AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

(Independent)

Lightning storm, easterly wind: How the wildfires got so bad

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — It began as a stunning light show on a mid-August weekend — lightning bolts crackling in the skies over Northern and Central California, touching down in grasslands and vineyards.

The National Weather Service warned that the dry lightning striking a parched landscape “could lead to new wildfire.”

It turned out to be a huge understatement. Thousands of bolts ignited hundreds of fires in California and at least one in Oregon, setting the stage for some of the most destructive wildfires the West Coast states have seen in modern times.

One month later, firefighters are still battling them, and at least 34 people have died in California, Oregon and Washington.

“What really was jaw dropping for people was the fact that this really changed the paradigm that people have in terms of their sense of security,” said Oregon Department of Forestry spokesman Jim Gersbach. “These burned so close to populated areas, driven by this wind — basically unstoppable.”

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Rescuers reach people cut off by Gulf Coast hurricane

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Rescuers on the Gulf Coast used high-water vehicles Thursday to reach people cut off by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally, even as a second round of flooding began taking shape along rivers and creeks swollen by the storm’s heavy rains.

Across southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, homeowners and businesses began cleaning up, and officials inspected bridges and highways for safety, a day after Sally rolled through with 105 mph (165 kph) winds, a surge of seawater and 1 to 2 1/2 feet (0.3 to 0.8 meter) of rain in many places before it began to break up.

Its remnants continued to push deep inland with heavy downpours, threatening flooding across the South all the way to Virginia.

In hard-hit Pensacola and surrounding Escambia County, where Sally’s floodwaters had coursed through downtown streets and lapped at car door handles on Wednesday before receding, authorities went door-to-door to check on residents and warn them they were not out of danger.

At least eight waterways in Alabama and the Panhandle were expected to hit major flood stage by Thursday. Forecasters warned that some could break records, submerge bridges and swamp homes.

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Justice Dept.: Sedition charge may apply to protest violence

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a memo to U.S. attorneys Thursday obtained by The Associated Press, the Justice Department emphasized that federal prosecutors should aggressively go after demonstrators who cause violence — and even sedition charges could potentially apply.

The sedition statute doesn't require proof of a plot to overthrow the government, the memo read. It instead could be used when a defendant tries to oppose the government’s authority by force.

Attorney General William Barr has been pushing his U.S. attorneys to bring federal charges in protest-related violence whenever they can, keeping a grip on cases even if a defendant could be tried instead in state court. Federal convictions often result in longer prison sentences; sedition alone could lead to up to 20 years behind bars.

The memo cited as a hypothetical example “a group has conspired to take a federal courthouse or other federal property by force,” but the real thing took place in Portland, Oregon, during clashes that erupted night after night between law enforcement and demonstrators.

Justice officials also explored whether it could pursue either criminal or civil rights charges against city officials there, spokeswoman Kerri Kupec told The AP. She would not say whether charges were still being considered.

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US judge blocks Postal Service changes that slowed mail

SEATTLE (AP) — A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them “a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” before the November election.

Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, said he was issuing a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by 14 states that sued the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service.

The states challenged the Postal Service's so-called “leave behind” policy, where trucks have been leaving postal facilities on time regardless of whether there is more mail to load. They also sought to force the Postal Service to treat election mail as First Class mail.

The judge noted after a hearing that Trump had repeatedly attacked voting by mail by making unfounded claims that it is rife with fraud. Many more voters are expected to vote by mail this November because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the states have expressed concern that delays might result in voters not receiving ballots or registration forms in time.

“The states have demonstrated the defendants are involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service," Bastian said.

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AP-NORC poll: Trump faces deep pessimism as election nears

WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than seven weeks before Election Day, most Americans are deeply pessimistic about the direction of the country and skeptical of President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Roughly 7 in 10 Americans think the nation is on the wrong track, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It's an assessment that poses a challenge for Trump as he urges voters to stay the course and reward him with four more years in office instead of handing the reins of government to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump’s argument to voters hinges in part on persuading Americans that the pandemic, which has killed nearly 200,000 people in the U.S., is receding. Yet just 39% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling the outbreak.

“Clearly it has been mishandled,” said Don Smith, 77, of Kannapolis, North Carolina. Smith, an independent who plans to vote for Biden in November, said he's been particularly troubled by what he sees as Trump's efforts to sideline public health experts and scientists.

Most Americans have more favorable views of health officials than of the Republican president as they have throughout the pandemic. Seventy-eight percent say they have some or great confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency at the forefront of crafting recommendations for how Americans can best protect themselves from the highly contagious coronavirus.

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Infection rates soar in college towns as students return

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Just two weeks after students started returning to Ball State University last month, the surrounding county had become Indiana’s coronavirus epicenter.

Out of nearly 600 students tested for the virus, more than half have been positive. Dozens of infections have been blamed on off-campus parties, prompting university officials to admonish students.

University President Geoffrey Mearns wrote that the cases apparently were tied not to classrooms or dormitories but to “poor personal choices some students are making, primarily off campus.”

"The actions of these students are putting our planned on-campus instruction and activities at risk,” he said.

Similar examples abound in other college towns across the nation. Among the 50 U.S. counties with the highest concentrations of students and overall populations of at least 50,000, 20 have consistently reported higher rates of new virus cases than their states have since Sept. 1, according to an Associated Press analysis.

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Gulf between Trump and doctors on mask wearing gets wider

WASHINGTON (AP) — The gulf between President Donald Trump and public health officials over wearing face masks keeps widening, undercutting medical experts who say consistent face covering is one of the best tools — short of a vaccine — to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

Trump has gone back and forth on protective masks in the roughly six months since the virus has taken root in the U.S., muddying the message from doctors and other health experts.

White House officials insist that Trump has always supported wearing masks, but the president's own words and actions tell a very different — and sometimes puzzling — story.

He dismissed mask wearing for himself, then allowed himself to be seen wearing one while visiting a military hospital. He has called it “patriotic” to wear a mask but seems to seldom pass up an opportunity to mock Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for his routine mask donning.

And on Wednesday, after the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Congress that his mask might even be a better guarantee than a vaccine against the virus, Trump publicly undercut Dr. Robert Redfield.

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Photos fuel concerns over in-custody death of La. Black man

Graphic photos that surfaced online this week appear to show deep bruises on the face of a Black man who died following a police chase in Louisiana last year, raising new questions about whether his injuries were caused by the crash that ended the chase or an ensuing struggle with state troopers.

Separately, the family of 49-year-old Ronald Greene released images of the SUV involved in the May 2019 crash — showing that the vehicle appeared to have sustained only minor damage to its driver’s side.

The juxtaposition fueled calls for State Police to release body-camera footage of the chase and what the agency recently acknowledged was a “struggle” to take Greene into custody after he drove off the road in rural northern Louisiana near Monroe. State Police have declined to release the video or comment on the photos due to ongoing investigations of Greene’s death.

“These photos are atrocious,” said Eugene W. Collins, president of the Baton Rouge branch of the NAACP, who posted images of Greene's body on his Facebook page. “We have to believe that, from Day One, the Louisiana State Police were not honest with the public.”

The two graphic photos — which appear to have been taken in a medical setting and show apparent bruises and cuts to Greene’s face and scalp — had previously been shared on social media by his family. Attorneys for Greene’s family say it was not immediately clear where the photos came from but that they were consistent with the injuries identified in an independent autopsy they commissioned. Portions of it provided to The Associated Press describe “blunt force injuries to the head/face; facial lacerations, abrasions, contusions” and multiple “scalp lacerations.”

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Biden will appear at drive-in town hall near hometown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was returning to Pennsylvania on Thursday night for a socially distanced town hall near Scranton, where he was born, after discussing campaign strategy with Senate allies.

For the first time since winning the nomination, Biden was to face live, unscripted questions from voters, with the coronavirus pandemic responsible for the unusual format of the CNN event: a drive-in of 35 cars parked outside PNC Field. Preparations were made to let audience members watch the candidate speak on a stage and screens set up in the lot, and listen on their radios from inside their cars.

President Donald Trump participated in an ABC town hall Tuesday in an auditorium in Philadelphia. The appearances have been considered tuneups before the three presidential debates; the first is Sept. 29.

The format of Biden's event was a stark reminder of the issue that's been a central focus of Biden’s campaign — that the pandemic rages on, affecting Americans' lives in ways large and small, and that stronger leadership in White House could have eased the crisis.

Trump and Biden have spent all week accusing each other of undermining public trust in a potential coronavirus vaccine.

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Emmys, live and virtual: 'What could possibly go wrong?'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Emmy host Jimmy Kimmel and an alpaca sharing the spotlight. Winners accepting at home in designer pajamas or maybe yoga pants. More than 100 chances for a balky internet connection to bring Sunday’s ceremony to a crashing halt.

Come for the awards, stay for the suspense of the first big Hollywood ceremony to attempt a live — but socially distanced — broadcast amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“What could possibly go wrong?” Ian Stewart said drolly as he and fellow executive producer Reginald Hudlin detailed their efforts to celebrate TV’s best without a theater audience or red-carpet glamour and with daunting technical challenges.

Fortunately, the quick-witted Kimmel “loves live TV and loves chaos,” Stewart said. “I think he’s actually hoping things do go wrong, to tell you the truth.”

The comedian will hold court at the Staples Center for ABC's 8 p.m. EDT telecast, joined by a handful of yet-to-be-revealed celebrities. Morgan Freeman, Lin-Manuel Miranda, D-Nice, Patrick Stewart and Oprah Winfrey are among those with undisclosed roles in Sunday's show, along with Isabella the alpaca.