The largest blaze, the Woodhead Fire, grew to nearly 70,000 acres Monday, forcing the evacuation of about 40 campers and residents in the sparsely populated patchwork of grazing land and National Forest near the Oregon border.

None of the state’s fires compare in size to the megafires ravaging the West Coast, but with resources stretched thin and forecasts calling for continued dry weather, local fire teams were keeping a wary eye on the blazes.

On Tuesday, calm winds slowed the Woodhead Fire’s spread, said Jim Mackensen, a Forest Service spokesman. But, he cautioned, “It’s still chugging away. The winds don’t have to be there, we have such extremely dry conditions that the fire can spread fine on its own.”

Several counties in the state are cloaked in smoke from fires on the coast, prompting the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to issue warnings about unhealthy air for much of the state.

The air quality remains unhealthy in much of the West.

With massive fires scattered from Los Angeles to near the Canadian border, the entire West Coast is swathed in smoke. Many cities on the coast got some relief Tuesday as winds shifted and the apocalyptic orange skies that loomed over places like San Francisco a week ago faded to a gloomy haze.

But farther inland fires continued to churn out massive clouds of smoke that cloaked much of interior in acrid, hazardous air. The entire state of Oregon is under a smoke advisory through Thursday, warning children, the elderly and people with health conditions to stay inside. Around Portland, several school districts canceled classes Tuesday because of the smoke.

Even the haze on the East Coast is the result of the smoke from all the wildfires out west, said Michael Souza, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/us/oregon-fires-california.html

Kamala Harris, Joe Biden‘s running mate in the 2020 election, raised eyebrows on Monday evening after she accidentally touted economic plans under a “Harris administration.”

Speaking during a virtual roundtable with small business owners in Arizona, Harris vowed that they will have an ally in the White House with the campaign’s “Build Back Better” initiative.

However, the California senator appeared to briefly suggest that she was at the top of the Democratic ticket.

“A Harris administration, together with Joe Biden as the president of the United States,” she said. She quickly clarified, “The Biden-Harris administration will provide access to $100 billion in low-interest loans and investments from minority business owners.”

TRUMP ACCEPTS INVITATION FOR FOURTH DEBATE MODERATED BY JOE ROGAN

Many on social media questioned whether Harris’ misstatement was a “Freudian slip” as critics of the Biden candidacy insist that former VP is a placeholder for the liberal senator.

“Joe better hire a food taster,” Ricochet Editor-in-Chief Jon Gabriel quipped.

BILL MAHER MOCKS GUESTS’ CONFIDENCE IN BIDEN: ‘YOU GUYS ARE WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD’

“Uh oh, Kamala. You weren’t supposed to say that part out loud!!” Daily Caller’s Greg Price exclaimed.

The Trump campaign quickly seized on Harris’ gaffe with the Trump War Room tweeting that Biden’s running mate “lets the truth slip.”

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President Trump and his supporters have repeatedly attacked Joe Biden as being a “Trojan Horse for the radical left” while other critics have predicted that the former VP is serving as a “placeholder” until Harris is sworn in as president.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kamala-harris-accidentally-touts-plans-in-a-harris-administration-during-virtual-roundtable

Source Article from https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2020/09/15/hurricane-sally-winds-close-pensacola-bay-bridge-three-mile-bridge-3-mile/5802732002/

Good morning.

Smoke from the record-breaking wildfires in the western US has reached almost as far away as Hawaii and Michigan, while four west coast cities now rank in the top 10 for worst air quality in the world. In Oregon, where 10 people are dead and 22 still missing, state prisoners say guards have responded to unrest with pepper spray which exacerbates existing respiratory problems.


‘I don’t think science knows’: Trump denies climate change link to wildfires – video

During a meeting with California officials to discuss the wildfire crisis on Monday, Donald Trump again denied the conclusions of climate science, claiming the world would soon “start getting cooler”. His election rival Joe Biden, speaking near his home in Delaware, described the president as a “climate arsonist”.

There are five cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean right now



A NOAA satellite image showing five tropical cyclones churning in the Atlantic basin on Monday. Photograph: AP

For only the second time in recorded history, five tropical cyclones are spinning across the Atlantic at the same time, including Hurricane Sally, which is due to make landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi on Tuesday. Hurricane Paulette continues to batter Bermuda, while Tropical Storm Teddy threatens to become a hurricane later this week.

Trump is inciting ‘white terrorism’, say Black church leaders



Trump’s now-notorious photo op outside St John’s Church in Washington in June. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

The former UK ambassador to Washington DC has said he believes there is a “genuine risk” of violence in the aftermath of a close-run US presidential election in November. “It feels very volatile,” Kim Darroch said, in an interview with the Guardian’s Julian Borger.

Black church leaders have accused the Trump campaign of inciting “white terrorism” against people of colour with a new ad that depicts churchgoers as “thugs” and ties Joe Biden to recent scenes of rioting in US cities. Meanwhile, experts have warned that the president’s apparent embrace of the 17-year-old rightwing militia member who shot dead two people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, could encourage further violent vigilantism.

Netanyahu signs ‘peace deals’ in DC while Israel locks down



Balloons bearing the face of Benjamin Netanyahu in an installation in Tel Aviv that symbolises broken promises made by the Israeli prime minister. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will seek to distract attention from their domestic political problems on Tuesday when the pair meet in Washington DC for the signing of deals between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain, allowing the countries to establish open business, direct flights and diplomatic relations.

Neither of the Gulf monarchies has ever been at war with Israel, and both already have extensive informal ties, leading critics to dismiss the “peace deals” as mere spectacle. When the reporter Bob Woodward told Trump the Israel-UAE deal brokered by his administration would not be mentioned in his latest book on the Trump presidency, Trump tweeted the book was “gonna be fake”.

  • Netanyahu’s government recently announced a three-week lockdown in Israel, the first country to reimpose such severe restrictions on a national scale.

In other news …



A detainee in a holding cell at an Ice detention centre in Georgia. Photograph: David Goldman/AP
  • Ice detainees suffer ‘jarring medical neglect’ including a high rate of hysterectomies among women, according to a nurse turned whistleblower who spent three years working at a privately owned immigration detention centre in Georgia.

  • Melinda Gates says Covid-19 has set development back by a decade in the world’s poorest countries. Gates, whose foundation has committed $350m to the global pandemic response, told the Guardian the crisis “has magnified every existing inequality in our society”.

  • South Dakota’s attorney general killed a pedestrian with his car while driving home on Saturday night, but said he did not realise it was a man, and instead reported that he had hit a deer. Jason Ravnsborg has received six traffic tickets for speeding in the state over the last six years.

Great reads



Violence preventionist DeWanda Joseph in San Pablo, California. Photograph: Marissa Leshnov/The Guardian

Bridging the gap between police and bereaved families

The loved ones of US gun violence victims have often described a lack of empathy from police, and a failure to offer comfort to distraught relatives. At least one California activist is determined to improve relations between grieving families and law enforcement, as Abené Clayton reports.

Is The Home Edit the most 2020 show of 2020?

Netflix’s Get Organized With the Home Edit can best be described as “What if Queer Eye, but shelving?” says Stuart Heritage. It’s a makeover show made up of equal parts Marie Kondo, Instagram and Cake Boss; for better or worse, it feels extremely 2020.

The high price of salmon farming

The salmon is a kind of barometer for the planet’s health, and if it doesn’t survive there is little hope for the planet, says Mark Kurlansky. We should be very concerned, then, that industrial-scale salmon farming is threatening a magnificent fish’s future.

Opinion: we still have the means to prevent an apocalypse

The west coast is aflame, the Great Plains are suffering an unprecedented drought, and a global pandemic is raging. Perhaps 2020 is the wake-up call the world needed to stop stalling over climate change, says Art Cullen.


These aren’t the end times, but you can see them from here unless we do something other than pray.

Last Thing: this bear has been hibernating for 39,500 years



The head of an ice age cave bear found on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island in Siberia. Photograph: AP

Reindeer herders on a Siberian island have discovered the immaculately preserved carcass of an ice age cave bear, a species that became extinct 15,000 years ago. Scientists said the unprecedented find, which emerged from the melting Arctic permafrost, was an adult bear that lived up to 39,500 years ago.

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Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/15/first-thing-trump-says-science-doesnt-know-whats-causing-wildfires

Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, 27, who was also at the apartment, fired a shot with a gun he legally owned and later said he thought the officers were intruders. The officers shot back, and Taylor was struck five times.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/15/breonnataylorlouisvillesettlement/

But this week Trump’s campaign pulled all of its TV advertising in Nevada, investing instead in a range of other states — a reflection of its cash crunch.

The Biden campaign, meanwhile, is flush with money, and has bought ads in both the Las Vegas and Reno markets.

As Jennifer Medina reports in an article out today, Nevada’s Democratic machine has established a strong track record over the past dozen years, winning most statewide elections through hard-fought campaigns that have centered on door-knocking and face-to-face contact — particularly with Black and Hispanic voters.

But amid the pandemic, that kind of campaigning is harder to do, and Democrats have less than half the number of canvassers on the ground in Nevada than they did in September 2016. Some Democratic officials worry that Trump could flip the state red on the strength of white voters in rural areas.

Indeed, the Times/Siena poll showed that Trump’s message might be resonating with those voters in particular. The president led Biden by 11 points among white likely voters in Nevada, a better showing than with white voters in New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Minnesota — the three other swing states surveyed in that poll. By nearly two to one, white voters in Nevada said they considered addressing law and order to be a more pressing electoral issue than confronting the coronavirus crisis.

Another sign of danger for Biden: his vulnerability with Hispanic voters, who are crucial to any Democratic victory there. Biden won just 17 percent of Latino support in the Nevada caucuses, with 50 percent caucusing for Senator Bernie Sanders, according to entrance polls. Nationwide, recent polls have generally shown Biden lagging behind Clinton’s level of Hispanic support in 2016.


Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/us/politics/trump-biden-climate.html

LeBron James needs to “step up to the plate”, says LA County Sheriff, as he requests James to put up money to find the Deputy Officers’ shooter.

LeBron James prides himself in being one of the most socially active figures in the sports world. He has been at the forefront of every major racially charged event that has taken place in the United States, condemning each unjust act of racism.

However, with over 110 million followers on Instagram and Twitter combined, his statements were bound to land him in some hot water.

Right wing activist, Candace Owens even called out LeBron James for his statements on ‘being like any other black man in America’ by claiming he has an ‘all white staff and lives a very lavish lifestyle’.

Also read: ‘LeBron James, are you suffering from racism?’: Candace Owens uses Lakers star’s ‘white staff’ to call him out

LeBron James gets called out by the LA County Sheriff

Now, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar is being challenged by the LA County Sheriff to put up $175,000 or double up the reward to $350,000. This is to incentivise people to try and locate the gunman who shot the 2 deputy officers at point blank range.

The Sheriff stated that he knows LeBron cares about law enforcement and that he should put look past race, creed, and professions, to help the LA County catch the gunman.

LeBron James has yet to respond to the County Sheriff.

Should James put up the money for the reward?

LeBron James is considered to be ‘woke’ but at the same time, he has only addressed issues based on racially charged crimes against black people. He has shied away from any other pressing matter to talk about.

Also read: ‘NBA is a slave ship’- Kanye West disses the NBA; will LeBron James and co. react to it?

Many people all over Twitter are applauding the County Sheriff for challenging James.

He has not yet commented on the shootings of the LA deputies but considering the fact he is now a part of the Los Angeles community, it be quite admirable if James did put up a certain amount for the reward.

Source Article from https://thesportsrush.com/nba-news-lebron-james-pay-up-350000-lakers-star-challenged-by-la-county-sheriff-to-catch-gunman-in-deputy-shooting/

The speaker touted the $3 trillion bill the House passed in May known as the Heroes Act. That legislation would allot nearly $1 trillion in relief for state and local governments, a second round of direct payments of $1,200 per person and an extension of the $600 per week federal unemployment insurance benefit that expired at the end of July.

Republicans looking for a compromise, such as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, have said they want to keep the price tag of the developing bill around $1 trillion thanks to better economic data and out of budgetary concerns.

The cumulative federal budget deficit for the first 11 months of fiscal year 2020 was $3 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a result of intensified government spending to support the economy through the Covid-19 shutdown.

But Pelosi’s insistence on a larger deal may put fellow Democrats in a tough position, with many members of the House who won seats from Republicans in 2018 in tough reelection battles. Those representatives may find their races even more difficult if they return home to voters without any additional pandemic assistance enacted into law.

For their part, Republicans failed to advanced their own “skinny” bill last week in the Senate after all Democrats present voted against a procedural measure. That bill, though far smaller than the Heroes Act, would have reimposed enhanced federal unemployment insurance at a rate of $300 per week, half of the $600 weekly payment that expired at the end of July. Democrats said it didn’t go far enough.

Hoping to restart the stalled negotiations and underscoring the need to return to voters with a material boost to Covid relief, the House Problem Solvers Caucus on Tuesday released a Covid relief plan produced with input from both parties.

“Having seen no progress on a new COVID-19 relief package in four months, and in recognition of Americans’ increasing suffering, the Problem Solvers Caucus (PSC) has developed a comprehensive, bipartisan framework to meet the nation’s needs for the next 6-12 months, that can pass both chambers of Congress and be signed into law by the President,” the caucus said in a release.

The caucus’s proposal includes $450 per week in federal unemployment benefits for eight weeks, $500 billion in state and local relief, direct payments to American workers and additional Paycheck Protection Program funds. As the proposal includes provisions both major parties have opposed, it is unclear whether it can gain traction with congressional leaders.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/15/coronavirus-stimulus-update-pelosi-blasts-republican-skinny-deals.html

Where the major party presidential campaigns are spending their money on TV advertising can tell you a lot about where they’re focusing their efforts.

And based on that, it’s pretty clear that the race between President Trump and Joe Biden is coming down to just six swing states — Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona. They are getting the lion’s share of the TV advertising money from the campaigns and outside groups supporting them.

More than $700 million has been spent on TV ad bookings so far in 14 key states, with almost 85% of that money going to the big six, according to data collected by ad-tracking firm Advertising Analytics through Friday, and analyzed by NPR.

And Democrats have keyed in even more closely on the six states: The Biden campaign and supporting groups have spent almost 90% of their money there, while Trump and Republican organizations have spent 78 cents of every dollar across the six.

Here are nine more takeaways from the figures, which reflect broadcast and cable TV bookings from April through Election Day in November:

1. The Biden campaign and Democratic groups supporting him are outspending Trump and his allies by $40 million since the beginning of the campaign, $379 million to $337 million. (Team Trump often outspends Team Biden on digital advertising.)

2. Biden is getting more support from outside groups than Trump is. The Biden campaign is outspending the Trump campaign, $245 million to $234 million, but outside groups supporting Biden are outspending outside groups supporting Trump as well, $134 million to $103 million.

3. The highest-spending outside group has been the Trump-aligned America First Action and America First Policies, which have combined to spend $51.7 million. Preserve America PAC has spent $24.2 million.

On the Democratic side, Priorities USA Action is the top spender at $48.4 million so far across the big six states, followed by Future Forward at $39 million and American Bridge at $20.5 million. The attention-grabbing Lincoln Project has spent $8.5 million.

4. Biden and allies are far outspending Republicans in the “Blue Wall” states. Biden and Democrats supporting him can’t be accused this year of ignoring Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the three former “Blue Wall” states that Trump flipped in his favor in 2016. Trump won by fewer than 80,000 votes combined four years ago, and Biden and allies are making a push to take them back, outspending Trump and groups supporting him, $174 million to $103 million.

5. Trump is playing defense in Ohio and Iowa. In addition to the focus on the big six states, Republicans have spent $32 million on Ohio and Iowa. By comparison, Biden and allies have spent just $9 million in these two states. GOP money includes $22 million in Ohio and almost $10 million in Iowa — places where the president should be favored to win but has seen polls close.

6. But Trump’s trying to expand the map in Minnesota, New Hampshire and Nevada. Trump’s team is outspending Biden in these three states Hillary Clinton won in 2016, by a combined $31 million to $19 million.

7. The Trump campaign has basically written off Colorado to this point. It has spent $0 there, and a super PAC supporting him has spent minimally.

8. When it comes to Georgia, so far it’s all Trump. Georgia has been a toss-up state, with polls showing a statistical dead heat for months. But on the airwaves, it’s been all Trump. His campaign and allies have made it a focus, spending almost $12.8 million through the end of September to almost nothing from Biden and his supporters (about $50,000). But that’s about to change. The Biden campaign has reserved nearly $3.9 million in ads in October and November so far.

9. Democrats appear to be about to test Texas, while Republicans are ignoring it. The Biden campaign has booked $5.2 million in Texas for the month of October so far. The Trump campaign, on the other hand, has spent nothing there. That likely means Republicans think they have enough of a cushion and believe Trump will win there anyway. It can also mean that the campaign is having to ration its resources with money being stretched.

What all of this spending shows is Trump is having to defend a lot of territory, while the Biden campaign has remained focused on the core states they set out to compete heavily in to begin with.

To put that in context, in states Trump won in 2016, the president and groups supporting him have spent $356 million, while Biden has spent just $21 million in states Clinton won.

State-by-state breakdown

Here’s a state-by-state breakdown in order of where the campaigns are spending the most. The list is in order of the most spent, and the totals include the outside groups supporting each candidate and/or opposing his opponent:

Florida
Biden and allies: $83.5 million
Trump and allies: $82.3 million

Pennsylvania
Biden and allies: $74.1 million
Trump and allies: $50 million

North Carolina
Trump and allies: $49 million
Biden and allies: $37.1 million

Michigan
Biden and allies: $55.6 million
Trump and allies: $21.7 million

Wisconsin
Biden and allies: $44.4 million
Trump and allies: $31.8 million

Arizona
Biden and allies: $43.7 million
Trump and allies: $26.3 million

Ohio
Trump and allies: $22.3 million
Biden and allies: $6.8 million

Minnesota
Trump and allies: $16.9 million
Biden and allies: $8.9 million

Georgia
Trump and allies: $12.8 million
Biden and allies: $3.9 million

Nevada
Trump and allies: $7.8 million
Biden and allies: $7.2 million

Iowa
Trump and allies: $9.7 million
Biden and allies: $2.3 million

New Hampshire
Trump and allies: $6.1 million
Biden and allies: $3.4 million

Texas
Biden and allies: $6.7 million
Trump and America First: $156,000

Colorado
Biden and allies: $1.5 million
Trump and America First: $38,000

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/09/15/912663101/biden-is-outspending-trump-on-tv-and-just-6-states-are-the-focus-of-the-campaign

Deadly and historic wildfires in the West are sending smoke as far away as the East Coast, officials said.

The smoke was creating a hazy appearance in skies over part of Virginia, the National Weather Service said. It was also effecting New York City’s skies.

At least 36 deaths have been linked to the fires in California, Oregon and Washington state.

In Oregon, 10 people have died and thousands have been displaced.

“Without question, our state has been pushed to its limits,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said at a news briefing Monday.

Mill Creek Hotshots set a backfire to protect homes during the Bobcat Fire in Arcadia, Calif., on September 13, 2020.David McNew / Getty Images

Nearly three dozen fires were active Monday night, according to state data. Around 1 million acres had burned, and more than 1,100 residences have been confirmed destroyed, according to the state emergency management department.

Twenty-two people are characterized as missing.

Washington state has seen one death, and 25 are dead in California.

In California, where more than 16,500 firefighters are battling 28 major wildfires, the death toll grew by one Monday after officials in Butte County discovered the remains of someone believed killed by the blaze, Sheriff Kory L. Honea said.

The state’s deadliest fire, the North Complex in the Sierra Nevada Mountains region north of Sacramento, has now claimed at least 15 lives.

The inferno, driven by high winds, moved into Butte County and caused major damage to the communities of Berry Creek, Feather Falls, Brush Creek and others, Cal Fire has said.

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More than 3.2 million acres — an area larger than Connecticut — have burned in California since the beginning of the year, and more than 4,200 homes or other structures have been destroyed, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.

After some help from the weather, so-called “red flag” conditions returned Monday to the northeastern part of the state, the agency said.

The largest fire in modern California history, the massive August Complex which as of Monday afternoon had burned more than 755,600 acres in Northern California, was 30 percent contained. That fire was started by lightning last month.

President Donald Trump visited California on Monday, as Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials raised the issue of climate change for playing a role in the fires.

Trump interjected at one point and said, “It will start getting cooler.” After California Department of Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said he wished the science agreed, Trump replied: “I don’t think science knows, actually.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday called Trump a ” climate arsonist” and called for action. Climate change “requires action, not denial,” he said. “It requires leadership, not scapegoating.”

Oregon’s governor asked the president to issue a major disaster declaration. He previously issued an emergency declaration for the state, which frees up federal aid.

The state’s Congressional delegation urged that the major disaster declaration be approved, writing in a letter that the confirmed fire-related deaths are likely to increase, and that “entire communities have been destroyed.”

Cooler weather is forecast in Oregon for the end of the week, which “will be a tremendous help,” Brown said, but that “the smoke blanketing the state is a constant reminder that this tragedy has not yet come to an end.”

The Holiday Farm Fire, in Lane County east of Eugene, has burned more than 160,000 acres and destroyed homes, including those of Upper McKenzie Rural Fire Chief Christiana Rainbow Plews and a dozen volunteer firefighters. A fire station was also destroyed.

Brown hailed the fire chief as heroic for immediately ordering a level three evacuation — which means people must leave immediately — which allowed residents to escape. “She and her team remind us of why we love this state,” Brown said.

The more than 1 million acres that have burned in Oregon is double the average of around 500,000 during an entire wildfire season, the Oregon Congressional delegation said.

The state is also facing its worse drought in more than 30 years, which has resulted in extremely dry forest conditions, they said.

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/smoke-deadly-wildfires-west-can-be-seen-other-side-country-n1240098

The coalition proposing the measure is led by Representatives Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey, and Tom Reed, Republican of New York. In unveiling it, the group is seeking to send a signal to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the lead White House negotiators — Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary — that there is ample common ground to be found in talks that have been dormant for weeks.

But reviving the talks is a tall order. Negotiations all but broke down in August after a brief but intense round of discussions between Democrats and White House officials to reconcile vast differences in priorities and cost, principally over money for states and those out of work. The primary negotiators have all but given up on passing something into law before the election, and are now focused on agreeing to a stopgap spending measure to keep the government funded through the fall.

In the meantime, millions of jobless Americans are beginning to exhaust traditional unemployment aid that has kept them afloat and stimulated the economy, and many small businesses, including restaurants, have been left to contend with a steep drop in revenue and coming cold weather on their own.

Members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, which is composed of moderate members and has few significant policy achievements to its name, set out to draft their own proposal in early August as they, like most other lawmakers in the House, were frozen out of the talks.

In addition to Mr. Gottheimer and Mr. Reed, Representatives Dean Phillips, Democrat of Minnesota, and Dusty Johnson, Republican of South Dakota, helped write the framework, which took about six weeks to draft.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/us/politics/bipartisan-stimulus-bill.html

Of the 286 cases tallied by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services since its previous reporting last Monday, 94 percent of new infections came from eight colleges. Nationwide, more than 88,000 cases have been traced to colleges, the New York Times reported, with students housed in close quarters, sometimes flouting restrictions.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/14/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us/

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom had President Donald Trump one-on-one on live TV Monday, a perfect opportunity to spar with Democrats’ public enemy No. 1 just 50 days before the election.

But Newsom dropped the fiery tone he has employed in recent weeks about climate change and its role in five of the largest fires California has ever seen. Instead, he engaged the president in a respectful conversation that included both men hailing their good relationship.

Just last week, Newsom declared he had “no patience for climate-change deniers,” saying people must “disabuse ourselves of all the BS that’s being spewed by a very small group of people.” On Monday, Newsom told Trump they “can agree to disagree” on climate change and asked him to “please respect … the difference of opinion out here.”

“We’ve known each other too long and, as you suggest, the working relationship I value,” Newsom told Trump during a meeting at McClellan Park, a former Air Force base near Sacramento. “We come from a perspective, humbly, where we submit the science is in and observed evidence is self-evident that climate change is real.”

Trump and Newsom have butted heads repeatedly during both men’s first terms in office. Last year, Newsom was fond of saying that he was proud California is “the most un-Trump state in America.” And in February, during Trump’s previous visit to the state, the president told a group of California farmers he would pressure Newsom to give them more water or else “you’re going to get a new governor.”

But Newsom has been noticeably reluctant to criticize Trump publicly since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as California has relied heavily on aid from the federal government to respond to the crisis and balance its budget. That has continued during wildfire season, when the state has applied for and received federal grants to fight massive fires that have so far burned more than 3.2 million acres.

Newsom even thanks Trump during his weekly news conferences — comments that have ended up in some of Trump’s political ads.

“We actually have a very good relationship. Good man,” Trump said of Newsom on Monday.

It’s all part of managing the state’s necessary relationship with a temperamental commander-in-chief, says Kathryn Phillips, director of the Sierra Club of California.

“What essentially is happening is that Newsom is having to be, in a way, a sacrificial lamb,” Phillips said. “He’s the one who has to be very gentle with the president, even though I have no doubt that he disagrees with him on just about everything.”

That gentleness in approach does not necessarily extend to others in the Newsom administration. On Monday, Newsom praised the Trump administration for partnering with California to reduce wildfire risks on 500,000 acres of forest land per year.

Wade Crowfoot — Newsom’s natural resources secretary — implored Trump and his administration to not “put our head in the sand and think it’s all about vegetation management,” referencing the state’s rising temperatures that are making wildfires more destructive.

“It’ll start getting cooler, you just watch,” Trump responded.

“I wish science agreed with you,” Crowfoot answered back.

“I don’t think science knows, actually,” Trump said, before moving on to talk to someone else.

Phillips said she believes Crowfoot’s comments reflect what the Newsom administration really thinks.

“It’s easier for somebody who is not the governor to say that,” Phillips said.

While wildfires have burned across the West Coast for weeks now — killing at least 35 people — they’ve received little attention in the race for president. That’s changing this week. Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris is traveling to California on Tuesday to get a briefing on the wildfires and presidential nominee Joe Biden also has begun focusing on climate change.

During Trump’s visit Monday, he awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross to some National Guard soldiers who rescued people from wildfires last week. Asked by a reporter why it took him nearly three weeks to publicly acknowledge the fires, Trump called it a “nasty question.”

“I declared it an emergency. I gave an emergency declaration,” Trump said. “Don’t tell me about not doing.”

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/newsom-gently-confronts-trump-climate-others-his-administration-aren-t-n1240095

Arizona’s growing Latino population, which is overwhelmingly of Mexican descent, is a key reason the state could swing to Democrats in the presidential race for the first time since 1996. Shifting attitudes of white college-educated voters in the suburbs of Maricopa County, and Trump himself, have also contributed to the state’s changing political landscape.

“There’s room for Joe Biden to grow his support among Latinos in Arizona in this last 50 days,” said Stephanie Valencia, co-founder of Equis Research, which hired GBAO Strategies to conduct the poll. “There’s a lot of room for him to continue to make his case to these younger Hispanic men who may be intrigued by Trump but aren’t totally sold on voting for him yet.”

Trump’s support increased by 8 points among Latinos in Arizona compared with the president’s 2019 average in four waves of Equis polling. After weekend events in Nevada, Trump held a Latino roundtable in Phoenix on Monday.

Valencia attributed the shift to “Trump intrigue” around the president’s business personality. Latino men under the age of 50 represented the greatest statistical bump for Trump since an Equis’ poll from May. The boost for Trump among young Latino men could be a product of a smaller subsample, Valencia said. But even if the true change were half the size, she said, “we would come to the same conclusion: young men have been increasingly moving toward Trump.”

“While more than 40 percent say they are supporting Trump today,” Valencia added. “Only 26 percent rate themselves very likely to support him at the end of the day.”

As the election nears, Biden’s campaign has rushed to shore up more Latino support, particularly in the battleground of Florida where he appears to be underperforming Clinton among Latinos in the state. Biden is heading to Florida on Tuesday for a Hispanic heritage event and a veterans’ roundtable.

In Arizona, Biden’s team is aiming to win at least 70 percent of the Latino vote — the same share of Latinos Sen. Kyrsten Sinema won in her 2018 race when she became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Arizona since the 1980s. Latinos will be one of the crucial blocs to determine who wins the pivotal Maricopa County and can help in the Democratic-leaning Pima County.

“The path to victory here in Arizona, and in some other states, runs through the Latino community,” Jessica Mejía, Biden’s Arizona state director, told POLITICO earlier this month.

Arizona Latinos preferred Biden on every issue polled, leading Trump by 44 points on who voters thought would best handle health care issues. When asked who would do a better job of handling the coronavirus, 67 percent of voters preferred Biden, compared with 25 percent for Trump. On immigration, Biden led 67-27 percent. He also led on the economy, with 57 percent compared with Trump’s 35 percent.

Valencia said that when Latinos are given more details about Biden’s platform, his favorability rises because the former vice president is still undefined among the group. The poll also found that Democratic Senate candidate Mark Kelly, who has steadily led Republican Sen. Martha McSally in polls, is outperforming Biden with Latinos in the state.

Arizona Latinos favor Kelly over McSally 65 percent to 27 percent. The poll surveyed 600 registered Latino voters in English and Spanish across Arizona from Aug. 20-Sept. 2, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

Seventy-one percent of Latinos in Arizona said they’re “very motivated” to vote.

Biden’s statewide lead in Arizona, where he is ahead of Trump by an average of 5 points, is also boosted by his numbers with white voters. Biden is ahead of Trump by 22 points with white college-educated voters in the state, according to a monthly tracking poll by Phoenix-based OH Predictive Insights. Trump won that same group by 6 points in 2016. The shift among college-educated white voters has materialized in the suburbs of other battlegrounds as well. But Valencia cautioned Democrats against overconfidence in the Grand Canyon State.

“If the election were held today, Biden would probably win in a place like Arizona based on where he’s sitting with white support,” she said. Still, Valencia said, Biden faces a challenge if there’s any fluctuation in white voter support — even if it’s just a couple of points.

“If Democrats have not done the work to increase support among Latinos to close that gap then that is when there will be trouble,” Valencia said.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/14/biden-trump-arizona-latinos-414866