Random News and Notes 18 October

On this date:

• 1648 – The “shoemakers of Boston”–the first labor organization in what would become the United States–was authorized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• 1985 – Edict of Nantes lifted by Louis XIV. The edict, signed at Nantes, France, by King Henry IV in 1598, gave the Huguenots religious liberty, civil rights and security. By revoking the Edict of Nantes, Louis XIV abrogated their religious liberties.
• 1813 – The Allies defeat Napoleon Bonaparte at Leipzig.
• 1860 – British troops occupying Peking, China, loot and then burn the Yuanmingyuan, the fabulous summer residence built by the Manchu emperors in the 18th century.
• 1867 – The Alaska territory is formally transferred to the U.S. from Russian control.
• 1867 – The rules for American football are formulated at meeting in New York among delegates from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton and Yale universities.
• 1883 – The weather station at the top of Ben Nevis, Scotland, the highest mountain in Britain, is declared open. Weather stations were set up on the tops of mountains all over Europe and the Eastern United States in order to gather information for the new weather forecasts.
• 1898 – Only one year after Spain granted Puerto Rico self-rule, American troops raise the U.S. flag over the Caribbean nation, formalizing U.S. authority over the island’s one million inhabitants.

• 1910 – M. Baudry is the first to fly a dirigible across the English Channel–from La Motte-Breil to Wormwood Scrubbs.
• 1912 – The First Balkan War breaks out between the members of the Balkan League–Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro–and the Ottoman Empire.
• 1916 – Private Harry Farr of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) is executed for cowardice after he refused to go forward into the front-line trenches on the Western Front during World War I.
• 1918 – Czechs seize Prague and renounce Hapsburg’s rule.
• 1919 – Madrid opens a subway system.
• 1921 – Russian Soviets grant Crimean independence.
• 1939 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt bans war submarines from U.S. ports and waters.
• 1944 – Lt. General Joseph Stilwell is recalled from China by president Franklin Roosevelt.
• 1950 – The First Turkish Brigade arrives in Korea to assist the U.N. forces fighting there.
• 2007 – Suicide attack on a motorcade in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 139 and wounds 450; the subject of the attack, Pakistan’s former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is not harmed.

We start today’s news in Canada where a massive explosion has rocked the CFB Wainwright Training Area east of Edmonton. The incident occurred around 1600 local yesterday. There are unconfirmed reports that an artillery shell or some sort of shoulder fired rocket hit a natural gas wellhead causing the initial explosion and adding to the resultant fire.

The casualty count is unknown at this time. They are being described as “significant”. This is a breaking story and will be updated.

A 34-year-old woman from Garden City Kansas drove her Chevy Silverado onto Field 4 at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita during a youth soccer game. She killed a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man from McPherson. Eleven others, including five children, suffered injuries from minor to severe but are expected to survive.

The driver stayed at the scene with two juveniles in her vehicle and was taken into custody. Police have interviewed over 30 witnesses and are investigating the cause. Charges are pending.

A rappelling accident took the life of an Airman at the UTSA-Navy football game as part of the Salute to Armed Forces event. Four airmen from the 6th Combat Training Squadron were descending from the ceiling when one slid rapidly halfway down, striking turf near midfield. Medical teams treated him on-site for 10 minutes before rushing him to a hospital.

The U.S. Air Force later confirmed his death from the injuries. He has not been identified as of this writing.

There are cows on the loose in Kansas City. A semi-truck carrying over 120 cattle overturned on I-70 near Admiral Boulevard, scattering animals into neighborhoods and highways while injuring one person from each vehicle involved. Fire and police crews struggled to round up the loose cattle, which roamed from Pershing Road to Kansas City, Kansas.

The east side of the downtown loop remains closed into the morning.

This just in from the MVAP weather desk; a nor’easter is parking itself just off the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the wind and waves are threatening Hatteras Island. Meteorologists expect gusts near 50 mph on Monday and waves over 20 feet through Wednesday, with the greatest dangers on the ocean side of the Outer Banks. A mandatory evacuation for visitors remains on Hatteras Island, ferry service is limited, and N.C. Highway 12 could become impassable from ocean overwash, risking stranding for residents.

Coastal flooding of 2 to 4 feet above ground is possible through Tuesday, and officials urge monitoring updates while avoiding coastal travel through midweek.