What happened
At least 60,000 people were ordered to evacuate over the weekend as three fast-moving wildfires burned through Spokane and nearby communities in Washington State. The blazes swept into the state’s second-largest city on Saturday, destroying hundreds of buildings, as the Pacific Northwest endures its “worst fire season in more than 30 years,” CNN said. Fire crews from Southern California have been dispatched to help battle more than a dozen wildfires across Washington State that are being fueled by dry conditions and strong gusts. 

Who said what
The fires are “the worst natural disaster our region has faced,” Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown said at a news conference yesterday. With gusts of up to 45 miles per hour, “there is not a fire department in the U.S. that can handle a wind-driven event this size,” Assistant Spokane Fire Chief Lance Dahl told reporters. The state is experiencing an “unprecedented fourth drought emergency in a row,” The Seattle Times said, with low water supply and record temperatures “part of an ongoing warming trend.” 

What next?
Wind speeds and temperatures in the region fell slightly Sunday but were forecast to climb again later this week. “Months still remain in Washington’s wildfire season,” The Seattle Times said. 

What happened
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” took in $927 million worldwide over the weekend, delivering the second-biggest opening in global box-office history after 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which earned $1.2 billion. The new Marvel blockbuster, released almost five years after its predecessor “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” made $355 million in North America — “just a few million shy” of the national record of $357 million claimed by “Endgame,” The Associated Press said.

Who said what
This weekend’s opening was a “perfect storm” for a major blockbuster, combining a familiar character, established intellectual property and strong reviews, box-office analyst Chris Colombo told CNN. This was a “mind-blowing” result for the new Spider-Man movie, said Rebecca Rubin in Variety. “With great power comes truly heroic ticket sales.”

The film’s success fueled the biggest collective weekend in North American box-office history, with total takings of about $430 million. Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” also performed well, pulling in $51 million domestically, while “Toy Story 5” earned $6.3 million. 

What next?
Analysts are predicting another bumper month for U.S. movie theaters. Industry expert Paul Dergarabedian suggested on X that the “$4 billion mark” for this summer’s total takings could “be within reach.” 

A recent study found that the artificial sweeteners used in many diet and zero-sugar products may have an unintended side effect: memory loss, particularly among younger consumers. But even though the study found a significant link between sweeteners and memory issues, experts say this is a correlation, not causation.

Several widely used artificial sweeteners may be “associated with faster declines in memory and thinking skills over time,” according to the study published by the American Academy of Neurology. It followed 12,772 adults in Brazil for about eight years and examined their intake of seven sugar substitutes: aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame K, erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol and tagatose. These are “frequently added to ultra-processed products, including flavored water, soft drinks, energy drinks, yogurt and desserts marketed as low in calories.”

Researchers found that the people who consumed the highest amount of artificial sweeteners “experienced a 62% faster rate of cognitive decline than those with the lowest intake,” said USA Today, a rate “estimated to be comparable to about 1.6 additional years of brain aging.” People who were in the mid-range of consumption “experienced cognitive decline that was 35% faster than those in the lowest-intake group.” The memory loss was most prevalent in study participants under 60.

“Low- and no-calorie sweeteners are often seen as a healthy alternative to sugar,” said the lead study author, Dr. Claudia Kimie Suemoto of Brazil’s University of Sao Paulo, in a press release. “However, our findings suggest certain sweeteners may have negative effects on brain health over time.”