CALIFORNIA
California statewide fire summary
Today, more than 15,000 firefighters remain on the frontlines of 15 major wildfires and two extended attack wildfires burning across California. Yesterday, crews continued their progress towards containment. Although 31 new initial attack wildfires were sparked yesterday, crews were able to contain most of them quickly, however, there were two new extended attack fires, the Railroad Fire, San Bernardino County and the Knob Fire, Humboldt County.
Since the beginning of the year, wildfires have burned more than 1.76 million acres in California. While firefighters continue their battle on the current major wildfires, CAL FIRE and fire departments across the State remain prepared for potential more significant wildfires due to critical fire weather.
A Red Flag Warning for critical fire weather will be in effect through 11 p.m. tonight from Modoc County, through the northern Sierra Nevada, past the Tahoe Basin and down to Mono County for gusty winds and low humidity.
Strong high pressure will remain over the southern tier of the United States today. This area of high pressure will weaken and shift east returning to near seasonal temperatures. Hot and dry conditions will remain throughout northern California today, with thunderstorms moving across Southern California east and south of Los Angeles County through Wednesday, with most of the activity over the mountains and higher desert areas in the afternoons.
Are you and your family prepared for an emergency? You can prepare not only for a wildfire, but any disaster that may strike. Make sure you and your family are ready for anything! To learn more, visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org
—Submitted
CALIFORNIA
Newsom vs. Elder standoff intensifies
More than 3.5 million Californians have already returned their ballots, representing 16% of ballots mailed to the state’s 22.2 million registered voters, according to figures compiled by Political Data Inc. These early voters are disproportionately Democratic (54%), white (69%) and age 65 or older (42%). That tracks with trends observed during the November 2020 election, in which Democrats rushed to vote early while Republicans — often citing concerns about fraud — waited to cast their ballots in person on Election Day.
A federal judge on Friday affirmed the election is happening by rejecting a last-minute lawsuit that challenged the recall as unconstitutional. With about two weeks until Election Day, Gov. Gavin Newsom and his top challengers are ramping up efforts to reach undecided voters. One key bloc: Californians between the ages of 18 and 29, who are the least likely of any age group to register or vote but who could nevertheless prove decisive in the election’s outcome, CalMatters’ Matthew Reagan reports.
Newsom and recall candidates spent the weekend reaching out to constituents. The governor, whose planned Friday rally with Vice President Kamala Harris was canceled amid the turmoil in Afghanistan, instead helped clean up a San Francisco homeless encampment. Meanwhile, his main GOP rivals swept across Southern California, with reality star Caitlyn Jenner holding a town hall in Pasadena; former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer talking to voters in Santa Clarita; Assemblymember Kevin Kiley campaigning in San Diego, San Clemente and Stanton; and talk show host Larry Elder hosting a rally in Ramona.
The recall also gained national steam over the weekend. Back-to-back profiles of Newsom ran in the Atlantic and the Economist on Friday and Saturday, while both the New York Times and the New Yorker ran Sunday columns denouncing the recall as an assault on democracy.
The articles posit that Newsom’s biggest threat is Elder, who’s received no shortage of media attention himself: On Thursday, a Politico investigation into his new campaign manager; on Friday, a Los Angeles Times investigation into his inactive private charity; and on Sunday, a Los Angeles Times profile. Also Sunday, the Orange County Register ran an op-ed attacking the Times’ “racist smear campaign” against Elder, citing two recent columns titled “If Larry Elder is elected, life will get harder for Black and Latino Californians” and “Larry Elder is the Black face of white supremacy. You’ve been warned.”
Meanwhile, Los Angeles prosecutors on Friday declined to pursue a criminal complaint filed by Elder’s ex-fiancée, Alexandra Datig, who alleged he brandished a gun at her and pushed her six years ago.
—Hoeven, CALMatters
Remembering Californians lost in Afghanistan
California played a role in the lives of many of the 13 U.S. service members killed last week in suicide bomb attacks at Kabul International Airport as they worked to evacuate Americans and their allies from Afghanistan. Four were Marine Corps members from California: Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23, of Sacramento; Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio; Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga; and Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, 20, of Norco, the Department of Defense said Saturday. Another Marine Corps member, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover, 31, was from Salt Lake City but had been living in Orange County, according to the Los Angeles Times. Ten of the service members had been based at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California.
A photo Gee posted four days before her death went viral over the weekend. It depicts her holding an Afghan child in Kabul and is captioned “I love my job.”
—Hoeven, CALMatters
—Compiled by Ariel Carmona Jr.
