Anger mounts as utility imposes more blackouts in California
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — With no electricity for the fourth straight day Tuesday, chef and caterer Jane Sykes realized she would have to throw out $1,000 worth of food, including trays of brownies, cupcakes and puff pastry.
She also had little hope of getting a good night’s sleep — there was no way to run the machine she relies on to counter her apnea.
“I don’t think PG&E really thought this through,” she lamented.
Frustration and anger mounted across Northern California on Tuesday as the state’s biggest utility, Pacific Gas &Electric, began another round of widespread blackouts aimed at preventing its electrical equipment from sparking wildfires in high winds.
Millions of people have been without power for days as fire crews race to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes at both ends of the state: in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles.
Brexit ballot: UK lawmakers back December 12 election
LONDON — Britons will be heading out to vote in the dark days of December after the House of Commons on Tuesday backed an early national vote that could break the country’s political impasse over Brexit — or turn out to be merely a temporary distraction.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes electing a new crop of lawmakers will give his Conservative Party a majority and break the stalemate that blocked his plan to take Britain out of the European Union this month. This week the EU granted Britain a three-month Brexit extension until Jan. 31.
But after three years of inconclusive political wrangling over Brexit, British voters are weary and the results of an election are hard to predict.
The House of Commons voted 438-20 — with dozens of lawmakers abstaining — for a bill authorizing an election on Dec. 12. It will become law once it is approved Wednesday by the unelected House of Lords, which does not have the power to overrule the elected Commons.
Even before the result was announced, the political parties were in campaign mode.
Immigration official says border crisis not over
WASHINGTON — A top U.S. Border Patrol official has a warning: The crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is not over.
Even though crossings have been down over the past few months and news of custody deaths and teeming facilities full of children and families has faded from front pages and talking points of politicians, the number of migrants coming over border is still high. And resources are still stretched.
“It is kind of a new norm. We’re at risk at any time,” if some recent deterrent efforts are blocked by the courts, like a policy forcing asylum seekers to wait out their claims in Mexico , Brian Hastings, chief of law enforcement operations at Border Patrol said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“We will go back, mark the words, we will go back to the crisis level that we had before.”
Immigration has been a top issue since President Donald Trump took office almost three years ago, with Democrats heavily critical of his administration on border conditions. But Washington is now dominated by talk of impeachment and immigration seems somewhat less pressing, with monthly apprehension numbers declining and Mexico and other nations enhancing cooperation with the U.S. on immigration issues.
By wire sources