California's surging Caldor Fire sparks mandatory evacuations near Lake Tahoe
30 August 2021
California's swelling Caldor Fire triggered another mandatory evacuation order for South Lake Tahoe on Monday, along with other communities near the region.
Driving the news: The order, effective Monday, affects more than 100,000 residents in El Dorado County. Traffic was gridlocked on Highway 50, as people fled South Lake Tahoe.
State of play: The blaze was continuing to expand within and near the Lake Tahoe Basin, with winds of up to 50 mph, per the National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service extended its red flag warning through Wednesday.
- Evacuation orders for communities in Amador County were issued Sunday night as the fire approached the Lake Tahoe Basin.
By the numbers: The Caldor Fire had grown to 177,260 acres on Monday, according to Cal Fire. It was 14% contained.
Our thought bubble, via Axios' Andrew Freedman:Climate change, along with decades of land management policies, is leading to larger wildfires in the West. It's also creating more frequent extreme fire weather conditions that lead to wildfires that are nearly impossible to contain.
- Nine out of 10 of California's largest wildfires on record have occurred since 2010.
- A sweeping UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report published this month found that the connection between human emissions of greenhouse gases and global warming is "unequivocal."
Editor's note: This article has been updated with details of the gridlocked traffic.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.