California wine country fire contained
SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- A Northern California wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes and other buildings and forced thousands of people to evacuate in the state's wine country is now fully contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Wednesday.
The fire, which ignited on Oct. 23 and drove nearly 200,000 people from their homes, destroyed 174 homes and 200 other buildings. It charred 121 square miles.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it's possible electrical equipment belonging to the state's largest utility was involved.
Pacific Gas & Electric had cut power to a large number of customers to prevent equipment from starting fires in windy weather, but it didn't de-energize a transmission tower near where the fire started.
Separately, three firefighters received minor injuries as they battled a wildfire that has been burning in another fire that began in another part of the state on Sunday. Officials said the firefighters were all treated and released.
More than 1,200 firefighters are trying to tamp down the 6-square-mile blaze in steep terrain northwest of Paradise, where the deadliest wildfire in state history ignited a year ago today.
The fire and forestry agency said the blaze was a third contained as of Thursday.
Chicago police superintendent retiring
CHICAGO -- Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced Thursday that he's retiring after more than three years in the post that he took over during one of the most violent chapters in the city's history and after public outcry over the release of a video showing an officer shooting a black teen 16 times.
During a news conference in which Johnson announced his retirement, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said he'd agreed to serve through the end of the year. A successor hasn't yet been named.
"These stars can sometimes feel like you're carrying the weight of the world," said Johnson, whose uniform includes four stars on each shoulder. "This job has taken its toll, taken a toll on my health, my family, my friends."
Johnson, who joined the force as a patrolman in 1988, signaled earlier in the week that he was thinking about retirement. He said the decision would have nothing to do with an investigation into a recent incident in which he was found asleep behind the wheel of his SUV at a stop sign and his admission to Lightfoot that he'd had a "couple of drinks with dinner" that night.
Johnson, a native Chicagoan, held just about every rank in his career on the force, which spanned more than three decades. He was named superintendent in 2016 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Johnson set out to beef up his force, presiding over an effort to hire more officers that has increased the size of the force by about 1,000 and the expanded use of technology and police body cameras.
Vaping illnesses top 2,000, report says
NEW YORK -- New government figures show more than 2,000 people have been diagnosed with vaping illnesses in the still-unsolved U.S. outbreak.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that 2,051 confirmed and probable cases have been reported. Illnesses have occurred in every state but Alaska. Forty people in 24 states have died.
The outbreak appears to have started in March. No single ingredient or vaping device has been linked to all the illnesses. Most who got sick said they vaped products containing THC, the high-inducing ingredient in marijuana.
Health officials urge people to avoid vaping, particularly products containing THC and purchased off the street.
The CDC said it tallied 39 deaths as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. Massachusetts reported an additional death Wednesday.
Census Bureau raises pay to lure workers
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Faced with a tight labor market, U.S. Census Bureau officials said Thursday that they plan to raise wages for census workers in some areas and make it easier for applicants to get fingerprinted for background checks.
Bureau officials told members of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations that low unemployment was making it challenging in some communities as the bureau pushes to hire up to 500,000 temporary workers needed to survey households during next year's census.
The bureau encountered higher-than-expected levels of dropout and no-show rates that officials blamed on inconvenient fingerprint locations, inadequate follow-up with applicants and noncompetitive wages in rural areas, said Albert Fontenot, an associate director at the bureau.
For the next wave of hiring, the bureau will increase wages by $1.50 an hour in some places and allow applicants to get fingerprinted at post offices. The pay for the part-time work currently ranges from $13.50 to $30 an hour. The bureau so far has 1 million applicants but is hoping to get another 1.7 million people applying for the temporary jobs, bureau officials said.
A Section on 11/08/2019