Hot-air balloon downs N.M. radio tower
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A hot-air balloon struck and collapsed a radio tower Friday in Albuquerque, N.M., during the city's festival -- the second time in 20 years that a balloon has come into contact with the tower.
There were no reports of injuries, said Kevin Carhart, a spokesperson for the Bernalillo County sheriff's office. The balloon, which had three people on board, landed safely in a field after it struck the KKOB-AM tower.
The Aerostar International Inc. S-57A balloon took off from a park as part of the 52nd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, said the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating.
It wasn't clear how tall the tower was.
A balloon bumped into a power line earlier this week in Albuquerque, leaving nearly 13,000 customers without power for nearly an hour.
2 killed in gas leak at Texas oil refinery
DEER PARK, Texas -- Two workers killed when hydrogen sulfide leaked at a Houston-area oil refinery were employees of a subcontractor performing maintenance work, the director of Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil company that operates the plant, said Friday.
The two "were in the zone directly affected, and who received the direct impact of the gas," said Pemex Director Victor Rodriguez during a news briefing in Mexico City. Both bodies have been recovered.
Mexican Energy Secretary Luz Elena Gonzalez said "there is no longer any risk" as a result of the leak and its cause is under investigation.
Pemex previously said in a statement that operations had been "proactively halted" at two units of the oil refinery with the aim of mitigating the impact.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the two workers were killed and nearly three dozen others were either transported to hospitals or treated at the scene following the leak of hydrogen sulfide Thursday at the Deer Park facility.
No names have been released, and Gonzalez said the remains of the two dead workers were taken by the Harris County medical examiner.
Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that can be toxic at high levels. Gonzalez said the gas release happened during work on a flange at the facility.
City officials issued a shelter-in-place order but lifted it hours later after air monitoring showed no risk to the surrounding community, Deer Park Mayor Jerry Mouton said.
"Other than the smell, we have not had any verifiable air monitoring to support that anything got outside the facility," Mouton said.
Montana Jan. 6 rioter sentenced 2 years
HELENA, Mont. -- A Montana business owner has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Henry Muntzer, 55, of Dillon, Mont., was also sentenced Thursday to a year of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.
Muntzer was arrested two weeks after the siege based on social media posts and videos taken inside the Capitol, according to court records.
He was found guilty in February of obstructing an official proceeding and civil disorder, both felonies, following a bench trial before U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb.
Muntzer was also found guilty of four misdemeanor charges. However, the charge of obstructing an official proceeding was dismissed before sentencing because a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June made it more difficult to prosecute that charge.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Muntzer spent about 38 minutes inside the Capitol.
Muntzer was involved in physical confrontations with law enforcement officers near the Senate chamber and in the Capitol Rotunda, resisted law enforcement efforts to get him to leave and was among the last to do so, prosecutors said.
Possible dynamite crate being inspected
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Authorities in eastern Tennessee continued Friday to investigate a container suspected of holding large amounts of dynamite, warning residents that evacuations will likely remain in place throughout the night.
Residents within 3,000 feet of CMC Recycling have been encouraged to evacuate since Thursday after an employee discovered a 5-by-5 foot steel box with suspected dynamite. Overall, more than 1,000 people have voluntarily evacuated the area, Scott Erland, spokesperson for the Knoxville Police Department, told reporters Friday.
Erland said the employee was using a torch to open the box and caused the contents of the box to start smoking, prompting the employee to call authorities. However, it was still unclear what is in the container.
"Until we believe otherwise, we're going to treat it like it's going to explode," he said.
According to police, there's no evidence of foul play and no evidence that the box was left on site "maliciously." It's unknown how long the box had been left at CMC Recycling but it's believed to have been there for at least several days, Erland said.
Knoxville police department has consulted with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.