SANTA ANA, CALIF.
Killer sentenced to death
A Southern California man who killed two people and dismembered one of them as part of a plot to steal money to pay for his wedding and honeymoon was sentenced to death Friday. Orange County Superior Court Judge John Conley followed the recommendation of a jury that in January decided that Daniel Patrick Wozniak, 32, should be put to death after deliberating for just an hour. Wozniak was debt-ridden in 2010 when he shot a neighbor, Samuel Herr of Costa Mesa, to steal $50,000 the Army veteran had saved from service in Afghanistan, prosecutors said. Wozniak then used a ruse to kill Herr’s friend, Julie Kibuishi, and tried to make it appear Herr had raped and killed her, then fled, prosecutors said. He also dumped Herr’s dismembered body in a park.
BARSTOW, CALIF.
Boy on scooter held in arson
Police say a 12-year-old boy riding a push scooter set fire to the arts-and-crafts section of a Wal-Mart store in the Southern California desert, leading to losses of more than $1 million. The store in Barstow remained closed for a third day Friday because of the damages. Barstow police said the boy, who was not with his parents, set the fire with a lighter.
DES MOINES, IOWA
Cities mobilize for flooding
Authorities in several Iowa cities were mobilizing resources Friday to handle flooding from a rain-swollen river that has forced evacuations in several communities upstream, while a Wisconsin town was recovering from storms now blamed for two deaths. More rain fell Thursday night and early Friday in the area, and the National Weather Service said the threat of more rain and flash-flooding remained high along the Cedar River in northeastern Iowa.
PORTLAND, ORE.
Hospitals helping homeless
Five major hospitals in Portland, Ore., and a nonprofit health care plan said Friday they will donate a combined $21.5 million toward the construction of nearly 400 housing units for the city’s burgeoning homeless and low-income population — a move hailed by national housing advocates as the largest private investment of its kind in the nation. The money from the private health care providers will be part of a larger $69 million capital construction plan that comes as the booming Pacific Northwest city struggles with a seemingly intractable homeless problem.
Compiled from wire reports