MLB, WNBA postpone games due to smoke from Canadian wildfires
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball postponed games in New York and Philadelphia on Wednesday night because of poor air quality caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires.A National Women’s Soccer League game in New Jersey and an indoor WNBA game set for Brooklyn were also called off Wednesday amid hazy conditions that have raised alarms from health authorities.The New York Yankees’ game against the Chicago White Sox was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader starting at 4:05 p.m. on Thursday, and the Philadelphia Phillies’ game against the Detroit Tigers was reset for 6:05 p.m. on Thursday, originally a day off for both teams.“These postponements were determined following conversations throughout the day with medical and weather experts and all of the impacted clubs regarding clearly hazardous air quality conditions in both cities,” MLB said in a statement.The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert for New York City, saying: “the New York State Department of Health recommends that individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects.” In Philadelphia, the NWS issued a Code Red.The Yankees and White Sox played through a lesser haze on Tuesday night.The WNBA said a game between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty would not be played Wednesday, saying the decision was made to “protect the health and safety of our fans, teams and community.” A makeup date wasn’t immediately announced.The NWSL postponed Orlando’s match at Gotham in Harrison, New Jersey, from Wednesday night to Aug. 9.“The match could not be safely conducted based on the projected air quality index,” the NWSL said.At nearby Belmont Park, The New York Racing Association said training went on as planned ahead of Saturday’s Triple Crown horse race.“NYRA utilizes external weather services and advanced on-site equipment to monitor weather conditions and air quality in and around Belmont Park,” spokesman Patrick McKenna said Wednesday. “Training was conducted normally today, and NYRA will continue to assess the overall environment to ensure the safety of training and racing throughout the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.” A two-game series in Seattle between the Mariners and the Giants was moved to San Francisco in September 2020 because of because of poor air quality caused by West Coast wildfires.New York’s NFL teams, the Giants and Jets, both had Wednesday off from offseason workouts. The Giants had been planning to practice inside Thursday, and the Jets say they are also likely to work out indoors Thursday.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Actor Jay Johnston, known for 'Bob's Burgers' character, arrested on Capitol riot charges
An actor known for his roles on the comedy television shows “Bob’s Burgers” and “Mr. Show with Bob and David” was arrested Wednesday on charges that he joined a mob of Donald Trump supporters in confronting police officers during the U.S. Capitol riot, court records show.Jay Johnston, 54, of Los Angeles, was arrested there on charges including civil disorder, a felony. He is expected to make his initial court appearance in California on Wednesday. An attorney for Johnston didn’t immediately respond to a telephone call and text message seeking comment.Video footage captured Johnston pushing against police and helping rioters who attacked officers guarding an entrance to the Capitol in a tunnel on the Lower West Terrace, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit. Johnston held a stolen police shield over his head and passed it to other rioters during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, the affidavit says. Johnston “was close to the entrance to the tunnel, turned back and signaled for other rioters to come towards the entrance,” the agent wrote. Johnston was the voice of the character Jimmy Pesto on Fox’s “Bob’s Burgers.” The Daily Beast reported in December 2021 that Johnston was “banned” from the animated show after the Jan. 6 attack.Johnston appeared on “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” an HBO sketch comedy series that starred Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. His credits also include small parts on the television show “Arrested Development” and in the movie “Anchorman,” starring Will Ferrell.United Airlines records show Johnston booked a round-trip flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., departing on Jan. 4, 2021, and returning a day after the riot, according to the FBI. Thousands of people stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 after attending then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. While the mob attacked police in the tunnel with pepper spray and other weapons, Johnston helped other rioters near the tunnel pour water on their faces and then joined in pushing against the line of officers, the FBI says.“The rioters coordinated the timing of the pushes by yelling ‘Heave! Ho!’” the affidavit says.Three current or former associates of Johnston identified him as a riot suspect from photos that the FBI published online, according to the agent. The FBI said one of those associates provided investigators with a text message in which Johnston acknowledged being at the Capitol on Jan. 6.“The news has presented it as an attack. It actually wasn’t. Thought it kind of turned into that. It was a mess. Got maced and tear gassed and I found it quite untastic,” Johnston wrote, according to the FBI.More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct at the Capitol on a Jan. 6. More than 500 of them have been sentenced, with over half getting terms of imprisonment ranging from seven days to 18 years, according to an Associated Press review of court records.
Man sentenced to 119 years for fatal shooting at California park
A man convicted last month in the shooting death of a father who was camping with his daughters at a Southern California park was sentenced on Wednesday to 119 years to life in prison.A jury found Anthony Rauda guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Tristan Beaudette and of the attempted murders of the two young girls.Rauda fatally shot Beaudette in the head while the 35-year-old father camped in a tent with his daughters on June 18, 2018 in Malibu Creek State Park, roughly 30 miles west of downtown Los Angeles.He was taken into custody in late 2018 in a ravine near the park with a rifle in his backpack.Rauda’s attorney, Nicholas C. Okorocha, declined to comment on Wednesday’s sentencing but said he appreciated the “deeply moving” victim impact statement delivered by Beaudette’s wife, Erica.CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS LAMENT ‘STRUGGLE’ IN PASSING REPARATIONS: ‘NOT AS LIBERAL AS PEOPLE WANT US TO BELIEVE’ A man who was convicted of a 2018 California state park killing has been sentenced to 119 years to life in prison. (Fox News)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPBeaudette’s daughters, then ages 2 and 4, were not injured in the shooting but were considered victims of attempted murder. The jury convicted Rauda on the counts related to the girls but ruled that Rauda had not acted willfully to kill them or with premeditation.Rauda faced eight additional counts of attempted murder and five counts of burglary in a rash of shootings and break-ins that began in 2016. He was found not guilty in seven of the attempted murder counts.Jurors found him guilty of the burglary charges, as well as attempted murder for deliberately shooting at a man driving to a movie set just days before Beaudette’s killing. The driver was not injured.The park was closed temporarily after the slaying. Much of the park, which has served as a set for movies and TV shows such as “M.A.S.H.,” has been charred in wildfires.Rauda previously served time in state prison for possessing explosives and later for possessing a loaded gun, which is illegal for people with felony convictions. He was on probation at the time of his arrest, authorities said.
Kentucky chemical weapons disposal facility nears completion of decades-long mission
A Kentucky chemical weapons disposal facility is approaching the conclusion of a mission that would eliminate a 520-ton cold war-era stockpile. The anticipated milestone at the chemical weapons disposal facility will signify the conclusion of U.S. chemical weapons elimination efforts. The Blue Grass Army Depot facility is nearing completion of eliminating a decades-old stockpile of 51,000 M55 rockets containing GB nerve agent. A Kentucky facility built to dispose of deadly Cold War-era chemical weapons is nearing the end of its mission to destroy its 520-ton stockpile, a milestone that will likely mark the end of chemical weapons destruction projects in the U.S., officials said Wednesday.The facility at the Blue Grass Army Depot is weeks away from eliminating the last of a stockpile of 51,000 M55 rockets with GB nerve agent that have been stored at the depot since the 1940s. The GB nerve agent, also known as sarin, a colorless and tasteless toxin, can cause respiratory failure leading to death. It is outlawed under international rules of warfare.Another stockpile is being eliminated at an Army facility in Colorado, but that effort is expected to conclude before the Kentucky one. The two sites have the country’s last remaining chemical weapons that must be disposed of according to a 1997 worldwide treaty.Military and civilian officials gathered Wednesday at Eastern Kentucky University to speak about the end of the project.Kingston Reif, an assistant U.S. Secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control, said the destruction of the nation’s deadly chemical weapons has been “decades in the making.”RESURFACED PHOTO OF DEM GOVERNOR POSING WITH ANTI-CHRISTIAN LGBTQ GROUP TAKES CENTER STAGE IN YEAR’S TOP RACE”As recently as a few years ago, we weren’t sure we could achieve our treaty commitment, so the fact that we are now on the doorstep is no small feat,” Reif said. He said all other nations who joined the treaty have finished destruction of their stockpiles.Reif said the weapons are “heinous” and “the suffering they can inflict is unimaginable.” In this photo provided by the U.S. Army, workers at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant in Richmond, Kentucky. (U.S. Army via AP, File)”Which makes what’s being done here in Kentucky all the more important,” he said.Destruction of the Kentucky stockpile began in 2019 after decades of planning and debate over how to dispose of the deadly war weapons.Workers at the Kentucky facility, the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant, separate the deadly chemicals from their original rocket or projectile casings and then eliminate the agent, in most cases using a process known as neutralization, where the chemical agent is dissolved in a solution. Kentucky originally had stockpiles of VX, GB and mustard agent that had been stored in bunkers for decades. The mustard agent was eliminated in 2021 and the final rocket containing VX agent was neutralized at the plant in April 2022.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe final phase of destroying the M55 rockets with sarin has been the most challenging, because of the age and deterioration of the rockets, said Candace Coyle, the plant’s project manager. Each rocket carries about 10 pounds of the nerve agent.The neutralization process was settled on in 2006 after outcry from residents and environmental groups that objected to the weapons being burned to eliminate the deadly chemicals.The weapons kept in Kentucky and an Army facility in Pueblo, Colorado, represent the last 10% of the nation’s original stockpile of more than 30,000 tons of chemical weapons.
Richard Snyder, ‘warrior-king’ of publishing who presided over rise of Simon & Schuster, dead at 90
NEW YORK — Richard Snyder, a visionary and imperious executive at Simon
'I can taste the air': Canadian wildfire smoke spreads hazardous haze at home and in the US
NEW YORK — Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, holding up flights at major airports and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks.While Canadian officials asked other countries for additional help fighting more than 400 blazes nationwide that already have displaced 20,000 people, air quality with what the U.S. rates as hazardous levels of pollution extended into central New York and northeastern Pennsylvania. Massive tongues of unhealthy air extended as far as North Carolina and Indiana, affecting millions of people.“I can taste the air,” Dr. Ken Strumpf said in a Facebook post from Syracuse, New York, which was enveloped in an amber pall. The smoke, he later said by phone, even made him a bit dizzy. In Baltimore, Debbie Funk sported a blue surgical mask as she and husband, Jack Hughes, took their daily walk around Fort McHenry, a national monument overlooking the Patapsco River. The air hung thick over the water, obscuring the horizon as distant ships pushed slowly through the haze.“I walked outside this morning, and it was like a waft of smoke,” said Funk. She said the couple planned to stay inside later Wednesday, as officials were urging. Canadian officials say this is shaping up to be the nation’s worst wildfire season ever. It started early on drier-than-usual ground and accelerated very quickly, exhausting firefighting resources across the country, fire and environmental officials said.Smoke from the blazes in various parts of the country has been lapping into the U.S. since last month but intensified with a recent spate of fires in Quebec, where about 100 were considered out of control Wednesday. “The smoke was insane” Tuesday in Montreal, said resident Zachary Kamel, 36. “I had to close my window because the fresh air just smelled like campfire.” Quebec Premier François Legault said the province currently has the capacity to fight about 40 fires — and the usual reinforcements from other provinces have been strained by conflagrations in Nova Scotia and elsewhere. Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre spokesperson Jennifer Kamau said more than 950 firefighters and other personnel have already arrived from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and more will be arriving soon. In Washington, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to Canada. His administration has contacted some U.S. governors and local officials about providing assistance, she said.The largest town in Northern Quebec — Chibougamau, population about 7,500 — was evacuated Tuesday, and Legault said the roughly 4,000 residents of the northern Cree town Mistissini would likely have to leave Wednesday.Eastern Quebec got some rain Wednesday, but Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault said no significant rain is expected for days in the remote areas of central Quebec where the wildfires are more intense.U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Zach Taylor said the current weather pattern in the central and eastern U.S. is essentially funneling in the smoke. Some rain should help clear the air somewhat in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic this weekend or early next week, though more thorough relief will come from containing or extinguishing the fires, he noted.Across the border, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned the public to “prepare for this over the long haul.” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told residents of the United States’ most populous city to limit outdoor activities and parks officials closed beaches as smoke smudged out the skyline.The Federal Aviation Administration paused some flights bound for LaGuardia Airport and slowed planes to Newark Liberty and Philadelphia because the smoke was limiting visibility. It also contributed to delayed arrivals at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.The smoke even affected Broadway, where “Killing Eve” star Jodie Comer had difficulty breathing and left the matinee after 10 minutes; the show restarted with an understudy, show publicists said.Schools in multiple states canceled sports and other outdoor activities, shifting recess inside. Live horse racing was canceled Wednesday and Thursday at Delaware Park in Wilmington. Organizers of Global Running Day, a virtual 5K, advised participants to adjust their plans according to air quality.New Jersey closed state offices early, and some political demonstrations in spots from Manhattan to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were moved indoors or postponed. Striking Hollywood writers were pulled off picket lines in the New York metropolitan area. Sitting in a Brooklyn park with a black face mask on, nanny Meagan Bobb said she was surprised by how bad the air was. “The little girl was coughing, and I was having problems breathing when I was walking around, so we’re looking to go inside somewhere soon,” Bobb said. The smoke exacerbated health problems for people such as Vicki Burnett, 67, who has asthma and has had serious bouts with bronchitis. After taking her dogs out Wednesday morning in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Burnett said, “I came in and started coughing and hopped back into bed.” Still, she stressed that she’s concerned for Canadians, not just herself. “It’s unfortunate, and I’m having some problems for it, but there should be help for them,” she said.___Gillies reported from Toronto. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware; Michael Hill in Albany, New York; David Koenig in Dallas; Aamer Madhani in Washington; Brooke Schultz in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Lea Skene in Baltimore; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Ron Todt in Philadelphia; Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan; and Mark Kennedy, Jake Offenhartz, Karen Matthews and Julie Walker in New York. ___This story has corrected the attribution of material about forecast for rain in Quebec to Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault, not Quebec Premier François Legault.
Justice Jackson reports flowers from Oprah, designer clothing as Thomas delays filing disclosure
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson disclosed Wednesday that she received a $1,200 congratulatory floral display from Oprah Winfrey and $6,580 in designer clothing for a magazine photo shoot in her first months as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. The details of gifts given to Jackson were among the reports provided by most members of the court in their annual filings, which give a partial window onto their finances. The reports were released Wednesday. But the report that was most anticipated — that of Justice Clarence Thomas, who has been under scrutiny for his receipt of undisclosed gifts from a Republican donor — was not among the filings. Thomas, along with Justice Samuel Alito, sought an extension for up to 90 days.Thomas’ receipt of gifts, valued at several hundred thousand dollars, from the Republican donor Harlan Crow has prompted calls for ethics reform on the nation’s highest court. It was not clear why either man needed more time.Once a year the justices join with other federal judges in providing a look at their finances. They are supposed to disclose paid travel, outside income, investments, significant gifts and the source of their spouses’ income.Among the reports Wednesday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she received nearly $150,000 in royalties for two children’s books last year and another $12,000 in payments for possible stage and video versions of “Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You.” The book, intended for kids age 4 to 8, introduces readers to children who face what Sotomayor, who was diagnosed with diabetes as a child, calls “life challenges.” Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina justice, has been paid more than $3 million in advances and royalties for her books, including her memoir, ”My Beloved World.”Less than two months after Jackson joined the court in late June, she was featured in a Vogue story first posted online that took note of her historic role. In one accompanying photo taken by Annie Leibovitz, Jackson is wearing a blue coat and dark dress by Oscar de la Renta. A second Leibovitz photo shows Jackson in a brown Aliette jacket.The report did not specify the size or composition of the pricey gift of flowers from Winfrey.The justices are being paid $285,400 this year, except for Chief Justice John Roberts, who earns $298,500.Other justices reporting outside income were Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, who all brought in nearly $30,000 for law school teaching assignments. Barrett taught at Notre Dame, her former employer and alma mater, while Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were at George Mason University.The heightened focus on ethics at the high court stems from a series of reports revealing that Thomas has for years received undisclosed expensive gifts, including international travel, from Crow, a wealthy businessman and benefactor of conservative causes. Crow also purchased the house in Georgia where Thomas’s mother continues to live and paid for two years of private school tuition for a child raised by Thomas and his wife, Ginni.Supreme Court justices do not have a binding code of ethics and have resisted the idea that they adopt one or have one imposed on them by Congress. All nine justices recently signed a statement of ethics that Roberts provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Roberts recently acknowledged that the justices can do more to address ethical concerns.New reporting guidelines adopted by the federal judiciary in March make clear that transportation provided to judges should be disclosed in all instances. Food, lodging or entertainment received as “personal hospitality of any individual” does not need to be reported if it is at the personal residence of that individual or their family.