Are You Prepared for Wildfires?; Mpox Cases Jump in SoCal–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: June 17, 2024

Indy Digest: June 17, 2024

It’s fire season—and there’s a fire burning as I type this, just off Tramway Road in Palm Springs.

KESQ News Channel 3 reports:

Shortly before 3:00 p.m., the Bureau of Land Management confirmed the fire was at 350 acres.

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway closed early for the day at around noon due to smoke. Normal operations are continuing at the top of the Tramway.

BLM confirmed that no structures are threatened, there are no injuries reported and, there have been no evacuations issued as of 3:00 p.m.

The local fire is just one of a large handful burning across the state right now. What’s being called the Post Fire, near Gorman and Tejon Pass, is now the state’s largest wildfire this year, at 15,000 acres and counting. It’s led to evacuation orders near Santa Clarita.

Up in Sonoma County, multiple structures have been destroyed by the Point Fire, which had burned 1,200 acres and was only 20 percent contained as of this afternoon.

As of this writing, CalFire reports 18 active wildfires in the state, all of which started Saturday, Sunday or today. Our partners at CalMatters have a very helpful wildfire tracker here, if you are interested.

The Los Angeles Times notes:

There had been predictions for a subdued start for the state’s wildfire season this year, given a series of late-season, moisture-heavy storms, but this new spate of fires heightened concerns.

“It’s pretty early and this is (a) pretty large fire,” (Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesperson Craig) Little said of the Post fire. “We can always hope, but I’m thinking there’s going to be more of this in the future for the summer. … It’s very early for a fire of this magnitude.”

Such early-season fires are feeding primarily on heat-dried grasses, the growth of which exploded during two back-to-back wet winters. More dangerous fires that engulf larger trees and plants are likely in store for later this year, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA.

If you live in a place where your home is at risk from wildfires—and chances are pretty good that you do if you live in the Coachella Valley—you need to be prepared.

Are you prepared? Chances are, you aren’t. Here’s a guide on how to become prepared, via CalFire.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Some business groups are claiming the minimum-wage increase for chain fast-food workers to $20 per hour is creating hardships and costing people jobs. Los Angeles Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik crunched the numbers—and determined these claims are bullpucky.: “Their raw figures certainly seem to bear that out. A full-page ad recently placed in USA Today by the California Business and Industrial Alliance asserted that nearly 10,000 fast-food jobs had been lost in the state since Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law in September. … Here’s something you might want to know about this claim. It’s baloney, sliced thick. In fact, from September through January, the period covered by the ad, fast-food employment in California has gone up, as tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Reserve. The claim that it has fallen represents a flagrant misrepresentation of government employment figures. Something else the ad doesn’t tell you is that after January, fast-food employment continued to rise. As of April, employment in the limited-service restaurant sector that includes fast-food establishments was higher by nearly 7,000 jobs than it was in April 2023, months before Newsom signed the minimum wage bill.” The column is a great read, as Hiltzik, a Pulitzer Prize winner, reveals the true culprit of restaurant chains’ woes: private equity firms.

• Mpox is not gone—it’s still around, as this alert from Los Angeles County earlier today reminds us: “The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is alerting residents and health care providers about a concerning increase in mpox cases, with 10 new cases reported in Los Angeles County in the past two weeks up from an average of less than two cases per week during the preceding several weeks. Mpox (previously referred to as Monkeypox) is mainly spread through close contact with body fluids, sores, shared bedding or clothing or respiratory droplets (kissing, coughing, sneezing). Symptoms include rash or unusual sores that look like pimples or blisters on the face, body and genitals, fever, chills, headache, muscle aches or swelling of lymph nodes. Early detection, testing and vaccination are vital to controlling the spread of this disease and protecting the health of Los Angeles County residents.” According to the Riverside County mpox data site, occasional cases are popping up in our county, too—so be careful!

• The Los Angeles Times published a revealing piece on California’s cannabis industry—and how a lot of the products legally sold here are packed with pesticides: “An investigation by The Times, in conjunction with cannabis industry newsletter WeedWeek, found alarming levels of pesticides in cannabis products available on dispensary shelves across the state, including some of the most popular brands of vapes and pre-rolled weed. Twenty-five of 42 legal cannabis products that The Times and WeedWeek purchased from retail stores and had tested at private labs showed concentrations of pesticides either above levels the state allows or at levels that exceed federal standards for tobacco. The contaminants include chemicals tied to cancer, liver failure, thyroid disease and genetic and neurologic harm to users and unborn children. Most of the pesticides found were in low concentrations that risk long-term harm by repeated use, though the extent of the health threat may not be known for years.”

• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced the pardon of 175,000 cannabis-related crimes today. The Washington Post reports: “The pardons forgive low-level marijuana possession charges for an estimated 100,000 people in what the Democratic governor said is a step to heal decades of social and economic injustice that disproportionately harms Black and Brown people. Moore noted criminal records have been used to deny housing, employment and education, holding people and their families back long after their sentences have been served. ‘We aren’t nibbling around the edges. We are taking actions that are intentional, that are sweeping and unapologetic,’ Moore said at an Annapolis event interrupted three times by standing ovations. ‘Policymaking is powerful. And if you look at the past, you see how policies have been intentionally deployed to hold back entire communities.’ … Nine other states and multiple cities have pardoned hundreds of thousands of old marijuana convictions in recent years, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.”

• Speaking of The Washington Post: Props to the newspaper for reporting on the sketchy record of the incoming editor of … (checks notes) … uh, The Washington Post: “The alleged offense was trying to steal a soon-to-be-released copy of former prime minister Tony Blair’s memoir. The suspect arrested by London police in 2010 was John Ford, a once-aspiring actor who has since admitted to an extensive career using deception and illegal means to obtain confidential information for Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper. Facing potential prosecution, Ford called a journalist he said he had collaborated with repeatedly—and trusted to come to his rescue. That journalist, according to draft book chapters Ford later wrote recounting his ordeal, was Robert Winnett, a Sunday Times veteran who is set to become editor of The Washington Post later this year. Winnett moved quickly to connect Ford with a lawyer, discussed obtaining an untraceable phone for future communications and reassured Ford that the ‘remarkable omerta’ of British journalism would ensure his clandestine efforts would never come to light, according to draft chapters Ford wrote in 2017 and 2018 that were shared with The Post.”

• And finally … the person or people responsible for Sen. Chuck Schumer’s social-media accounts unintentionally taught a masterclass on how NOT to do social media over the weekend. The Hill reports: “The New York Democrat posted a photo on the social platform X on Sunday to mark the dad-centric holiday, showing him grinning while balancing a burger on a spatula. But the barbecuing lawmaker fanned the flames of criticism from grilled meat mavens with a whopper-sized snafu, firing up conservative media detractors who mocked a seemingly uncooked hamburger being topped with a slice of cheese. … ‘I get that you’re playing to the masses,’ Donald Trump, Jr. said on X, ‘but literally no one puts cheese on a raw beef patty.’ By Monday, the post disappeared from X. Schumer’s office didn’t respond to (The Hill’s) request for comment.” OMG. I agree with Donald Trump Jr. on something. Please send help …

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