| White House says Trump has no apology for calling coronavirus 'kung flu' at Tulsa rally Posted: 22 Jun 2020 12:15 PM PDT  Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday that the president has no regrets about using a racial slur to refer to the deadly virus that originated in China.
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| An Atlanta police officer charged in Rayshard Brooks' death believes he 'didn't do anything wrong' Posted: 23 Jun 2020 09:32 AM PDT  Atlanta police officer Devin Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault following the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks.
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| Nadler Plans to Subpoena Barr After Saying He ‘Deserves Impeachment’ Posted: 23 Jun 2020 05:06 AM PDT  House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler (D., N.Y.) confirmed Monday night that his committee was preparing to subpoena Attorney General Bill Barr for his testimony, despite saying earlier this month that such a move was unlikely."We have begun the process to issue that subpoena," Nadler told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in an interview. On June 2, Nadler shot down the idea of subpoenaing Barr, saying, "I am not going to spend months litigating a subpoena with an Attorney General who has already spent years resisting the courts and legitimate congressional oversight."On Sunday, Nadler claimed that Barr "deserves impeachment" for his alleged politicization of the Justice Department, but said trying to do so would be "a waste of time" because "corrupt" Senate Republicans would not vote to convict."We know that we have a corrupt Republican majority in the Senate which will not consider an impeachment no matter what the evidence and no matter what the facts," Nadler said.Nadler's spokesman Daniel Schwarz first confirmed to Axios that the subpoena was in the works. Democrats have called to investigate Barr over the abrupt decision to oust Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, Geoffrey Berman, who has been in charge of several investigations connected to President Trump.House Judiciary ranking member Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) slammed the decision to subpoena Barr in a letter to Nadler, saying "however much you disagree with the Justice Department's policy decisions—or agree with the Obama-Biden Administration's targeting of the Trump campaign—those are not legitimate reasons to compel Attorney General Barr's testimony at this time."Barr was supposed to appear in front of the House Judiciary Committee on March 31, but the hearing was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Explainer: What is a second wave of a pandemic, and has it arrived in the U.S.? Posted: 23 Jun 2020 01:55 PM PDT  Infectious disease experts, economists and politicians have raised concerns about a second wave of coronavirus infections in the United States that could worsen in the coming months. Here is an explanation of what is meant by a second wave. In infectious disease parlance, waves of infection describe the curve of an outbreak, reflecting a rise and fall in the number of cases.
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| Powerful earthquake shakes southern Mexico, at least 5 dead Posted: 23 Jun 2020 08:46 AM PDT  A powerful earthquake centered near the southern Mexico resort of Huatulco on Tuesday killed at least five people, swayed buildings in Mexico City and sent thousands fleeing into the streets. Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said one person was killed in a building collapse in Huatulco, Oaxaca. Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat said a second person was killed in an apparent house collapse in the mountain village of San Juan Ozolotepec and a third died in circumstances he did not explain.
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| Seattle will move to dismantle 'Chaz' occupied protest zone, mayor says Posted: 23 Jun 2020 12:32 PM PDT  Jenny Durkan says police will return to precinct where hundreds have gathered dailySeattle officials announced on Monday that they would begin to dismantle the six blocks of occupied streets known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or "Chaz", following two shootings at the site in 48 hours."It's time for people to go home. It is time for us to restore Cal Anderson and Capitol Hill so it can be a vibrant part of the community," said the Seattle mayor, Jenny Durkan, during a press conference. "We can still accommodate people who want to protest peacefully, come there and gather. But the impacts on the businesses and residents and community are now too much."Durkan said Seattle police would be returning to the east precinct, the site they abandoned after a series of dangerous clashes between protesters and law enforcement.She said they'll do so "peacefully" and "in the near future" but did not offer an exact timeline.Early on Tuesday morning, police reported another shooting, this one near the protest area. A man in his 30s was shot in the calf and transported by medics to a nearby hospital, but officers said in a police blog that he did not provide information on what happened. There were also reports of gunshots inside Chaz, but officials have not reported any other victims.The decision comes about two weeks after a section of the Seattle neighborhood of Capitol Hill was occupied by protesters as a self-proclaimed police-free zone. The area is also known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (Chop).Hundreds of protesters have faithfully gathered there each day and night, filling the area with free food and community gardens, and holding speeches and teach-ins.Although it had been largely peaceful, that changed over the weekend, when two separate shootings took place. A 19-year-old man was killed and two others were injured, one critically.Officers responding to the shooting on Saturday have said they "were met by a violent crowd that prevented officers' safe access to the victims", according to a police blog. In officers' body-camera footage, police can be heard telling people at the protest zone to move out of the way so they can get to the victim, while protesters repeatedly tell them the victim is already gone.During the press conference on Monday, the Seattle police chief, Carmen Best, said that while there had been countless people protesting peacefully, there had also been "shootings, a rape, assaults, burglary, arson, and property destruction"."This isn't a debate about first amendment rights, this is about life or death," she added.When asked what officials will do if people don't voluntarily leave the area, Durkan said they planned to use a range of techniques, including working with black-led organizations to communicate with the people in the zone and offering outreach to those there who are homeless."I think we've seen across the country and Seattle, it would not be an effective strategy to simply send police in to try to clear the area," she said.The decision to send police back into the precinct was a major disappointment for some in the community who wanted the site repurposed.Kshama Sawant, a Socialist city councilwoman, has pushed for the precinct to be "turned over permanently into community control". She recently announced on Twitter that she would be introducing legislation to convert the east precinct into a community center for restorative justice.
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| Conservative Democrat could win primary in U.S.' bluest district Posted: 22 Jun 2020 09:47 PM PDT  Rubén Díaz Sr. could emerge victorious from a large, divided field.
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| India tells Pakistan to cut embassy staff by half, says will do same Posted: 23 Jun 2020 09:34 AM PDT  India told Pakistan on Tuesday to slash its embassy staff in New Delhi by half -- saying it would do the same in Islamabad -- as a diplomatic spat continued between the nuclear-armed rivals. The fractious relationship between the neighbours has worsened since New Delhi expelled two Pakistan embassy officials over spying claims in late May. After that, New Delhi accused Islamabad of torturing two Indian diplomats arrested following an alleged hit-and-run in the Pakistani capital.
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| It’s Hard to Find a Trump Who Hasn’t Voted by Mail Posted: 22 Jun 2020 12:40 PM PDT  President Donald Trump went postal on Twitter Monday morning over the threat he claims mailed ballots pose to the integrity of U.S. elections—but his family seems to have never gotten the message.The commander in chief fired off another social media fusillade against the practice of submitting ballots through the post, which he has previously labeled "horrible," "terrible," and "corrupt," as well as "dangerous," "fraudulent," and for "cheaters." The tweet on Monday, like his prior statements, reflected his fears over the expansion of vote-by-mail policies in several states amid the COVID-19 pandemic."RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!" Trump tweeted in all-capital letters.But such fears have apparently never deterred either Trump himself or members of the First Family from entrusting their suffrage to the U.S. Postal Service. The White House has acknowledged the president mailed in ballots in New York in 2018 and in Florida this year, and the Orlando Sun-Sentinel reported that First Lady Melania Trump had recently also taken advantage of the Sunshine State's remote voting program.On reviewing records from the Manhattan Board of Elections, The Daily Beast discovered that Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and the First Lady all had ballots mailed to them in Washington, D.C. as recently as the 2018 election cycle, and have done so since decamping to the capital three years ago. Eric Trump, who remains in New York, similarly exercised his franchise via envelope and stamp in 2017. Various errors—from the First Lady's forgetting to sign the crucial affidavit, to the First Daughter's sending her ballot back too late, to Kushner's failure to mail it back at all—prevented the Washington-based wing of the family's votes from counting in 2017. But the Board of Elections documents show they all successfully returned their votes in the most recent election cycle.Neither Eric Trump nor the White House immediately provided an on-the-record response. The president and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who the Tampa Bay Times found has voted by mail 11 times in the past decade, have sought to distinguish between absentee voting and "mass mail-in voting."But experts assert there is little difference between the two processes, which are both already widespread. Records show nearly 67,000 people besides the Trumps sent in absentee ballots in the 2018 general election in New York City, while the Wall Street Journal reported that more than 33 million people voted by mail in the 2016 presidential race. GOP on Mail-In Ballots: 'If You Can Get Out and Protest, You Can Go Vote.'The president's spokeswoman and immediate family aren't the only executive branch staff taking advantage of the system: Business Insider reported Vice President Mike Pence and his wife voted via mail as recently as April. Monday's rant marked the first time that the president has warned that hostile nations might dabble in the American mailstream. In the past, he has largely warned that blue states might refuse to send ballots to GOP-controlled districts, and claimed that U.S.-based fraudsters resort to outright robbery."They steal them, they hold up mailmen, they take them out of mailboxes, they print them fraudulently," the president told radio host Michael Savage earlier this month.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Did Russia Just Send a Submarine Through the Bosphorus? Posted: 23 Jun 2020 10:59 AM PDT  Social media is buzzing that a Russian Kilo-class submarine might have just passed through the strait, violating a nearly 80-year-old-treaty.
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| Australia's High Court says former judge sexually harassed six female staff Posted: 22 Jun 2020 02:41 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Newborn Mexican triplets test positive in 'unprecedented' case Posted: 23 Jun 2020 01:26 AM PDT  Experts are investigating whether coronavirus could have been passed through the mother's placenta.
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| Texas Governor: Coronavirus Spreading at ‘Unacceptable Rate’ in State Posted: 23 Jun 2020 07:10 AM PDT  Governor Greg Abbott warned Monday that the coronavirus is now spreading in Texas at an "unacceptable rate" and pleaded with residents to wear masks in public and continue practicing social distancing."To state the obvious, COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas, and it must be corralled," Abbott said at a news briefing.Texas has seen more than 25,000 new coronavirus cases over the past week and on Friday recorded a one-day record of 4,600 new positive cases. The spike in cases comes after Texas allowed businesses to reopen at 75 percent capacity earlier this month.Abbott urged the public to take precautions against spreading the virus, even as people return to work and frequent public places. He did not, however, announce any new social distancing rules."Wearing a mask will help us to keep Texas open. Not taking action to slow the spread will cause COVID to spread even worse, risking people's lives, and ultimately, leading to the closure of more businesses," Abbott said."The way hospitalizations are spiking, the way that daily new cases are spiking — surely the public can understand that if those spikes continue, additional measures are going to be necessary to make sure we maintain the health and safety of the people of the state of Texas," the governor added.Texas has averaged more than 3,200 daily coronavirus hospitalizations over the last several days, a sharp increase from the latter half of May, when about 1,600 people were hospitalized daily for the virus. Abbott suggested that if those numbers double again, the state may reimpose social distancing restrictions."If we were to experience another doubling of those numbers over the next month, that would mean we're in an urgent situation where tougher actions will be required to make sure that we do contain the spread of COVID-19," Abbott said.
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| Florida tax collector charged with maligning opponent Posted: 23 Jun 2020 03:39 PM PDT |
| Cleveland business owner receiving threats for cooperating with police after store was looted Posted: 22 Jun 2020 03:40 AM PDT  Colossal Cupcakes owner Kelly Kandah, who hid with her staff as her store was ransacked by looters in May, says she's now receiving threats for cooperating with the police investigation.
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| The Best Drones for Any Budget and Pilot Posted: 23 Jun 2020 11:22 AM PDT |
| Sheriff's office employee among 3 men accused of vandalizing Black Lives Matter sign Posted: 22 Jun 2020 07:10 PM PDT  "I'm deeply disappointed that one of our employees involved himself in this type of illegal activity, especially when this is an infringement on someone's First Amendment right to freedom of speech," Sheriff Bill Ayub said.
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| Protesters join class-action lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department alleging they were shot in the head or torso by projectiles Posted: 22 Jun 2020 11:07 PM PDT  A class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles accuses police of using excessive force against protesters.
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| Toppling of statues in West prompts reflection in Russia, Ukraine over Soviet monuments Posted: 22 Jun 2020 07:24 AM PDT  The targeting of colonial-era monuments in some Western nations has prompted activists in Russia and Ukraine to reflect on how their own countries dealt with Soviet-era statues and, in some cases, to ask whether it was good enough. Protesters have toppled or vandalised statues in the United States, Britain, Belgium and elsewhere in recent weeks in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement against racism and police brutality. Statues to Soviet leaders such as Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin became controversial for many after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 because of large-scale human rights abuses committed during decades of Communist rule.
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| 27-year-old charged in toppling of North Carolina Confederate monument in Raleigh Posted: 22 Jun 2020 02:47 PM PDT  A 27-year-old activist has been charged in Friday's toppling of the Confederate monument in Raleigh.
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| Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro ordered to wear mask in public Posted: 23 Jun 2020 07:56 AM PDT  The Brazilian leader has belittled the risk posed by coronavirus and attended anti-lockdown rallies.
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| Secret Service responds to reports that reporters were ordered to leave White House while protests took place nearby, says '4 members of the media were misdirected by the Secret Service' to leave. Posted: 22 Jun 2020 10:44 PM PDT  Journalists were asked to vacate the White House while protests were taking place in nearby Lafayette Park, according to CNN.
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| Major quake hits southern Mexico, at least five killed Posted: 23 Jun 2020 08:39 AM PDT  The fatalities were near the quake's epicenter in Oaxaca, a mountainous state known for its coffee, mescal and Spanish colonial architecture. Rockfalls blocked the winding mountain roads between the state capital of Oaxaca city and the coast. A Oaxaca state official said rescue workers were trying to get to the settlement of Santa Catarina Xanaguia, near the epicenter, where the quake brought down homes or parts of the mountainside, trapping people.
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| Fired US attorney refused to sign letter critical of NYC Posted: 22 Jun 2020 05:39 PM PDT  A day before Geoffrey S. Berman was axed from his job as head of the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, he refused to sign onto a letter crafted by senior officials in Washington lambasting New York's mayor for putting COVID-19 restrictions on religious gatherings. According to several people familiar with their relationship, Berman, a political donor to President Donald Trump who investigated and charged some of his allies, wasn't a team player.
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| Man who served decades for stepmom's murder pleads guilty to killing doctor Posted: 22 Jun 2020 05:59 PM PDT  Timothy Chavira was immediately sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in the December death of Editha Cruz de Leon.
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| Sirte: Kadhafi birthplace targeted in Libya conflict Posted: 23 Jun 2020 03:27 AM PDT  Libya's coastal city of Sirte, hometown of ex-dictator Moamer Kadhafi and a strategic gateway to oil export ports, is now at the centre of tensions between rival forces and regional powers. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Saturday that Sirte and Al-Jufra to the south represent a "red line" which Turkey-backed forces should not cross as they support the UN-recognised government in the battle against strongman Khalifa Haftar, a Sisi ally. Haftar, who controls most of eastern Libya, seized Sirte in January months after launching an assault on the capital Tripoli, base of the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).
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| One Expert Fought a New Korean War in a Simulator. You Should Be Scared. Posted: 23 Jun 2020 03:00 PM PDT  A terrible scenario.
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| Babies who test positive for COVID-19 tend to have mild illness, often with just a fever Posted: 22 Jun 2020 02:48 AM PDT  A new report published in The Journal of Pediatrics suggests that babies who test positive for COVID-19 often only have a mild case of the virus with little or no respiratory problems. After emerging data suggested that children infected with COVID-19 typically have no symptoms or a mild case of the virus, doctors at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, USA, looked at 18 infants all under 90 days old who had tested positive for COVID-19. Most of the infants (14 out of 18) had a fever, while two had a cough as the only symptom.
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| Safoora Zargar: Bail for pregnant India student blamed for Delhi riots Posted: 23 Jun 2020 03:10 AM PDT  Safoora Zargar was among a number of Muslim students and activists jailed during the Covid-19 lockdown.
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| Seattle police investigate new shooting near autonomous zone Posted: 23 Jun 2020 02:01 AM PDT  Police tweeted the shooting took place on the edge of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), or Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, where demonstrators set up a police-free zone in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis police custody. A man was taken to Harborview Medical Center at 5 a.m. after being shot near Cal Anderson Park and was in satisfactory condition, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. There have been no reports indicating that the shooting on the edge of Cal Anderson Park was related to the occupation zone.
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| Team Trump Says It Was a COVID Testing ‘Joke.’ His Own Health Officials Aren’t Laughing. Posted: 22 Jun 2020 12:24 AM PDT  White House officials and President Donald Trump loyalists tried on Sunday to walk back remarks he made over the weekend in which he told rally-goers that he had asked officials to slow COVID-19 testing so as to decrease the number of confirmed cases in the U.S."He was obviously kidding," one White House official told The Daily Beast. Peter Navarro, senior adviser to Trump, told CNN on Sunday that the president's words were "tongue-in-cheek" and not meant to be taken seriously.But two officials working on the coronavirus response within the Trump administration, as well as state officials and experts in emergency response, told The Daily Beast that they did not take the president's remarks lightly. Whether facetious or not, they argued, the casual indifference Trump displayed towards testing at his Tulsa rally only reaffirmed that his administration was not prepared when the pandemic response hit—and may still not be. "I always feared this was what was happening," said one state health official who coordinates with the federal government on testing. "But his speech last night really made it seem like maybe this is the reason why they were slow to get us the resources we needed to do the testing."And two administration officials, both of whom have worked alongside the president's task force, said Trump's speech Saturday reignited longstanding fears among some working on his coronavirus response that the administration may have attempted to find ways to deflate the U.S. case count.How Many Undetected COVID-19 Cases Are Out There?For more than a month, state and local officials called on the federal government to help with testing resources so they could better understand the scale of the virus outbreak in their communities. The testing plan put in place by Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner had fallen short of expectations and governors called out the administration for failing to quickly create a system whereby states could procure test kits and administer them to residents with symptoms. Some municipalities were left waiting so long for help that local officials were forced to settle for contracts with local labs with limited testing capacity. While testing numbers have ramped up in recent weeks and months, some officials say it's too late.And while Trump's remarks raise questions about whether the administration held off—deliberately or through negligence—on implementing testing plans, they also underscore the degree to which the president is comfortable making light of a virus that has killed more than 120,000 people in the U.S. Current and former officials say the White House's insistence that the president was just joking is difficult to believe in part because Trump has made similar comments in the past."The quote last night was the natural progression of what he's been saying publicly for a while: If you don't test then there's not a problem," said Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. "You don't have to search very hard to know Trump has been a testing skeptic and last night he just said the quiet part out loud."Trump's COVID Data Crunchers See Coronavirus Racing Down America's Major HighwaysA senior Trump administration health official told The Daily Beast that while Trump's statements don't necessarily reflect reality inside the administration, the president's thinking on testing—that more tests would mean bring more scrutiny— is well-known among those working on the government's COVID-19 response."Since the start of the coronavirus crisis in our country the President has ignored experts, denied facts, and put his self-interest ahead of Americans' lives—and here he is saying so," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), referring to the President's Tulsa speech. Murray is the ranking member of the Senate's Committee on Health, Labor and Pensions.Since the beginning of the outbreak in the U.S., Trump has sought to deflect the blame for the increasing coronavirus cases and related deaths. When the first cruise ship with coronavirus patients docked in California after traveling to Japan, the president told reporters he was not responsible for the increase in case numbers because the individuals had contracted the virus elsewhere. For weeks, the administration tried to tally case numbers based on those that originated in the U.S. and those that originated overseas. And as the pandemic continued to worsen, Trump said the numbers in the U.S. were increasing because the country had scaled UP testing initiatives, even as health officials say an uptick in cases doesn't necessarily result from an uptick in testing. The Daily Beast previously reported that Trump and members of his coronavirus task force have pushed officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change how the agency works with states to count COVID-related deaths. The president in May privately raised suspicion about the number of fatalities in the United States and in talks with top officials, he suggested that those numbers could have been incorrectly tallied or even inflated by current methodology.CDC officials have previously said that state health departments are still catching up on calculating the total number of cases and related deaths in the country, particularly in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.And the Trump administration seems to continue to try and shrug off the fact that several states across the south and southwestern parts of the country are experiencing significant spikes in case numbers where increased testing is not a contributing factor. "The joke is on us," Kayyem said. "We stayed inside weeks on weeks with the unstated social contract that it was going to give the nation time to have alternatives to social distancing. And they didn't do it. The nationwide testing plan never panned out like they said it would."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Roger Stone says he'll seek delay to start of prison sentence Posted: 22 Jun 2020 06:12 AM PDT  Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison in February.
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| 'Like gasoline and fire': Former friend speaks out about Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell Posted: 22 Jun 2020 02:03 PM PDT  "I saw him as the hand and her as the puppet on that hand," Melanie Gibb said. "They were both like gasoline and fire. Not a good match."
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| Arizona firefighters forced to handle multiple historic wildfires at once Posted: 22 Jun 2020 12:24 PM PDT  A dozen wildfires have torched nearly 400,000 burned acres in Arizona and have left parts of the state, particularly the southeastern portion, in ruins. Nearly half of that acreage has come from the Bush Fire blazing in the Tonto National Forest, just north of Phoenix. As of Monday morning, the still-young 2020 wildfire season has already burned more Arizona land than all but two years since 2002. Three current active wildfires in the state all rank in the top-10 for largest blazes in Arizona history, marking the first time since 2011 that multiple, historic-sized fires have burnt simultaneously. After igniting on June 13, the Bush Fire has grown rapidly in the past week, up to 186,848 acres as of Monday morning. The fire is now the fifth-largest in state history with 61% containment, according to officials. It's also the largest blaze currently burning in the United States.The inferno was ignited by a vehicle fire and led to evacuations in nearby areas such as Brownsville, Jake's Corner, Slate Creek, Pioneer Pass and Punkin Center before evacuation orders were lifted on Sunday morning."It has just been a monster of a season for us and extremely busy," Dave Ramirez, South Zone Fire Management Officer, said according to AZCentral.com. "It's been very busy for us, actually, in the past two years."According to local fire officials, all residents are prohibited from burning any sort of fire, including campfires and cooking stove fires, in the Tonto National Forest. The state's second-fastest growing fire, the Bighorn Fire, increased to 58,553 acres on Tuesday morning, The fire has been the most destructive of any blaze in the state, causing $18.2 million of damage, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.After reaching 40% containment on Friday, conditions worsened and the containment decreased to 16% by Monday, the least contained of any of the state's major current blazes. Firefighters worked to increase containment up to 33% by Tuesday morning. It has required the attention of 969 firefighting personnel, the most of any fire. Burning in Coronado National Forest, the frightening spread of the blaze has escalated the classification from a type-3 to a type-1 fire."With this type-1 team there is a lot of complexity, a lot of levels, a lot of layers but the communication is the most important part and it's been great, the level of communication on this team," said Adam Jarrold, Public Information Officer of the Bighorn Fire, according to KVOA.com.A type-1 fire is the highest and most serious level of firefighting attention, as the classification means the risk level to structures and properties are at their peak. Charring at more than 100 square miles, the Mangum Fire is Arizona's second-largest fire. Since igniting on June 8, the wildfire has burned over 71,000 acres in the northern portion of Arizona in Coconino County and wreaked havoc for visitors trying to get to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon.The blaze, which is also the second-largest current fire in the U.S., has destroyed four structures and forced closures of popular roadways like Highway 89A and State Route 67 to Grand Canyon National Park, which takes visitors to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP Smoke billows out of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. (Photo via Inciweb) The eastern-most wildfire and the only other blaze to have destroyed structures, the Bringham Fire has continued burning in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest north of Morenci since being ignited by lightning on June 6. It has scorched nearly 20,000 acres and is just 20% contained.On Monday morning, Incident Commander Carl Schwope said the remote location of the fire has provided logistical challenges for firefighters, according to Inciweb. Despite being nearly nine times smaller than the Bush Fire, the Bringham Fire has caused nearly as much damage, according to the NIFC.The Sawtooth Fire was previously burning in the Tonto National Forest, where it grew to 24,729 acres before firefighters reached 100% containment on June 7. The fire was burning in the scar of the Woodbury Fire, which was previously the fifth-largest fire in state history after burning 123,875 acres in 2019.The Blue River Fire has burned 30,400 acres as of Monday morning, but firefighters have managed to reach 85% containment of the blaze. According to the NIFC, despite being the state's fourth-largest fire, it has caused the least damage of any of the major blazes and is only requiring the attention of eight personnel.The Good Fire, the Dry Lake Fire and the Tadpole Fire have burnt about a combined 25,000 acres between the three blazes, but they are largely corralled and estimated to reach 100% containment in the coming weeks.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Fauci sees 'disturbing' surge in virus cases Posted: 23 Jun 2020 04:06 PM PDT 
"We were going down from 30,000 to 25 to 20, and now we sort of stayed about flat and now we're going up." The country's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Tuesday that the United States was currently seeing a disturbing surge of coronavirus infections. "A couple of days ago, there were 30000 new infections. That's very troublesome to me." A Reuters analysis found that the U.S. saw a 25% increase in new cases of COVID-19 last week compared to the week prior, with Florida, Texas and Arizona experiencing record spikes in new infections. "Right now the next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges we are seeing in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and other states. They're not the only ones that are having a difficulty." The focus at the House Energy and Commerce committee hearing quickly turned to President Donald Trump, who has said repeatedly that more testing has led to a higher number of cases being identified, and said at his Saturday rally that he had asked for a slowdown in testing for the virus. "So I said to my people, 'slow the testing, please.'" The White House later said he was kidding. "It was a comment that he made in jest. It was a comment that he made in passing." But, on Tuesday, Trump muddied the water. REPORTER: "At that rally, when you said you asked your people to slow down testing, were you just kidding or do you have a plan to slow down testing. TRUMP: "I don't kid. Let me just tell you. Let me make it clear. We have got the greatest testing program anywhere in the world." At Tuesday's hearing, it was Fauci - seen by many as the trusted voice during the pandemic - who was called on to give a straight answer. "I as a member of the task force and my colleagues on the task force, to my knowledge, I know for sure, but to my knowledge, none of us have ever been told to slow down on testing. That just is a fact." Fauci said one reason infections in the U.S. were rising some states was an increase in community spread. He and other experts had WARNED that reopening too soon could lead to a fresh wave of infections. But, confronted with the fact that several states - many of them in the south - have relaxed social distancing rules, Fauci offered his best advice considering the circumstances. "I'll say it yet again, that you should not congregate in crowds. You should keep distance. And even though many people, for a variety of reasons, do not listen to the - not suggestion but - plea to not congregate in crowds, some people are going to do that anyway. If you do, please wear a mask... in a demonstration or in a rally or wherever... So plan A don't go in a crowd. Plan B. If you do, make sure you wear a mask." U.S. health officials said recently that states seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases may need to reimpose restrictions similar to what was implemented in March. This week, California and Texas both reported over 5,000 new infections in a single day. Arizona and Nevada have also reported record increases in new cases this week, after recording all-time highs last week.
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| Germany's coronavirus infection rate has surged after 1,300 workers in a meat factory tested positive for COVID-19 Posted: 22 Jun 2020 05:05 AM PDT  Germany's R rate has surged to 2.88, meaning the number of coronavirus cases has risen quickly in the last four days.
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| In Thailand, it's statues of democracy leaders that are disappearing Posted: 23 Jun 2020 05:33 PM PDT  Certain historical statues have been disappearing in Thailand, but they are not effigies of colonialists or slave owners torn down by protesters. Instead, Thailand's vanishing monuments celebrated leaders of the 1932 revolution that ended absolute monarchy in Thailand, who were once officially honoured as national heroes and symbols of democracy. Reuters has identified at least six sites memorialising the People's Party that led the revolution which have been removed or renamed in the past year.
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| Anti-racism protests turn spotlight on icons of US history Posted: 23 Jun 2020 08:47 AM PDT  As the wave of anti-racism protests rocking the United States brings down monuments to figures linked to the country's history of slavery, the spotlight is shifting to other prominent people long considered untouchable. Although protesters initially focused on removing statues of Confederate generals, the movement has begun to turn its focus to icons of US history, including the nation's founders Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, and President Theodore Roosevelt. On Monday night, it was the turn of Andrew Jackson, the populist slaveholding soldier-president admired by US President Donald Trump.
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| Seattle to end police-free protest zone after shootings Posted: 23 Jun 2020 07:45 AM PDT  Mayor Jenny Durkan says the violence is "increasingly difficult" for businesses and residents.
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| 3 dead, 6 wounded in shooting at North Carolina block party Posted: 22 Jun 2020 01:31 AM PDT  Three people were killed and six others were wounded early Monday when multiple people fired into a crowd at an impromptu celebration in North Carolina, police said. The shooting happened at an impromptu block party in Charlotte that was a continuation of Juneteenth celebrations, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Deputy Chief Gerald Smith said at a media briefing Monday. Police responding to the scene heard shots being fired.
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| Women denied abortions are more likely to suffer poor health and stay in abusive relationships, says the researcher behind a landmark 10-year study on 'turnaways' Posted: 22 Jun 2020 08:18 AM PDT  As the Supreme Court mulls a case that could restrict abortion access nationally, Dr. Diana Greene Foster discusses her decade-long Turnaway Study.
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