The Bobcat fire in Los Angeles County has grown to nearly 100,000 acres, and continues to threaten the historical Mt. Wilson Observatory in the San Gabriel Mountains.
This is one of the largest fires ever recorded in the county; the biggest blaze, 2009's Station fire, burned 160,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest. The Bobcat fire is only 15 percent contained, and is moving through communities in the Antelope Valley, the Los Angeles Times reports. There are more than 1,600 firefighters on the scene, with some coming from as far away as New York.
"We're still in the thick of a good firefight," Andrew Mitchell, public information officer with the U.S. Forest Service, said on Sunday. There were some flare-ups around Mt. Wilson Observatory overnight, but crews were able to stamp them out. Forecasters expect lower temperatures and calmer winds over the next few nights, and Mitchell said he thinks "the next couple days we'll start to really get a handle on this fire because the conditions will be right and we'll be able to really start backing it with all our assets."
There are 27 major wildfires now burning in California, the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on Sunday. Since mid-August, blazes in the state have killed 26 people and destroyed more than 6,100 structures. Catherine Garcia
Schitt's Creek is going out on top.
The show just pulled off a sweep at the Emmys, winning every single comedy award during Sunday's broadcast, including Outstanding Comedy Series.
Schitt's Creek's four main stars — Eugene Levy, Dan Levy, Catherine O'Hara, and Annie Murphy — were all awarded Emmys for their performances. This makes Schitt's Creek the first comedy in history to win all four comedy actor Emmys. The show also won Emmys for writing and directing.
The series' domination was especially notable after it went without any Emmy love throughout the majority of its six-season run. It wasn't until 2019 when the show finally earned its first nominations for its penultimate season, and before 2020, it had never won a single Emmy.
But the show picked up serious momentum as its final episodes debuted earlier this year and after new viewers caught up on past seasons on Netflix, similar to the streaming boost series like Breaking Bad received late in their run. The result is that, according to Gold Derby, Schitt's Creek is now just the third show ever to win the main comedy series Emmy for the first time in its final season, with the previous two being Barney Miller and Fleabag. Hey, better late than never, right? Brendan Morrow
Schitt's Creek is off to a strong start at the Emmys.
The acclaimed comedy kicked off Sunday's Emmys with back-to-back wins for its two stars, Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy, who won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively. Both stars were together in Ontario, Canada, where the show's cast gathered at an event "adhering to Ontario’s COVID-19 guidelines," according to the series' Twitter account.
This was the first Emmy for both O'Hara and Levy since the 1980s, when they picked up writing Emmys for their work on SCTV Network. Neither performer had been nominated for their work on Schitt's Creek until last year.
Levy also co-created the show with his son, Dan Levy, who was also with the cast and crew in Ontario and won his own Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. Brendan Morrow
Standing in front of the Brooklyn high school once attended by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Sunday night vowed to fight against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who said he will push to have the Senate vote on President Trump's nominee to replace Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
McConnell blocked former President Barack Obama from being able to select a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016, claiming it was too soon before the November election. By calling for a quick vote now, when the presidential election is just 44 days away, McConnell is displaying "blatant, nasty hypocrisy," Schumer said. He urged voters to call their senators and tell them "not to listen to Mitch McConnell, not to be afraid of Mitch McConnell."
Ocasio-Cortez said it is "extraordinarily important that we understand the stakes of this vacancy. Our reproductive rights are on the line, our labor rights are on the line, our right to health care is on the line, labor and union protections are on the line, our climate is on the line." A Trump appointment puts "all of our rights, the rights that so many people died for ... at risk," she continued.
People need to "mobilize on an unprecedented scale to ensure that this vacancy is reserved for the next president," Ocasio-Cortez said. She encouraged Americans to call their senators and lawmakers to "use every procedural tool available to us to ensure we buy ourselves the time necessary." Everyone must be "more courageous," she added, and let McConnell know "that he is playing with fire. We need to make sure that this vacancy is protected, that our election continues, and that the American people have their say." Catherine Garcia
Polling concerning the new Supreme Court vacancy is starting to roll out, and the early indication is most Americans would prefer that the winner of the general election on Nov. 3 select a nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Sunday shows 62 percent of Americans oppose President Trump's plan to nominate and confirm Ginsburg's replacement as soon as possible, regardless of whether it happens before the election. The poll naturally came with partisan leanings — 80 percent of Democratic voters said the nominee should be chosen by the next president — but half of Republicans agreed as well, suggesting there may be some divide over how voters want the GOP-led Senate to approach the situation. As things stand, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is aiming to go through with a confirmation vote.
The survey also hints that the vacancy could affect the election, with 30 percent of voters responding that they're now more likely to vote for the Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and 25 percent are more likely to vote for another term for President Trump.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online between Sept. 19-20, gathering responses from 1,006 American adults. The margin of error is four percentage points. Read more at Reuters. Tim O'Donnell