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QUINCY — An evacuation order for up to 300 people was lifted Wednesday as more firefighters were put to work on a wind-driven wildfire fueled by sagebrush in central Washington, officials said.

A survey Wednesday morning showed the blaze had covered more than 2.7 square miles — not the nearly eight miles officials had feared on Tuesday — and was about 20 percent contained, said Lt. Bob Schwiesow of Douglas County Fire District 2.

The fire had been pushed by 25 mph winds, with higher gusts, as it spread through parts of Grant and Douglas counties near the small town of Trinidad, about 20 miles southeast of Wenatchee.

In Northern California, steep terrain and a lack of roads hindered efforts to get the last of California's wildfires under control. Thick smoke from the fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Junction City grounded firefighting aircraft. The fire covered 98 square miles and was 61 percent contained.

TOWSON — Dr. Victor A. McKusick, a key architect of the Human Genome Project and a winner of the National Medal of Science, has died at 86.

Officials at Johns Hopkins University, where McKusick was a professor of genetics, said he died Tuesday in Towson of complications from cancer.

McKusick, whose work explored the links between genetics and disease, won the top U.S. scientific prize in 2001.

McKusick founded the Johns Hopkins Division of Medical Genetics in 1957 and in 1973 became chairman of its department of medicine and physician-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Officials said he became professor of medical genetics in 1985 and remained active in that role until last year.

NEW YORK — Leaders of a church destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, have surrendered land needed to rebuild the World Trade Center site in a $20 million deal with the government.

The congregation at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church will use the cash to build a new church a few blocks away.

The church's 1,200-square-foot lot had been listed as one of more than a dozen obstacles slowing long-stalled rebuilding at ground zero.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns ground zero, and its leadership has agreed to the $20 million price. The board is expected to consider approving the sale today.

NEW YORK — The bubble might have burst for off-Broadway's "Gazillion Bubbles Show." Someone has stolen the show's specialized soapy bubble solution, which takes two months to make.

A show spokesman said 3.4 tons of bubble solution and 6,000 toys were reported missing in the June 10 break-in at a Hoboken, N.J., warehouse.

The show has only six weeks worth of solution on hand to make the air-filled globes of soapy film.

HONOLULU — All six crew members aboard a B-52 bomber that crashed off Guam were killed, the Air Force said Wednesday as the search effort shifted focus from rescue to recovery of the crew and pieces of the wreckage.

The six crew members were identified as Maj. Christopher M. Cooper, 33, aircraft commander; Maj. Brent D. Williams, 37, navigator; Capt. Michael K. Dodson, 31, co-pilot; 1st Lt. Joshua D. Shepherd, 25, navigator; 1st Lt. Robert D. Gerren, 32, electronic warfare officer; and Col. George Martin, 51, flight surgeon, who also was the deputy commander of 36th Medical Group at Andersen Air Force Base.

The bodies of Cooper and Williams were recovered, the Air Force said.

A panel of Air Force officers is investigating the crash.

The unarmed bomber crashed Monday during a swing around the island as part of Guam Liberation Day celebrations.

Texas executed a man Wednesday who was convicted of killing a woman and her child, while Mississippi put to death a man who took part in the fatal beating of another man.

Derrick Sonnier, 40, shook his head "no" when asked if he had any final statements. He was pronounced dead eight minutes after the lethal injection was administered at the state prison in Huntsville.

In Mississippi, Dale Leo Bishop was executed by lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman for his role in the 1998 killing of Marcus James Gentry. Members of Gentry's family attended.

Bishop apologized to Gentry's relatives and said he loved his own family.