Drought conditions are fueling a late fall forest fire raging in the Big Sur region of California.
Fire officials say the slow-moving blaze in Los Padres National Forest had burned around 770 acres by late Tuesday night and destroyed at least 14 homes. The fire was reported to be 20 percent contained.
Up to 650 firefighters are on site fighting the blaze and the weather has been favorable for stopping the fire’s spread. However, officials say a weather front moving in Wednesday could tip the scales in favor of the fire.
“It could possibly help us,” Los Padres National Forest spokesman Lynn Olson said. “It could possibly hurt us.”
The popular tourist area has been hit by wildfires in the past. A summer 2008 blaze forced the evacuation of the area and burned 250 square miles before it was contained including the destruction of a dozen homes.
Among the homes destroyed since Monday was the home of the Big Sur Fire Chief, Martha Karstens. She had lived in her home for 23 years when it was destroyed Monday night. Karstens said she was focusing on fighting the fire and functioning as a chief without thinking about her now destroyed home.
A cross that has been the centerpiece of a veteran’s memorial near San Diego since 1913 will be destroyed because a federal judge agreed with anti-Christanists that the presence of the cross violates the constitution.
The 29 foot Latin Cross standing at the memorial replaced the original cross in 1954. The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial contains 3,000 granite plaques individually honoring war heroes from every American war including Iraq and Afghanistan.
Congress made the memorial a “national memorial honoring the United States Armed Forces” in 2004. Congress noted the memorial was “replete with secular symbols” and other faiths including 18 Stars of David. Congress said the cross was a plurality of faiths.
The ACLU proceeded to continue their efforts to remove Christianity from society by suing to remove only the cross from all the religious symbols at the site. A U.S. District Court judge rules for the removal but stayed the order to give defendants a chance to appeal.
A church that had their entire supply of food to be given away for Thanksgiving stolen by thieves is seeing an outpouring of support from the community.
Christ Temple Apostolic Church in Sacramento had a window into their church’s gym shattered allowing the thieves access to make off with hundreds of dollars in food donated for the church’s annual Thanksgiving meal for the homeless.
The church is known for their outreach to the homeless community despite a series of hardships. The church has had to close half their building because they can’t afford $70,000 to fix a leaking roof. The day after they housed homeless in their gym, thieves broke into the gym and stole the church’s sound system.
Now, members of the community have been dropping off food donations at the church to replace the stolen items. One man who had never heard of the church before the thefts told CBS13 in Sacramento that he brought a couple of turkeys, stuffing, cranberry sauce and a smile because he wanted to help those helping the community.
A major California resort town is threatening to enter bankruptcy due to salary and pension costs.
Desert Hot Springs, California, a city of 26,000 east of Los Angeles, could be the third major city to file for bankruptcy after San Bernardino and Stockton.
The city’s problems came to light last week when a new finance director discovered a $3 million shortfall in the city’s $13.5 million budget during a routine record check. The interim director of finance could not explain the reason for the shortfall but said it was likely due to higher than expected pension and salary costs.
If the city ends up filing, it will be the second time since 2001 that the city has filed for bankruptcy proection.
Amy Aguer, the city’s interim director of finance, said that 70 percent of the budget was consumed by police costs between salaries and pension payments.
A floating island of debris at least three times the size of Great Britain is aimed for the California coastline.
The debris, all from the 2011 tsunami in Japan, is composed of destroyed homes and businesses, cars and boats. While some pieces of debris have washed up on the California shore starting in 2012, scientists expect this giant wave of debris to hit the coastline at the same time.
In addition to the debris, the giant island is bringing potentially destructive non-native ocean life and radioactive water.
Oceanographers say that marine life non-native to the U.S. west coast usually dies as it crosses the Pacific Ocean because of most shipping routes. However, the path of the debris has kept to water temperatures that would allow some species to survive. If the marine life is able to adapt to the California coast, scientists are concerned it could be devastating to the native life.
NOAA says that so far 1,600 debris reports have been conclusively linked to the tsunami.
Mexico’s Baja California is preparing for the arrival of Tropical Storm Octave.
The storm is expected to approach the peninsula’s western coast on Tuesday according to the National Hurricane Center. Octave has sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, which has decreased from Sunday night.
The Mexican government has issued a tropical storm warning for the southwestern Baja California coast.
Forecasters are expecting up to 8 inches of rain along the coastline and are predicting a storm surge that will be “large and destructive.”
The storm comes on the heels of two major storms last month that triggered mudslides and other storm damage that left about 150 people dead.
The USDA has issued a public health alert for raw chicken packed at three California based Foster Farms locations after 278 people have been sickened with salmonella. Continue reading →
Most of the University of California Berkeley campus has regained power after an overnight explosion blacked out campus buildings. Continue reading →
An explosion tore through a building on the UC Berkeley campus Monday evening, injuring some people and forcing a campuswide evacuation, officials said.
The Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park in California, now the 6th largest in state history, has firefighters using a new method to help fight the flames: a National Guard Predator drone.
The drone will fly over the fire 22 hours a day and provide real time photos to fire commanders about the fire’s progress and possible hot spots. Continue reading →
