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Expert weighs in on driving factors of Maui wildfires

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

SAN DIEGO – One week after fires first began their devastation on Maui, the death toll is reaching nearly 100 with hundreds still missing. Many people have wondered what exactly caused the quick-moving fires.“This is basically an amplified event of the kinds of things and routinely happen in Lahaina,” said Pat Abbott, SDSU Professor Emeritus of Geology.Low humidity and high winds set the stage for fire danger on Maui last week, with much of Hawaii under a red flag warning when the wildfires broke out.Abbott explained how powerful winds were generated by Hurricane Dora, even hundreds of miles away from Hawaii.“A hurricane forms by winds flowing in over the water surface and going up vertically carrying that moisture up with them, but they cover such a large area, hundreds of miles across. When you’re on the outer fringes it’s not rain you’re getting, getting the twirling winds going around the center,” Abbott said.Gusts above 60 miles per hour knocked down power lines and damaged hom...

States that protect transgender health care now try to absorb demand

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

States that declared themselves refuges for transgender people have essentially issued an invitation: Get your gender-affirming health care here without fearing prosecution at home.Now that bans on such care for minors are taking effect around the country — Texas could be next, depending on the outcome of a court hearing this week — patients and their families are testing clinics’ capacity. Already-long waiting lists are growing, yet there are only so many providers of gender-affirming care and only so many patients they can see in a day.For those refuge states — so far, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Washington and Vermont, plus Washington, D.C. — the question is how to move beyond promises of legal protection and build a network to serve more patients.“We’re trying our best to make sure we can get those kids in so that they don’t experience an interruption in their care,” said Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd,...

Massive explosion at gas station in Russia’s Dagestan kills 27, injures more than 100

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A massive explosion at a gas station in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan killed 27 people and injured more than 100, local officials said Tuesday. Three of those killed were children, Dagestan’s governor Sergei Melikov said. The explosion took place Monday night on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the region’s capital. A fire started at a car repair shop and spread to a nearby gas station, prompting a blast, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the country’s Emergency Ministry. The subsequent fire raged on the area of 600 square meters (yards), the report said. Some of those injured will be airlifted to Moscow for treatment, according to the report.Russian authorities have begun a criminal investigation.The Associated Press

An Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank kills 2 Palestinians, health officials say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, in a raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian health officials said.Israel has been carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank since last year in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks, what has fueled tensions in the region and sent the death toll soaring. The violence comes amid a spike in attacks on Palestinians by radical Jewish settlers, continued settlement expansion and as Israel is led by a government composed of ultranationalist settlement supporters.The Palestinian Health Ministry identified those killed as Qusay al-Walaji, 16, and Mohammed Nujoom, 25, adding that the raid took place in the Jericho area, which has seen heavy fighting over the last 16 months. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank has surged to levels unseen in nearly two decades, with more than 170 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire...

4 Australian tourists are rescued after being missing in Indonesian waters for 2 days

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Four Australian tourists were rescued after being missing for two days in the waters off Indonesia’s Aceh province, the father of one of the Australians said Tuesday.Peter Foote, the father of Elliot Foote, who had traveled to Indonesia to celebrate his 30th birthday with friends, said he received a text message from his son saying he is okay.“It says: ‘Hey Dad, Elliot here. I’m alive. Safe now. Love you. Chat later,’” Peter Foote said at a news conference on Tuesday. “It’s great, it’s good news. I’ll have to talk to him and want to see photos and see what he looks like. It’s all good.”A wooden speedboat carrying the four Australians and three Indonesians ran into bad weather on Sunday. The details of how they ended up in the sea remain unclear.There is no information about three Indonesians who were in the same boat. A search and rescue team expanded its focus area and added more boats and planes to look for them, officials said Tuesday.Peter F...

How the Georgia indictment against Donald Trump may be the biggest yet and other case takeaways

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

The fourth indictment of former President Donald Trump may be the most sweeping yet.The sprawling, 98-page case unveiled Monday opens up fresh legal ground and exposes more than a dozen of Trump’s allies to new jeopardy.But it also raises familiar legal issues of whether the First Amendment allows a politician to try to overturn an election. Already, Trump and his supporters are alleging the indictment is the product of a politicized, corrupt process to hobble him as he competes for the GOP nomination to face President Joe Biden next year. Here are some takeaways from Monday’s indictment: THE BIG ONEThis may be the last of the Trump indictments, but it was the big one. The indictment lists 18 defendants in addition to Trump, all joined together by Georgia’s unusual anti-racketeering, or RICO, law.Many of the defendants aren’t even based in Georgia. The better-known defendants include former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and attorney Sidney Powell, who appeared in numer...

While a criminal case against a Tesla driver ends, legal and ethical questions on Autopilot endure

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A criminal prosecution against a Tesla driver in Los Angeles County will end on Tuesday, the final step of a case believed to be the first time in the U.S. prosecutors brought felony charges against a motorist who was using a partially automated driving system.But the conclusion of driver Kevin Aziz Riad’s case is offering little solace to Lorena Ochoa, whose spouse was one of two people killed in the 2019 crash in a Los Angeles suburb. She believes both Tesla and Aziz Riad, who received probation as punishment, should face harsher consequences.Aziz Riad faces a restitution hearing on Tuesday, where a judge will determine how much money he owes the families of Gilberto Alcazar Lopez and Maria Guadalupe Nieves-Lopez. Aziz Riad was using Autopilot, and the case has raised legal and ethical questions about the technology, particularly as Tesla sales grow and more automakers equip cars with similar systems. The victims’ families have separately filed civil...

Mother expected to plead guilty after her 6-year-old son used her gun to shoot his Virginia teacher

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in a Virginia classroom is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to charges related to the attack, seven months after her son used her handgun to critically wound the educator.Deja Taylor, who was charged in April with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing of a firearm, is scheduled to appear at a morning plea hearing in Newport News.The January shooting shocked the nation and roiled this shipbuilding city near the Chesapeake Bay. The case against Taylor is one of three legal efforts seeking accountability, including the teacher’s $40 million lawsuit that accuses the school system of gross negligence. Police said the first grader intentionally shot teacher Abby Zwerner as she sat at a reading table during a lesson. Zwerner, who was hit in the hand and chest, spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has endured multiple surgeries. Moments after the shooting, according to search wa...

A look at the 19 people charged in Georgia indictment connected to Trump election scheme

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump and 18 other associates were charged Monday in Georgia as part of a sweeping indictment alleging they schemed to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss and stop the peaceful transition of power.The indictment, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, follows an investigation that lasted more than two years and marks the fourth criminal case brought against the former president.Those charged in Monday’s indictment face a slew of charges, including racketeering, violating the oath of a public officer, forgery, false statements and other offenses. Prosecutors say they must all surrender to authorities by Aug. 25.Here’s a look at the 19 defendants charged in the indictment:DONALD TRUMP: Then-President Donald Trump fixated on Georgia after the 2020 general election, refusing to accept his narrow loss in the state and making unfounded assertions of widespread election fraud there. He also called top state officials, including Gov. Brian Kemp, ...

Federal officials plan to announce 2024 cuts along the Colorado River. Here’s what to expect

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:28:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials this week are expected to ease water cuts for 2024 under a slightly improved outlook for the Colorado River’s health, though long-term challenges remain.The river provides water for seven U.S. states, 29 Native American tribes and two states in Mexico. It also supports a multibillion-dollar farm industry in the West and generates hydropower used across the region. Years of overuse by farms and cities and the effects of drought worsened by climate change has meant much less water flows today through the Colorado River than in previous decades.The U.S. government in 2021 announced cuts that hit Arizona particularly hard. Last year, those cuts grew more severe thanks to continued drought, poor precipitation and less runoff from the river’s Rocky Mountains source. A wetter winter and conservation measures have helped improve the river’s health a bit this summer, but experts warn a drier future is ahead.WHAT CUTS ARE EXPECTED? The Bureau of...