Residents watched, waited until flames descended

Justin Rendich a firefighter from Santa Clarita hoses a hot spot at a wildfire in Lancaster, Calif. on Monday, June 3, 2013. Firefighters working in darkness doubled containment of a massive wildfire north of Los Angeles to 40 percent overnight, as cool, moist air moved in Monday to replace torrid weather. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Justin Rendich a firefighter from Santa Clarita hoses a hot spot at a wildfire in Lancaster, Calif. on Monday, June 3, 2013. Firefighters working in darkness doubled containment of a massive wildfire north of Los Angeles to 40 percent overnight, as cool, moist air moved in Monday to replace torrid weather. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

The remains of a fire-damaged car sits within the area of a wildfire in Lancaster, Calif. on Monday, June 3, 2013. Firefighters working in darkness doubled containment of a massive wildfire north of Los Angeles to 40 percent overnight, as cool, moist air moved in Monday to replace torrid weather. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

A firefighting plane drops fire retardant on a wildfire in Lancaster, Calif. on Monday, June 3, 2013. Firefighters working in darkness doubled containment of a massive wildfire north of Los Angeles to 40 percent overnight, as cool, moist air moved in Monday to replace torrid weather. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

A Los Angeles County firefighter approaches a fire along a road in Lake Hughes, Calif., early Sunday, June 2, 2013. Erratic winds fanned a blaze in the Angeles National Forest to nearly 41 square miles early Sunday, after fast-moving flames triggered the evacuation of nearly 1,000 homes in Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth, officials said. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Smoke rises from the remains of a destroyed structure in Lake Hughes, Calif., on Sunday, June 2, 2013. Erratic winds fanned a blaze in the Angeles National Forest to nearly 41 square miles early Sunday, after fast-moving flames triggered the evacuation of nearly 1,000 homes in Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth, officials said. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

PALMDALE, Calif. (AP) ? Smelling smoke, Scott Reader watched and waited for hours as a huge plume drew ever closer to his home in the rural community of Lake Hughes in northern Los Angeles County.

It didn't take much for him to decide when it was time to get out.

"We saw flames and that was it," Reader said. "That's all we needed to see."

He packed some belongings into a trailer, loaded up the dogs, and he and his girlfriend drove to a Red Cross shelter in nearby Palmdale on Saturday.

They were still there on Monday along with dozens of other people who fled a vast wildfire that chewed through more than 46 square miles of old chaparral and threatened two hamlets at the edge of Angeles National Forest.

Firefighters had doubled containment of the blaze to 40 percent by Monday, as cool, moist air moved in to replace torrid weather. The flames moved out of rugged mountains and onto the floor of the high desert Antelope Valley, where the fire became easier to fight.

"The fire moved into an area where vegetation changed from real dense to real sparse," U.S. Forest Service spokesman Matt Corelli said.

With only widely scattered homes in the area, firefighters were able to work more on attacking flames than on structure protection, he said.

At least six houses have been destroyed by the fire, nine more were damaged, and 2,800 people fled 700 homes in Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth, 45 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

During the weekend, flames were fanned by unpredictable winds that pushed hotspots in different directions.

Reader, 44, said he was astounded to see how fast-flying embers blew from a ridge a half-mile away and across Lake Hughes to suddenly ignite brush near his backyard.

"It just jumped right over the lake, no problem," he said.

Reader received word that his house survived, but the fate of neighbors' homes, some of which have been occupied for generations, was still unclear.

"I'm absolutely nervous, I'm nervous for all of them," he said.

About 2,100 firefighters took on the flames, aided by water-dropping helicopters and airplanes unleashing loads of retardant across the flanks of the fire.

The cause of the fire was under investigation. Three firefighters had minor injuries, but no one else was hurt.

Despite the improved situation, evacuations remained in effect while firefighters checked communities for hazards such as hotspots, downed power lines, damaged gas lines and propane tanks.

Smoke from the Southern California wildfire and from Nevada fires hung over Las Vegas, where Clark County officials advised Monday that it could bother sensitive people such as those with respiratory conditions.

Also in the West, two major wildfires were burning in northern New Mexico, and weather conditions were not expected to be helpful to firefighters on Monday.

The Tres Lagunas fire north of Pecos in Santa Fe National Forest had grown to 12 1/2 square miles, causing smoke to spread across much of the region.

It previously prompted the evacuation of about 140 houses, mostly summer residences.

Drier and windier weather was expected, a change from Sunday, said interagency fire management team spokeswoman Denise Ottaviano.

"It's going to be challenging," she said

Elsewhere in New Mexico, the Thompson Ridge fire near Jemez Springs remained at nearly 3 square miles. Forty to 50 houses were evacuated late last week.

A light gray haze blanketed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east of Santa Fe and a thicker haze nearly obscured a view from Santa Fe of the Jemez Mountains to the west.

___

AP writer Christopher Weber contributed from Los Angles. Paul Davenport in Phoenix also contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-03-Western%20Wildfires/id-15e471e43b3d4cc1b1173553d5cc35fd

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Back to the '90s: Decade lives in entertainment

Pop culture

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper TODAY

7 hours ago

Want to feel old? The 1990s were nearly a quarter-century ago. To kids today, that decade that once sounded so futuristic now seems dusty and antique. As co-author (with Brian Bellmont) of "The Totally Sweet '90s" (Perigee Books, available June 4), I've faced a lot of '90s nostalgia backlash. People don't want to believe that the decade of grunge and "Goosebumps" books, of The Spice Girls and "Saved By the Bell," is that far in our rearview mirrors.

Fox, Disney, Getty Images

A few 1990s sensations: "Beverly Hills, 90210," on TV; Boyz II Men and boy bands in Music; and "Lion King" at the movies and on Broadway.

And if you look at the entertainment world, it can seem like the 1990s are still thriving. Sure, we've made great strides in technology -- just look at the phone and computer you had in 1990 versus now -- but entertainment knows no time limits. Everything old is new again. Here's a look at just a few 1990s entertainment blasts from the past that still live on.

'Beverly Hills, 90210'
Brenda and Brandon, the Minnesota twins transplanted to Beverly Hills, sucked in TV viewers from 1990 to 2000 -- spinning off "Melrose Place" and "Models Inc" and later leading to remakes of "Melrose" and a new "90210" series. The "Melrose" remake only lasted a season, but the new "90210" launched in 2008 and enjoyed a decent five-year run before ending May 13. From the original cast, Tori Spelling (for her four children) and Jennie Garth (for her much-publicized divorce from Peter Facinelli) make the most news.

Penguin Publishing

Boy bands
Boy bands ruled the late 1980s and much of the 1990s, and they're still hangin' tough, as New Kids on the Block might say. On May 21, New Kids, 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men all came to TODAY to promote the fact that they'll be touring together. They've got the right stuff, baby!

'COPS'
Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? You're gonna keep on running from the "COPS," because the law-enforcement reality show that hit the streets in 1989 and was such a huge 1990s hit is still on the beat. The show was canceled by Fox in May, but Spike picked it up, and season 26 starts this fall.

'Fargo'
Ya, you betcha dere, we loved the 1996 movie "Fargo" from Joel and Ethan Coen. As of 2013, FX is supposedly turning the film into an original TV series, with the Coens as executive producers.

Furby
Toys count as entertainment, right? Animatronic alien fuzzball Furby, who spoke to his owners in Furbish, was the hot toy of 1996. And now they're back! New models of the toy came out from Hasbro in 2012 -- and it costs twice as much as it did back in the day.

'Lion King'
The "Circle of Life" started rolling in 1994 when "The Lion King" became an animated blockbuster. Mufasa may be no longer with us, but the "King" is far from dead. The movie became a Broadway musical in 1997 and is still running on the Great White Way.

Movie rental stores
In our book "The Totally Sweet '90s," we list more than 200 1990s toys, tastes and trends, and give an update for each one. Movie rental stores actually started opening in the late 1970s, but boomed in the 1990s, renting video games as well as movies. Now, as a quick look at any nearby strip mall will tell you, the industry is losing ground every day to other options such as Netflix and Amazon streaming.

'My So-Called Life'
It only ran from 1994 to 1995, but "My So-Called Life" is still beloved by fans. It's gone except on DVD, but its stars have continued to shine. Claire Danes was just a teen herself when she played angsty Angela Chase, but now she's a double-Emmy winner and star of "Homeland." And the boy she mooned over, Jared Leto as Jordan Catalano, has done well too. He's acted in movies from "American Psycho" to the upcoming "Dallas Buyers Club" and also rocks out with his band, 30 Seconds to Mars.

'Mystery Science Theater 3000'
Joel and later Mike, plus Crow, Gypsy, Tom Servo, Dr. Forrester, TV's Frank, Pearl kept the 1990s laughing when they mocked bad movies and mental-hygiene shorts on "Mystery Science Theater 3000." The show ended almost with the 1990s in August 1999, but the performers have gone on to form two separate groups, Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic, that offer similarly hilarious riffing on bad cinema.

Pick up the new book, "The Totally Sweet '90s," for more than 150 additional 1990s memories, from clear colas to Zima, "Blossom" to Urkel.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/back-1990s-totally-sweet-decade-rises-again-entertainment-6C10136194

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Quinton ?Rampage? Jackson signs with Bellator

Quinton Jackson has found life in MMA after the UFC. He signed with Bellator and TNA professional wrestling. Both entities are backed by Spike TV, and Jackson will appear on both shows. They will also create a reality series to follow him.

He is the second Bellator fighter to get a deal with both Bellator and TNA Wrestling. "King Mo" Lawal also has a contract both for MMA and professional wrestling. The two are both light heavyweights and had a beef years ago. A bout -- or a tag-team partnership? -- could be in their future.

He is joining the 205-lb division that includes Lawal, and fellow UFC veterans Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Vladimir Matyushenko. Other UFC vets who are now in Bellator include Paul Daley, Paul Sass and Matthew Riddle.

Jackson was once the UFC light-heavyweight champ, but left the UFC after he claimed poor treatment by the promotion. He left the organization on a three-fight losing streak, dropping a title bout to Jon Jones, then lost to Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira. He's 34 years old, and has a record of 32-11.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/quinton-rampage-jackson-signs-bellator-172023959.html

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IRS woes grow with report of conference spending

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Internal Revenue Service, already under fire after officials disclosed that the agency targeted conservative groups, faces increased scrutiny because of an inspector general's report that it spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012.

The report by the Treasury Department's inspector general about conference spending is set to be released Tuesday. The department issued a statement Sunday saying the administration "has already taken aggressive and dramatic action to reduce conference spending."

The White House and the agency were on the defensive before the report on conference spending. Agency officials and the Obama administration have said the targeting of conservative groups was inappropriate, but the political tempest is showing no signs of ebbing.

Three congressional committees are investigating, a Justice Department criminal investigation is under way, President Barack Obama has replaced the IRS' acting commissioner and two other top officials have stepped aside.

The chairman of one of those committees, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., also released excerpts of congressional investigators' interviews with employees of the IRS office in Cincinnati. Issa said the interviews indicated the employees were directed by Washington to subject tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to tough scrutiny.

The closest the excerpts came to direct evidence that Washington had ordered the screening was one employee saying that "all my direction" came from an official who the excerpt said was in Washington. The top Democrat on that panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said none of the employees interviewed have so far identified any IRS officials in Washington as ordering that targeting.

The conference spending included $4 million for an August 2010 gathering in Anaheim, Calif., for which the agency did not negotiate lower room rates, even though that is standard government practice, according to a statement by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Instead, some of the 2,600 attendees received benefits, including baseball tickets and stays in presidential suites that normally cost $1,500 to $3,500 per night. In addition, 15 outside speakers were paid a total of $135,000 in fees, with one paid $17,000 to talk about "leadership through art," the House committee said.

IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said Sunday that spending on large agency conferences with 50 or more participants fell from $37.6 million in the 2010 budget year to $4.9 million in 2012. The government's fiscal year begins Oct. 1 the previous calendar year.

On Friday, the new acting commissioner, Danny Werfel, released a statement on the forthcoming report criticizing the Anaheim meeting.

"This conference is an unfortunate vestige from a prior era," Werfel said. "While there were legitimate reasons for holding the meeting, many of the expenses associated with it were inappropriate and should not have occurred."

On the topic of targeting conservative groups, Issa's committee also released excerpts from interviews congressional investigators conducted last week with two IRS employees from the agency's Cincinnati office. The excerpts omitted the names of those interviewed and provided no specifics about individuals in Washington who may have been involved.

One of the IRS employees said in an excerpt that they were told by a supervisor that the need to collect the reports came from Washington, and said that in early 2010 the Cincinnati office had sent copies of seven of the cases to Washington.

One of the workers also expressed skepticism that the Cincinnati office originated the screening without direction from Washington, according to the excerpts.

Appearing Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Issa said this conflicted with White House comments that have referred to misconduct by IRS workers in Cincinnati.

Issa said, "This is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters and we're getting to proving it."

Cummings said Issa's comments conflicted with a Treasury inspector general's report that provided no evidence that the Cincinnati office received orders on targeting from anyone else.

The interviews with IRS employees were conducted by Republican and Democratic aides on Issa's committee and also involved aides from both parties with the House Ways and Means Committee. One of the employees was a lower-level worker while the other was higher-ranked, said one congressional aide, but the committee did not release their names or titles.

The IRS Cincinnati office handles applications from around the country for tax-exempt status. A Treasury inspector general's report in May said employees there began searching for applications from tea party and conservative groups in their hunt for organizations that primarily do work related to election campaigns.

That May report blamed "ineffective management" for letting that screening occur for more than 18 months between 2010 and 2012. But that report ? and three hearings by congressional committees ? have produced no specific evidence that the Cincinnati workers were ordered by anyone in Washington to target conservatives.

The latest report on IRS conferences will be the subject of a hearing Thursday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Karen Kraushaar, spokeswoman for the inspector general's office, said public discussion of a report before it is released "serves no purpose and should generally be avoided."

Werfel is scheduled to make his first congressional appearance as acting commissioner Monday when he appears before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

___

AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irs-woes-grow-report-conference-spending-072518222.html

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Entertainment industry petitions congress for permission to use ...

A recent report titled the ?IP Commission Report?, and written by the "Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property" has raised a few eyebrows recently due to some rather controversial recomendations contained in the report.??

The? 90-page document's objective was to assess the causes and scale of international intellectual property theft (Piracy), as it affects the entertainment industry and the economy of the U.S. as a whole.?

What makes some of the recommendations so controversial is that it says the entertainment should be able to attach spyware, trojans or other types of code such as ransomware that could help in thwarting IP theft. ?It would also give the entertainment industry the advantage of tracking those who commit IP theft on-line no matter their location.

The most controversial segment contained in the report is found under the section heading, "Threat-based Deterrence against Targeted Hackers?, chapter 13, page 81, and under the recommendation ?Support efforts by American private entities both to identify and to recover or render inoperable intellectual property stolen through cyber means" ? it reads in part,

Additionally, software can be written that will allow only authorized users to open files containing valuable information. If an unauthorized person accesses the information, a range of actions might then occur. For example, the file could be rendered inaccessible and the unauthorized user?s computer could be locked down, with instructions on how to contact law enforcement to get the password needed to unlock the account. Such measures do not violate existing laws on the use of the Internet, yet they serve to blunt attacks and stabilize a cyber incident to provide both time and evidence for law enforcement to become involved.

The next opinion comes on the same page under the recommendation title, ?Reconcile necessary changes in the law with a changing technical environment?, and reads in part,

While not currently permitted under U.S. law, there are increasing calls for creating a more permissive environment for active network defense that allows companies not only to stabilize a situation but to take further steps, including actively retrieving stolen information, altering it within the intruder?s networks, or even destroying the information within an unauthorized network. Additional measures go further, including photographing the hacker using his own system?s camera, implanting malware in the hacker?s network, or even physically disabling or destroying the hacker?s own computer or network.?

The ?Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property? may appear to be some kind of bipartisan group backed by the U.S. government, but in fact it is not and supported by the "National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR)". ?It was also backed by the ?Slade Gorton International Policy Center?, which is named for one of the commission members, former Republican Senator Slade Gorton of Washington State.?? The chairman for the report was Dennis C. Blair, who served as the former U.S. Director of National Intelligence, along with co-chair Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., who was once the Governor of Utah and U.S. Ambassador to China.

In total the report makes 21 recommendations and to some it may be the entertainment industry?s coy way of invading our private lives.? The report even celebrates the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act, a.k.a., CISPA, which was passed by the House of Representatives in April of this year, and currently awaiting approval by the Senate. ?

Many privacy rights advocates were strongly opposed to CISPA, and even the President states he would veto the bill if it made it to his desk.

Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/entertainment-industry-petitions-congress-for-permission-to-use-spyware-viruses-and-ransomware-against-piracy/20494.html

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Two dead, five hurt in Texas shooting spree

(Reuters) - A gunman randomly firing from his pickup truck killed one person and wounded five, including the sheriff of Concho County, Texas, on Sunday before the suspect was killed in a shootout with law enforcement, officials said.

Authorities recovered an assault rifle, a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the suspect, who was said to be 23 years old and from North Carolina. The name was withheld pending notification of relatives, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

The statement identified the dead victim as Alicia Torres, 41, who was shot dead in her car, the statement said.

The Texas Rangers, local law enforcement and Texas Parks and Wildlife were investigating multiple scenes in Concho County, about 250 miles southwest of Dallas, following the early morning shooting spree.

The first incident took place about 4:30 a.m. when the suspect opened fire on vehicle near Eden, wounding a woman, who was later hospitalized in San Angelo, the statement said.

The suspect wounded two more people a short time later as they sat in their vehicle outside a convenience store in Brady, and then returned to Eden, where he fired on another vehicle and wounded another person. Those three were treated and released.

About 6 a.m., Torres was found shot to death in her car in Eola.

Some 15 minutes later, Concho County Sheriff Richard Doane encountered the suspect on a highway north of Eden. The sheriff was wounded and taken to a San Angelo hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the statement said.

The gunman was killed in a shootout with a Highway Patrol trooper and game warden who arrived to assist the sheriff, the statement said.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/two-dead-five-hurt-texas-shooting-spree-022934141.html

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This Is NASA's Solar Propulsion Engine of the Future

This Tron-esque glowing blue ring isn't the latest designer lamp. In fact, it's NASA's cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster, being tested in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/rbDCQeuGvaw/this-is-nasas-solar-propulsion-engine-of-the-future-509983614

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