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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2018
WORLD IN BRIEF
Associated Press
Police: 2 deadly
package bombs in
Texas capital are linked
AUSTIN, Texas — Authorities say a package
that exploded inside of an Austin home today,
killing a teenager and wounding a woman, is
believed to be linked to a deadly package sent to
another home in Texas’ capital city earlier this
month.
Austin police Chief Brian Manley said at a
news conference that investigators believe the
attacks are linked because in each case, the
package bombs were left on the victims’ front
doorsteps and not delivered by a mail service.
He said the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t have
a record of delivering a package to the Austin
home where the explosion occurred. He said
that package was brought into the kitchen where
it detonated, killing a 17-year-old boy and injur-
ing the woman.
Manley said investigators believe the explo-
sion is linked to a similar blast that killed a
39-year-old man on March 2. That explosion
occurred about 12 miles north of today’s blast.
Both explosions occurred in the early-morning
hours.
The chief said all of the victims have been
black and that investigators are consider-
ing whether race could have factored into the
attacks.
The FBI is helping Austin police in the
investigation.
Pilot in NYC crash
called ‘mayday,’
cited engine failure
NEW YORK — A pilot who survived when
his helicopter went down in New York City’s
East River, killing five passengers, said in an
emergency radio transmission that the aircraft’s
engine had failed.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday,” the pilot is
heard saying during the crash Sunday night.
“East River — engine failure.”
The pilot freed himself and was rescued by
a tugboat, but emergency divers had to remove
the passengers on the charter helicopter being
used for a photo shoot from tight safety har-
nesses while they were upside down, Fire Com-
missioner Daniel Nigro said.
“It took a while for the divers to get these
people out. They worked very quickly, as fast as
they could,” Nigro said. “It was a great tragedy
that we had here.”
The National Transportation Safety Board
dispatched investigators today.
Video taken by a bystander and posted on
AP Photo/Josh Edelson
Resident Tom Parkinson places flowers Saturday on a sign at the Veterans Home
of California.
Officials tight-lipped in attack
on California veterans home
YOUNTVILLE, Calif. — Authorities in Northern California have so far been tight-lipped
about why a former Army rifleman may have killed three women after a daylong siege at a
veterans home in Napa County wine country.
Albert Wong, 36, slipped into a going-away party for two employees of The Pathway
Home on the campus of the Yountville veterans home campus about 50 miles north of San
Francisco on Friday, then let some people leave, but kept the three women.
Wong, whose military records show he served in Afghanistan from April 2011 to March
2012, was enrolled in The Pathway Home’s veteran treatment program until he was recently
expelled, according to a relative of one of the women.
Law enforcement officials did not respond to questions throughout the weekend about
what led to Wong being dismissed from the program or whether officials had alerted police
or others to any concerns about his mental health after he was removed from the program.
Records also show a state-issued security permit Wong had for a 9mm firearm was canceled
in October, but state officials could not immediately say why.
Twitter shows the red helicopter land hard in the
water and then capsize, its rotors slapping at the
water.
Witnesses on a nearby waterfront esplanade
said the helicopter was flying noisily, then sud-
denly dropped and quickly submerged. But the
pilot appeared on the surface, holding onto a flo-
tation device as a tugboat and then police boats
approached.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokes-
woman said the Eurocopter AS350 went down
just after 7 p.m. The aircraft was owned by Lib-
erty Helicopters, a company that offers both pri-
vate charters and sightseeing tours popular with
tourists.
In tight House race,
Republican leans on
Trump and his base
TRAFFORD, Pa. — President Donald Trump
invoked “steel and business” today as he and his
son make a final push to sway voters in a special
election for a Pennsylvania House seat that will
reverberate nationally.
Trump has already visited the district twice
to try to buoy Republican Rick Saccone. On the
last day before voting, Trump weighed in again
as Republicans try to fend off an unexpectedly
strong challenge by Democrat Conor Lamb in a
district Trump won easily in 2016.
“The Pittsburgh Post Gazette just endorsed
Rick Saccone for Congress,” Trump tweeted.
“He will be much better for steel and business.
Very strong on experience and what our Coun-
try needs. Lamb will always vote for Pelosi and
Dems....Will raise taxes, weak on Crime and
Border.”
Later today, Donald Trump Jr. is expected
to stump for Saccone at two separate events,
becoming the latest in a line of senior Trump
administration figures to appear with Saccone in
the district.
The 60-year-old state lawmaker has struggled
with an electorate that favored Trump by 20 per-
centage points just 16 months ago. He needs the
residents of Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional
District to nationalize their choice and make him
a proxy for what they already think about Wash-
ington, the president and the issues that define
their party affiliation.
The outcome Tuesday of 2018’s first congres-
sional election is being closely watched as a key
test of support for Republicans ahead of Novem-
ber’s midterms.
Democrats must flip 24 GOP-held seats
to claim a House majority, and an upset will
embolden them as they look to win in places
where the party has lost ground in recent decades.
Latest nor’easter
could dump a foot
or more of snow
BOSTON — Winter-weary New Englanders
are preparing for blizzard conditions, a foot or more
of snow and high winds as the third major nor’eas-
ter in two weeks bears down on the Northeast.
The National Weather Service issued a winter
storm warning today for much of New England
and a winter weather advisory for eastern New
York and Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey,
even as residual power outages from the previous
storm linger.
The storm is expected to hit about midnight and
last through most of the day Tuesday, with snow
accumulating at a rate of 2 inches per hour during
the Tuesday morning commute.
While the first two storms of the month brought
coastal flooding and hundreds of thousands of
power outages, this winter monster is a little bit
different.
More power outages are possible, but they are
not expected to be as widespread as last week.
Only minor coastal flooding is possible.
Wind gusts as high as 65 mph are forecast in
coastal areas.
The Northeast isn’t the only area of the coun-
try dealing with winter weather. As much as 15
inches of snow has fallen in a narrow band stretch-
ing from central Kentucky through southern West
Virginia.
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