Repeat wildfire evacuations leave some Californians weary
UPPER LAKE, Calif. — Jessyca Lytle fled a fast-moving Northern California wildfire in 2015 that spared her property but destroyed her mother’s memorabilia-filled home in rural and rugged Lake County.
Less than three years later, Lytle found herself listening to scanner traffic and fire-proofing her mother’s new home Tuesday as another wildfire advanced and turned the sun into a tiny orange dot suspended in the smoke.
“Honestly, what I’m thinking right now is I just want this to end,” Lytle said, adding that she was “exhausted in every way possible — physically, emotionally, all of that.
“But you can’t stop doing what you have to do, and you can’t stop facing what you have to face,” she said.
Firefighters pressed their battle against a pair of fires that have burned 117 square miles (300 square kilometers) across Mendocino and Lake counties. In all, roughly 19,000 people have been warned to flee and 10,000 homes remain under threat.
Judge blocks release of blueprints for 3D-printed guns
SEATTLE — A federal judge on Tuesday stopped the release of blueprints to make untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic guns as President Donald Trump questioned whether his administration should have agreed to allow the plans to be posted online.
The company behind the plans, Austin, Texas-based Defense Distributed, had reached a settlement with the federal government in June allowing it to make the plans for the guns available for download on Wednesday.
The restraining order from U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle puts that plan on hold for now. “There is a possibility of irreparable harm because of the way these guns can be made,” he said.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson called the ruling “a complete, total victory.”
“We were asking for a nationwide temporary restraining order putting a halt to this outrageous decision by the federal government to allow these 3D downloadable guns to be available around our country and around the world. He granted that relief,” Ferguson said at a news conference after the hearing. “That is significant.”
US says driving would be riskier if fuel standards tougher
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration says people would drive more and be exposed to increased risk if their cars get better gas mileage, an argument intended to justify freezing Obama-era toughening of fuel standards.
Transportation experts dispute the arguments, contained in a draft of the administration’s proposals prepared this summer, excerpts of which were obtained by The Associated Press.
The excerpts also show the administration plans to challenge California’s long-standing authority to enact its own, tougher pollution and fuel standards.
Revisions to the mileage requirements for 2021 through 2026 are still being worked on, the administration says, and changes could be made before the proposal is released as soon as this week.
The Trump administration gave notice earlier this year that it would roll back tough new fuel standards put into place in the waning days of the Obama administration. Anticipating the new regulation, California and 16 other states sued the Trump administration in May.
LA prosecutors decline sex abuse charges against Les Moonves
LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors in Southern California declined to pursue sexual abuse claims against CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves because the statute of limitations has expired, according to documents.
The unidentified woman, who worked in the television industry, went to Los Angeles police in February to report three alleged incidents, two in 1988 and one from 1986.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office was considering three possible criminal charges including two misdemeanors, battery and indecent exposure, and a felony, forced oral copulation, according to a charge evaluation worksheet.
The document stated the woman disclosed at least one of the alleged incidents to a friend a year before filing the police report.
“The applicable statutes of limitation have expired as to all three incidents,” the worksheet said.
