Another fire ignites in Ventura County California; meanwhile New York and Pennsylvania under winter storm warning

Fire Weather Outlook SoCal - FOX Weather

Important Takeaways:

  • A new wildfire broke out in Ventura County late Monday night as thousands of firefighters in California continued their work to extinguish other deadly blazes that have scorched thousands of acres of land in the Los Angeles area since last week.
  • The wildfire, which is called the Auto Fire, ignited in Ventura and was about 56 acres with 0% containment.
  • This new fire comes as forecasters issued a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” Fire Weather Warning in Southern California due to dry conditions, low relative humidity and the return of dangerous Santa Ana winds.
  • [Meanwhile] Nearly 1 million people in portions of New York and Pennsylvania are under a Lake-Effect Snow Warning as more winter weather blasts the Northeast.

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Hundreds of Pro-Palestine protestors marched in New York after terror attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas

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Important Takeaways:

  • Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in New York City on New Year’s Day for “intifada,” blocking Sixth Avenue in Manhattan just hours after a terror attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, and an explosion in Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • The Times of Israel reported:
  • Attendees chanted “Resistance is glorious — we will be victorious,” “We will honor all our martyrs,” and “Gaza, you make us proud.” They carried signs that said “Zionism is cancer,” “No war on Iran,” and “End all US aid to Israel.”
  • “There is only one solution — Intifada revolution,” they chanted, using a common refrain at anti-Israel rallies in the US. “Intifada,” Arabic for “uprising,” is associated with the Second Intifada, a period of terror attacks in Israel in the early 2000s marked by suicide bombings.
  • A handful of pro-Israel counter-protesters showed up to wave Israeli and American flags on the sidelines of the demonstration, while heckling the anti-Israel activists. A Jewish retiree led chants of “Get a job” directed at the protesters.

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Governor Kathy Hochul signed bill into law; “New York has fired a shot that will be heard round the world”

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Important Takeaways:

  • New York state will fine fossil fuel companies a total of $75 billion over the next 25 years to pay for damage caused to the climate under a bill Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law on Thursday.
  • “New York has fired a shot that will be heard round the world: The companies most responsible for the climate crisis will be held accountable,” New York Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who co-sponsored the bill, said in a statement.
  • The law is intended to shift some of the recovery and adaptation costs of climate change from individual taxpayers to oil, gas and coal companies that the law says are liable. The money raised will be spent on mitigating the impacts of climate change, including adapting roads, transit, water and sewage systems, buildings and other infrastructure.
  • Fossil fuel companies will be fined based on the amount of greenhouse gases they released into the atmosphere between 2000 and 2018, to be paid into a Climate Superfund beginning in 2028.
  • It will apply to any company that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation determines is responsible for more than 1 billion tons of global greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Repairing damage and adapting for extreme weather caused by climate change will cost New York more than $500 billion by 2050, Krueger said in her statement.

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Pennsylvania and New York dig out of Lake Effect snow storm where some cities saw as much as 54 inches of snow

Lake Effect Snow

Important Takeaways:

  • The spectacular snow event fueled by brutally cold air and particularly warm lake water has been going on since Friday, with snowfall rates exceeding 4 inches per hour at times into Saturday. Thunder and lightning accompanied the snowfall, which dumped more than 5 feet on New York’s Tug Hill Plateau. Barnes Corners, just south of Watertown, New York, tallied 65.5 inches. Nearby Montague got 60 inches.
  • Elsewhere in New York, Cassadaga — about 10 miles inland from Lake Erie and midway between Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania — wound up with 54.1 inches. Downtown Buffalo mostly missed out, logging only 1.2 inches. Orchard Park, just 14 miles to the south, picked up 26.2 inches.

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Travel remains treacherous: North East storm drops 4 inches of snow per hour – Ready for round 2?

Epic snowfall totals

Important Takeaways:

  • A long-duration lake-effect snowstorm is continuing to pummel the Great Lakes region after dumping 3-5 feet of snow in cities from Michigan to New York that paralyzed travel as people tried to get home after the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
  • The impacts from the historic lake-effect snowstorm have been far-reaching, not only because of the sheer amount of snow that fell but also because of the intense snowfall rates reaching up to 4 inches per hour, which overwhelmed crews who were relentlessly working around the clock to remove the snow and ice from roads and highways such as the heavily traveled Interstate 90 from New York state to Ohio
  • Travel is expected to remain treacherous in areas still impacted by bands of heavy snow coming off the Great Lakes. Drivers are being urged to stay off the roads if possible, significantly slow their speeds, and leave plenty of distance between vehicles to ensure the safety of people out and about on Monday.
  • And it wasn’t just the snow that was making headlines over the weekend. The paralyzing lake-effect snowstorm also produced rare thundersnow and even waterspouts off the shores of Lake Erie.
  • Winter weather alerts remain in effect across the region, including Lake-Effect Snow Warnings from Cleveland to southwestern New York that will remain in effect until at least Tuesday morning.
  • Travel could again become dangerous on major roads and highways across the region, including I-90, I-86 and I-79, which could become nearly impassable. In the heaviest snow bands, visibility could drop to less than a quarter-mile, and strong winds could blow snow that has already fallen.

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North East wildfires still burning as firefighters hope for cooler temperatures and humidity

Bobby Stormer | Photos from the Jennings Creek wildfire (Tue Nov 12 2024)

Important Takeaways:

  • The New Jersey Forest Fire Service says exactly 2,283 acres burned in New Jersey and 5,000 acres scorched across state lines into New York.
  • The weather is playing a major role in the fight to contain the wildfire. The Forest Fire Service says they grounded helicopters dumping water because of the wind. The rocky, hilly and forested terrain are adding to the difficulty. But this cold weather they say, actually helps.
  • “As the temperatures drop humidity will come up a little bit more thus allowing the fuels to absorb a little bit the ambient moisture in the air thus allowing them to moisten a little bit and slow down fire progression,” said Christopher Franek from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
  • This is still a coordinated effort. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says this is the largest wildfire to affect New York state since 2008. She’s deployed the National Guard to help.

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The people are rejecting legacy media

Trump-Silhouette

Important Takeaways:

  • Former President Trump’s decisive victory Tuesday led to a shock wave that was felt in newsrooms across Washington, D.C., and New York. Everyone knew the polls were close and that a Trump win was a strong possibility, sure, but the scale of Trump’s win left one senior producer at a broadcast network stunned: “We are questioning our relevance right now,” they said Wednesday morning.
  • It was a sentiment shared by former Sen. Claire McCaskill, who lamented on MSNBC’s Morning Joe: “I think we have to acknowledge that Donald Trump knows our country better than we do.”
  • Ratings for the broadcast and cable news channels saw steep declines in ratings from Nielsen (finals showed an average of 42.3 million people, down from nearly 57 million four years ago), with the lowest ratings in decades. The steepest drop was felt at CNN, which saw its numbers fall below MSNBC for the first election night since that channel launched nearly three decades ago.
  • Meanwhile, emergent platforms and programs outside of the traditional media thrived…

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A tense day of protests and prayers in New York City on Oct. 7 anniversary

Smashed windows, red paint and graffiti discovered spray-painted on the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center

Important Takeaways:

  • In the largest planned pro-Palestinian action of the day, protesters are expected to march through Manhattan, from Wall Street to Columbus Circle
  • A vigil to remember those killed and missing in last year’s Hamas attack on Oct. 7 will come within blocks of a pro-Palestinian march Monday night.
  • NYPD officials are planning to keep both groups separate in what is expected to be the culmination of a tense day of protests and prayers.
  • Smashed windows, red paint and graffiti including “divest now” was discovered spray-painted on the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center on the City College of New York campus in Hamilton Heights on Monday morning.
  • At Columbia University, access is limited to ID holders in an effort to keep out outside agitators.
  • More walkouts are expected in the afternoon, with both students and faculty from CUNY and city public schools gathering at Washington Square Park, to join the larger protest marching north.
  • Blocks away in Central Park, a candle lighting ceremony with members of the Jewish community will remember those killed, with music and prayer
  • Police officials say they are most concerned about the protest in Times Square, and the pro-Israeli prayer vigil in Central Park.

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New York Mayor Eric Adams charged with bribery and wire fraud

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Important Takeaways:

  • New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been hit with five federal charges – including wire fraud, bribery and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national – according to a sprawling 57-page federal indictment unsealed Thursday.
  • Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York accuse Adams of seeking and accepting luxury international travel from a wealthy businessman and at least one Turkish government official for nearly a decade.
  • “As Adams’ prominence and power grew, his foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him, particularly when, in 2021, it became clear that Adams would become New York City’s mayor,” the indictment says. “Adams agreed, providing favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received.”
  • The details of the criminal case come at a time of extraordinary turmoil for the Adams administration. In the past two weeks alone, the city’s police commissioner, top lawyer and schools chancellor have announced their resignations.
  • The Adams administration has also been facing a public corruption investigation and another federal probe that resulted in a search of homes belonging to Adams’ former director of Asian affairs.
  • In a videotaped statement he released late Wednesday, Adams remained defiant, saying any charges against him would be “entirely false, based on lies.”

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New York teen arrested in first violation related to the county’s face mask ban

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Important Takeaways:

  • Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo, 18, was arrested Sunday after Nassau County police responded to reports of a “suspicious male” wearing a mask.
  • Ramirez Castillo allegedly “continued to display suspicious behavior while attempting to conceal a large bulge in his waistband” that ended up being a 14-inch knife, officials said.
  • Police said that officers stopped him and patted him down under the mask law and found the knife. Ramirez Castillo allegedly refused to comply with officer commands and was placed under arrest.
  • He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, obstructing governmental administration and charged with violating the Mask Transparency Act.
  • The controversial ban on wearing face coverings in public was signed into law Aug. 15 in Nassau County, which covers part of Long Island, just east of New York City.
  • Those who violate the law face a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
  • County legislator Howard Kopel had said the mask ban bill was introduced in response to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.
  • Critics say the ban poses a risk for those who want to peacefully protest while concealing their identities.

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