Another church fire in Alabama ruled arson, bringing total to 10

BIRMINGHAM -- A weekend fire at a Baptist church was ruled arson Sunday, the 10th in a recent string of blazes set at churches in rural Alabama, authorities said.

The Saturday afternoon blaze severely damaged the Beaverton Freewill Baptist Church in northwest Alabama, near the Mississippi line.

"It's definitely arson," said Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the state fire marshal's office, which was investigating whether the fire was connected to the other blazes that have destroyed or damaged nine churches since Feb. 2.

Saturday's fire was the only one that wasn't set in the pre-dawn hours.

Investigators have said they don't know a motive, but there is no racial pattern. Five of the churches had white congregations and five black. All were Baptist, the dominant faith in the region, and mostly in isolated country settings.

On Sunday, a federal investigator said authorities believe -- based on witness reports and behavioral profilers -- two white men were responsible for the fires.

Evidence from one of the earlier fires indicates the perpetrators may have been briefly trapped inside the building and may have been hurt, said Jim Cavanaugh, ATF regional director./AP

Inmates continue fights, dozens injured

SAN BERNARDINO -- More than a dozen county jail inmates were slashed during fights that occurred as they were being transported to court, authorities said.

Thirteen inmates suffered minor cuts and injuries from razor blades when a fight broke out between black and Latino inmates on a bus headed from the county's Rancho Cucamonga jail to the San Bernardino courthouse Friday morning, sheriff's spokeswoman Robin Haynal said.

Three were hospitalized, and the rest were treated at the scene. Sixty-four inmates were on the bus, Haynal said.

In a separate incident, one inmate suffered a 3-inch cut to his arm Friday as he waited in the holding area of the Fontana Courthouse, shortly after getting off a bus from the jail, Haynal said.

He was not seriously injured.

Haynal would not say whether the incidents were related to a spate of violence that has erupted between blacks and Latinos at Los Angeles County jails./AP

Small plane crashes into California home;

two dead on plane, two missing in home

ROSEVILLE -- A single-engine plane crashed into a suburban home Sunday, killing both people aboard and sparking a fire that gutted the house, authorities said.

Two people believed to be in the house were missing.

"There was a huge boom and instant fire," said Peter Hugenroth, who lives nearby. "By the time I got to the crash there was no sign of the plane. Everything was engulfed in flames."

The names of the people on board the plane have not been released. The pilot wasn't communicating with air traffic controllers at the time of the crash, said Roseville Police spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther.

"The pilot appeared to be coming down low for some kind of maneuver that brought him to within 500 feet of the rooftops," Gunther said. "And then he appeared to lose control and crashed into one of the houses."/AP

The crash also set fire to two neighboring homes, said Bruce Nelson, an operations officer for the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles.

"The main house has substantial damage but the other two, their damage isn't going to be as much," he said.

Roseville is about 16 miles northeast of Sacramento.