2 dead in gas leak at Texas oil refinery | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Hot air balloon brings down NM radio tower

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — A hot air balloon struck and collapsed a radio tower Friday in Albuquerque, NM, during the city’s festival, the second time in 20 years that a balloon has come into contact with the tower.

There were no reports of injuries, said Kevin Carhart, spokesman for the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. The balloon, which had three people on board, landed safely in a field after hitting the KKOB-AM tower.

Aerostar International Inc.’s S-57A balloon. left a park as part of the 52nd Albuquerque International Balloon Festival, the Federal Aviation Administration said, which is investigating.

The height of the tower was not clear.

A balloon struck a power line earlier this week in Albuquerque, leaving nearly 13,000 customers without power for nearly an hour.

2 dead in gas leak at Texas oil refinery

DEER PARK, Texas — Two workers killed when hydrogen sulfide leaked at a Houston-area oil refinery were employees of a subcontractor performing maintenance work, the head of oil company Pemex said Friday Mexican state that operates the plant.

The two “were in the directly affected area, and who received the direct impact of the gas,” said Pemex director Víctor Rodríguez during a press conference in Mexico City. The two bodies have been recovered.

Mexican Energy Secretary Luz Elena González said there is “no longer any risk” as a result of the leak and its cause is under investigation.

Pemex earlier said in a statement that operations had been “proactively stopped” at two units of the oil refinery in order to mitigate the impact.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the two workers died and nearly three dozen others were transported to hospitals or treated at the scene after the hydrogen sulfide leak Thursday at the Deer Park.

No names have been released, and Gonzalez said the remains of the two dead workers were taken by the Harris County medical examiner.

Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that can be toxic at high levels. Gonzalez said the gas release occurred during work on a flange at the facility.

City officials issued a shelter-in-place order at the site, but lifted it hours later after air monitoring showed no risk to the surrounding community, Deer Park Mayor Jerry Mouton said.

“Other than the smell, we’ve had no verifiable air monitoring to support that anything has gone outside the facility,” Mouton said.

Montana, on January 6, sentenced to 2 years in prison

HELENA, Mont. — A Montana businessman has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in the January 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol.

Henry Muntzer, 55, of Dillon, Mont., was also sentenced Thursday to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.

Muntzer was arrested two weeks after the siege based on social media posts and videos taken inside the Capitol, according to court records.

He was found guilty in February of obstructing official proceedings and civil disorder, both felonies, after a trial before U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb.

Muntzer was also found guilty of four misdemeanors. However, the charge of obstructing official proceedings was dismissed before sentencing because a US Supreme Court ruling in June made that charge more difficult to prosecute.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Muntzer spent about 38 minutes inside the Capitol.

Muntzer was involved in physical confrontations with law enforcement officers near the Senate chamber and in the Capitol rotunda, resisted law enforcement efforts to remove him, and was among the last to yes, prosecutors said.

Possible box of dynamite being inspected

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Authorities in East Tennessee continued to investigate a container suspected of containing large amounts of dynamite on Friday, warning residents that evacuations would likely remain in place through the night.

Residents within 3,000 feet of CMC Recycling have been encouraged to evacuate since Thursday after an employee discovered a 5-by-5-foot steel box of suspected dynamite. In all, more than 1,000 people have voluntarily evacuated the area, Knoxville Police Department spokesman Scott Erland said Friday.

Erland said the employee was using a torch to open the box and it caused the contents of the box to start smoking, prompting the employee to call authorities. However, it was still unclear what was in the container.

“Until we believe otherwise, we’re going to treat it like it’s going to explode,” he said.

According to police, there are no signs of foul play and no evidence that the box was left at the site “maliciously”. It is not known how long the box had been left at CMC Recycling, but it is believed to have been there for at least several days, Erland said.

The Knoxville Police Department has consulted with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.