(Reno, Nev.) — Smoke from the raging wildfires in the West Coast was so severe that it created an air quality alert as far as Reno, Nevada, on Tuesday.
Several Nevada counties reported their worst recorded air quality index numbers in the two decades they’ve been monitoring air quality.
Washoe County, which includes Reno, recorded a high of 291 AQI Tuesday, according to the Washoe County Air Quality Management Division.
To get an idea of what Reno/Sparks looks like right now compared to one of the cleaner days in the last month.
Left is the current view from @NWSReno‘s webcam (AirNow NowCast AQI of 289) w/ #CaldorFire smoke
The agency noted that the levels of fine particle matter, PM, was dangerously high.
“With a new record set, the top 10 worst PM2.5 daily average AQIs have now all occurred within the last 11 months. We also set a record for the worst PM10 day as well with an AQI of 183,” the agency tweeted.
The poor air quality resulted in the closure of schools in several Nevada counties and Lake Tahoe Community College Tuesday. Clark County, Nevada, issued an air health advisory and urged people to stay indoors and close their windows.
The smoke has been an ongoing problem for the West Coast as several wildfires are burning in California. The Caldor Fire, which Washoe County AQMD said is the cause of its poor air quality, has burned 117,704 acres and was only 9% contained as of Tuesday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
(HONOLULU) — Many local Hawaiians have been asking tourists to stop visiting the islands during the pandemic, and the governor is now echoing their calls.
“It is a risky time to be traveling right now,” Gov. David Ige said at a press conference on Monday. “We know that the visitors who choose to come to the islands will not have the typical kind of holiday that they expect to get when they visit Hawaii.”
The delta variant is ravaging Hawaii, with the state having more confirmed cases than at any point in the pandemic. Averaging more than 700 cases a day, according to Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, roughly 72% of the state’s hospital beds are full.
Despite the growing number of cases across the country, particularly in areas with low vaccination rates, tourism is quickly matching pre-pandemic levels. In June 2019, there were 277,930 daily visitors on average, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. In June 2021, that figure was back up to 255,936.
Only about 62% of Hawaiians are fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins, creating a growing risk for those who remain unvaccinated as tourism ramps back up.
Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO John De Fries told ABC News that the visitor experience to the state will not be the same. Restrictions are in place that reduce restaurant capacity, and many events or venues are simply closed.
However, De Fries added, although tourism in Hawaii tends to slow toward the end of the summer anyway, residents have said for quite some time that wide-reaching tourism has been a danger to locals.
“During our lockdown in 2020, we were able to see what Hawaii was like without tourists and we realized the adverse impacts that tourism is having on our islands,” said Healani Sonoda-Pale, a spokesperson for the local advocacy group Ka Lahui Hawaii. “When tourism came back, it came back with a vengeance.”
During the lockdown, Sonoda-Pale and other Hawaiians enjoyed empty beaches, emptier streets, short lines at grocery stores and the comfort of knowing that delicate ecosystems were safer. Tourism was taking a toll on the natural environment and the well-being of locals and native Hawaiians, according to the HTA.
But when the islands began to loosen restrictions during the summer, coronavirus cases began to climb, and endangered animals quickly became playthings for tourists.
The island has had to increase the patrolling of Turtle Beach, where sea turtles were being harassed by hundreds of tourists, and one visitor was fined $500 for touching endangered monk seals, as more videos of tourists posing with the Hawaiian animals has gone.
“They don’t come here with any kind of respect or idea of some of the things that they’re doing are actually hurting our environment, or hurting our communities and hurting the residents and the Kanaka Maoli people here,” Sonoda-Pale said.
However, tourism doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon — it’s the largest source of private capital for the Hawaiian economy, according to the HTA. But Sonoda-Pale said the pandemic is a perfect time to reimagine the community’s relationship to tourism.
Before the pandemic, which highlighted the island’s alarming reliance on tourism, De Fries said the HTA has been attempting to make moves toward educating visitors on the culture and the treatment of the land and people.
“Malama means ‘to care for, to protect, to nurture,'” said De Fries. “If you care about Hawaii, when you travel here, you must understand the ways in which we Malama. There’s a heightened level of visitor awareness and appreciation and sensitivity that we are committed to sharing with the visitor.”
(WASHINGTON) — The clock is ticking for thousands of Americans and allies trapped in Afghanistan, with an evacuation deadline in exactly one week.
Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Farrell J. Sullivan, one of the two American generals in charge of the operation to evacuate American citizens and Afghans, said they’d “get as many out as we possibly can with the time we have available.”
Sullivan and U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne, spoke with ABC News’ Ian Pannell in an exclusive interview at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport about the evacuations taking place there.
Both Donahue and Sullivan have served multiple tours in Afghanistan over the last 20 years, but in the wake of the Taliban retaking control of the country, Sullivan acknowledged that his Marines are managing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
“I think whether you’re in a combat situation or a humanitarian operation, the human element is always there,” Sullivan said. “But this event is an unprecedented event. I have my years of deploy[ment] into combat and to other crisis areas… I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, approximately 70,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul since Aug. 14, when the Taliban took control of the government, according to President Joe Biden.
More than 33,000 people had been flown out in a 36 hour period, Biden said, showing how much the operation to evacuate American citizens and Afghans has ramped up in recent days.
Although the world has watched disturbing images of crowds beaten back by Taliban fighters and crowds clamoring outside the walls of Hamid Karzai Airport, desperate to evacuate, Donahue says the U.S. has prepared extensively for such a situation.
“That’s the reason why the 82nd Airborne Division exists. … We exist to come in and create the order out of the chaos that you’re seeing happening right now,” he said. “What has been accomplished so far, it’s remarkable. … You’re seeing things stabilize here in the process of getting our citizens and other citizens out — [it all] is going much better.”
Officials have not given an exact number of Americans who still need to be evacuated, only saying that there are “thousands.” ABC News has learned that as of Tuesday 5,100 American citizens had been evacuated.
Donahue says the pace of evacuations from Kabul has improved since the country’s fall 10 days ago and that it continues to optimize as the deadline approaches.
“Each day, we’re coming up with new and innovative ways to bring people in and we are doing better and better each day,” he said.
Taliban leaders have said that Aug. 31 is a “red line” for troops to leave and doubled down Tuesday, saying they will reject any U.S. military presence or evacuations past the end of the month.
Biden announced Tuesday afternoon that the evacuation mission would end on that day as well, although he said he’d ask for contingency plans if it needed to be extended by a short time.
His announcement followed a virtual meeting with G-7 partners who had pressured him to extend the deadline.
Biden had previously said that U.S. troops would stay until every American and Afghan special immigrant visa applicant has been evacuated. But he ultimately decided to stick with the Aug. 31 deadline, U.S. officials told ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz.
Only one week remains before the deadline.
“This is a 24/7 operation,” Sullivan said. “In terms of the numbers we have gotten out thus far, the numbers we’ve gotten out are unprecedented as well, so I’m confident we will get out as many as we possibly can with the time that we’re provided.”
He added that they constantly learning about their security and risk and that they will continue to evacuate people safely as possible. He said he anticipates their risk will only rise, especially with regard to helicopter rescue missions outside of Hamid Karzai Airport.
“Clearly we’re going to go out and we’re going to bring our citizens back in and citizens of other nations,” Donahue said. “I’m not going to get into operational matters, but we have a task here [to] safely and quickly get our citizens and other citizens of other nations out.”
Sullivan and Donahue agreed that they remain laser-focused on getting as many people out of the country as possible.
“You can see it on the faces of those Americans, third-country nationals, those that are American Afghans or interpreters or whatnot, as they’re going through the terminal about to get on to an airplane, the relief, the thankfulness on their faces and that of their families,” Sullivan said. “It makes it all worth it in the end.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court Tuesday night rejected an effort by the Biden administration to formally discontinue the Trump administration’s controversial 2018 policy forcing asylum seekers along the southern U.S. border to remain in Mexico while awaiting a hearing on their claims.
In a single-page order, the court sided with Texas and a group of Republican-led states which claimed President Joe Biden did not lawfully cancel the policy and in so doing encouraged the record surge of migrants seen in recent months.
The vote was 6-3, pitting the court’s conservative majority against three liberal dissenters, Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
The court’s majority said the administration “failed to show a likelihood of success” for its argument that a Department of Homeland Security memorandum rescinding the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols was not arbitrary and capricious.
Earlier Tuesday, the administration told the court that forcing them to reinstate the MPP policy “would intrude on the Executive’s immigration-enforcement and foreign-affairs authorities by disrupting border operations, diverting scarce resources from other urgent priorities, and intruding into the nation’s relations with Mexico and other foreign partners.”
Those arguments failed to persuade the court’s conservatives, who similarly blocked several administrative policy changes sought by the Trump White House which were deemed to run afoul of federal law requiring that agencies provide public notice, accept input and consider the ramifications of an executive decision before completing it.
This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
The “Down” rockers have announced a trio of concerts taking place in Colorado over Halloween weekend. The shows will be held October 29 in Boulder, October 30 in Denver, and October 31 in Estes Park.
Tickets go on sale this Friday, August 27, at 10 a.m. local time via 311.com. All three shows require proof of full COVID-19 vaccination to attend.
If you can’t make it in person, the Halloween night show will stream live via 311StreamSystem.com.
311’s current headlining tour continues Tuesday in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Universal Music Group
Kanye West‘s third and latest listening experience for his upcoming album Donda will be this Thursday in his hometown, Chicago, so for the hometown fans, he’s creating a replica of the house he lived in as a child for the stage.
The event, taking place at Soldier Field, will feature a version of house he grew up in on the Windy City’s South Shore, according to ABC Chicago affiliate, WLS-TV. On Tuesday, the station provided a live aerial view of the house inside the stadium.
Last week, Yeezy posted a photo on Instagram that appears to be a shot of his old home.
Kanye’s two previous listening events were held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, on July 23 and August 5. Tickets for the Chicago event are available at Ticketmaster.com.
Named after his late mother, Donda West, Donda will be the 22-time Grammy winners’ 11th studio album, and his latest following 2019’s Jesus Is King.
Donda was originally scheduled to drop in July, then its release was moved back to August 6 before being delayed again. A new date has not been announced. The new release features Jay-Z, The Weeknd, The LOX, Jay Electronica, the late Pop Smoke and more, according to Pitchfork.
Kanye West’s Chicago “listening experience” Comes to Soldier Field Thursday, where crews are getting ready by constructing a house on the field. https://t.co/K26LR7Ynud
Following Kendrick Lamar‘s recent announcement that his upcoming solo album will be his final release with Top Dawg Entertainment, we’ll hear new music from him and cousin Baby Keem Thursday at midnight.
Keem shared the cover art for the song on Instagram, an old family photo featuring him and Kendrick, and announced their “Family Ties” collabo.
The 20-year-old rapper worked as a producer on Lamar’s Grammy nominated Black Panther soundtrack. He’s also recorded with Travis Scott, who’s featured on his “Durag Activity” single from his upcoming debut studio album, The Melodic Blue.
Kendrick’s last solo release, DAMN in 2017, was RIAA-certified triple Platinum and won a Grammy for Best Rap Album. No word on when he will release his next solo music.
Madonna took to Instagram on Tuesday to celebrate her twin daughters, who turned nine years old.
The singer posted a slideshow of photos of Stella and Estere throughout the years and captioned it, “Happy Birthday Stella and Estere!!!! 2 Beautiful Souls……….who bring nothing but Joy to everyone they meet. So Grateful to have you both in my life.”
Madonna adopted the two girls from Malawi in 2017. She’s also mom to 24-year-old Lourdes, 21-year-old Rocco, 15-year-old David Banda and 15-year-old Mercy.
Just last week, Madonna shared photos from her own birthday bash. She celebrated her 63rd birthday with all six of her children and boyfriend Ahlamalik Williams.
(NOTE LANGUAGE)In a wide-ranging feature chat with The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Keaton drops some hints about his upcoming return as the Caped Crusader in the upcoming Flash film.
Although the Oscar winner starred in 1989’s Batman, which kicked off the superhero movie craze — and also played the villain Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and appears in the upcoming Mobius — Keaton says he knows nothing about comic books.
For Mobius, a Sony/Marvel film starring Jared Leto as the vampiric anti-hero, Keaton says the filmmakers walked him through recent MCU lore. “I’m nodding like I know what the f*** they’re talking about,” Keaton admits.
He adds, “So finally, they were looking at me, and they just started laughing. They said, ‘You don’t know what we’re talking about, do you?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t, no idea what you’re talking about.'”
As for returning as Batman in Flash, Keaton says it was It director Andy Muschietti‘s vision and Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson‘s script that hooked him. But there was something else, too.
“Frankly, in the back of my head, I always thought, ‘I bet I could go back and nail that motherf*****,” Keaton says of the Dark Knight, after refusing to star in Batman Forever back in 1995. That said, the script that sees a time-shifting Ezra Miller‘s Flash exposing various timelines — and Batmen, including Ben Affleck‘s — was puzzling to Keaton.
“They had to explain that to me several times,” he confesses.
Keaton also admits, “What’s really interesting is how much more I got [Batman] when I went back and did him [again]. I get this on a whole other level now. I totally respect it…It’s iconic…”
Sony’s Mobius opens in January of 2022; Warner Bros.’ Flash debuts in November of 2022.
Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell has teamed up with Gibson to create his own signature guitar.
The Wino Les Paul Custom is based on the grunge rocker’s own Les Paul, complete with a wine-red finish. Only 100 instruments were made, and each one was signed by Cantrell on the headstock.
“The Wino has always been one of my favorite guitars,” says Cantrell. “It’s a really good-looking guitar.”
Should you have $8,999 to spend, or if you like looking at guitars you’ll likely never own, you can check out Cantrell’s Wino Les Paul now via Gibson.com.
Cantrell, meanwhile, will be releasing a new solo album called Brighten on October 29. The record, Cantrell’s first solo outing in nearly 20 years, includes the lead single “Atone.”
