Important Takeaways:
- One person has died and over 600,000 Americans have been left without power after a ‘bomb cyclone’ swept across northwest U.S. Tuesday evening, with strong winds tearing through towns and downed trees striking homes and vehicles.
- A woman in Lynnwood, Washington died Tuesday night when a large tree fell on a homeless encampment, according to South County Fire department.
- ‘Trees are coming down all over the city & falling onto homes,’ the fire department in Bellevue, about 10 miles east of Seattle, posted on the social platform X.
- ‘If you can, go to the lowest floor and stay away from windows. Do not go outside if you can avoid it.’
- More than 15,000 had lost power in Oregon and nearly 19,000 in California.
- As of 8 p.m., the peak wind speed was in Canadian waters, where gusts of 101 mph were reported off the coast of Vancouver Island, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.
- Along the Oregon coast, there were wind gusts as high at 79 mph Tuesday evening, according to the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, while wind speed of 77 mph was recorded at Mount Rainier in Washington.
- In northern California, flood and high wind watches were in effect, with up to 8 inches of rain predicted for parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, North Coast and Sacramento Valley.
- Dangerous flash flooding, rock slides and debris flows were expected, according to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center.
- A winter storm watch was issued for the northern Sierra Nevada above 3,500 feet, where 15 inches of snow was possible over two days.
- A blizzard warning was issued for the majority of the Cascades in Washington, including Mount Rainier National Park, starting Tuesday afternoon, with up to a foot of snow and wind gusts up to 60 mph, according to the weather service in Seattle.
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Important Takeaways:
- Firefighters in California gained a foothold in the battle against a wildfire north of Los Angeles while weather officials on Tuesday issued red flag warnings across the Northeast where blazes turned deadly over the weekend.
- The Mountain Fire in California’s Ventura County burned 20,630 acres of land as of Tuesday, an amount it has held near for several days after 80 mph winds fueled its explosive growth last week. As winds slowed, firefighters managed to bring the containment level to 42%, allowing officials to downgrade several evacuation orders. The fire has torched nearly 200 homes and businesses, injured six people and threatened thousands of structures.
- In the Northeast, weather officials issued red flag warnings from New Jersey to Massachusetts after a bout of modest weekend rainfall failed to douse the region’s wildfire threat.
- The rain helped firefighters gain some control over the Jennings Creek wildfire along the New Jersey-New York border, which has engulfed 3,500 acres and was 20% contained by Monday night. In anticipation of Tuesday’s winds and dry conditions, fire officials fortified control lines along the blaze’s east side.
- Some 82 brush fires were being monitored across Connecticut…
- Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont declared a Stage 2 drought advisory for all eight counties in Connecticut over the weekend, citing “far below normal precipitation levels and ongoing fire danger levels statewide,” according to a statement from his office.
- In Massachusetts, officials said firefighters were battling dozens of wildfires throughout the state. In October, the state’s Department of Fire Service recorded 200 wildland fires, a 1,200% increase from the month’s average total of 15 fires.
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Important Takeaways:
- Satellite imagery of a large fire burning outside of Los Angeles shows dozens of homes that were destroyed as Santa Ana winds helped drive the flames of the Mountain Fire.
- CAL FIRE estimates that more than 20,000 acres have burned, fueled by what officials described as favorable weather conditions.
- “The fire began in the Somis area and was driven by winds into the Camarillo Heights and the Camarillo Estates areas, where numerous homes were damaged or destroyed. Fire remains active on the northeast portion of the fire, moving downslope towards the Santa Clara River…All evacuation orders and warnings remain in place due to the extreme fire danger. Residents are strongly encouraged to heed the warnings and orders,” the agency said in a statement.
- So far, no life-threatening injuries have been reported among firefighters or residents fleeing the flames.
- According to emergency management, more than 10,000 homes and businesses were under evacuation alerts around Ventura County as the fire quickly spread through the hills of South California.
- Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency in Ventura County due to the large wildfire.
- The cause of the Mountain Fire is still unknown, but authorities are working to determine if utility lines played any role in its ignition.
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Important Takeaways:
- A surge of earthquakes is rippling through California and reaching as far as Las Vegas.
- Since Oct. 9, Death Valley National Park has seen 130 earthquakes. Elizabeth Cochran, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, confirmed the number to SFGATE in an email. The park saw the largest earthquakes on Oct. 25, reaching magnitudes 4.7 and 4.5.
- “The cluster is considered a swarm of earthquakes because the sequence contains a large number of events but does not have a clear mainshock (an earthquake clearly larger than the rest in the sequence),” Cochran said.
- The recent shakes haven’t caused damage within the park. Death Valley has multiple fault lines — Cochran said namely the Towne Pass Fault and Northern Death Valley Fault — that cover a large area in eastern California and Nevada. The fault lines are capable of producing earthquakes with a magnitude of 7 or larger.
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Important Takeaways:
- A dystopian scene is emerging in California as dairy farmers battle a ruthless disease.
- Dead cows and calves stacked along roadsides rotting in the heat surrounded by crows, vultures and thick swarms of black flies.
- After wiping out tens of millions of birds worldwide, the H5N1 avian flu is tearing through dairy farms in the US.
- A total of 124 herds have been affected in California alone, in addition to nearly 200 herds spanning 13 other states including Colorado, Idaho and Michigan.
- Some fallen cattle are being intentionally left on the roadside to reduce the chance of the virus spreading on farms.
- There are growing concerns that it could have a knock-on effect on milk production and pricing.
- Eggs have already been hit by shortages and price gouging after the arrival of bird flu in chickens.
- Infected carcasses are being brought to a rendering site – a facility that processes animal remains – to be turned into ‘high protein’ animal feed and fertilizer, or liquids used in fuels, paints, varnishes, lubricants and other industrial products.
- Removing and processing these carcasses eliminates the risk of them passing bird flu onto other animals or humans.
- California is the nation’s largest dairy producer, and this state currently holds the record for the most bird flu-infected cattle herds in a single state, in addition to a high number of cases among dairy workers.
- Even if cows survive the virus, it takes a toll on their milk production.
- Observations suggest that production drops to just 60 percent or 70 percent due to the virus, the LA Times reported.
- The effect this will have on dairy prices remains unclear, but if expert predictions are correct, the dairy industry could become increasingly destabilized as cases and fatalities in cattle soar.
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Important Takeaways:
- A California utility shut off power in 12 counties in the northern part of the state as a major “diablo wind” — notorious in autumn for its hot, dry gusts — spiked the risk of power lines sparking a wildfire.
- About 13,000 customers woke up without electricity Friday after Pacific Gas and Electric shut off power.
- The “diablo wind” is forecast to cause sustained winds reaching 35 mph (56 kph) in many areas, with possible gusts topping 65 mph (104 kph) along mountaintops, according to the National Weather Service.
- The strong winds are expected to last through part of the weekend.
- A total of about 20,000 customers could lose power temporarily in the next couple of days, PG&E said in a statement Thursday.
- “This could end up being the most significant wind event for this year so far,” said meteorologist Brayden Murdock with the service’s Bay Area office. “We want to tell people to be cautious.”
- During a diablo wind, common in the fall, the air is so dry that relative humidity levels plunge, drying out vegetation and making it ready to burn.
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Important Takeaways:
- Newsom said “the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions — so long as a large system deploys it. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology.”
- Google in an emailed statement Sunday thanked Newsom “for helping California continue to lead in building responsible AI tools” and said it looked forward to “working with the Governor’s responsible AI initiative and the federal government on creating appropriate safeguards and developing tools that help everyone.”
- OpenAI said in an emailed statement Sunday that the company appreciated Newsom’s “commitment to maintaining California’s role as a global leader in AI innovation, and look forward to working with him and state lawmakers in well-defined areas of public interest such as deepfakes, child safety, and AI literacy.”
- Scott Wiener, a state senator from San Francisco who authored the bill in California’s Senate, said in a statement Sunday the veto represented a “missed opportunity for California to once again lead on innovative tech regulation — just as we did around data privacy and net neutrality — and we are all less safe as a result.”
- Nonprofit Accountable Tech in an emailed statement said “This veto will not ’empower innovation’ — it only further entrenches the status quo where Big Tech monopolies are allowed to rake in profits without regard for our safety, even as their AI tools are already threatening democracy, civil rights, and the environment with unknown potential for other catastrophic harms,” it added.
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Important Takeaways:
- A 20-year-old man tossed an explosive device into the California courthouse where he was about to be arraigned on a gun charge and the explosion left five people with minor injuries and shut down the court complex and other nearby city buildings, police said.
- The suspect ran away after the explosion and was captured as he tried to get into his vehicle parked nearby.
- The man, who is from Santa Maria, was wearing body armor underneath his jacket, according to Santa Barbara County undersheriff, Craig Bonner, and was booked on attempted murder and explosives charges.
- The suspect had been arrested last July for illegal gun possession and was to be arraigned on Wednesday. When he entered the courthouse and approached the screening station, he tossed a bag that then detonated.
- Bonner said three of the five victims suffered burns. All were treated and released from a hospital. None were court employees.
- Authorities evacuated a five-block radius of businesses, homes and a school after the explosion.
- The courthouse will be closed on Thursday as police complete their investigation
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Important Takeaways:
- A boy who was abducted from a California park in 1951 has been found alive and well on the East Coast thanks to DNA testing and the persistent efforts of his family.
- Luis Armando Albino was just 6 years old when he was kidnapped from the Oakland park where he had been playing with his older brother, lured by a woman who promised to buy him candy.
- Instead, she “transported him out of state and eventually to the East Coast,” the Oakland Police Department (OPD) told NPR.
- State and federal authorities searched extensively for Albino in the wake of his disappearance, but couldn’t find him or his remains.
- All the while, his mother, Antonia Albino — who had moved the family from their native Puerto Rico just the year before — never gave up hope that he was alive.
- Alida Alequin, 63, knew she had a missing uncle because her family talked about it. Alequin decided to take an online DNA test in 2020 “just for fun,” as she told the Mercury News.
- FBI agents were eventually able to interview Albino and take a DNA sample.
- His statements and genetics confirmed what police call “the best possible outcome”: He was indeed the boy who’d been snatched from the park 73 years earlier.
- Details about Albino’s life on the East Coast are relatively scarce, and police say his case remains under investigation.
- He has some memory of the abduction and his cross-country trip, she added, but had never gotten answers from the adults in his life.
- Alequin said her uncle hugged her, gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, “Thank you for finding me.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Gas stoves may soon come with a tobacco-style health warning label in California
- Because a stove’s blue flame releases air pollution into your kitchen, California lawmakers have passed a bill that would require such warning labels on gas stoves for sale in stores and online. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until the end of September to sign the bill into law.
- The legislation comes after a series of lawsuits was filed against stove manufacturers, claiming they should have warned customers about potential health risks.
- Environmental activists are encouraging people to switch to electric stoves, part of a broader campaign to cut climate pollution from buildings
- If Pellerin’s legislation becomes law, it will require a label on gas stoves for sale in stores and online that says, “Gas stoves can release nitrogen dioxide, benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and other harmful pollutants into the air, which can be toxic to people and pets.” The label would also mention associated risks for breathing problems, suggest using a vent hood and say, “Young children, people with asthma, and people with heart or lung disease are especially vulnerable to the toxic effects of combustion pollutants.”
- Similar bills were introduced in Illinois and New York, but unlike California’s version, lawmakers did not pass them out of the legislature.
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