The world at a glance . . . United States

La Brea, Calif.

Suspicious fires: A blaze started by a cooking fire at an illegal marijuana plantation has burned 90,000 acres in Santa Barbara County, and authorities are warning locals to watch out for Mexican drug gangs in the area. Firefighters found the pot-growing operation as they battled the blaze in a protected forest frequented by Mexican drug traffickers. The growers had cleared land on a hillside for the plants and diverted a nearby stream for irrigation. Police say that after the fire spread, the growers fled into the forest, prompting the warnings to nearby residents from local police. Illegal pot farms are common in California’s vast forests, authorities say. “We could have an army out there and still not be able to cover all of that ground,” said local Sheriff Bill Brown.

Phoenix

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Gun worries: The appearance of a dozen armed people this week outside one of President Obama’s health-care town halls has the Secret Service worried about security. The gun-toting demonstrators, one of them carrying a semiautomatic rifle, were gathered near a Phoenix convention center where Obama was speaking. Although registered gun owners can legally carry weapons openly in Arizona and several other states, security experts said the gun toters made the agents’ jobs more difficult. And some observers said the presence of guns at a political event would stifle debate. Guns at political rallies, says Northern

Arizona University political scientist Fred Solop, “create a chilling effect on honest communication.”

Milwaukee

Mayor attacked: An assailant bashed Milwaukee’s mayor with a police baton, after he tried to stop an attack on an elderly woman, sending him to the hospital with a broken hand and facial injuries. Mayor Tom Barrett, 55, was attending the Wisconsin State Fair with family members when he heard a woman screaming for help. Authorities say he found Anthony Peters, 20, attacking the mother of Peters’ ex-girlfriend. When Barrett intervened, Peters allegedly hit him several times with the baton, breaking his hand and knocking out two teeth. “It’s fair to say things got very, very ugly, very, very quickly,” said Barrett, who’d attended the fair without a security detail. Police arrested Peters nearby and jailed him pending indictment.

San Antonio

Judge on trial: One of Texas’ highest-ranking judges went on trial herself this week, charged with wrongly refusing to hear an appeal from a death-row inmate. The judicial ethics hearing centers on a request that Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of Texas’ criminal-appeals court, received on the day in 2007 that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider the constitutionality of execution by lethal injection. Lawyers for Michael Richard, whose execution was scheduled for that evening, called to request a stay pending the Supreme Court’s ruling. Keller, who had already gone home for the day, refused to keep the court open past 5 p.m. so the motion could be filed. The execution proceeded as scheduled. The special prosecutor in the case alleges that Keller’s refusal was an ethical breach. She could lose her job if the state’s judicial ethics committee agrees.

Salisbury, N.H.

Psst—want a bridge? A historic iron bridge is yours for the asking, but there’s a catch. The town of Salisbury has to replace the 116-year-old Pingree Bridge, which connects the town to several nearby farms. But because the bridge is one of only two in the state with its structural characteristics, town officials want it preserved. So they’re offering the bridge free of charge to anyone willing to cart it away but not sell it for scrap. The state will start work on a replacement next year, to the regret of many locals. “It’s going to change the whole look” of the town, says resident Dawn Platte.

Iowa City, Iowa

Fishing trip goes awry: A 63-year-old woman trapped in dense river brush on an inflatable raft survived five days before being rescued this week by a passing fisherman. Jeanne Schnepp was fishing in the Wapsipinicon River when strong currents swept her raft downstream and drove her into heavy underbrush near the shore. Unable to make her way through the brush to shore, she was trapped on the raft, with only two cans of soda and a bottle of water to sustain her. Fisherman Larry Williams finally spotted her and called for rescuers. Schnepp, who was hospitalized for sunburn, insect bites, and dehydration, is expected to recover fully. “She’s always out doing something that she probably shouldn’t have been doing,” said her son Clint, 33. “Like this.”