NATIONAL BRIEFS

OREGON: 11 homes gone in wildfire

Families looked for valuables, pets and mementos Wednesday in the ashes of 11 homes destroyed by a wildfire while a homeless man accused of starting the blaze sat in jail. John Thiry, 40, was arrested under a freeway ramp and held on 10 counts of reckless endangerment and 14 of reckless burning, Ashland police said. They said other people at a homeless camp along Interstate 5 saw Thiry running from the initial fire Tuesday afternoon. The fire burned an abandoned barn where homeless people sleep, and the embers blew across the freeway and the blaze raced through a subdivision.

CALIFORNIA: $200M settlement in train crash

Southern California's Metro-link system and Connex Railroad filed court papers Wednesday accepting the maximum $200 million in liability for a 2008 head-on collision between a commuter train and a freight that killed 25 people. The commuter train's engineer was believed to be texting when he ran a red light and collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train in the Chatsworth area.

30 gang members seized

Police descended on a South Los Angeles housing complex Wednesday and arrested 30 gang members indicted for murders, drug dealing and attacks on police officers in a racketeering case. Prosecutors said the Pueblo Bishops Bloods have terrorized the community for generations from the Pueblo del Rio housing complex.

One man patrolled road race

The Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday it had just one ranger patrolling a 50-mile off-road racecourse where a competing truck killed eight spectators gathered close to the Mojave Desert course Aug. 14. The tragedy had raised questions about the federal agency's oversight of such events.

NEW YORK: Wanted suspect surrenders

A man has turned himself in in the fatal shootings of four people Aug. 14 outside a Buffalo restaurant. Community activist Darnell Jackson said Wednesday he persuaded Riccardo McCray to surrender at the WIVB television studio. He said McCray told him he didn't kill anyone.