American Scene

CALIFORNIA

Wildfire closes part of forest

SANTA MARIA | Authorities closed nearly 111 square miles of the Los Padres National Forest because of a wildfire that could pose a threat to ranches in northern Santa Barbara County.

Forest Service spokesman Maeton Freel said the mostly inaccessible backcountry was closed Tuesday.

A four-day wildfire in the San Rafael Wilderness area of the forest has scorched more than 32 square miles of brushy canyon lands and crested a ridge a few miles from ranches.

Authorities said an evacuation warning was issued for 14 ranches. There was no imminent threat, but ranchers were moving their horses and other livestock.

FLORIDA

Man convicted of groping Minnie

ORLANDO | A man has been convicted of groping a woman in a Minnie Mouse costume at Walt Disney World.

John William Moyer, 60, of Cressona, Pa., told the judge he is innocent. His son said before sentencing that his father would never inappropriately touch a woman.

He was convicted Tuesday of misdemeanor battery and sentenced to write the victim an apology, serve 180 days of probation and complete 50 hours of community service. Mr. Moyer also must pay $1,000 in court costs and possibly undergo a mental evaluation.

The victim said she had to do everything possible to keep Mr. Moyer’s hands off her breasts.

GEORGIA

Civil rights icon to get Medal of Freedom

ATLANTA | A civil rights icon who worked alongside Martin Luther King and helped lead the Montgomery bus boycott is headed to Washington to receive the Medal of Freedom from President Obama.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, 87, delivered the benediction at Mr. Obama’s inauguration in January and now joins 15 others who will be honored in a ceremony Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s unspeakable to be included with such an illustrious group of people,” Mr. Lowery said. “It’s indescribable.”

Mr. Lowery, a Huntsville, Ala., native who led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for two decades, will be honored along with Billie Jean King, retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

MASSACHUSETTS

Transgender inmate denied electrolysis

BOSTON | A Boston federal judge has denied a murderer’s request to continue hair-removal treatments as the inmate awaits a ruling on whether the state will be forced to pay for a sex-change operation.

U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf said Tuesday that Michelle Kosilek has not shown she will suffer “serious harm” without further electrolysis treatments. The judge said he may revisit the decision.

Kosilek was born as Robert and is serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife, Cheryl, in 1990.

Judge Wolf ruled in 2002 that Kosilek was entitled to treatment for gender-identity disorder, but stopped short of ordering taxpayer-funded surgery. Kosilek sued again in 2005. State prison officials oppose the request.

NEVADA

Jackson doctor bought anesthetic in Vegas

LAS VEGAS | The potent anesthetic that Michael Jackson’s doctor gave him as a sleep aid came from a Las Vegas pharmacy searched Tuesday by federal drug agents and police, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press.

Authorities are investigating Mr. Jackson’s June 25 death as a manslaughter and think the anesthetic propofol he was given at his rented Los Angeles mansion was a major factor. Propofol normally is used to render patients unconscious for medical procedures and is supposed to be administered only by anesthesia professionals in medical settings.

As investigators build their case, a central issue is what drugs were in Mr. Jackson’s system when he died and how those medications were obtained. Mr. Jackson’s physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, has told investigators that he administered propofol and multiple sedatives to Mr. Jackson in the hours before he died, the law enforcement official told the AP.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

NEW YORK

Wrong-way crash victim leaves hospital

WHITE PLAINS | The 5-year-old boy who survived the wrong-way crash that killed eight people on a New York highway has left the hospital.

David Billig, spokesman for the Westchester Medical Center, said Tuesday that Bryan Schuler, of West Babylon, was no longer in the hospital.

Bryan is the son of Diane Schuler, who drove her minivan the wrong way and caused a three-car collision on the Taconic Parkway July 26. The crash killed Mrs. Schuler, her daughter, three nieces and three men in another vehicle. An autopsy found she was drunk and high on marijuana.

Bryan was the only survivor in the minivan.

OHIO

’78 transplant recipient dies of cancer

DAYTON | Tony Huesman, a heart transplant recipient who lived a record 31 years with a single donated organ, died of cancer Sunday, his heart still going strong, his widow said. He was 51.

“He had diabetes and cancer,” Carol Huesman said Monday. “His heart — believe it or not — held out. His heart never gave up until the end, when it had to give up.”

Mr. Huesman got a heart transplant in 1978 at Stanford University. That was just 11 years after the world’s first heart transplant was performed in South Africa.

He became the longest-living American recipient of a single transplanted heart in 2000, when a patient who received a transplant a year before his procedure had to undergo a second transplant.

At his death, Mr. Huesman was listed as the world’s longest survivor of a single transplanted heart both by Stanford and the Richmond-based United Network for Organ Sharing.

TEXAS

Police: Drug informant was killed by informant

EL PASO | A 30-year-old man charged with orchestrating the contract killing of a Mexican drug cartel lieutenant who was cooperating with U.S. authorities was himself a government informant, police said.

An El Paso police official said Tuesday that Ruben Rodriguez Dorado was an informant working with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement service, as was a man he is accused of killing, Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana. The police official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to divulge details of the investigation.

Police on Tuesday charged Mr. Rodriguez and two other men, including a U.S. Army soldier, with murdering Mr. Gonzalez outside his home in May.

The police official said authorities are seeking the arrest of a fourth man in Mexico who is thought to have ordered the hit.

From wire dispatches and staff reports.