California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Victims of California serial killer and rapist Joseph DeAngelo want him locked away in a distant maximum security prison with other inmates since he isn’t going to spend the rest of his life on death row.

But they may not hold much sway over where the 74-year-old former police officer known as the Golden State Killer is imprisoned after he is sentenced Friday. State corrections officials said they must make their own evaluation about where and how DeAngelo can be housed.

VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Crews worked in blistering heat Wednesday to beat back wildfires that ignited across Northern California, sending thousands of people from their homes into smoky air, briefly halting traffic on an interstate and killing a pilot on a firefighting mission.

Hundreds of fires were burning across California, including 23 major fires or groups of fires that Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed on “extraordinary weather” and “all of these lightning strikes.” He said the state has recorded nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours and knows of 367 fires.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency to mobilize resources to fight wildfires burning across the state.

Newsom noted in a proclamation that there are currently hundreds of fires actively burning during these extreme weather conditions throughout California, and they had scorched tens of thousands of acres collectively.

(AP) --- California sizzled to a triple-digit temperature so hot that meteorologists need to verify it as a planet-wide high mark.

Death Valley recorded a scorching 130 degrees (54.4 degrees Celsius) Sunday, which if the sensors and other conditions check out, would be the hottest Earth has been in more than 89 years and the third-warmest ever measured.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A rare summer thunderstorm brought lightning that sparked several small blazes in Northern California on Sunday and stoked a huge wildfire that has forced hundreds of people from their homes north of Los Angeles.

More than 4,500 buildings remained threatened by the fire burning toward thick, dry brush in the Angeles National Forest. Firefighters already battling the blaze in steep, rugged terrain with scorching heat faced more hurdles when hundreds of lightning strikes and winds up to 15 mph (24 kph) pushed the flames uphill.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California’s utilities on Saturday night are bringing back power to thousands of customers across the state after a brief outage, according to the authority that operates the power grid.

The California Independent System Operator (California ISO) said in a statement that the brief rolling blackouts throughout the state were caused by the failure of a power plant and the loss of wind power.

California ISO said it ordered the end of rolling blackouts about 6:48 p.m., when wind power increased.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bone-dry vegetation fueled three wildfires near Los Angeles amid warnings Friday that the risk of new blazes erupting was high as temperatures spike and humidity levels drop during a statewide heat wave.

A huge forest fire that prompted evacuations north of Los Angeles flared up Friday afternoon, sending up an enormous cloud of smoke as it headed down to the desert floor and the California aqueduct in the Antelope Valley. Fire crews managed to stop its movement there but additional evacuations were ordered for the western Antelope Valley.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday threw out California’s ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, saying the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s protection of the right to bear firearms.

“Even well-intentioned laws must pass constitutional muster,” appellate Judge Kenneth Lee wrote for the panel’s majority. California’s ban on magazines holding more than 10 bullets “strikes at the core of the Second Amendment — the right to armed self-defense.”

LOS ANGELES, Aug 13 (NNN-Xinhua) — A fast growing wildfire occurred Wednesday afternoon in the Angeles National Forest, prompting evacuation orders for over 500 homes nearby.

The blaze, dubbed Lake Fire, was first reported at local time 3:40 p.m., and spread from about 50 acres to 10,000 acres within approximately three hours, according to the InciWeb, an interstate incident information system.

As of local time 5:20 p.m., there was zero percent containment of the fire and several structures were threatened.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Beginning Thursday, U.S. Facebook users who post about voting may start seeing an addendum to their messages -- labels directing readers to authoritative information about the upcoming presidential election.