X to shut down flagship San Francisco office – report

CEO Linda Yaccarino reportedly said Bay Area employees would be relocated to Silicon Valley in an internal email

X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, will shut down its flagship San Francisco office “over the next few weeks”, the New York Times reported. The internal announcement comes after owner Elon Musk stated last month he would be moving the headquarters out of California.

In an email to employees obtained by the Times, chief executive Linda Yaccarino said Bay Area employees will be relocated to Silicon Valley, distributed between an existing office in San Jose and a new office to be built in Palo Alto.

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Cooler weather helps fire crews corral a third of California’s largest blaze of year

Firefighters make advances on wildfire that has burned 627 sq miles, but return of high temperatures may help it grow

Fire crews battling California’s largest wildfire this year have corralled a third of the blaze aided in part by cooler weather, but a return of triple-digit temperatures could allow it to grow, fire officials said Sunday.

Cooler temperatures and increased humidity gave firefighters “a great opportunity to make some good advances” on the fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills, said Chris Vestal, a spokesperson for the California department of forestry and fire protection.

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Death Valley records its hottest month ever in July

The national park had an average 24-hour temperature of 108.5F that month, beating its previous record in 2018

Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth, recorded its hottest month ever on record in July, the National Park Service (NPS) announced.

In a statement released on Friday, the NPS revealed that the park had an average 24-hour temperature of 108.5F (42.5C), in turn beating out its previous record of 108.1F (42.3C) set in 2018.

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Sick sea lions stranded on California coast as experts fear algae poisoning

At least 23 sea lions with suspected domoic acid poisoning rescued from Santa Barbara and Ventura beaches

Sea lions are stranding themselves on a long stretch of the California coast in what experts say could be a sign of widespread poisoning by a harmful algae bloom this summer.

The Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute (Cimwi) said that since 26 July, it had been inundated by daily reports of sick sea lions along the shoreline in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

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One person killed and national guard deployed as Colorado battles wildfires

Governor says national guard will support first responders as state becomes latest in west to battle several major fires

One person has died and at least five homes were destroyed as Colorado becomes the latest western state to battle several major wildfires.

The Boulder county sheriff, Curtis Johnson, reported the death was discovered in one of the five homes burned by the Stone Canyon fire near the town of Lyon, but did not provide further details. The fire has burned more than 1,500 acres (607 hectares) and was reported 20% contained on Wednesday evening.

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Largest wildfire in US grows to cover area bigger than Los Angeles

Park fire scorches 386,000 acres as firefighters battle blazes across US west, including historic mining town of Havilah

The largest wildfire in the US swelled to more than 380,000 acres (154,000 hectares) on Tuesday morning, an area bigger than the city of Los Angeles and three times the surface area of Lake Tahoe, as thousands of firefighters battled the blaze in a remote wilderness area in northern California.

Meanwhile, the destruction caused by wildfires raging across the US west came into sharp focus as photographers documented the destruction left by the Borel fire in southern California. The fast-growing fire tore through the historic mining town of Havilah, leaving burnt buildings, cars and forests.

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Firefighters battle California’s seventh largest wildfire on record as thousands under threat

The Park fire has more than doubled in size in 24-hour span to burn 350,000 acres and stretches over four counties

Thousands of firefighters continued to battle the Park fire in northern California which, propelled by extreme fire weather conditions, has become the state’s seventh-largest on record after burning for less than a week.

The Park fire, about 90 miles (144km) north of the state capital of Sacramento, had more than doubled in size in a 24-hour span to burn upwards of 350,000 acres (141640 hectares) – an area about the size of Los Angeles – and stretched over four counties: Butte, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection, or Cal Fire.

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‘The PTSD is horrible’: for Californians who survived tragedy, new blazes stir trauma

As the Park fire rages near Chico, residents who were evacuated from the deadly Camp fire in 2018 are evacuated again

As the biggest fire of the season raged through northern California on Saturday, Stephen Murray wasn’t taking any chances.

The Paradise resident loaded up his vehicle and prepared to flee with his wife and children. Almost six years after the Camp fire destroyed his hometown and killed 85 people, the community was under an evacuation warning due to the Park fire, which had scorched nearly 350,000 acres.

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Cooler temperatures bring relief as Park fire explodes in California

Intensity and dramatic spread have led to unwelcome comparisons to 2018 Camp fire, which killed 85 people

Cooler temperatures brought some relief to the thousands of firefighters battling the Park fire in northern California after it exploded in size, becoming the largest in the state and prompting the governor to make an emergency declaration for three counties.

The intensity and dramatic spread of the wildfire led officials to make unwelcome comparisons to the disastrous Camp fire, which burned out of control in nearby Paradise in 2018, killing 85 people and destroying 11,000 homes.

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California’s largest wildfire of year whips through community of Forest Ranch: ‘The sky was dark with smoke’

Park fire has burned 239,000 acres, with an official telling CBS it was spreading at a rate of 4,000 to 5,000 acres an hour

A massive and explosive wildfire whipped through the small rural community of Forest Ranch, California, on Thursday, bringing back dark memories in a region that has withstood several devastating wildfires in recent years.

The Park fire has grown into the state’s largest this year, destroying buildings and forcing the evacuations of thousands in one of the state’s most wildfire-hardened regions.

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Childhood air pollution directly linked to adult lung health, study says

Connection found between early exposure and bronchitic symptoms in adults without previous lung problems

Air pollution breathed in during childhood is one of the factors in adult lung health, according to a new study.

The origins of the study date back to 1992 when researchers began investigating the effects of air pollution on groups of children in California. Some of these children are now in their 40s.

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Man gets third-degree burns from walking on sand dunes in Death Valley

European visitor rushed to hospital after briefly walking barefoot in California national park amid extreme heat

A European visitor got third-degree burns on his feet while briefly walking barefoot on the sand dunes in California’s Death Valley national park over the weekend, park rangers said Thursday.

The rangers said the visitor was rushed to a hospital in nearby Nevada. Because of language issues, the rangers said they were not immediately able to determine whether the 42-year-old Belgian’s flip-flops had somehow been broken or were lost at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes during a short Saturday walk.

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‘Nature’s clean–up crew’: record-setting 17 condor chicks hatch at LA Zoo

The birds, protected as an endangered species, will remain under zoo care for year and a half before being sent into wild

Nearly 20 new California condors will fly across the western sky after a record-setting hatching of baby birds this summer at the Los Angeles Zoo.

The zoo marked a record of 17 California condor chicks hatched during this year’s breeding season, with staff members preparing to set the birds into the harsh wild as they are currently protected as an endangered species.

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Man accused of starting California’s largest wildfire of the year is arrested

Suspect allegedly pushed burning car into gully which started Park fire as other fires scorch Pacific north-west

A California man was arrested on Thursday and accused of starting the state’s largest wildlife of the year by pushing a burning car into a gully.

The flames have since exploded into what is now the Park fire, which has burned more than 71,000 acres (28,733 hectares) near the city of Chico. Evacuations were ordered in Butte and Tehama counties, with the blaze only 3% contained early on Thursday.

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A true California hot spot: fire ants invade town loved by celebrities

Stings from the critters invading Montecito can be painful, can displace native wildlife and are a hazard to agriculture

A tony town in California’s central coast where celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to Prince Harry have bought properties, has become a hot spot for another reason: an active infestation of red imported fire ants.

The Santa Barbara county agricultural commissioner’s office is addressing an active infestation of these ants in Montecito, California, according to a statement issued last week.

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Ballot measure to build billionaire-funded city in California withdrawn

Firm behind ‘California Forever’, a proposed green city for up to 400,000 people on farmland, pulls back from vote

The company behind the highly criticized “California Forever” project, a plan backed by Silicon Valley billionaires to build a green city for up to 400,000 people on California farmland, withdrew the ballot measure for the election in November, according to a letter released Monday.

The decision followed a discussion between Mitch Mashburn, chair of the board of supervisors in Solano county, and Jan Sramek, a former Goldman Sachs trader and chief executive of California Forever.

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‘A wise investment’: Trump’s $6,000 gift to Kamala Harris comes back to bite him

Records show Donald and Ivanka Trump made donations to vice-president’s California attorney general re-election bid

Donald Trump has moved swiftly to turn his attack machine on to the vice-president in the wake of Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race, dusting off his derisive nickname for her: “Laffin’ Kamala Harris”.

But as the Republican nominee refocuses his campaign to target Harris, there is one awkward truth that Trump will have to face. What about that check for $5,000 dated 26 September 2011, bearing Trump’s distinctive signature, and made payable to one “Attorney General Kamala D Harris”?

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Disneyland workers in Anaheim, California, vote to authorize strike

Largest US strike so far this year could take place if negotiations, including over wages, fail next week

Members of four unions representing 14,000 workers at the Disneyland in Anaheim, California, have voted to authorize a strike amid contract negotiations.

The vote does not mean the workers will go on strike yet, but that the unions can call a strike at any point. If a strike takes place, it will be the largest strike so far in 2024.

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Syrian official who ran prison where detainees alleged torture arrested in US

Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, 72, who oversaw notorious Adra prison, detained at LAX on immigration fraud charges

A former Syrian military official who oversaw a prison where human rights officials say torture and abuse routinely took place has been arrested in Los Angeles, court documents show.

Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, 72, was taken into custody last week at Los Angeles international airport on immigration fraud charges, specifically that he denied on his US visa and citizenship applications that he had ever persecuted anyone in Syria, according to a criminal complaint filed on 9 July. Investigators are considering additional charges, the complaint shows.

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Adam Schiff says Biden should ‘pass the torch’ and bow out of 2024 US election

California Democrat and US Senate candidate calls on Joe Biden to end his campaign, stating he has ‘serious concerns’

Adam Schiff, the high-profile California Democrat and US Senate candidate, on Wednesday called on Joe Biden to end his presidential campaign, stating he had “serious concerns” about the president’s ability to beat Donald Trump in November.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles-area congressman joined almost 20 other congressional Democrats in asking the president to step aside. Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history”, Schiff said, but it was time “to pass the torch”.

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