Threat of flooding forces evacuationsSAN FRANCISCO — Authorities urged thousands of people in Northern California to evacuate homes as rivers swollen by four days of heavy rain threatened to crest above flood level, even as another day of showers was forecast for today.About 2,000 people in Wilton, a rural California community near Sacramento, were asked to leave their homes Tuesday evening, as emergency crews and officials worked to try to bolster a Cosumnes River levee in Sacramento County. The river was projected to overflow its banks this morning.Sacramento County emergency services official Mary Jo Flynn said water was expected to spill over the levee, flooding low-lying roads and buildings with up to a foot of water.Flynn pointed out many of the homes along the path of a possible flood are built on berms or sit on relatively higher ground.An evacuation center opened Tuesday evening in neighboring Elk Grove but some residents said they planned to stay put.“We have no concerns,” Lill Nichols, who with her husband runs a horse farm near the river, told the Sacramento Bee. “We have animals and can’t evacuate anyway.”Some 3,000 Sonoma County residents were under an evacuation advisory as the Russian River rose again under pounding rain. Officials red-tagged seven homes, ordering residents out, when a rain-soaked embankment came crashing down.

Police continue manhunt in FloridaORLANDO, Fla. — A suspect who’s the focus of a manhunt following the fatal shooting of an Orlando police officer has a lengthy criminal record dating back two decades.Authorities today were starting a third day of the manhunt for 41-year-old Markeith Loyd, who had been wanted in the weeks leading up to the sergeant’s killing for questioning in the slaying of his pregnant ex-girlfriend.Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said Tuesday that deputies came close to catching Loyd but he had eluded them, and arrest warrants were being prepared for people who likely helped him.Authorities raised the reward for information leading to his arrest from $60,000 to $100,000.Master Sgt. Debra Clayton was fatally shot Monday after she approached Loyd in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart store in northwest Orlando.

Fox News settled harassment caseNEW YORK — Fox News settled a sexual harassment complaint by a former employee in September against its biggest prime-time star, Bill O’Reilly, and the division’s co-president, Bill Abernethy.Former Fox News personality Juliet Huddy claimed in a letter from her lawyers sent last August that her opportunities at the company ended in retaliation for not submitting to sexual advances by O’Reilly that began in 2011. She also said Abernethy had made unwanted advances toward her.No lawsuit was filed against O’Reilly or Abernethy, who was promoted to his post in August after the letter was received and was signed to a long-term contract following the settlement payment made in September. The agreement was first reported on the website Lawnewz.com.The settlement shows that the sexual harassment issue continues to shadow Fox News even after the ouster of former Chairman Roger Ailes, who was accused of sexual harassment in a lawsuit by former anchor Gretchen Carlson.