In brief: Hurricane season forecast to remain low key
Miami – As the peak of the hurricane season approaches, forecasters predicted with confidence on Thursday that storm activity would remain low this year.
“We have an even higher confidence that this year’s hurricane season will be below normal,” said Gerry Bell, the lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
NOAA predicted that this year would be a below-average season with 90 percent confidence and reduced the ranges of the likely number of storms that would develop from its earlier prediction in May before the start of hurricane season.
Out of six to 10 named tropical storms expected to form this season, one to four are expected to become hurricanes and of those, one or even none is likely to become a major hurricane, Bell said.
Suspect arrested in shooting of officer
Shreveport, La. – A suspect wanted in the shooting death of a Shreveport police officer was taken into custody after a round-the-clock manhunt, Louisiana State Police said Thursday.
Maj. Doug Cain of the Louisiana State Police identified the suspect as Grover Deandre Cannon and said he was wanted not only in the fatal shooting of Officer Thomas LaValley on Wednesday but also in connection with another shooting in July.
LaValley, 29, was shot multiple times while answering a call about a suspicious person at a home in the city’s Queensborough neighborhood.
Shreveport Police Chief Willie Shaw said neighbors told the officer that the man inside the home was wanted. Shaw said the officer didn’t know the man was armed, and he went inside and was shot.
Ontario to take control of airport from LA
Ontario, Calif. – Los Angeles has agreed to give up LA/Ontario International Airport, returning the struggling complex to local control after three decades and ending a long legal battle, it was announced Thursday.
The tentative deal disclosed by the mayors of the two cities calls for Ontario to pay Los Angeles World Airports $190 million over 10 years to reimburse it for the cost of running and improving the airport, located 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
The Ontario International Airport Authority also will assume airport debts, bringing the cost of the deal to about $250 million.
The deal still requires approval from both city councils, both airport authorities and the Federal Aviation Administration. The process is expected to start in October and take about a year.