How a letter from an Iowa farmer convinced Pope John Paul II to visit in 1979 [Video]

The suspect arrested following a mass shooting on Tuskegee University's campus last weekend will remain behind bars indefinitely.During a Friday court appearance, a judge granted the U.S. Attorneys Office's request to have Jaquez Myrick held in the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service until his trial, the date of which has not been set.Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, is accused of having a weapon with a machine gun conversion device and faces a federal charge of possession of a machine gun. The complaint does not accuse him of shooting anyone. No attorneys who could speak on Myricks behalf are listed in the federal court documents, and it was unclear from jail records whether he has one.Court documents reveal that on the night of the shooting, an officer running toward the gunfire found a dead body and then saw Myrick with a Glock pistol.Myrick told special agents he had come from his home in Montgomery to the Tuskegee campus "looking for a party" and was with some friends when the shooting started.He said he purchased the Glock from a pawn shop in Tampa, Florida, and then purchased a machine gun conversion device from a seller he met through the online site Discord, the complaint states. Myrick said he had the package delivered to a vacant residence and installed the device on his pistol.The device was discussed by several Democratic lawmakers in Montgomery Friday as Myrick made his court appearance."This isn't about taking away the rights of gun owners," Rep. Pebblin Warren of House District 82 said. "This is about ridding our streets of illegal gun modifications that can turn regular guns into machine guns."Warren and other representatives are pushing for two pre-filed bills. One, proposed by Rep. Phillip Ensler, is calling for a ban on the devices on a state level."Glock switches are incredibly dangerous when someone pulls the trigger on a gun that has one of those. The bullets can spray in every direction," Ensler said. "Even in the affidavit, Mr. Myrick said that he didn't aim at anyone. But we know that the bullets sprayed in multiple directions, which creates so much chaos and havoc and can injure anybody that's nearby."The other gun bill discussed today would require people to have a permit to carry or buy an assault weapon.The shooting came as the schools 100th homecoming week was winding down. A dozen of the victims were hit by gunfire, with the others injured as they tried to escape the chaotic scene, authorities said. Many of the injured were students.Since then, university officials have announced a series of sweeping security measures that have already begun to be implemented across the campus.

Residents in Perkasie may be smelling a strange odor after a natural gas leak in Quakertown, Bucks County, on Friday, the local fire company said.

Show your support of the Habitat for Humanity Women Build team by attending the Hard Hat & Heels Women Build kickoff party at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25, at DelRay

Fire crews on both coasts of the United States continued battling wildfires on Sunday, including a blaze in New York and New Jersey that killed a parks employee and another in Southern California that destroyed more than 130 structures and damaged dozens more.Firefighters continued making progress against a wildfire northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County that broke out Wednesday and quickly exploded in size due to dry, warm and gusty Santa Ana winds.The Mountain Fire prompted thousands of residents to flee their homes and was 26% contained as of Sunday, up from 21% the previous day. The fires size remains around 32 square miles. The cause is under investigation.The fire continues to creep and smolder in steep rugged terrain. Threats remain to critical infrastructure, highways, and communities, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, better known as Cal Fire.Meanwhile, New York State Police said they were investigating the death of Dariel Vasquez, an 18-year-old state parks employee who died when a tree fell on him Saturday afternoon as he battled a major brush fire in Sterling Forest, located in New York state's Greenwood Lake near the New Jersey line.Rip brother your shift is over job well done, a New York State forestry services post said.Jeremy Oldroyd, a forest ranger with New York state, said that Vasquez died assisting with fire line construction.Wildland firefighting is a very dangerous profession, and we try to take as many precautions as we can mitigate some of the hazards that are out there in the wildland fire environment. But occasionally accidents do happen, he said.New Jersey's state forest fire service said Sunday that the blaze dubbed the Jennings Creek Wildfire was threatening 25 structures, including two New Jersey homes. It had grown to 4.7 square miles and was 10% contained as of Sunday night.Health advisories were issued for parts of New York, including New York City, and northeastern New Jersey due to unhealthy air quality due to smoke from the fires. People were urged to limit strenuous outdoor physical activity if possible; those especially sensitive included the very young and very old and people with ailments such as asthma and heart disease.But there was progress on other fires.New Jersey officials reported 75% containment of a 175-acre fire in the Pompton Lakes area of Passaic County that was threatening 55 homes, although no evacuations had been ordered, as well as progress made on other fires burning in the state amid bone-dry conditions.In New Jersey, Ocean County prosecutors on Saturday announced arson and firearms charges in connection with a 350-acre Jackson Township fire that started Wednesday.They said that fire was sparked by magnesium shards from a shotgun round on the berm of a shooting range. Officials said firing that kind of incendiary or tracer ammunition was barred in the state. The majority of the blaze has been contained, officials reported Friday.In Massachusetts, one wildfire among several fueled by powerful wind gusts and dry leaves has burned hundreds of acres in the Lynn Woods Reservation, a municipal park extending across about 3.4 square miles in the city some 10 miles north of Boston.The Lynn Fire Department cited "a dry spell we have not seen during this time of year in many years.We have had over 400 acres of the woods that have burned so far. We believe we have the fire contained using the main fire roads. We will maintain a presence to ensure the fire doesnt spread further," Lynn Fire Chief Dan Sullivan said in a statement late Sunday.He said windy and dry conditions certainly made it challenging even as he asked people to stay away from the burned-out areas. There are far too many weakened trees, and we dont want the public to get injured," he added.