service AirBnB tweeted at 4:32 p.m. ET that it was one of several websites and apps that were temporarily down because Amazon server problems.
Amazon Web Services provides companies with online storage and computing power. Its website showed several problems resolved on Sunday evening, with minor issues remaining.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ohio
Student says racist campus postings a 'joke'
OBERLIN, Ohio (AP) — An Oberlin College student acknowledged posting anti-Islam fliers and racist cards around the campus of the historically liberal Ohio university earlier this year, saying he meant them as a "joke" to provoke a reaction, according to statements he made after being detained by campus security.
The student also took credit for the display of a large Nazi flag, which he also said he meant as a joke, and posting the face of Oberlin's president onto a picture of Adolf Hitler, according to the statements contained in an Oberlin city police report.
The student, detained after allegedly being seen posting anti-Islam fliers in the college's Science Center Feb. 27, denied involvement in other, earlier racist postings and said he was trying to show people had overreacted to them.