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Business

The best burns Twitter’s lawyers deployed to deny Elon Musk’s claims

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So I don’t know entirely what’s in Elon Musk’s counterclaims against Twitter — they are still under seal — but I did get an inkling today, when Twitter dropped its response. It’s spicy! Rather than let Musk get his complaints out first, Twitter went ahead and released a blow-by-blow response, the better with which to dunk on Elon along the way.

I do love this:

The Counterclaims are a made-for-litigation tale that is contradicted by the evidence and common sense

Usually legal documents have arcane, passive-aggressive digs at the other party in them. Twitter’s lawyers, however, came out swinging in their reply to Musk’s counterclaims. Maybe that’s because they know how many people will read these documents; maybe it’s just because they’re interpersonally mean.

We picked our favorite passages in the paperwork, and are showcasing them here for anyone who might be interested.

So you may recall that Musk’s putative reason for bailing on Twitter was because of Twitter’s “false and misleading statements.” Those statements have to do with spam and bot accounts, and were part of what Musk’s lawyers brought to bear during the hearing that established an October trial date.

Twitter briefly walks the court through its process, its paperwork, and its disclosure statements in previous SEC filings. “Musk does not identify any false or misleading statement of fact in this disclosure,” Twitter notes. So where are his weird numbers coming from? Well, they don’t know, because:

Musk is not measuring the same thing as Twitter or even using the same data as Twitter.

Twitter goes on to suggest Musk is deliberately distorting these numbers to “make waves.” And then it says, “Who’s the bot now, hot stuff?”

Musk’s “preliminary expert estimates” are nothing more than the output of running the wrong data through a generic web tool. … Confirming the unreliability of Musk’s conclusion, he relies on an internet application called the “Botometer”— which applies different standards than Twitter does and which earlier this year designated Musk himself as highly likely to be a bot.

I cannot explain quite how funny I find this? Musk’s fancy, secret, “proprietary” analysis of Twitter data was a website called Botometer.

This is, for my money, the funniest part of the document. Here are some things Twitter is willing to admit are true:

Twitter admits that Musk is a Twitter user and has founded several companies.

Twitter admits that its business is complex.

Twitter admits that Musk is a Twitter user and has over 100 million followers

Twitter admits that it detects and removes spam from its platform

But “Twitter otherwise lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief” as to whether Musk believes in free speech and open debate, whether he appreciates Twitter as a town hall, or that Twitter was a natural option for him to invest in. Later, Twitter admits that “Musk Tweets frequently.” It does so once in those words and once like this:

Twitter admits that Musk actively uses Twitter and that many people believe that open discourse is essential to a functioning democracy.

Does Twitter believe open discourse is essential to a functioning democracy? Dunno, but they can’t form beliefs on whether, to Musk, “eliminating free speech is a cure worse than the disease.”

Twitter admits that it did not provide the information in the April 28, 2022 press release to the Musk Parties before the Merger Agreement was signed and before the parties had a non-disclosure agreement in place.

Sorry, this might be the low-key funniest of “Twitter admits,” which is: yeah, we didn’t give him the press release till he signed the NDA. Now, this is in response to Musk complaining that he didn’t get a heads’ up when Twitter announced it miscounted its daily active users for several years. But it does seem pretty sensible to me not to tell anything to people with strong Twitter habits and poor impulse control until they’ve signed NDAs.

Or maybe it’s this one. Musk’s lawyers wrote that because Musk thought due diligence was “costly and inefficent,” so he didn’t do it.

Twitter avers that the Musk Parties declined to undertake any due diligence prior to signing the Merger Agreement.

Man, I mean, sometimes it just stings when your opponent agrees with you, huh?

Twitter admits that on July 8, 2022 Defendants purported to terminate the Merger Agreement, that Twitter subsequently filed litigation seeking specific performance of the Merger Agreement, and that Defendants have filed counterclaims.

Oh yes, good, Twitter admits this case exists.

Okay, so remember the will-he-or-won’t-he dance about Musk joining the board? Twitter does!

Musk abruptly changed his mind about joining Twitter’s board (after first negotiating an offer to join the board, accepting it in writing, and Tweeting that he was “looking forward” to taking the position), notified Mr. Agrawal of the same, and also notified Mr. Agrawal of his intent to make an offer to buy Twitter.

Because Musk didn’t identify any false or misleading statements Twitter made, Twitter has gotten snitty about his withdrawal from the acquisition:

Musk just now invented this new pretext for avoiding the merger agreement, as these supposed inaccuracies are nowhere mentioned in his July 8 letter to Twitter explaining the bases for his purported termination of the merger agreement, nor in any other communication with Twitter since signing the merger agreement. In any event, Twitter never made the disclosures he now asserts are false.

In Musk’s claim, his lawyers write that “Twitter’s primary business is operating a microblogging social media network where users share 280 character messages called ‘tweets.’” Twitter denies this, hilariously.

[Twitter’s] primary product, Twitter, is a global platform for real-time self-expression and conversation, including in the form of Tweets. Twitter further avers that Tweets have a maximum length of 280 characters.

I wonder what “social network” and “microblogging” mean to Twitter’s lawyers?

I don’t think this one needs more context, honestly. I’m just surprised not to see an actual emoji in the filing:

On May 16, 2022, Mr. Musk publicly replied to that Tweet Thread with a poop emoji.

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US

California’s Oak Fire destroys at least 55 structures as it burns more than 17,000 acres near Yosemite National Park

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Crews made progress in their effort to rein in the fire Monday, slowing the burn’s expansion after the blaze exploded over the weekend, though it is still just 16 percent contained, state fire management agency Cal Fire said. More than 2,400 structures are still threatened, according to the agency.

“It was a successful day for aircraft and firefighters, resulting in minimal growth on the fire,” Cal Fire said Monday evening, adding, “Crews continue to construct control lines and extinguish hot spots along existing lines.”

Nearly 3,000 fire personnel are tackling the blaze, deploying air and land efforts including two dozen helicopters, 302 fire engines and 82 bull dozers, according to Cal Fire’s Monday night update.

But challenging terrain and abundant dry vegetation fueling the fire has complicated efforts to tamp down its growth, Cal Fire spokesperson Captain Keith Wade told CNN Monday.

“The footprint out here, the acreage of available fuels to burn when the fire gets going, along with the available topography — the canyons, the drainages — the wind that flows through these areas, can make the fire behavior erratic and it can explode … the ferociousness of that fire at times can be intense,” Wade said.

So far this month, there have been 23 wildfires in California, according to Cal Fire, but only three have exceeded 500 acres. None have come close to the mass destruction of the Oak Fire, due in part to the exceedingly dry conditions in the area, Wade said.

“I think the real difference that firefighters are experiencing on this one is how dry everything is, it’s definitely been (drier) as the years have been going on,” he said. “We’ve noticed that there seems to be less precipitation, less moisture and the available fuel load is definitely out there.”

The fire’s rapid growth has also made evacuation efforts more difficult, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jon Heggie told CNN Monday, noting that officials and law enforcement are doing their best to notify residents when they need to leave.

“The reality is, it’s moving so quickly, it’s not giving people a lot of time and they are sometimes just going to have to evacuate with the shirts on their back,” Heggie said.

The incremental progress made by fire crews has allowed officials to reduce evacuation orders in some areas to fire advisements, Cal Fire said.

At least 3,000 people were forced to flee their homes over the weekend, per a Saturday news release from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. An evacuation shelter has been set up at Mariposa Elementary School for displaced residents.
Mariposa county has been under a state of emergency since Saturday, when Newsom announced the proclamation.
Southern California fire officials have been expecting this summer to bring an especially challenging fire season due to the increased frequency of wildfires and the dry, hot conditions in much of the state.

Heggie attributed the Oak Fire’s “velocity and intensity” to the state’s prolonged drought and human-caused climate change.

“What I can tell you is this is a direct result of what is climate change,” he said. “You can’t have a 10-year drought in California and expect things to be the same. And we are now paying the price for that 10-year drought and that climate change.”

California is among the western states that have been suffering under a prolonged megadrought that has been heavily exacerbated by the climate crisis.

“That dead fuel that’s a result from that climate change and that drought is what’s driving these, what we are now calling, ‘mega fires,'” Heggie said.

It’s not just the Western US dealing with extreme fire conditions. Wildfires around the globe have intensified and become more commonplace, according to a report from the UN Environment Programme. The report’s analysis found that the number of extreme wildfire events will increase by 30% by 2050.

The report suggested it’s time we “learn to live with fire,” urging authorities and policymakers to cooperate with local communities to use Indigenous knowledge and invest in planning and prevention efforts.

CNN’s Poppy Harlow, Taylor Romine, Stella Chan, Sara Smart, Rachel Ramirez contributed to this report.

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US

Balch Springs brush fire burns 26 houses, leaving dozens homeless

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BALCH SPRINGS — A large grass fire spread Monday afternoon into a Balch Springs neighborhood where it burned 26 homes — destroying nine of them — and leaving dozens of people homeless.

The fire started as workers mowed a nearby field at the northwest corner of Interstate 20 and South Belt Line Road, according to Balch Springs Fire Marshal Sean Davis, though officials are still investigating whether anyone is at fault. A row of homes along Broadview Drive, not far from Mackey Elementary School, caught fire. By Monday evening the grass fire had been contained and the house fires were out. There were no injuries, and officials said they were investigating whether someone was at fault.

Some neighborhood residents tried to stave off the fire with garden hoses. Others had just minutes to get out of their homes, leaving everything behind.

“Lost everything. Just everything,” said homeowner Miguel Quinonez, who had lived in the house with his wife for almost 14 years. He said he’d just bought a new truck that burned in the garage.

The fire in Balch Springs, a town of about 25,000 people just southeast of Dallas, came as firefighters across North Texas are battling fires that have destroyed dozens of homes, with drought and unseasonably high temperatures creating dangerous conditions. The fire marshal said the Balch Springs field tends to have a few fires a year that are put out quickly.

“It’s happening in a lot of places, just people out cutting hay or grass or something, and they’re clipping something they didn’t see, and it’s starting a fire and then traveling like crazy,” Davis said.

Officials don’t have an exact number of those displaced. They will give an update at 9 a.m. Tuesday to let residents know when they can return.

“We’re in unique weather conditions right now,” with hot weather and dry ground.

Wanda Blanchette-Ware said she barely had time to wake up her son Jacoby Ogunniyi and two dogs, Bella and Lola, to get out of their Balch Springs house as the fire approached.

Her son works during the day and had slept through the police knocking on the door. She said she went and banged on his window.

“Honey there’s a fire, please get up!” she said, awakening him.

Blanchette-Ware said she saw her neighbors watering their grass but the fire was too strong.

”Then the wind came and blew the fire all the way down the street,” she said.

As the fire spread, the fire marshal called for an evacuation of all homes and structures on Broadview Drive and Bell Manor Court, which also backs up to the field where the grass fire started.

Balch Springs City Manager Susan Cluse said the city is working with the Red Cross to set up an overnight shelter at a city recreation center, and some local hotels will put up residents and their pets for a longer period of time. The Red Cross will help displaced residents get essentials, find temporary housing and start insurance documentation. Residents whose homes weren’t damaged can stay in them.

“Right now, we don’t know where we’re going to spend the night tonight,” said Roberto Pinero, whose home of 13 years, that he had recently remodeled, was destroyed. He said his son called him about the fire, and “when I went and opened the back door the fire hit my face, and I take my family out.”

Fire crews from Dallas and other nearby cities assisted Balch Springs crews.

Residents said there have been several recent fires in the area. Some expressed concern that the grass in the field where the fire started had been allowed to grow too tall.

“That area has been undeveloped for so long, it’s just like kindling out there,” said Joe Perez, a homeowner who lives about four houses away from the fire.

Figures from the Dallas Central Appraisal District showed that the homes were built around 2005 and appraised in the mid-$200,000s.

Michael Jaramillo was at work when he got texts alerting him that his home was on fire. It was among the destroyed houses.

“It’s just sad. I don’t really care about the things, all the clothes and stuff,” he said. “I’m thinking about the things I can’t get back, the photos of my brothers and sisters and everything like that.”

Resident Wendy Reppond was searching the neighborhood Monday afternoon for her cat, Miss Kitty. Reppond said she was able to grab her two dogs and bird, but she didn’t have time to find the bird cage.

“The third house down from me, that one’s gone,” she said. “I can’t find my cat. They won’t let me back in to find my cat.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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US

Oak Fire: California’s fast-moving Oak Fire burns nearly 12,000 acres and forces thousands to evacuate outside Yosemite National Park

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The fire, which had 0% containment as of Saturday evening, began Friday in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada near the small community of Midpines, roughly a 9-mile drive northeast of the county seat, the town of Mariposa, state fire officials said.
Flames tore through trees and sent thick smoke into the sky Friday, and in at least one rural area burned close to homes and parked vehicles, video from CNN affiliates KFSN and KGO showed.
“(Authorities) came by … and told us everybody’s got to go,” Wes Detamore, a resident of the Mariposa Pines area, told KFSN Friday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County after the fire forced more than 3,000 people to evacuate their homes, according to a news release from his office. Activating a state of emergency allows for additional resources to aid response to the fire.

Electricity service in the area stopped Friday at about 4 p.m. local time, “and the fire has been coming towards us faster and faster,” Detamore said.

The fire has destroyed at least 10 structures and damaged another five, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, said Saturday. The blaze is threatening 2,000 other structures, Cal Fire said.
It had burned 6,555 acres by Saturday morning, according to Cal Fire. Fire activity was extreme, and emergency personnel were working to evacuate people and protect buildings, the department said.

Eleven fire crews with more than 400 personnel, as well as 45 fire engines and four helicopters, have been assigned to fight the flames, Cal Fire said.

Evacuations have been ordered for certain areas of Mariposa County south and east of the fire, as shown in an online map. The evacuation zones did not include the town of Mariposa.

A Red Cross evacuation center has been established at an elementary school in Mariposa, Cal Fire said.

The blaze comes as much of the US has been experiencing an extreme heat wave this week, with parts of California seeing temperatures in the triple-digits.
Wildfires scorching the western US in recent years have become more common due to worsening drought conditions fueled by climate change. In California alone, more than 2.5 million acres were burned in nearly 9,000 fires last year, according to Cal Fire.

Couple left with ‘just the clothes on their back’

Nick Smith told CNN his parents’ home burned down as a result of the fire. His parents, Jane and Wes Smith, lived in their Mariposa home for 37 years, he said.

“It’s pretty sad to see the house that I grew up in and was raised in gone,” he said. “It hits hard.”

Smith told CNN that his father is a Mariposa sheriff and was working on the fire when his mother, Jane, had to evacuate. She had time to load their horses and get out of the area, according to Smith.

“They had just the clothes on their back and the shoes on their feet,” he added.

In the meantime, the couple is staying with friends and family. Smith created a verified GoFundMe to support his parents and help them overcome their loss.

“They lived in their home for over 37 years, and now have lost everything,” Smith wrote on the GoFundMe. “37 years of memories, generations of family treasures, and countless more sentimental things. Although these are materials, it is devastating to lose everything literally in the blink of an eye without notice.”

The blaze is a few dozen miles southwest of Yosemite National Park’s southern edges, though the park is closer when measured by a straight line.

The Oak Fire is the largest of California’s currently active wildfires of note, which numbered at least six Saturday morning, according to Cal Fire.
The second-largest, the Washburn Fire, has burned in and near southern Yosemite National Park for more than two weeks. It had burned more than 4,850 acres and was 79% contained by Saturday morning, according to InciWeb, a US clearinghouse for fire information.

CNN’s TIna Burnside contributed to this report.

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Sports

Carolina Hurricanes get All-Star Brent Burns from San Jose Sharks

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The Carolina Hurricanes acquired star defenseman Brent Burns from the San Jose Sharks in a multiplayer deal Wednesday, sources told ESPN.

The Sharks traded Burns and AHL forward Lane Pederson to Carolina for forward Steven Lorentz, AHL goalie Eetu Makiniemi and a conditional 2023 third-round pick. The Sharks retained 33% of Burns’ cap hit.

Burns had to approve the trade to Carolina.

Burns, 37, has three more seasons with an $8 million average annual value (AAV) against the salary cap. The Hurricanes will have a cap hit of $5.36 million for Burns.

But in real dollars, Burns will make $6.5 million ($3.5 million in signing bonus money) next season and then $5 million in each of the following two seasons ($2 million in signing bonus money) for the rest of the deal. That was no doubt appealing for the Hurricanes.

Carolina needed a right-side, puck-moving defenseman after trading Tony DeAngelo to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Hurricanes were linked to free agent defenseman John Klingberg of the Dallas Stars but opted to trade for Burns.

Burns had 54 points in 82 games last season for the Sharks. He’s known as one of the NHL’s most prolific shot-generating players, having led the NHL with 320 shots in the 2016-17 season, the same year he won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman. His ability to get shots through on the power play had been an asset during his 11 years in San Jose.

Burns had 594 points in 798 games with San Jose. Before that, he spent seven seasons with the Minnesota Wild, scoring 183 points in 453 games as both a forward and a defenseman.

Lorentz played two seasons with the Hurricanes, scoring 21 points in 112 games. Makiniemi was a fourth-round draft pick by the Hurricanes in 2017. He played professionally in Finland before joining the Chicago Wolves of the AHL last season.

The trade of Burns opens up valuable cap space for the Sharks, who still have Erik Karlsson ($11.5 million AAV) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($7 million AAV) on their salary cap through 2025.

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Science

Fastest nova ever recorded burns out in just one day 

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The fastest nova star explosion ever seen has been recorded by astronomers. 

They watched as a white dwarf star ‘stole’ gas from a nearby red giant and triggered a blast bright enough to be witnessed from Earth with binoculars.

Named V1674 Hercules, the nova explosion occurred 100 light-years away on June 12 last year but lasted for just a day — up to three times quicker than any previously observed.

A nova is a sudden explosion of bright light from a two-star system. Every nova is created by a white dwarf – the very dense leftover core of a star – and a nearby companion star. 

Experts from Arizona State University hope their observation will help answer larger questions about the chemistry of our solar system, the death of stars and the evolution of the universe.

The fastest nova star explosion ever seen has been recorded by astronomers. This illustration shows the type of two-star system that the research team thinks V1674 Hercules belongs to

WHAT IS A WHITE DWARF? 

A white dwarf is the remains of a smaller star that has run out of nuclear fuel.

While large stars – those exceeding ten times the mass of our sun – suffer a spectacularly violent climax as a supernova explosion at the ends of their lives, smaller stars are spared such dramatic fates.

When stars like the sun come to the ends of their lives they exhaust their fuel, expand as red giants and later expel their outer layers into space.

The hot and very dense core of the former star – a white dwarf – is all that remains.

White dwarfs contain approximately the mass of the sun but have roughly the radius of Earth, meaning they are incredibly dense.

The gravity on the surface of a white dwarf is 350,000 times that of gravity on Earth.

They become so dense because their electrons are smashed together, creating what’s caused ‘degenerative matter’.

This means that a more massive white dwarf has a smaller radius than its less massive counterpart.

 

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Material shot into space at speeds of millions of miles an hour — which was visible from Earth for just over 24 hours before fizzling out. 

Lead author Professor Sumner Starrfield, of Arizona State University, said: ‘It was like someone flicked a flashlight on and off.’

Novas differ from supernovas. They occur in binary systems where there is a small, incredibly dense star and a much bigger sun-like companion.

Over time, the former draws matter from the latter, which falls onto the white dwarf. 

The white dwarf then heats this material, causing an uncontrolled reaction that releases a burst of energy and shoots the matter away at high speeds, which we observe as visible light.

The bright nova usually fades over a couple of weeks or longer but V1674 Hercules was over in a day.

Professor Starrfield said: ‘It was only about one day, and the previous fastest nova was one we studied back in 1991, V838 Herculis, which declined in about two or three days.’

Nova events at this level of speed are rare, making this nova a precious study subject.  

Its speed wasn’t its only unusual trait — the light and energy sent out also pulses like the sound of a reverberating bell.

Every 501 seconds, there is a wobble detectable in visible light waves and X-rays. It is still there a year on — and is set to continue for even longer.

Mark Wagner, head of science at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory on Mount Graham, southern Arizona, said: ‘The most unusual thing is this oscillation was seen before the outburst.

‘But it was also evident when the nova was some 10 magnitudes brighter. A mystery that people are trying to wrestle with is what’s driving this periodicity that you would see it over that range of brightness in the system.’

The US team also noticed a strange wind as they monitored the matter ejected by the nova, which they think may be dependent on the positions of the white dwarf and its companion star.

They appear to be shaping the flow of material into space surrounding the system which lay in the constellation of Hercules.

It is very conveniently placed, being in a dark sky in the east as twilight fades after sunset.

As this places it less than 17° north of the celestial equator, it could be seen from all over the world — and be photographed with an exposure of just a few seconds.

Novae can tell us important information about our solar system and even the universe as a whole.

About 30 to 60 are thought to occur each year in the Milky Way, although only about 10 are discovered during that time. Most are obscured by interstellar dust.

A white dwarf collects and alters matter, then seasons the surrounding space with new material when it goes nova.

It is an important part of the cycle of matter in space as the materials ejected by novae will eventually form new stellar systems.

Such events helped form our solar system as well, ensuring that Earth is more than a lump of carbon.

White dwarfs are the incredibly dense remains of sun-sized stars after they exhaust their nuclear fuel, shrunk down to roughly the size of Earth (artist’s impression)

Professor Starrfield said: ‘We are always trying to figure out how the solar system formed, where the chemical elements in the solar system came from.

‘One of the things we are going to learn from this nova is, for example, how much lithium was produced by this explosion.

‘We are fairly sure now that a significant fraction of the lithium that we have on the Earth was produced by these kinds of explosions.’

Sometimes a white dwarf star doesn’t lose all of its collected matter during a nova explosion, so with each cycle, it gains mass.

This would eventually make it unstable, and the white dwarf could generate a type 1a supernova, which is one of the brightest events in the universe.

Each type 1a supernova reaches the same level of brightness, so they are known as standard candles.

Co-author Professor Charles Woodward, of the University of Minnesota, said: ‘Standard candles are so bright we can see them at great distances across the universe.

‘By looking at how the brightness of light changes, we can ask questions about how the universe is accelerating or about the overall three-dimensional structure of the universe. This is one of the interesting reasons that we study some of these systems.’

Additionally, novae can tell us more about how stars in binary systems evolve to their death, a process that is not well understood.

They also act as living laboratories where scientists can see nuclear physics in action and test theoretical concepts.

The observed nova is now too faint for other types of telescopes to see, but it can still be monitored by the Large Binocular Telescope thanks to its wide aperture and state of the art scanners.

Professor Starrfield and colleagues now plan to investigate the cause, the processes that led to it, the reason for its record-breaking decline, the forces behind the observed wind, and the pulsing brightness.

The observation was published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

HOW DO STARS FORM?

Stars form from dense molecular clouds – of dust and gas – in regions of interstellar space known as stellar nurseries. 

A single molecular cloud, which primarily contains hydrogen atoms, can be thousands of times the mass of the sun. 

They undergo turbulent motion with the gas and dust moving over time, disturbing the atoms and molecules causing some regions to have more matter than other parts. 

If enough gas and dust come together in one area then it begins to collapse under the weight of its own gravity. 

As it begins to collapse it slowly gets hotter and expands outwards, taking in more of the surrounding gas and dust.

At this point, when the region is about 900 billion miles across, it becomes a pre-stellar core and the starting process of becoming a star. 

Then, over the next 50,000 years this will contract 92 billion miles across to become the inner core of a star. 

The excess material is ejected out towards the poles of the star and a disc of gas and dust is formed around the star, forming a proto-star. 

This matter is then either incorporated into the star or expelled out into a wider disc that will lead to the formation of planets, moons, comets and asteroids.

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US

Sheep Fire: Brush fire near Wrightwood area burns at least 990 acres as firefighters work to put out flames

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WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. (KABC) — Firefighters on Monday continued to battle a wildfire in the Wrightwood area that burned nearly 1,000 acres over the weekend and forced some people from their homes.

The fire, dubbed the Sheep Fire, broke out Saturday amid scorching temperatures and bone-dry brush, and strong winds continued to fuel the flames. By Sunday afternoon, the fire had grown to at least 990 acres and was only 5% contained.

Mandatory evacuations were issued for Desert Front Road, Wild Horse Canyon Road and the community of Wrightwood — the evacuation order is for Highway 2 to Mesquite Street, from Highway 138 to Sand Canyon, and from Wright Mountain Road to Lone Pine Canyon Road.

Additionally, there is an evacuation warning in place for all of Wrightwood, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.

By Monday morning, weather conditions had improved significantly, allowing crews to establish a more solid containment line around the blaze, assisted by helicopter water drops.

The Red Cross opened an evacuation center at Serrano High School located at 9292 Sheep Creek Road in the unincorporated community of Phelan.

Small animals and livestock can be taken to the Devore Animal Shelter located at 19777 Shelter Way in San Bernardino.

Highway 2 was shut down from Highway 138 to the Sheep Creek area, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

Longtime residents in the area said they are concerned because they have not seen fire burn in this area before.

“When you have fires that comes through the south, through Lytle Creek, up through that area, they’re accustomed to it and although they are not less scary, it’s a known,” Wrightwood resident Scott Berg said. “And this being an unknown, we don’t have fires that you’re looking at on this side very often and that’s what’s concerning for most of the residents.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

DEVELOPING: We will add more details to this report as they become available.

Copyright © 2022 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.



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World

Historic Ukrainian monastery burns after Russian shelling, Zelenskyy says

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A centuries-old monastery in Ukraine has been burned beyond repair after shelling by Russian artillery, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

All Saints Monastery of the Svyatogorsk Lavra was set ablaze Saturday after a series of concentrated bombardments from Russian invading forces. 

The monastery is a religious institute under the protection of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has continued to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

UKRAINE CLAIMS IT HAS TAKEN BACK PART OF EASTERN CITY OF SIEVIERODONETSK FROM RUSSIA

The blaze was reported by Ukrainian journalist Agath Gorski, who posted footage of the disaster to Twitter.

“The wooden All Saints Monastery of the Svyatogorsk Lavra in Donetsk region is on fire due to Russian shelling!” Gorski said. “The Lavra dates back to the 1500s. Second time Russia shells it. This is yet another act of Russian barbarism. For them, nothing is sacred.”

Zelenskyy posted video of the burning holy site on social media Saturday.

The monastery, located in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, is made mostly of lumber and has stood since the 16th century.

The inferno is likely to strain ecumenical relations between Ukraine and Russia even further. The ongoing invasion has spurred Orthodox bishops to separate from the patriarchate of Moscow and begin operating autocephalous episcopal sees.

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The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) has formally separated itself from Moscow Patriarch Kirill, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, amid Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in what one analyst calls a “huge blow to Putin.”

More than 100 churches in Ukraine had rejected the UOC in favor of the Kyiv-based Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which had split from Moscow in 2019. 

Yet the UOC itself declared “full independence” from Moscow Friday.

“We fully understand how the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is suffering today,” the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in central Moscow. He warned that “spirits of malice” wanted to divide the Orthodox people of Russia and Ukraine but declared that they would not succeed.

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Science

Did NASA find Hell? Scientists brace for first glimpse of world that constantly burns

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Mankind’s first look at conditions on a “super-Earth” 50 light years away is expected in coming weeks via the James Webb Space Telescope, and NASA is bracing to see the stuff of nightmares.

The planet, called 55 Cancri e, orbits so close to “its Sun-like star” that surface conditions could literally be like the Hell of biblical description: a dimension in a constant state of burning.

Data show 55 Cancri e is less than 1.5 million miles from its star—1/25 the distance super hot Mercury is from our sun, NASA says.

“With surface temperatures far above the melting point of typical rock-forming minerals, the day side of the planet is thought to be covered in oceans of lava,” NASA reported last week.

“Imagine if Earth were much, much closer to the Sun. So close that an entire year lasts only a few hours. So close that gravity has locked one hemisphere in permanent searing daylight and the other in endless darkness. So close that the oceans boil away, rocks begin to melt, and the clouds rain lava.”

Nothing like it exists in our solar system, NASA says.

Among the things the scientists hope to discover is if the planet is “tidally locked, with one side facing the star at all times” or if it rotates in a manner that would create day and night.

Initial views from NASA’s less powerful Spitzer Space Telescope show something mysterious is happening on 55 Cancri e, because the hottest spot is not the part directly facing its star.

One theory is that the planet has “a dynamic atmosphere that moves heat around,” NASA says.

Another idea is that 55 Cancri e rotates to create day and night, but with nightmarish results.

“In this scenario, the surface would heat up, melt, and even vaporize during the day, forming a very thin atmosphere that Webb could detect,” NASA says.

“In the evening, the vapor would cool and condense to form droplets of lava that would rain back to the surface, turning solid again as night falls.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is expected to be fully operational in “just weeks” and its first observations are expected through the summer, NASA says.

The telescope is capable of detecting the presence of an atmosphere, scientists say.

Its first year will be devoted to studying 55 Cancri e and the airless planet LHS 3844 b, to try and understand “the evolution of rocky planets like Earth,” NASA says.

Astronomers will train James Webb Telescope’s high-precision spectrographs on two intriguing rocky exoplanets

2022 The Charlotte Observer.
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Did NASA find Hell? Scientists brace for first glimpse of world that constantly burns (2022, June 1)
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2022 Charles Schwab Challenge leaderboard: Burns forces playoff with Scheffler, birdies for fourth Tour win

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Another week, another seven-stroke deficit erased, as Sam Burns came out of nowhere to grab victory at the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge. Firing a final round of 5-under 65 on a day when the scoring average at Colonial was nearly 3 over, the Louisiana native catapulted himself up the leaderboard and into a playoff with his good friend, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Punctuated by a dramatic birdie on the first playoff hole, Burns not only captured a tartan jacket and a custom ’79 Firebird, but most importantly, his third victory of the season. For much of the day – heck, for much of the tournament – it was almost assumed Scheffler would gather his fifth victory in the last four months.

Unfortunately, the world No. 1 was unable to garner any momentum and ultimately signed for a 2-over 72. Scheffler was lackadaisical at times — missing fairways, misjudging the wind and generally looking uncomfortable on the greens — but he still resisted the urge to give in. Ultimately, his poor play combined with the difficult conditions proved to be too much, as Burns pulled the rug right from underneath him. 

Burns’ triumph at the Charles Schwab Challenge marks his fourth in his last 28 starts. Securely inside the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings, it is about time we stop treating Burns as an up-and-comer and rather a star who is here to stay.

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