One person has been burned in a fire that destroyed a residence in the eastern Nebraska town of Benedict.

Benedict Fire Chief John Hild told the Associated Press that firetrucks were dispatched a little before 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. The local firefighters soon called for help from the York department.

Hild says no one was inside the residence when the fire started, but one person taken to York General Hospital with minor burns. Hild says the person may have been trying to retrieve property from the building but isn’t a firefighter.

The fire cause is being investigated.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Lincoln woman who’s accused of stealing thousands of dollars from her developmentally disabled neighbor.

The Associated Press reports that 65-year-old Loris Austin is charged with four felony counts of forgery.

A court affidavit says that Austin approached her neighbor about helping her neighbor pay bills. The affidavit says the woman is 71, mentally disabled and illiterate.

The affidavit says Austin gained a power of attorney but wasn’t authorized to write checks for anything other than the woman’s bills. But the affidavit says Austin wrote other checks and stole thousands of dollars.

Court records say Austin now lives in Kissimmee, Fla. A public phone listing for her couldn’t be found. Online court records don’t list the name of her attorney.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s officials say determining the cause of death of a Canadian tourist found in a Los Angeles hotel water tank will require more tests.

Coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter says an autopsy was performed Thursday on 21-year-old Elisa Lam. How she died won’t be known until the results from toxicology tests are returned.

Lam’s body was found Tuesday in a water cistern atop the downtown Cecil Hotel. Police call Lam’s death suspicious.

Guest complaints about low water pressure prompted a maintenance worker to make the gruesome discovery.

Before she died, hotel surveillance footage showed her inside an elevator pushing buttons and sticking her head out the doors, looking in both directions.

One woman is dead after savage winds whipped through rural East Texas and weather officials say a team will be sent to determine if a tornado struck the area.

Sabine County Sheriff Tom Maddox says the storm streaked across the southwestern corner of the county on the Louisiana border about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Maddox says the storm dropped a tree limb onto a mobile home about 145 miles northeast of Houston, fatally injuring 74-year-old Louise Pillow Stringer.

Maddox says 25 homes were damaged and debris patterns look like those left behind by a tornado, rather than straight-line winds.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Hansford in Shreveport, La., says the agency has no conclusive evidence of a tornado, but a survey team will be sent to investigate the area Friday.

Kellogg’s has initiated a voluntary recall in the US of three sizes of Kellogg’s Special K Red Berries cereal packages due to the possible presence of glass fragments.

The Company asks that all consumers check the packages in their home. If your package matches the information below, do not eat the food and contact Kellogg’s for a replacement coupon. The company states they may also make arrangements to retrieve the food for further evaluation.

The food affected by the recall can be identified with the following information:

11.2 Ounce package 
UPC Proof Of Purchase Code: 38000 59923 
Better If Used Before Date: DEC 02 2013 KNC 105 00:13 through DEC 02 2013 KNC 105 02:30 

37.0 Ounce package 
UPC Proof Of Purchase Code: 38000 20940 
Better If Used Before Date: NOV 30 2013 KNB 107 17:31 through NOV 30 2013 KNB 107 20:05 

22.4 Ounce Twin Pack 
UPC Proof Of Purchase Code: 38000 78356 
Better If Used Before Date: NOV 30 2013 KNA 105 07:00 through NOV 30 2013 KNA 105 08:51 
Better If Used Before Date: NOV 30 2013 KNB 105 15:00 through NOV 30 2013 KNB 105 17:05 

Packages that have the letter code KXA, KXB or KXC following the “Better if Used Before” date, it is not impacted by this recall.  Also, packages of any size other than 11.2, 22.4 or 37 ounces are not impacted.

No other Kellogg products are listed in the recall notice.

Older people who received this season’s flu shot appear to be less protected from the illness than younger people who were vaccinated. As a result, early flu treatment is especially important for anyone in this age group who shows flu symptoms, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The results show adults ages 65 and over who got this year’s vaccine were just as likely to visit the doctor for flu symptoms as older adults who weren’t vaccinated.

By contrast, getting the flu shot reduced the risk of visiting the doctor for flu by about 50 to 60 percent in people from other age groups.

Nevertheless, older people are still advised to get a flu shot, the CDC says. The vaccine’s effectiveness can vary from season to season, and person to person. During some years, the flu vaccine has been found to provide significant protection for older adults; during other years, no protection has been seen, said Erin Burns, a communications officer at the CDC’s Influenza Division.

The new report only looked at whether this season’s flu vaccine reduced the risk of doctors’ visits for flu, and didn’t examine hospitalizations for more severe flu illnesses. Some research shows that the flu vaccination can reduce the severity of illness in older people who do get sick. A 2011 study found that older people who received a flu shot were 61 percent less likely to be hospitalized for flu-like illness.

“While influenza vaccine is not perfect, overall, the evidence supports the public health benefit of vaccination,” Burns said. “Vaccination is particularly important for people 65 and older who are especially vulnerable to serious illness and death, despite the fact that the vaccine may not work as well in this age group.”

Because of their increased risk for flu complications, it’s important for elderly people to seek treatment quickly if they develop flu symptoms, including fever, cough, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Antiviral medications for flu work best if they’re given within 48 hours of the start of symptoms.

“Aging and chronic health problems can diminish the body’s ability to mount a protective immune response after influenza vaccination, which can result in lower levels of vaccine effectiveness in some older people,” Burns said. But Burns notes that people ages 65 and older are a heterogeneous group, and some individuals have very responsive immune systems.

This year’s flu season has been a particularly bad one for the elderly. Of the 8,953 people hospitalized for flu so far, more than half have been 65 or older, the CDC said.

The new report examined the flu vaccine’s effectiveness in 2,697 people between Dec. 2, 2012 and Jan. 19, 2013. When considering all age groups, the vaccine was 56 percent effective, meaning it reduced the risk of a doctor’s visit for flu by 56 percent. This new estimate for the vaccine’s effectiveness is slightly lower than an estimate given earlier this year, which said the vaccine was 62 percent effective.

The flu shot is recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older.

An elderly Pennsylvania woman was reportedly killed in a shootout between police and a “highly intoxicated” Bucks County man.

The Allentown Morning Call reports that Marie Zienkewicz, 89, was in her apartment Tuesday night when she was hit by crossfire, according to Warminster police.

Zienkewicz lived in the apartment below the man who was shooting at police, authorities said. Police and the Bucks County district attorney’s office did not say who shot Zienkewicz. An investigation is ongoing.

Andrew G. Cairns, 49, began fighting with his girlfriend on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said. Both were “highly intoxicated” by alcohol and drugs, District Attorney David Heckler told the newspaper.

Cairns’ girlfriend later called police and said he had fired two shots from his .44 Magnum handgun in an attempt to kill himself. When officers arrived, Heckler said, Cairns fired at least eight shots at them. The officers returned at least four shots, he said. Police said Zienkewicz was hit during that exchange. She was found dead in her apartment after the gunfight.

Cairns barricaded himself in his apartment until turning himself in around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, police said. His girlfriend escaped from the apartment around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Cairns was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault, among other counts. He is jailed with bail set at $10 million.

A judge has sentenced Drew Peterson to 38 years in prison for murdering his third wife.

Will County Judge Edward Burmila imposed the sentence Thursday. The 59-year-old Peterson faced a maximum 60-year prison term.

Jurors convicted Peterson in September in the 2004 death of Kathleen Savio. Neighbors found her body in a dry bathtub at her home with a gash on her head.

Peterson is also a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his 23-year-old fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, but hasn’t been charged. Her disappearance is what led authorities to take another look at Savio’s death and reclassify it from an accident to a homicide.

Fascination nationwide with Peterson arose from speculation he sought to use his law enforcement expertise to get away with murder.

 

Police say a deadly car-to-car shooting and fiery crash at a major Las Vegas Strip intersection started with an argument in the valet area of the Aria resort.

Sheriff Doug Gillespie made the disclosure Thursday about the early morning incident that left three people dead and at least six injured. Police withheld the names citing the ongoing investigation.

Police are seeking a black Range Rover Sport that fled the scene at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road.

The intersection is home to famous casinos including Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Bally’s.

Authorities say at least one person in the Range Rover shot at a Maserati that then ran a red light and crashed into a taxi.

The taxi burst into flames, and the driver and passenger died. The driver of the Maserati also died, and his passenger was shot.

Neighbors of a Lincoln man taken to a hospital after a house fire say he was trying to rescue his dogs from the burning property.

The Associated Press reports the man was taken to an area hospital Thursday afternoon. His condition is unknown.

Officials have controlled the fire, which at one point engulfed the upper half of the home.

The newspaper reports neighbors saw the man on the porch using a phone to apparently report the fire. He went into the house and returned with one of his two dogs. He then entered the home again to get the second dog.

Firefighters were later able to retrieve the second dog from the home. The dogs’ conditions are unclear.