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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- With California firefighters strapped for resources, residents have organized to put out flames themselves in a large swath of land burning south of San Francisco, defending their homes despite orders to evacuate and pleas by officials to get out of danger. They are going in despite California's firefighting agency repeatedly warning people that it's not safe and actually illegal to go into evacuated areas, and they can hinder official efforts to stop the flames. While those fires are 20% contained, firefighters have been pushed to the breaking point since lightning ignited more than 500 blazes in one night last week, most of them in the central and northern parts of the state. In Boulder Creek, a community at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains near a state park filled with towering redwoods, some people call the group of residents fighting the flames the "Boulder Creek Boys." They say the group, which includes former volunteer firefighters, have been protecting homes and extinguishing blazes behind fire lines for over a week, at times using nothing but dirt and garden hoses. About 10 miles north of Santa Cruz, crews of civilians stayed back to protect homes in the tiny community of Bonny Doon that they believed firefighters were too strapped to protect, patrolling neighborhoods through the night in shifts. Brothers Robert and Jesse Katz even brought in their own firetruck, fighting alongside official crews. Jaimi Jansen, 38, has returned to the area multiple times since she was ordered to evacuate early last week. She says she helps defend the community from fires and resupplies neighbors with water, generators, gasoline, shovels and chicken feed. "We got a gas-operated pump, like the kind you operate to drain a pool," said Jansen, who has no professional firefighting experience. "One end goes into a well or pool, and we used that to put out spot fires."
1M file for unemployment, again
WASHINGTON -- Just over 1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the coronavirus outbreak continues to threaten jobs even as the housing market, auto sales and other segments of the economy rebound from a springtime collapse. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people seeking jobless aid last week dropped by 98,000 from 1.1 million the week before. The number of initial claims has exceeded 1 million every week but one since late March, an unprecedented streak. Before the coronavirus pandemic, they had never topped 700,000 in a week. "Layoffs are ongoing reflecting interruptions to activity from virus containment that are likely resulting in permanent closures and job losses,'' Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a research report. Farooqi added that "the risk of permanent damage to the labor market remains high which will slow the pace of recovery. The return to pre-pandemic levels of prosperity is set to be an uncertain and prolonged process.'' More than 14.5 million are collecting traditional jobless benefits -- up from 1.7 million a year ago -- a sign that many American families are depending on unemployment checks to keep them afloat. Until July 31, the unemployed were receiving an extra $600 a week in federal money on top of regular state unemployment benefits, part of an extraordinary lifeline extended to help them through the crisis. The loss of that money is putting the squeeze on many families.
Missing father found safe
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The missing father of Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mackensie Alexander turned up early Thursday at a ranger station at a Florida state park. Jean Alexandre, 65, was reported to be in good health and will be reunited with this family, the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office said in a Twitter post Thursday morning. He walked up to the ranger station at the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, which is about 25 miles north of Okeechobee in central Florida. The sheriff's office offered no additional details. Alexandre, a Haitian immigrant who uses a French spelling of the family's surname, went missing after going to pick palmetto berries Monday. His son was jailed Wednesday on a misdemeanor battery charge after deputies say he beat up a man shortly after returning to Florida to help search for his missing father. Alexander, 26, and another man, 28-year-old Evins Clement, were arrested by Collier County sheriff's deputies Tuesday night. Alexander grew up in the small farming community of Immokalee, in southwest Florida, where his family still lives.
Perry gives birth to baby girl
Katy Perry has given birth to a baby girl named Daisy Dove Bloom. The pop superstar and her partner, actor Orlando Bloom, got UNICEF to announce the news on its Instagram account. Both Perry and Bloom are goodwill ambassadors for the United Nations agency that helps children. UNICEF posted a black and white photograph of the infant's hand and said the happy couple told the organization: "We are floating with love and wonder from the safe and healthy arrival of our daughter." "Smile," Perry's fifth major-label album, will be released Friday. The 35-year-old in a recent interview talked about about finding her smile again after a few years of pain. "I went through a reckoning of self and really re-prioritized what was important and my association with validation, or my relationship with validation," she said. The baby is Perry's first. Bloom and his former wife, Miranda Kerr, have a son, Flynn, who was born in 2011.
More sign up to buy homes
SILVER SPRING, Md.v -- More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in July, suggesting the current hot housing market could continue in the fall. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that its index of pending sales rose 5.9%, to 122.1 last month. It had plunged to a low of 69 in April, when buyers and sellers were forced to the sidelines by coronavirus closures and restrictions. An index of 100 represents the level of contract activity in 2001. Contract signings are a barometer of eventual, finalized purchases over the next two months, so this month's numbers point continued market strength in August and September. Contract signings are now 15.5% ahead of where they were last year, after significantly trailing last year's pace earlier in the year because of the pandemic. Different reports over the past week have shown that sales of existing homes and new homes are both continuing to surge as large swaths of the country have opened back up this summer and people have figured out how to go about regular business despite the ongoing pandemic. Sales of new homes jumped 13.9% in July, while sales of existing homes climbed 24.7%. Low interest rates have also pushed people into the market. Interest rates on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage are at historic lows around 3%. Besides the uncertainty of the broader economy, which continues to see about a million people a week sign up for unemployment benefits, the biggest concern in the housing market is the continuing lack of available homes. Low supply of existing homes has forced buyers into the new home market, which has also seen its supply dwindle over the past year. That shortage of homes for sale is boosting prices. The median price for an existing home topped $300,000 for the first time on record, coming in at $304,100. That's up a sharp 8.5% from July 2019. The median price for a new home in July rose to $330,600, up 7.2% from one year ago. All four regions saw more contract signings for the second straight month. The Northeast saw contract signing increase 25.2%; in the West they were up 6.8%. The Midwest saw gains of 3.3% and in the South contract signings were up 0.9%.
Back to class in Europe
PARIS -- A mother and her three children scanned the school supplies in a Paris supermarket, plucking out multicolored fountain pens, crisp notebooks - and plenty of masks. Despite resurgent coronavirus infections, similar scenes are unfolding across Europe as a new school year dawns. Virus or no virus, European authorities are determined to put children back into classrooms, to narrow the learning gaps between haves and have-nots that deepened during lockdowns -- and to get their parents back to work. Facing a jump in virus cases, authorities in France, Britain, Spain and elsewhere are imposing mask rules, hiring extra teachers and building new desks and classrooms. While the U.S. back-to-school saga has been politicized and chaotic, with a hodgepodge of fast-changing rules and a backlash against President Donald Trump's insistence on reopening, European governments have faced less of an uproar. And even though the virus has invaded classrooms in recent days from Berlin to Seoul, and some teachers and parents warn that their schools aren't ready, European leaders from the political left, right and center are sending an unusually consistent message: Even in a pandemic, children are better off in class. France's prime minister promised Wednesday to "do everything" to get people back to school and work. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called reopening schools a "moral duty," and his government even threatened to fine parents who keep kids at home. Italy's health minister abruptly shut down discos this month with one goal in mind -- "to reopen schools in September in complete safety." Among measures in place: hand-washing stations, one-way corridors, staggered starts and rolling lunch times. Some regions are giving out free laptops in case of new lockdowns. Many countries require masks in school, but rules vary on where to wear them and from what age.
Boy Scouts complain about ads
DOVER, Del. -- Attorneys for the Boy Scouts of America are asking a federal judge in Delaware to take action to protect survivors of child sexual abuse from being misled or confused by advertisements from law firms about their ability to file claims in the organization's bankruptcy case. The Boy Scouts of America, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection in February in an effort to halt hundreds of individual lawsuits and create a huge compensation fund for men who were molested as youngsters decades ago by scoutmasters or other leaders. The bankruptcy judge earlier this year established a Nov. 16 deadline for victims of child sex abuse to file claims in the bankruptcy case. She also approved processes for potential victims to be notified and submit their claims. The notification process includes a nationwide paid media campaign of print, television, radio and online advertisements that is scheduled to begin Monday and run through Oct. 17. The Boy Scouts have said the notification program is expected to reach more than 100 million people, including more than 95% of the primary target audience of men age 50 and older. An expert for the Boy Scouts estimated that men in that age group account for more than half of former Boy Scouts and at least 71% of abuse survivors with pending claims against the BSA. But in a court filing this week, attorneys for the Boy Scouts said several law firms -- including firms that represent either members of the official bankruptcy committee for abuse victims or a group called the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice, which is also involved in the bankruptcy case -- have engaged in their own advertising campaigns to try to solicit sexual abuse victims. A lawyer for the Boy Scouts sent a cease-and-desist letter Aug. 10 to attorneys for the committee and the coalition, asking that they distribute the letter to the law firms representing their members and to other firms they knew were engaged in the advertising. But the misleading ads have continued, according to the court filing. BSA attorneys are asking the judge to supplement her previous order to clarify that the notifications and advertisements approved in the order are only ones allowed to be directed to potential claimants, and that no other notice or solicitation can be provided without prior authorization of the BSA or the court. "It is essential that sexual abuse survivors' decisions as to whether, when, and how to file claims in this bankruptcy proceeding and protect their rights be based on complete and accurate information," they wrote.
Disney guest accused of threat
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A man hit a security guard in the head and threatened to kill him at Epcot theme park when he was asked to follow Disney World's mask rules, sheriff's officials said. Enrico Toro, 35, was arrested Aug. 14 and charged with misdemeanor battery. "We expect guests to treat our cast members with courtesy and respect, and while the vast majority of guests have adapted to our new measures, this unfortunate case required law enforcement," Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger said in a statement. According to deputies, Toro, his wife and three children arrived at Epcot's security area wearing "improper masks" about 4:40 p.m. on Aug. 14, an arrest report said. They returned to the car and came back to security again. One child still wore a mask didn't fit Disney's rules. Toro "began cussing" and said, "Call the police. They will have to shoot me to leave," the arrest report said. The security guard reached for his phone to notify a supervisor of the escalating situation when Toro struck the guard's head with an "open hand," the report said. Toro's wife intervened, pushing her husband away from the security guard. "The male continued cussing at (the security guard) and began threatening that he knew where he lived and was going to kill him," the arrest report said. The man's wife finally persuaded him to walk away, and they headed back to the parking lot. The 29-year-old security guard contacted his supervisor and sheriff's deputies on Disney property were called to the scene. He said he was willing to press charges, and Toro was arrested, the report said. Toro told investigators that the security guard swore at him and that they got into an argument, but denied anything else happened, the arrest report said. Three eyewitnesses said Toro became "irate," used profanity and hit the guard.
Russian warships cause stir
ANCHORAGE, Alaska-- The presence of Russian military assets caused a stir for U.S. commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea off Alaska this week, but the ships are only there to conduct war games, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday. "We were notified by multiple fishing vessels that were operating out the Bering Sea that they had come across these vessels and were concerned, so they contacted us," Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said. The Coast Guard contacted the Alaskan Command at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which confirmed the ships were there as part of a pre-planned Russian military exercise that was known to some U.S. military officials.
Mali's deposed president returns
BAMAKO, Mali -- Former Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita returned home Thursday after being detained for 10 days by the ruling military junta that staged a coup last week, a family member said. The move came the same day that the junta made public a decree of its National Committee for the Salvation of the People that seems to overrule Mali's constitution. Keita was detained on Aug. 18 when a group of military officers arrested him and took him to Kati, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the capital, Bamako. Later that night he resigned as president. West African leaders from the 15-nation bloc knowns as ECOWAS have decried the overthrow of an elected leader and placed sanctions on Mali, shutting borders, halting financial flows and threatening further sanctions.
Innocent inmate to be released
TAMPA, Fla. -- A Florida man who has spent the last 37 years in prison on a rape and murder charge was ordered released Thursday, after officials discovered new evidence that proved his innocence. Robert Duboise, who is 56, was serving a life sentence, convicted in 1983 for the murder of 19-year-old Barbara Grams. She had been raped and beaten while walking home from her job at a Tampa mall. Duboise's conviction centered on one piece of evidence: an alleged bite mark on the victim's face. A jailhouse informant's testimony also helped convict him. On Thursday, a lawyer from the Innocence Project and a lawyer from the Hillsborough County Conviction Review Unit spoke during an online court hearing and addressed the false evidence that led to Duboise's conviction. Experts proved the mark wasn't from a bite, and the jailhouse informant was not credible. Judge Christopher Nash ruled that Duboise, who is serving his sentence in Hardee County, Florida, should be released immediately. Teresa Hall, the supervising attorney for the conviction review unit -- a team dedicated to reviewing potential wrongful convictions -- said she combed through 3,500 pages of documents in the case. She found that much of the physical evidence in the case had been destroyed. But she was able to track down rape kit evidence at the county medical examiner's office and process that for DNA. Within a week, that evidence excluded Duboise.
Vigilante calls before attack
Repeated calls for armed vigilantes to travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to protect businesses following the police shooting of Jacob Blake spread across social media in the hours before two people were shot to death and a third was wounded during a third night of unrest in the city. Multiple threads on Facebook and Reddit urged militias and other armed people to head to the protests, researchers at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab said in a blog post Wednesday. The demonstrations broke out after Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was left paralyzed Sunday when he was shot from behind by officers answering a domestic dispute call. Two people were killed by gunfire Tuesday night and Kyle Rittenhouse, a white 17-year-old from nearby Antioch, Illinois, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. A video director for the conservative website The Daily Caller tweeted Wednesday that he had conducted a video interview with the suspected gunman before the shooting and posted a clip in which the armed young man, standing in front of a boarded-up building, said "our job is to protect this business." "And part of my job is to also help people," he said. "If there is somebody hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle -- because I can protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit."
Somber protests in Kenosha
KENOSHA, Wis. -- Groups that had taken to Kenosha's streets with long guns were nowhere to be seen early Thursday following somber protests and no widespread unrest for the first night since the weekend police shooting of Jacob Blake. Marchers were solemn during Wednesday night's protests in the southeastern Wisconsin city between Milwaukee and Chicago following the chaos of the previous night, when authorities say a 17-year-old from a nearby Illinois community killed two demonstrators and wounded a third in shootings largely caught on cellphone video and posted online. Also Thursday, Wisconsin Lutheran College located about 40 miles from Kenosha said it canceled a planned Saturday commencement speech by Vice President Mike Pence, citing the unrest.
Unsettling night in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS -- An emergency curfew expired and downtown Minneapolis was calm Thursday morning after unrest broke out following what authorities said was misinformation about the suicide of a Black homicide suspect. Gov. Tim Walz mobilized the Minnesota National Guard at the request of Mayor Jacob Frey, who imposed the curfew after people broke windows and stole merchandise Wednesday night from stores on and near the Nicollet Mall, a pedestrian plaza that runs through downtown. People broke into a Target store and stole merchandise and set a popular British pub on fire. Other businesses were damaged, including some outside of downtown. Frey said Thursday that another curfew would go into effect from 8 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday. TV footage and reporter's tweets Wednesday night showed people grabbing merchandise at a Saks OFF 5TH store, and broken windows and shrimp scattered on the sidewalk outside Ruth's Chris Steak House. Two officers were injured, Chief Medaria Arradondo said. Arradondo said about 50 people were arrested on charges including riot, burglary and obstruction. The Minneapolis Fire Department said it responded to four fires late Wednesday and early Thursday, including one at Brits Pub on the Nicollet Mall, plus three businesses in south Minneapolis, a Tires Plus, a Walgreens and a China Wok restaurant. The department said there were no injuries from the fires. South Minneapolis, where a police station was burned in May, was the epicenter of unrest over Floyd's death. The State Patrol mobilized about 150 troopers, the governor said. He did not give a figure for how many National Guard soldiers were deployed.