A Kalskag man has been charged with murder and arson, among other charges, following the deaths of two people who were discovered among the remains of a house fire in Upper Kalskag last week. According to Alaska State Troopers, 26-year-old Levi D. Levi was charged Sunday with two counts of murder, one count of arson, three counts of third-degree assault and violating his felony probation. Levi was also given $500,000 bail. Additionally, 18-year-old Alexandria Evan was charged with two counts of third-degree assault. The two were arrested following a report on Dec. 28, 2022, of a disturbance in the rural community located on the Kuskokwim River. Troopers say they received an "active disturbance" report around 8:30 a.m. involving a person in the home with a knife with the family barricaded in a bedroom.  

PHOTOS: Residents saw black smoke again Monday afternoon after a flare up fire at the warehouse fire in Evansville. On Saturday, a fire broke out at an Evansville warehouse on North Garvin Street, burning an estimated 260,000 square feet. For nearby neighbors like Samuel Dickenson, it was a little too close for comfort. "I can see the smoke first off, and I can tell ‘okay, something's up,' and then all I see are these huge chunks of ash, like as big as my hand, just falling from the sky like snow," says Dickenson. Monday marks three days since the initial blaze took hold, and while there are still hotspots rekindling here and there, things look remarkably tamer. Now, those who live nearby can take a step back and remember the fear and uncertainty as the fire was progressing.  

Donating blood can save lives, but in the future, doctors may also prescribe rolling up a sleeve and exposing a vein for the health of certain donors. Research from Australia published in 2021 suggests blood donations reduce the donor's concentration of a class of toxic substances called "per- and polyfluoroakyl substances," or PFAS, popularly called "forever chemicals." PFAS don't really last "forever," but they earned the moniker because some stay in the body for almost 10 years and accumulate in organs, blood and bones with repeated exposures. Recent research link PFAS to higher cancer rates, decreased birth weight, hormone disruption, elevated blood pressure and increased incidence of preeclampsia in pregnant women. Firefighters are at higher risk of PFAS exposure due to the chemicals in foams and protective gear as well as in household products burned in fires.  

A California woman was saved after her car crashed off a 200-foot cliff on Christmas Day thanks in part to her iPhone's location tracking feature, the San Bernardino County Fire Department said. The woman likely crashed her vehicle driving home from a family gathering overnight on Christmas Day, according to a press release from the fire department. Family members grew concerned when they didn't hear from her on the morning of Dec. 26, so used her phone's tracking functionality to see it was located off the side of a California highway, the release said. Apple products are sold with software called Find My, which can be used to track Apple products or other people's products with their consent. After locating the woman on the app, the family called 911 to report an accident, which prompted firefighters to find the car off California Highway 18. The fire department said the vehicle was 200 feet below the roadway on its side, and they began staging a rescue around roughly 7 a.m.  

Emmanuel Mielke was nervous when he started his first day as a firefighter in February at a station in downtown Madison. But he had a head start. Mielke already met some of his colleagues when they were his instructors at the NextGen Responders Academy, an emergency medical responder and fire training certification program for high schoolers. His first day also marked a first for the city fire department. Mielke was the first candidate they hired from the NextGen program, which launched in 2017 with the hope to draw more young people into the fire service. "It's a blessing. It's not very common for young people to get into the fire service and have a full career going at the age of 21," Mielke said, adding that many volunteer or work part-time at stations. High school students can enroll in NextGen's free classes at their local tech college.