AP National News

AP Week in Pictures: Global

AP

JULY 31 – AUG. 6, 2021 From wildfires in California and Greece, to drought conditions in Argentina, to the Italian artistic swimming team competing in Japan, this photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images from around the world made or published by The Associated Press in the past week. The selection was curated by AP photo editor Patrick…

Ex-Nevada inmate convicted in 1984 Colorado hammer killings

The Denver Post

A former Nevada prison inmate has been convicted of first-degree murder in the 1984 hammer and knife slayings of three Colorado family members, including a 7-year-old girl. The Denver Post reports that sixty-year-old Alex Ewing was found guilty by a jury on Friday. The verdicts came after DNA evidence pointed to Ewing in as a suspect in the long-unsolved slayings. Prosecutors alleged that Ewing used a hammer and a knife to kill 27-year-old Bruce Bennett, his 26-year-old wife Debra and their daughter Melissa inside the Bennetts’ suburban Denver home. A 3-year-old daughter named Vanessa survived severe injuries. Melissa Bennett was also raped.

Colorado mine owner seeks US compensation over 2015 spill

Durango Herald

The owner of an inactive Colorado mine that was the source of a 2015 spill that fouled rivers in three Western states has sued the U.S. government. The lawsuit filed this week seeks nearly $3.8 million in compensation for use of his land in the federal cleanup. The Durango Herald reports that Todd Hennis claims the Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t paid him for using land near the Gold King Mine since the blowout. A EPA-led crew inadvertently triggered the spill during excavation work. It sent a bright-yellow plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals into rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The EPA didn’t immediately comment on the lawsuit.