uHUSBAND CITED FOR BASE JUMPING AFTER WIFE’S DEATH:  ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah (AP) — Officials are citing the husband of a Utah woman who died when her parachute failed to open at a peak overlooking Zion National Park.

Park spokeswoman Aly Baltrus said 29-year-old Clayton Butler was cited Tuesday for jumping from a natural feature. Baltrus says the misdemeanor carries a fine of up to $5,000 and six months in jail.

Butler and his 28-year-old wife, Amber Bellows, had hiked to the top of Mount Kinesava on Saturday. Authorities say Bellows jumped first about 4 p.m. but fell about 2,000 feet to her death when her parachute failed.

Butler jumped next but couldn’t reach his wife’s body. It was recovered the next day.

BASE jumping is banned in the park. BASE jumping is a sport in which people parachute from buildings, bridges and other features.

The couple were married in Salt Lake City two weeks before Bellows’ death.



u2 HEADED TO HOSPITAL AFTER DEADLY ORE. AVALANCHE :  GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Two injured backcountry skiers from Washington state who survived a deadly avalanche in northeastern Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains are being towed on rescue sleds to a nearby town where a National Guard helicopter can pick them up.

Baker County Undersheriff Warren Thompson said late Wednesday afternoon that rescuers were able to get the man and woman who both suffered broken legs off a steep slope where they’d spent the night.

The sleds were hitched to a snowcat and a snowmobile and towed about a dozen miles to the community of Halfway. A National Guard helicopter was to meet them at the high school there and fly them to Baker City.

The avalanche Tuesday killed two others in the party of six skiers and two guides.



uOBAMA RAISES MINIMUM WAGE FOR CONTRACT WORKERS: WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama increased the minimum wage for a few hundred thousand federal contractors on Wednesday, then pressed the divided Congress to pass broader legislation that would apply to all workers. Obama declared, “It’s the right thing to do.”

Obama first announced the executive order to boost some contractor wages during his State of the Union address last month. He signed the measure Wednesday in a White House ceremony where he was flanked by Americans who would make more money if lawmakers take more sweeping action.

White House officials concede that the executive order, which raises the hourly wage from $7.25 to $10.10, only applies to a small percentage of the more than 2 million federal contractors. But officials are hoping it generates momentum for Obama’s proposal on Capitol Hill, particularly as both parties try to focus on issues like income inequality and economic mobility.



uBOSTON POLICE, LOOKING FOR 1 MAN, RESCUE ANOTHER: BOSTON (AP) — Police searching Boston Harbor for a 24-year-old man who has been missing since Saturday ended up pulling a different man from the frigid water.

Officers were searching for Eric Munsell behind the Long Wharf Marriott at about 11 p.m. Monday. Munsell was last seen Saturday night at a bar in the nearby Financial District.

Police checking the water saw a man struggling to clamber up the stone wall.

Detective Thomas Leahy tells the Boston Herald he reached down and pulled the man to safety. He was wearing just a coat and boxer shorts.

The man did not speak English, and it’s unclear how he ended up in the water. His name hasn’t been released.

He was taken to the hotel and later to a hospital. Munsell remains missing.



uMAN EXECUTED IN BOY’S RAPE, MURDER: STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man was executed Wednesday night in Florida for raping and killing a 9-year-old boy 18 years ago, a death that spurred the victim’s parents to press nationwide for stronger sexual predator confinement laws and better handling of child abduction cases.

Juan Carlos Chavez, 46, was pronounced dead at 8:17 p.m. Wednesday after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, according to Gov. Rick Scott’s office.

Chavez abducted Jimmy Ryce at gunpoint after the boy got off a school bus on Sept. 11, 1995, in rural Miami-Dade County. Testimony showed Chavez raped the boy, shot him when he tried to escape, then dismembered his body and hid the parts in concrete-covered planters.



uINDIANAPOLIS AIRPORT REJECTS BIEBER-INSPIRED ART:  INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Officials at Indianapolis International Airport have grounded artwork inspired by troubled pop star Justin Bieber.

The airport had hired Columbus, Ind., native Tre Reising to make an art display for one of the passenger concourses.

An airport spokesman tells WISH-TV that managers expected a display about hip hop and art. Instead, Reising made multicolor letters of the word “belieber” that the singer uses as a social media tagline.

The airport is still paying Reising the $500 promised for the artwork.

The artist tells WTHR-TV he understands the airport’s decision. He says he thought travelers would have fun taking photos of the artwork and sharing them online.

Reising’s taking the piece back to his current home in New York City and hopes to eventually put it on display.



FORMER VP MONDALE UNDERGOES HEART SURGERY: MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Vice President Walter Mondale underwent heart surgery Wednesday, his family announced.

Mondale, 86, underwent an unspecified procedure at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, his family said in a brief statement that called the surgery “successful.”

“He is resting comfortably and is expected to make a full recovery,” the statement said. The family asked for privacy.

Mondale was vice president to Jimmy Carter and ran as the Democratic nominee against Ronald Reagan in 1984. He later served as ambassador to Japan in the 1990s.

The surgery comes just days after his wife of 58 years, Joan, died at age 83 after a long illness.

Walter Mondale was a Democratic senator from Minnesota when he was elected Carter’s vice president in 1976. As Carter’s No. 2, Mondale was seen as a trusted adviser and credited with making the office of the vice president more relevant.