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Wildfires rage in the West, destroy homes in small California community

The wild Dixie fire continues to spread and devour homes across California as the state struggles to contain over half a dozen large fires.

The state’s largest fire has already consumed more than 181,000 acres since it started on July 14. Fire officials say that the blaze is about 20% contained as limited access continues to hamper containment efforts.

The Dixie fire is not the only blaze that has troubled the West Coast state: Nine fires have continued to burn in various counties, according to Cal Fire.

A firefighter passes a burning home as the Dixie Fire flares in Plumas County, Calif., Saturday, July 24, 2021. The fire destroyed multiple residences as it tore through the Indian Falls community. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

The earliest fire, the Lava fire, started on June 24 in Siskiyou County and has burned around 26,000 acres.

WILDFIRE THREAT REMAINS HIGH AS SMOKE SPREADS TO EAST COAST

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for four northern counties because of wildfires that he said were causing “conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property.” The proclamation opened the way for more state support.

Firefighter Jesse Forbes rubs his head while battling the Dixie Fire near Prattville in Plumas County, Calif., on Friday, July 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

The Tamarack fire, which started on July 4 after a lightning strike, has consumed at least 10 buildings and threatens to spread into Nevada.

COUPLE CHARGED IN CALIFORNIA FIRE SPARKED BY GENDER REVEAL

Officials had hoped for some relief thanks to thunderstorms over the weekend, but forecasters said some of the storms would be dry and produce little rain but more lightning, potentially sparking new blazes.

Area damaged by the Bootleg Fire smolders near the Northwest edge of the blaze on Friday, July 23, 2021, near Paisley, Ore. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

More than 85 large wildfires have burned across the country, destroying over 1.4 million acres, mostly in Western states. Smoke from the more than 80 large fires across the West – combined with major wildfires in western Canada – are producing heavy plumes of smoke that are spreading across Canada and all the way to the East Coast.

NORTHWEST FACES WILDFIRE RISK AS HOT, DRY WEATHER CONTINUES

The largest fire in the country is the Bootleg fire in Oregon, which is nearly halfway surrounded as more than 2,200 crew members try to fight the blaze. The fire has consumed over 400,000 acres.

“This fire is resistant to stopping at dozer lines,” Jim Hanson, fire behavior analyst, said in a news release from the Oregon Department of Forestry. “With the critically dry weather and fuels we are experiencing, firefighters are having to constantly reevaluate their control lines and look for contingency options.”

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The Bootleg fire has threatened to creep into Northern California, which would further compound the state’s problems as resources start to stretch thin.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NBC has 33-year low viewership for Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony: ‘Not a happy’ benchmark

The Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, drew 16.7 million viewers for NBC on Friday, the smallest audience for the network broadcast in the past 33 years, according to data from the Comcast-owned NBCUniversal on Saturday.

The TV audience dropped 37% from the Rio de Janeiro opening ceremony in 2016, when 26.5 million people watched, and 59% from 2012, when 40.7 million people watched the London opener. The Tokyo ratings factored in both the live broadcast early Friday morning and a primetime re-airing.

Reuters described Friday’s fall, the lowest since the 1988 Seoul Games, as a “steep drop.”

TOKYO OLYMPICS: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE 2020 GAMES

Taking into account viewers on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app, 17 million people watched the ceremony, according to NBCUniversal. The streaming audience on those platforms increased 76% from the 2018 PyeongChang opening ceremony and 72% from 2016 in Rio.

By way of comparison, analysts noted that Friday’s TV broadcast drew fewer viewers than “Sunday Night Football” and Oprah Winfrey’s bombshell interview on CBS with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in March.

“Your first benchmark of Olympic viewing over the next two weeks and not a happy one for NBCUniversal,” tweeted sports writer Richard Deitsch.

NBC Sports reacted to the comparisons by tweeting out some “context,” noting that in the last five years award shows are down 68-72% in viewership.

TOKYO OLYMPICS WILL TAKE PLACE WITHOUT SPECTATORS

While most Olympic opening ceremonies have enjoyed packed stadiums, Friday’s unprecedented event featured only 1,000 spectators in the stands, one of whom was first lady Jill Biden. Organizers had initially planned to allow Olympic venues to be filled to 50% capacity but crowds not to exceed 10,000. However, they ultimately decided against spectators following a recent rise in COVID cases that prompted Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to announce a state of emergency.

“Taking into consideration the impact of the delta strain, and in order to prevent the resurgence of infections from spreading across the country, we need to step up virus prevention measures,” Suga said of the decision.

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Japan’s state of emergency that will last through Aug. 22. The Olympics began July 23 and run through Aug. 8. The Paralympics will take place Aug. 24.

Angelo Caro Narvaez’s first Olympics run ends with brutal groin shot

Peru’s Angelo Caro Narvaez suffered a brutal injury during his skateboarding run at the Olympics on Sunday.

Narvaez, who was among the skateboarding lot making their debut at the Tokyo Games, grinded down one of the rails during the street competition. He was unable to land cleanly and went groin first into the subsequent rail.

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“That one’s gonna hurt,” the commentator was heard saying on the NBC broadcast.

Narvaez got back to his feet slowly after staying down on the concrete for a little while. Then walked and sat down to regain himself.

He was given a score of 1.01 out of 10 on the first run but finished strong on the second run gaining a core of 6.96 out of 10, according to EuroSport. He was able to make it to the final round but finished the day in fifth place, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal.

FRANCE SHOCKS TEAM USA IN OLYMPICS MEN’S BASKETBALL OPENER

Japan’s Yuto Horigome picked up the gold medal in men’s street. He had initially faltered in his first two runs on the course at Ariake Urban Sports Park but was able to pull off high-scoring tricks in his third attempt and held off Kelvin Hoefler and the U.S.’ Jagger Eaton.

Horigome, 22, learned to skate in the city when he was younger, making the gold medal in Tokyo all that more important.

“It felt significant to return to Koto ward, it meant so much more for me,” he said, via Reuters.

While the first medals were handed out on Sunday, the skateboarders’ real focus was a broader acceptance of the sport making its first appearance in the Games.

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“Skateboarding is still a minor sport,” Horigome said. “I want to show how skateboarding is fun.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NYC robbery suspect seen rifling through unconscious man’s pockets after brazen daylight beat down

Disturbing video released by police Saturday shows a man punch and stomp on another man’s head in a brazen daylight attack in New York City, knocking the victim unconscious and robbing him.

NYPD Crime Stoppers shared surveillance video of the 9 a.m. attack Saturday near Pitkin Avenue and Barbey Street in Brooklyn.

The video shows a Black man wearing a mask and a gray hoodie throwing several punches at the victim, who appears to try to fight back before being knocked to the ground.

TEEN MOB ASSAULTS OFF-DUTY NEW YORK CITY FIREFIGHTER

The attacker punches the man repeatedly in the head, and as the victim attempts to get up, delivers a final blow with his foot to the man’s skull. The victim then goes still, and the suspect uses the man’s belt loops to flip the unconscious body over to rifle through his front and back pants pockets.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

When the clip began, a City Bike was already lying on the sidewalk, and the suspect appeared to have a black bag in one arm as he used the other arm to pummel the victim.

Police are still trying to identify the suspect who is wanted for robbery. A $3,500 reward is being offered.

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Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS or send a direct message to NYPD Crime Stoppers on Twitter.

Gov. Abbott rips Biden’s ‘reprehensible’ attacks on Texas voting bill: He’s ‘willing to lie’ to ‘get his way’

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday slammed President Biden’s “completely reprehensible” attacks on the Republicans’ election integrity bill in his state, saying the president is “willing to lie” to the American people in order to further his political agenda.

During an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” the Republican governor told host Maria Bartiromo that Democrats are “flat-out lying” about what the GOP is doing in Texas, with the media echoing their claims.

TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT CALLS OUT DEMOCRATS’ ‘DISASTER OF A TRIP’ FLEEING AUSTIN FOR DC: ‘CONSTITUENTS GETTING UPSET’

“In Texas, we truly have made it easier to vote and harder to cheat,” Abbott said. “The one thing that you pointed out that we are cracking down on is mail-in ballots,” he continued, stating that a judge who was appointed by former President Barack Obama acknowledged that there voter fraud is a problem when it comes to mail-in ballots.

“We all have to agree that if there’s cheating in the election process, we need to stop that cheating, and the best way to stop that cheating is to tighten up restrictions concerning mail-in ballots,” he added.

The comments come after more than 50 State House Democrats fled Texas for Washington, D.C., earlier this month in an effort to block Republicans from having the quorum needed to vote on an election reform bill during the special legislative session. The bill would ban drive-through voting, increase early voting hours, and add new identification requirements for people voting by mail.

TEXAS DEMOCRATS TO REMAIN IN WASHINGTON THROUGHOUT SPECIAL SESSION

Abbott said Sunday that the Democrats’ stunt accomplished “nothing,” and he repeated his threat to arrest returning members and compel them to remain in the state House chamber until they “get the job done.”

He also ripped Biden for “diminishing” the experience of Black Americans after the president referred to the Texas bill and others like it as a “21st-century Jim Crow assault” on voting rights.

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“So this is the same president who called me a Neanderthal, now he’s invoking Jim Crow, too,” Abbott said. “And I’ve got to tell you what. That’s diminishing to the people in the United States of America who did have to suffer through Jim Crow. Anybody who says this is a Jim Crow law, they don’t either know Jim Crow laws or they don’t know what’s going on in the state of Texas. Because there is no segregation, there is no attempt to make it harder for people of color.

“It’s easier today than it’s ever been for people of color, for all Texans, to be able to cast a vote,” the governor continued. “So these aspersions that are being cast by the president of the United States are completely reprehensible, and it shows the American people that the president of the United States is willing to lie about what’s going on to try get his way. And that’s one reason why you’re seeing President Biden’s polling numbers continue to plummet.”

City pound ‘close’ to capacity, as New Yorkers return pandemic pets

It’s a doggone shame.

New Yorkers — who snatched up dogs and cats in droves as the pandemic set in and kept everyone home — are now dumping their pets at city shelters, according to NYC animal advocates.

Animal Care Centers of NYC saw 1,393 animals brought to them in June, more than twice February’s 631 dogs and cats.

Because ACC shelters are not no-kill facilities, some of the animals could wind up on death row. The agency says it does not euthanize pets based on capacity — and that its placement rate for cats and dogs is 92% and 95%, respectively.

But in past years, the organization has come under fire for not being transparent about the average amount of time an animal has before being euthanized, only 18 hours in some cases where the animal faces serious behavior or medical issues, the ACC said.

BRAVE YORKIE FIGHTS OFF COYOTE TO SAVE HER 10-YEAR-OLD OWNER

While no one’s sure exactly what’s causing the pet population spike, the numbers have gone up every month since February, which is when eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine was extended, and the pandemic began to lift.

“Basically, in February we were averaging 21 incoming pets a day. In June, we averaged 47 new pets every day, and we are on a trajectory to be averaging 60-80 pets a day through the summer,” Katy Hansen, spokeswoman for the ACC, told The Post.

About half are given up by their owners, said Hansen, who believes dog surrenders have gone up because of “landlord issues.”

“This could be that people are having to move due to financial hardships. We are also nervous about the impact that the lifting of the [pandemic] eviction moratorium may have on potential pet surrenders,” she said.

The situation is a sharp reversal from the surge in adoptions animal shelters saw during the pandemic.

That demand was driven by “lonely” and “scared” New Yorkers, many living alone, said Hansen. A dog adds “a lot of structure to your day when you’re working from home,” she observed.

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Hansen said there was a “huge rush” for pet adoptions during the lockdown, with ACC at one point down to just 125 animals.

Now ACC is directly caring for 633 animals, she said — and fostering hundreds more with the assistance of volunteers.

“Although it was a great ‘problem’ to have at the time, it seems this summer has completely turned around that balance, and shelters are finding themselves at or almost at-capacity, in desperate need of adopters and/or fosters,” she said. “We have a lot, and demand has been dropping.”

Click here to read more of the New York Post.

US Olympian Jagger Eaton baffles fans as he skates with AirPods in ear

Jagger Eaton became among the first Olympic skateboarders to medal in the sport’s first-ever appearance at the Games on Sunday.

Eaton, an American, won the bronze medal in the men’s street competition. Olympic fans appeared to marvel more at Eaton skating with his AirPods in his ears than the actual tricks.

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The 20-year-old finished behind Japan’s Yuto Horigome and Brazil’s Kelvin Hoefler in the event. Horigome scored a 37.18 and Hoefler scored 36.15. Eaton finished with a 35.35.

Horigome made history as the first skateboarder to win gold in Olympic skateboarding.

JAPAN’S YUTO HORIGOME CAPTURES FIRST-EVER SKATEBOARDING GOLD

Horigome, 22, learned to skate in the city when he was younger, making the gold medal in Tokyo all that more important.

“It felt significant to return to Koto ward, it meant so much more for me,” he said, via Reuters.

While the first medals were handed out on Sunday, the skateboarders’ real focus was a broader acceptance of the sport making its first appearance in the Games.

“Skateboarding is still a minor sport,” Horigome said. “I want to show how skateboarding is fun.”

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Hoefler hoped that his silver medal could inspire some change in Brazil, where soccer is the dominant sport in the country, saying “It’s going to be mind-changing for them.”

Nobel prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg dies at 88

Physicist Steven Weinberg, who won the Nobel prize in 1979 with two other scientists for their separate contributions unlocking mysteries of tiny particles and their electromagnetic interaction, has died at 88, the University of Texas at Austin said Saturday.

A professor at the university since the 1980s, Weinberg died Friday in Austin, Texas, according to his wife Louise, said UT spokesperson Christine Sinatra. The physicist had been hospitalized for several weeks, but a cause of death was not released, according to Sinatra.

“The passing of Steven Weinberg is a loss for The University of Texas and for society,” UT President Jay Hartzell said in a statement.

“Professor Weinberg unlocked the mysteries of the universe for millions of people, enriching humanity’s concept of nature and our relationship to the world,” Hartzell added.

ASTEROID THE SIZE OF GIZA PYRAMID, TAJ MAHAL TO PASS ‘CLOSE’ TO EARTH

In 1979, Weinberg shared the Nobel prize in physics with scientists Abdus Salam and Sheldon Lee Glashow. Their work improved the understanding of how everything in the universe relates, according to a UT statement.

The work helped physicists unify two of the four forces of nature, subatomic forces known as nuclear forces, said Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology.

“It’s all about understanding the laws of nature at a deep level. We’re curious creatures and we want to know how the universe around us works,” Carroll said.

Weinberg’s work built on the work of Albert Einstein, according to Columbia University string theory physicist Brian Greene.

“The idea was that all forces of nature might actually be the same force … it was this dream Einstein had, that it all might be whole,” Greene said. “He drove this idea forward. He pushed this idea forward by showing (two forces) were the same force.”

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Weinberg, Salam and Glashow — working separately — were honored “for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including … the prediction of the weak neutral current,” according to the Nobel Prize website.

A New York native, Weinberg was a researcher at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, earlier in his career. He then served on the faculty of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the UT faculty in 1982, teaching both physics and astronomy.

Weinberg is survived by his wife and a daughter. Funeral services were not announced.

Deshaun Watson set to appear at Texans training camp amid sexual misconduct lawsuits: reports

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is reportedly set to show up for training camp Sunday despite the several sexual misconduct lawsuits against him.

Watson will avoid the $50,000 per day fine players receiving by skipping out on training camp, according to ESPN. The veteran NFL quarterback reportedly still wants a trade out of Houston.

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Watson has been relatively quiet since the allegations surfaced. In March, the Texans star denied the first allegation.

“As a result of a social media post by a publicity-seeking plaintiff’s lawyer, I recently became aware of a lawsuit that has apparently been filed against me. I have not yet seen the complaint, but I know this: I have never treated any woman with anything other than the utmost respect,” he said in a statement.

AARON RODGERS, DAVANTE ADAMS POST CRYPTIC ‘LAST DANCE’ PHOTO AMID PACKERS DRAMA

“The plaintiff’s lawyer claims that this isn’t about money, but before filing suit he made a baseless six-figure settlement demand, which I quickly rejected. Unlike him, this isn’t about money for me – it’s about clearing my name, and I look forward to doing that.”

He posted a video of himself in May doing on-field drills.

Watson has maintained his innocence.

The NFL has been investigating the claims since March.

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Watson may be put on the NFL Commissioner’s Exempt List before Week 1. He has reportedly been adamant about being traded but the team has yet to meet the request.

Navy flies widow around ship named after her husband for 100th birthday

People don’t turn 100 every day.

A naval base in Florida recently shared images from a one-of-a-kind birthday experience it provided for the widow of the Navy’s first Master Chief Petty Officer. For the woman’s 100th birthday, she was flown on a helicopter around the ship named after her husband.

After circling the USS Delbert D. Black, Irma Black then asked for an aerial tour of nearby Jacksonville.
(Naval Station Mayport)

Naval Station Mayport shared images of Irma Black’s birthday flight on Facebook. After circling the USS Delbert D. Black, the birthday girl then asked for an aerial tour of nearby Jacksonville.

FORMER FLIGHT ATTENDANT TO HONOR 9/11 VICTIMS BY PUSHING BEVERAGE CART FROM BOSTON TO GROUND ZERO

Irma Black is the widow of the aforementioned Delbert Black, the first enlisted representative to the Chief of Naval Operations and a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack. He and Irma had been married for 50 years when he passed away in 2000.

Irma also enlisted in the Navy during World War 2 under the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service program. She served as a seaman first class storekeeper. She has continued to support the Navy in the years since her husband passed.

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Last week, the base welcomed Irma Black to celebrate her 100th birthday on the USS Delbert Black’s chief’s mess.
(Naval Station Mayport)

Last week, the base welcomed Irma to celebrate her 100th birthday on the USS Delbert Black’s chief’s mess. While there, she expressed a desire to fly in a helicopter for her special day and the crew decided to make it happen.

While she was flown around the ship, the crew hailed her from the ship’s topside.

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After the trip, she was presented with a framed photo from the crew of the USS Delbert Black. She then took the time to pose for pictures with several of the crew members.

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