Overnight fire in Conn. apartment complex leaves 150 homeless

NORWICH, Conn. -- A fast-moving fire destroyed a large apartment complex early Saturday, and authorities were looking for dozens of people reported unaccounted for.

No deaths had been confirmed, but Fire Chief Ken Scandariato said he couldn't rule out that some residents might not have escaped.

He said Saturday morning that 105 of the estimated 150 residents of the Peachtree Garden Apartments had been located. Some may have gone to stay with friends and relatives, he said, adding: "It's a question right now. It's in question."

The wreckage was still too hot by late morning to allow the use of arson dogs or cadaver dogs, Scandariato said, and officials expected to be at the scene until at least Sunday afternoon.

Fire and police officials were not giving updates Saturday afternoon. The cause of the fire remained unclear, but officials were treating the blaze as suspicious, said Mayor Benjamin Lathrop.

Paddleboarders return to San Diego waters despite shark warnings

SOLANA BEACH, Calif. -- A few paddleboarders ignored posted signs warning that a great white shark still could be lurking below the surface Saturday, just a day after a swimmer was killed in a rare attack near San Diego.

"It's like going to see 'Jaws' -- getting in the water the next day, all you could think about was the music," said Bob Rief, 63, who was teaching a friend how to stand up on a paddleboard. "But if you're afraid of the ocean, you shouldn't be in it."

The San Diego-area native was worried that the attack would scare away vacationers or weekend beachgoers and hurt businesses. Solana Beach is 14 miles northwest of San Diego.

Despite the summer-like temperatures and cloudless skies that normally lure large crowds, beaches were mostly empty near where triathlete David Martin was killed Friday.

A shark, presumed to be a great white, lifted Martin, 66, out of the water with his legs in its jaws, leaving deep lacerations and shredding the retired veterinarian's black wetsuit.

Hundreds mourn Ohio soldier captured in Iraq

BATAVIA, Ohio -- The remains of an Ohio soldier missing since he was captured in Iraq almost four years ago were returned to his home state on Saturday, and hundreds of mourners lined the streets with American flags as a police procession led his casket to a memorial service.

Two top Army leaders and the 70 members of Sgt. Matt Maupin's unit first met privately with his family and filed past the flag-shrouded casket at the Union Township Civic Center in suburban Cincinnati.

Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, chief of the U.S. Army Reserve, and Lt. Gen. James L. Campbell of the Army chief of staff's office presented Maupin's family with the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, the POW Medal and other commendations.

"Everyone wanted to see him step off the plane. But Matt came home, and that brings some closure to his family and the 724th. It lives up to the Army ethos of never leaving a fallen comrade behind," said Maj. Jeffrey Smith, who served with Maupin in the Illinois-based 724th Transportation Company of the Army Reserve.

On northern Vt. pond, spring arrives when cinder block falls

WEST DANVILLE, Vt. -- Forget what the calendar says. In these parts, spring doesn't arrive until the cinder block falls through the ice on Joe's Pond.

The 65-pound block, which is placed on a wooden pallet on the frozen surface of the pond and tied to an alarm clock on shore each winter in a $1-per-chance guessing game, plunged into the water at 5:25 p.m. Friday.

Four people who guessed April 25 at 5:15 p.m. -- the closest time -- won $1,323 apiece in the annual Joe's Pond Ice Out Contest, according to organizer Dave Parker.

Don Rogers, of Swartz Creek, Mich., Janet Egizi, of St. Johnsbury, Roxanne Gorham, of Lyndonville, and Joe Kelly, of Barre, were the winners. The 20th annual contest drew 12,039 entries, many far from Vermont.

The earliest-ever ice out date was April 16, in 1998 and 2006; the latest was May 6, in 1992.

Family of N.Y. shooting victim still seek justice

NEW YORK -- The family of an unarmed man killed in a hail of police gunfire on his wedding day pledged Saturday to continue its fight to have someone held accountable for his death, a day after a judge acquitted three officers in the slaying.

"I'm still praying for justice, because it's not over. It's far from over. It's just starting," Sean Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, told supporters at a rally in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood. "Every protest, every march, every rally, I'm going to be right up front."

If history is a guide, the family may indeed still have a chance at extracting some measure of retribution, but it would very likely come at the expense of the city and not the officers who pulled the trigger. Bell, 23, was killed and two friends wounded in a 50-shot barrage outside a Queens strip club hours before his wedding.

Legal experts said Bell's family faces an uphill fight in their attempt to have the officers charged with federal civil rights violations and might have to settle for battling them in civil court, where the city, not the officers, would be responsible for paying off any multimillion-dollar verdict.

Peter J. Neufeld, an attorney who represented police torture victim Abner Louima, said he believed the chances that the U.S. attorney's office would bring federal charges in the case were "close to zero," judging by Justice Department decisions in past police shootings.