Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:
The Kardashians (Hulu) More Kardashians are on the way. As season 5 came to a close on Thursday, Hulu announced The Kardashians will be returning for season 6. Varietyreports the streaming service has ordered 20 more episodes.
Love Island USA(Peacock) Rob Rausch felt so connected to fellow Love Island USA season 6 contestant Andrea Carmona he almost followed her out the door after she got dumped from the villa, but ultimately decided against it. During a recent appearance on Call Her Daddy, Rausch says he is no longer interested in continuing a relationship with her. “It’s probably better if we just kind of keep our distance for now,” Rausch said, admitting he was put off by her social media presence. “A lot has happened and she’s been posting a lot.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars(Paramount+) Kamala Harris is about to make history as the first sitting vice president to appear on RuPaul’s Drag Race. She will guest star of Friday’s Drag Race All Stars 9 finale, which was filmed before President Joe Biden bowed out of the 2024 presidential election and endorsed Harris as his preferred successor on the Democratic ticket. “Each day, we’re seeing our rights and freedoms under attack, including the right of everyone to be who they are, love who they love — openly and with pride,” Harris said in a clip from the episode. “So, as we fight back against these attacks, let’s all remember, no one is alone. We’re all in this together, and your vote is your power.”
(WASHINGTON) — As Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign gains momentum, many environmental advocacy groups say they’re “all in” to help her win the White House.
Groups like the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Sierra Club, and NRDC Action Fund have already endorsed her campaign.
Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs for the LCV, told ABC News that her organization is eager to support the Harris campaign and said she thinks the goal now should be “building on the progress” of the current administration.
“I think it’s more about building on the progress — the progress of the Biden-Harris Administration on climate and on conservation has been truly historic, and there’s clearly more progress to make,” Sittenfeld said. “And we know that Vice President Harris is committed to doing just that.”
Other environmental organizations, like the Sunrise Movement, known for representing younger voters, are pushing Harris to take her climate policies further than President Joe Biden did during his term.
“You have an opportunity to win the youth vote by turning the page and differentiating from Biden policies that are deeply unpopular with us,” several youth groups wrote in a letter to Harris, specifically citing approvals for new oil and gas projects under the Biden-Harris Administration.
Climate groups have praised several key accomplishments, including Harris casting the tie-breaking vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, a tentpole policy the Biden-Harris Administration calls the largest package of climate policies and spending in U.S. history. She also investigated fossil fuel companies as California attorney general, most notably Exxon Mobil over allegations they may have misled the public about the risks of climate change linked to burning fossil fuels.
As Harris considers who to select as her vice president, the climate and environmental records of the leading candidates for the VP job will surely be part of the evaluation process.
“We very much hope and expect that she will pick a running mate who shares her commitment, who will center these issues — that they will bring a whole government approach, especially to tackling the climate crisis that in the way that the Biden-Harris Administration has done over the last three and a half years,” Sittenfeld said.
Here’s where the four leading candidates to be Harris’ VP pick stand on some of the most important climate and environmental issues:
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has pushed a suite of policies in response to the negative impacts of climate change experienced by his state after it was devastated by hurricanes and severe flooding early in his tenure.
During his two terms as governor, Cooper signed executive orders establishing greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals for the state — aiming for a 50% reduction by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. He also ordered a reduction in energy consumption in state-owned buildings and increased the number of registered zero-emissions vehicles in the state.
Cooper has also made environmental justice initiatives a priority during his tenure, establishing the Governor’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council last fall.
Cooper testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resource Committee in 2019 to urge Congress to take action on climate change, noting the devastation his state experienced in the wake of Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence and Tropical Storm Michael in 2018, in addition to periods of severe flooding over the years.
“Just like many places in our country and across the globe, we are beginning to feel the harsh effects of climate change on our communities and on our economy,” Cooper testified. “Scientists have found that climate change makes weather more erratic. It makes storms larger and more powerful. And it intensifies heavy rainfalls and drought.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has largely avoided speaking explicitly about climate change in public remarks and favors what his administration calls a “balanced” approach to energy — using a mix of fossil fuels and renewables. Some reports have speculated that Beshear’s energy strategy and his mixed record on environmental issues may be a response to Kentucky’s position as one of the largest coal-producing and coal-burning states in the nation and being a Democratic governor in a largely Republican state.
Beshear says Kentucky becoming “the electric vehicle battery capital of the United States” is one of his “signature accomplishments” as governor, noting $8 billion in investments across two battery manufacturing plants that he says have created 7,000 jobs. He also signed legislation that made $30 million in state funding available for a new natural gas pipeline in the western portion of the state in 2022, calling the project a boon for economic development in the region.
“When world-class companies look to locate here, they need world-class infrastructure to support their needs. I’m happy to be alongside these other leaders to announce that that’s exactly what we’re going to do in building this line,” Beshear said at the time in a press release.
As governor, Beshear declined to apply for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program — making his state one of just a handful, and the only with a Democratic governor, to do so — with his administration saying at the time that some of Kentucky’s larger cities were better positioned to apply.
Earlier this year, he vetoed a bill that would make it more difficult to shut down retired coal plants in the state, writing that it was “inconsistent with Kentucky’s all-of-the above energy policy” and that it would delay new energy projects and “jeopardize economic development.” His veto was overridden by the state’s Republican-led General Assembly.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro
Gov. Josh Shapiro has emphasized the economic benefits of expanding alternative sources of energy in a state where natural gas production plays a huge role in its economy. Pennsylvania is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the country, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Similar to President Biden, Shapiro emphasizes the potential to create jobs in many of his climate and energy policies. He secured $400 million in federal funding from the EPA to reduce pollution from industrial sources and create clean energy jobs.
Shapiro has faced criticism from some environmental groups for working with natural gas companies to develop climate and pollution monitoring programs in the state. Shapiro has promoted developing hydrogen energy hubs in the state and capping abandoned oil and gas wells which can be a source of methane gas and other pollution. He also developed his own plan to set a price on carbon that he said would reduce the state’s emissions and customers energy bills and updated the state’s energy standards to attract more investment in renewable energy.
That standard requires the state to get 50% of its electricity from diverse energy sources including solar, wind, small nuclear reactors, fusion, and hydropower by 2035, according to the website for his proposed budget. A report by the PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center found that Pennsylvania was 50th when it came to new renewable energy since 2013.
Gov. Shapiro was endorsed by Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania when he ran for office in 2022, with the group citing his investigations of oil and gas companies and his work to enforce environmental laws as the state’s attorney general.
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly
Sen. Mark Kelly has served on multiple committees that deal with climate and environmental issues in the Senate, including the Committee on Energy & Natural Resources and the Environment and Public Works Committee. He has been outspoken about the need to address climate issues that are impacting his home state, such as extreme heat and drought.
He claimed credit for securing $4 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to help Colorado River basin states manage drought. He and Arizona Sen. Kristen Sinema also co-sponsored the Growing Climate Solutions Act to make it easier for farmers to participate in climate programs.
Kelly has cited his experience as an astronaut as part of his motivation for tackling climate change, saying that from space he saw how fragile the Earth’s atmosphere can be.
“All seven and a half billion of us, we live on an island in our solar system. Make no mistake we’ve got no place else to go and between my first flight and my fourth one it was a decade, and I saw some changes in our planet,” he said in a 2020 appearance on “The View,” specifically mentioning deforestation in places like the Amazon.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to get from fossil fuels to get from more renewable energy, I think we’ve got a decade or so to figure this out but we can’t continue to wait,” he added.
He was endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters in 2020 and 2022 and has a 93% lifetime approval score from the organization.
Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images for LVMH x Vogue x NBC
Hollywood rolled up to the City of Lights in a big way Thursday evening at the Prelude to the Olympics event at the Fondation Louis Vuitton museum.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Charlize Theron and tennis champ Serena Williams were two of the co-chairs for the event, which drew a galaxy of stars including Zendaya, Queen Latifah and Jeremy Allen White; music superstars Snoop Dogg and Mick Jagger; and Oscar winner Spike Lee.
The trade says the celebration of “sports, culture, music, fashion and art” was hosted by Louis Vuitton men’s creative director and recording artist Pharrell Williams and Vogue‘s Anna Wintour.
Athletes including LeBron James, Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka were also on hand, as were Lee’s fellow filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Jon M. Chu, Baz Luhrmann and Everything Everywhere‘s co-director Daniel Kwan.
Also ready to party the night before the 2024 opening ceremony was writer-director Judd Apatow and his 40-Year-Old Virgin scene stealer, Elizabeth Banks, as well as comedian John Mulaney and Zac Efron, according to THR.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump is railing against FBI director Christopher Wray for testifying earlier this week that it was still unclear whether Trump was hit with a bullet — or something else — at his Pennsylvania rally on July 13.
“FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress yesterday that he wasn’t sure if I was hit by shrapnel, glass, or a bullet (the FBI never even checked!) … ” Trump posted in part Thursday night on his Truth Social account.
Trump was reacting to Wray telling House lawmakers on Wednesday that the bureau still hasn’t reached a determination as to whether Trump’s ear was hit by an actual bullet.
“I think with respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray said in response to a question from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan asking whether the FBI has accounted for all bullets fired by the shooter.
“It’s conceivable — although as I sit here right now I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing could have also landed somewhere else,” Wray said.
As he indicated, the FBI is still examining bullet fragments found at the rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to a source familiar with the investigation, to determine what actually hit the former president.
On Friday, Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician who served while Trump was president, disputed Wray’s testimony in a letter on his congressional letterhead.
“There was no evidence it was anything other than a bullet,” Jackson wrote in the letter posted to X by Trump’s adviser Jason Miller. “Congress should correct the record as confirmed by both the hospital and myself. Director Wray is wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.”
Jackson writes that he has been treating Trump in the aftermath of the assassination attempt and concurs with the assessment made by the doctors at the Butler Memorial Hospital the day of the shooting.
The hospital has not released any medical reports about Trump’s injury, the cause or any treatment Trump received. Nor is there an official account yet from the state or federal government or the Trump campaign, other than two letters from Jackson, an outspoken supporter.
A statement released by the FBI on Thursday said the attempted assassination resulted in Trump’s injury, but the exact manner how is still under investigation.
“The FBI’s Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine evidence from the scene, including bullet fragments, and the investigation remains ongoing.”
In his post on Truth Social, Trump insisted it was a bullet that struck him.
“No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard,” Trump wrote. “There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that is what it was.”
At his campaign rallies, Trump now says he “took a bullet for democracy.”
In the same social media post Thursday, Trump also said Wray “knows nothing” and has promised to fire him if he wins a second term.
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — As Donald Trump pivots his focus to Vice President Kamala Harris, one point of attack toward his new 2024 opponent is an old ploy: mispronouncing and mocking her name.
Earlier this week, at his first rally since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Trump bungled Harris’s name dozens of times in the span of his nearly 90-minute stump speech. He told his supporters he wasn’t going to be “nice” anymore.
For years, Harris has been referred to by Trump, Republicans and conservative media like Fox News by only her first name rather than “vice president” or even “Harris” — and they they say it incorrectly.
“It’s one thing to mispronounce someone’s name on the first try, right? But to do it repeatedly and deliberately, it feels purposeful. It’s certainly done to make a point. It is othering, a way of saying you don’t belong here,” said Jean Sinzdak, the associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutger’s University.
“I would describe it as a racist and sexist attack on her because she’s been the vice president for three and a half years,” Sinzdak said. “It’s not hard to say her name. It’s not complicated.”
Her name is a nod to her Indian heritage on her mother’s side and in her 2019 memoir, Harris wrote that she pronounced it “Comma-luh” and that it means “lotus flower.”
Before that, when she ran for Senate in 2016, her campaign produced a video with children noting all the incorrect ways of pronouncing her name before saying it correctly. The clip has resurfaced over the past weeks as her presidential campaign enters suddenly entered full swing.
Still, Trump continues to say “Kah-MAH-la.”
When asked why, the Trump campaign, in a statement to ABC News, said “race and gender have nothing to do with why Kamala Harris is the most unpopular Vice President in history.”
Karoline Leavitt, the campaign’s national press secretary, went on to criticize Harris’s handling of immigration and accused her of lying about Biden’s cognitive abilities. “She is weak, dishonest, and dangerously liberal, and that’s why the American people will reject her on November 5th,” Leavitt said.
Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist, noted that over the years “Democrats, Republican, and even reporters, have mispronounced Kamala Harris’ first name. It’s a unique one.”
“But Trump doesn’t seem to care, and continues to do it as a demonstration of purposeful disregard for his opponent,” he said.
As Harris faces some racial and sexist attacks, including that she was a “DEI hire,” House Republican leaders privately told their conference to focus their attacks against Harris on her record, sources familiar with the conversation told ABC News.
But it seems unlikely Trump would follow such advice.
“Trump runs his own campaign and constructs his own message,” Madden said. “For him, it always devolves into the personal, so I expect it will be an element of his attack message all the way though the course of his campaign.”
Meanwhile, Harris appears to be flipping the script and leaning into the contrast of her name and identity versus Trump.
Her first campaign video featured images of supporters holding up “Kamala” signs and chanting “Kamala!” at one of her recent campaign rallies.
Her campaign’s rapid response social media page is simply called, “Kamala HQ.”
Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to Hillary Clinton, said Harris and her team are “using her first name as a tool of empowerment.”
“She owns it, it is hers and proudly,” Cardona said. “The Trump-Vance MAGA folks try to use it to demean and degrade her. They think that by mispronouncing it, it strips her of her power, when in fact what they are doing only betrays just how terrified they are of her and everything she is bringing to this race.”
Sinzdak agreed it was a smart strategy to turn the insult on its head.
“During the campaign cycle, when so much was made of the fact that the two candidates for the presidency were much older white men, it did not look like change or progress,” Sinzdak said. “This is a moment for Kamala Harris and her campaign to lean into an identity that is different and bring something exciting to the ticket. A lot of voters will respond to that, especially younger voters and women voters.”
Harris’ campaign declined to comment on the name controversy.
Still, Sinzdak and Cardona said they expect these kinds of personal attacks on Harris to continue in the coming months leading up to Election Day.
Cardona warned she thinks “this will be one of the ugliest, most racist, most misogynist, sexist campaigns that we will ever see.”
“But the other flip side of that is, I don’t think that Trump will now how to maneuver with her in this race, with I think its a huge, huge opportunity for her.”
ABC News’ Soorin Kim, Rachel Scott and Gabrielle Abdul-Hakim contributed to this report
Both The Bear and The Boys found themselves among the top five most-watched shows on streaming for the week of June 24-30, according to new Nielsen numbers quoted by The Wrap.
Interestingly, the #1 and #2 shows on the chart for that week, Your Honor starring Bryan Cranston, and Dexter, with Michael C. Hall, were already available on Paramount+, but a move to Netflix goosed their numbers, a phenomenon previously seen with shows like Suits and Loudermilk.
Your Honor got 1.58 billion viewing minutes across all platforms while Dexter came in second with 1.48 billion.
The Bear, which dropped its entire third season on Hulu on June 26, debuted at #3 on the list, with 1.2 billion viewing minutes, while The Boys logged 1.18 billion in that time frame — which was ahead of its July 18 finale.
Rounding out the Top Five for the last week in June was Bridgerton, with 1.14 billion viewing minutes.
(WASHINGTON) — When Jotaka Eaddy, the founder of Black women’s leadership network Win With Black Women, heard Sunday that President Joe Biden had decided he wouldn’t run for reelection, clearing the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic Party’s first Black woman presidential nominee, her first thought was “Oh my God, what a time to be alive.”
Her second? “Oh, our Zoom call tonight — I’m gonna have to shift the agenda.”
Formed in 2020, Win With Black Women has met by Zoom most Sundays for almost four years, drawing hundreds of attendees and support from names like Oprah Winfrey and Dionne Warwick. But Eaddy said they had never had a call anything like this past Sunday’s, which drew tens of thousands of viewers, raised more than $2 million for the just-launched Harris campaign, and inspired a similar call led by Black men the next night that raised $1.3 million more for Harris’ campaign.
“We thought, ‘Well, we probably gonna hit 1,000 [people]. And so we were prepared for 1,000,” Eaddy said. “I knew something was different when at about 8 o’clock … I couldn’t get in my own Zoom because it was at capacity.”
Win With Black Women’s Zoom call this past Sunday — joined throughout the night by prominent Black woman politicians such as Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, California Rep. Maxine Waters and Former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile — could herald a surge of support from Black voters and organizers, women, in particular, who could make up lost ground for Democrats in critical battleground states and down-ballot races nationwide.
Black voters helping to swing red states blue
Many Georgia Democrats are looking to the change at the top of the Democratic ticket to help keep Georgia blue.
“For all of our clients, we will need to revise our projections for turnout upward,” Georgia Democratic strategist Amy Morton told her team Tuesday after a flood of Harris endorsements early in the week. “That’s the impact Harris will have on the ticket.”
Since Biden announced on Sunday that he was leaving the 2024 race, Harris has secured commitments from enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee if they all honor their commitment when voting, according to ABC News reporting. And Morton said having Harris as the nominee “is energizing” to the party and could lead to high turnout rates with voters.
“Black women have been critical to Democratic victories in Georgia for as long as I’ve been working in local space,” Morton continued. “And I think that having Harris at the top of the ticket is energizing for all Democrats.”
“I expect to see turnout in November that approaches 2020 levels,” she added. In 2020, the voter turnout rate was the highest for any national election since 1900.
Georgia played a crucial role in Biden’s 2020 victory, going blue for the first time since 1992 due in significant part to organizing efforts from former Georgia Rep. Stacey Abrams, who spent years spearheading get-out-the-vote efforts in Black communities.
In North Carolina, another Southern battleground state with a large Black population, many Democrats said they hope that Harris could reproduce the energy that powered former President Barack Obama to the party’s last presidential-election victory in the state in 2008.
“President Obama was the last one who was able to mobilize Black people the way that he did back when he ran for office in ’08 and ’12,” said Aimy Steele, who leads a North Carolina voter engagement organization focusing on Black and Hispanic voters.
Black voter turnout peaked in North Carolina in 2008 with a record 73% of Black registered voters turning out to vote, according to North Carolina’s Board of Elections. For comparison, 2016 saw 64% and 2020 saw 68% in the state.
But with Harris at the top of the ticket, Steele said, “I expect the same thing to happen again, if not exceed what he was able to do.”
Hoping to ensure that happens, several Black groups have responded to grassroots enthusiasm for Harris with new efforts to mobilize voters to the polls.
Quentin James founded Collective PAC, an organization that supports Black candidates at all levels of government around the country. James helped organize the Monday night Win with Black Men Zoom call — telling ABC News that the call was just the beginning.
“As someone who’s done a lot of fundraising, I’ve never raised $1.3 million over three or four hours from grassroots donors, I’ve never seen that kind of momentum,” James said. “The energy is inspiring. Each one of those people on the call can organize 10 people or 100 people, and we hope to mobilize all of them.”
On Monday, the presidents of the group of nine historically Black sororities and fraternities known as the “Divine Nine” wrote in a press release that they had agreed to collaborate on “an unprecedented voter registration, education, and mobilization coordinated campaign.”
Harris joined Divine Nine sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha when she attended Howard University, a historically Black university.
Alpha Kappa Alpha International President Danette Anthony Reed said there is enthusiasm among the sorority’s ranks for Harris as a candidate.
“We are just ecstatic and excited that a member of our organization, as well as the first woman of color, has the opportunity to become a candidate for president,” Reed said.
‘We know when we organize, mountains move’
Already the campaign is seeing the return on Harris’ momentum. The campaign has reported a record-breaking $126 million in donations in the 48-hours after Biden’s endorsement. The campaign said 74,000 of those who donated were from new recurring donors, with two-thirds of these recurring donors signing up for weekly donations. There has also been a surge of 100,000 volunteers, according to the campaign.
Although there are few polls out that have data to fully capture this moment, Harris is already seeing significantly higher numbers in favorability with Black voters.
In a memo outlining the campaign’s path forward Wednesday, Campaign Chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon wrote that the vice president has “multiple pathways to 270” thanks to her support among different groups of voters, including Black, Latino and women voters.
Recently, Harris delivered remarks to another Divine Nine sorority, Zeta Phi Beta, which, like AKA, was also founded at the vice president’s alma mater, telling the women that “we know when we organize, mountains move.”
Lois Lofton-Donivei, a teacher from Houston, Texas, heard Harris’ call and was ready to answer it.
“I’m ready to hit the pavement and to do whatever I can to get her elected as the first female president,” said Lofton-Donivei. “We’re finally acknowledging that women have the ability to lead.”
The Fall Guy, the Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt big-screen remake of the ’80s show of the same name, is headed to Peacock on Aug. 30, times two.
The streaming service will make two versions of the movie available, both the theatrical cut and an extended edition that boasts 20 extra minutes of footage.
The movie has Gosling’s veteran stuntman Colt Seavers returning to the movies after a near-deadly stunt to double for spoiled star Tom Ryder (AaronTaylor-Johnson). But the job on the directorial debut of his former love interest Jody (Blunt) goes sideways when Tom goes missing.
Ted Lasso Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham also stars in the film from director David Leitch, along with Everything Everywhere star Stephanie Hsu and Marvel movie veteran Winston Duke.
Justin Timberlake’s DWI case in Sag Harbor, New York, has been adjourned until Aug. 2.
At that time Justin will be arraigned on misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated and failing to keep right, WABC-TV reports. The new arraignment is due to a problem with the way Justin was initially charged. He did not appear in court on Friday, according to WABC-TV.
Justin will now appear virtually Aug. 2 in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court. He’s been accused of running a stop sign and swerving out of his lane while leaving The American Hotel in his BMW.
According to WABC-TV, in his first public comments since the arrest, Timberlake’s attorney Ed Burke contended Justin “was not intoxicated,” adding, “I’ll say it again. Justin Timberlake was not intoxicated. And we are very confident that charge, that criminal charge, will be dismissed.”
Burke argued in court that the case should be thrown out due to a “defective accusatory instrument,” which is another way of saying there was an issue with the way that Justin was charged.
“The police made a number of very significant errors in this case … and there are many others,” Burke continued. “Sometimes the police, like every one of us, make mistakes. And that’s the case in this very instance.”
According to the criminal complaint, Justin “was driving drunk, had bloodshot, glassy eyes, slowed speech, was unsteady on his feet and performed poorly on a field sobriety test.” He told the arresting officer he’d only had one drink and refused to take a chemical test, WABC-TV reports.
The next date of Justin’s Forget Tomorrow World Tour is Friday in Poland.
(LOS ANGELES) — Wildfires are exploding across the West, especially in California, where the Park Fire has now grown to be the biggest in the state this year.
There are currently 11 wildfires over 1,000 acres burning in California, according to Cal Fire. The largest of those is the Park Fire, burning in Butte and Tehama counties, just north of Chico, which grew to over 164,000 acres on Friday with just 3% containment.
Ronnie Dean Stout II, 48, has been arrested on suspicion of arson for starting the Park Fire after he allegedly pushed a burning car into a gully in Bidwell Park, near Chico, according to Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey.
There are more than 1,150 personnel, six helicopters and 153 fire engines assigned just to the Park Fire.
The Lake Fire, in Santa Barbara County, is the second-largest burning in the state at the moment at over 38,000 acres, though it is 90% contained after sparking July 5.
Meanwhile, farther north, the Durkee Fire in Oregon had grown to over 288,000 acres on Friday morning with 20% containment, according to the Oregon/Washington Bureau of Land Management. It was sparked on July 17 by a lightning strike and has grown to the largest fire in the country this year.
There are more than 500 people fighting the fire, as rain fell overnight in the area, providing some relief for firefighters.
Smoke spreads across several western states
The smoke from fires in Northern California and Oregon is spreading across several states, including Idaho, Montana and North Dakota, which will all see regions under “very heavy” smoke conditions — the second-worst level.
The Air Quality Index is expected to rise above 150 in Boise, Idaho, on Friday, which would put it in the “unhealthy” category, the fourth of six levels. In Butte, Montana, the Air Quality Index was forecast to be in the 100 to 150 range and “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”
