Chesapeake Agrees To New Board

DENVER (AP) — Bob and Barbara Schmidt dashed to their home on a dirt road in a heavily wooded area northeast of Colorado Springs as smoke from what would become the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history filled the air. The couple, Marc and Robin Herklotz, told the Schmidts they hadn't gotten automated calls from authorities ordering them to evacuate and that, while they were packing and monitoring the approaching blaze on TV, they weren't panicking. Marc Allen Herklotz, 52, and Robin Lauran Herklotz, 50, worked at Air Force Space Command, which operates military satellites, and were based at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, the Air Force said in a written statement. In California, officials said it was an unattended campfire near a main route into Yosemite National Park that grew into a blaze that led to the evacuations of 1,500 people from 800 homes. A wind-whipped wildfire in Arizona grew to nearly 8 square miles by Tuesday evening and was within 400 yards of some homes west of Prescott, authorities said.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys personally interviewed 58 potential jurors over seven days about their media exposure to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman last year in Sanford, Fla. They have asked 40 jury candidates to return for the next round of questioning and dismissed scores of others.

The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator. In this June 11, 2013, photo, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington.

State and local police spent hours at the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on Tuesday night as another group of officers searched an industrial park about a mile away where a body was discovered the day before. FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2012 file photo, New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez (81) holds his helmet as he steps onto the field before an NFL football game between the New England Patriots and the Houston Texans in Foxborough, Mass.

Afghanistan's president said Wednesday he will not pursue peace talks with the Taliban unless the United States steps out of the negotiations, while also insisting the militant group stop its violent attacks on the ground after it claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that killed four Americans. Muhammad Naeem a representative of the Taliban speaks during a press conference at the official opening of their office in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, June 18, 2013.