Category: Security

On the heels of touring New York City’s soon-to-open migrant shelter at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field, homeless advocates are pleading with Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to reconsider housing children at the site, calling it a “patently dangerous” plan due to insufficient bathroom access, lack of privacy and other concerns.

Hundreds of migrant families with kids are expected in the coming days to start being housed in sprawling tents erected at the former U.S. military airstrip in southern Brooklyn. It’s the latest large-scale emergency facility built by Adams’ administration to accommodate the more than 65,000 mostly Latin American migrants currently in the city’s care.

Ahead of its opening, lawyers and representatives for the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless went on a tour of the site Tuesday.

Josh Goldfein, a Legal Aid attorney who’s fighting the Adams administration in court over its attempt to suspend the city’s right-to-shelter mandate, told the Daily News on Wednesday he was aghast over what he saw during the tour.

“In other cases, we’ve always given them recommendations about what could work better at a site,” Goldfein said, referencing tours his group has been given of other city-run migrant shelters. “This was a whole different level.”

One of the most concerning aspects of the Floyd Bennett site is the structure of the “pods” where families will sleep inside of the main tent, Goldfein said.

The pods don’t have ceilings, and are made up of four walls about 10 feet high that someone could scale, Goldfein said.

Under state regulations, homeless kids are not supposed to be housed in congregate, barrack-style shelters due to a heightened risk of abuse, and Goldfein said the way the pods are built raises concern about whether those rules are being followed.

“I don’t think anyone would be comfortable spending the night there with their children. You’re not going to be able to sleep, you’re going to be worried about your children’s safety,” he said.

Goldfein, whose group listed off their concerns with the Floyd Bennett facility in an email to the administration late Tuesday, said other causes for alarm include spotty bathroom access — toilets and showers are located in a facility separate from the sleeping quarters — and a lack of storage for families to put baby supplies, clothing and other belongings in.

The airfield is in a very remote area near Jamaica Bay. The city will provide a shuttle bus service for shelter residents, but it will only run every 90 minutes, making it tough for parents to get their kids to school, Goldfein argued.

There also are no designated places to change diapers or dispose of them in a sanitary manner, and no communal trash solution, all of which Goldfein said are risk factors for spread of communicable diseases, especially given that young children will be housed there.

The Adams administration has repeatedly argued it’s being forced to place migrants in unconventional places like Floyd Bennett Field as more than 65,600 of them and nearly as many homeless New Yorkers continue to sleep in the city’s shelter systems on any given night.

Asked for comment on the issues referenced by Legal Aid, Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said the city is “quite simply out of good options to shelter migrants” and urged the advocates to spend more time and energy on pressing federal and state governments for help with managing the crisis.

“Unless those now criticizing the use of Floyd Bennett Field have a legitimate alternative to suggest, we ask that they instead join us in calling for meaningful help and a decompression strategy from our state and federal partners,” Mamelak said. “As we have repeatedly said, a city cannot continue to manage a national crisis almost entirely on its own.”

Goldfein sympathized with the difficulties the administration’s facing, but questioned why it’s not housing single adult migrants at the Floyd Bennett site so families with kids could be placed in more appropriate settings.

“That’s what they’ve used the previous [tent-style shelters] for,” Goldfein said, referring to similar mega shelters on Randalls Island and in the parking lot of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens.

“The City must abandon its misguided effort to use Floyd Bennett Field as an option to shelter families with children, and we fear the worst should City Hall continue with this fraught, cruel and patently dangerous plan,” added Adriene Holder, the attorney in charge of Legal Aid’s civil practice.

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© 2023 New York Daily News

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Superior Court Judge William Clark overturned a Democrat mayoral primary election in Bridgeport, Connecticut, due to surveillance video footage that revealed individuals stuffing multiple absentee ballots into ballot drop boxes.

Charlie Kirk, CEO of Turning Point USA, shared a portion of the leaked surveillance video footage on X, writing, “A judge has just overturned a mayoral primary election in Bridgeport, CT after Democrat operatives were CAUGHT BALLOT STUFFING. This video was leaked and reveals a Democrat clerk stuffing this drop box multiple times with illegal ballots in the same day.”

Based on the video evidence and the recent court case, Kirk also questioned how common ballot stuffing is in American elections, whether this will be the first of many cases centered around ballot stuffing, and whether the Connecticut case will serve as a legal precedent to be used in future cases.

MASSIVE STORY

A judge has just overturned a mayoral primary election in Bridgeport, CT after Democrat operatives were CAUGHT BALLOT STUFFING.

This video was leaked and reveals a Democrat clerk stuffing this drop box multiple times with illegal ballots in the same day. Judge… https://t.co/uN92zUvnAn

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 2, 2023

In his Wednesday ruling, Clark wrote, “The volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the result of the primary election into serious doubt and leaves the court unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary.”

According to The Associated Press, the Connecticut judge’s ruling was released six days prior to the city’s general election. As a result, voters will vote in Bridgeport’s mayoral election on Nov. 7, before later having the opportunity to vote for the Democratic nominee in a rescheduled primary election. The rescheduled primary election date has not yet been set.

READ MORE: Election security effort rejected in key swing state

The Nov. 7 election will feature Ganim as the Democratic nominee, David Herz as the Republican nominee, and both Gomes and Lamond Daniels as independent candidates, according to The Associated Press.

Clark explained in his ruling that he did not have the authority to cancel or postpone the general election; nevertheless, the judge said he had seen enough evidence to rule in favor of a new Democratic primary election. Democratic Mayor Joe Ganim initially defeated Democratic challenger John Gomes in a Sept. 12 primary election by 251 votes out of 8,173 total votes, according to The Associated Press.

In his ruling, Clark highlighted evidence of abnormal numbers of absentee ballots in various voting districts, as well as surveillance video footage that showed multiple individuals stuffing stacks of ballots into ballot drop boxes, which is a violation of Connecticut law.

“The videos are shocking to the court and should be shocking to all the parties,” Clark stated.

Following Clark’s ruling, Gomes, who formerly served as the city’s chief administrative officer, said, “This is a victory for the people of Bridgeport. Our campaign always believed that the integrity of our democratic process must be upheld and Superior Court Judge William Clark agreed.”

According to The Associated Press, Ganim has repeatedly denied knowledge of wrongdoing with regard to the ballot stuffing case in the primary election; however, the mayor was previously convicted on corruption charges before being elected again after serving time in prison.

In addition to the judge’s ruling that overturns the Democratic primary election results, the State Elections Enforcement Commission is investigating the ballot-stuffing allegations.

“These videos confirm our fears about how absentee ballots can be misused. Now the court has spoken,” state Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, a Republican, said in a statement. “What we need now is trust, faith and confidence in our electoral system.”

A developer recently bought nearly 100 acres near Atlanta to build the company’s fifth — and largest — data center campus in the region.

DataBank announced this week it plans to build two massive data center warehouses with more than 1 million square feet of space near Lithia Springs, about 20 minutes west of downtown Atlanta. The campus is expected to have access to 180 megawatts of capacity, which DataBank CEO Raul Martynek said represents nearly a $2 billion investment.

The project will rank among metro Atlanta’s largest data centers, which are effectively giant warehouses filled with rows of computer equipment that house data on our online lives and information.

“If you think about anything on your phone, anything on your computer or anything related to your smart TV or any device, all of that information ultimately ends up in a data center,” Martynek told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “So as humans consume more technology and as we find more reasons to adopt technology, my view is that you’ll continue to find need for more data center capacity.”

Data centers in recent years have become a popular use for undeveloped and industrial property in response to an ever-increasing demand for online storage space. Atlanta has emerged as a hub for these type of facilities, ranking as the sixth-largest data center market, according to real estate services firm CBRE.

For decades, northern Virginia has served as the preeminent market for data storage farms, stowing military files, data for government departments and large online companies. Martynek said a stressed power grid in the Washington, D.C., area has prompted developers to look elsewhere, often finding the Atlanta area as a willing host.

“You couldn’t build more in the (Washington, D.C.,) area because of the limited power, so it ended up spilling over into other markets like Atlanta,” he said.

DataBank first came to Atlanta in 2018 by incorporating a 9-megawatt data center into Georgia Tech’s Coda development in Midtown. Since then, the Dallas, Texas-based company has opened or planned four other data centers in the Atlanta area.

The company’s fourth facility, which is dubbed ATL4, is under construction on an 18-acre site in Fulton County near the Douglas County line. It’s about a half-mile away from the company’s newly acquired land, which by 2025 or 2026 is expected to become ATL5.

Douglas County has been especially welcoming to data centers, where they’ve popped up like mushrooms after a spring rain shower.

Microsoft, Google and Switch all operate mammoth data storage farms in the county, and there’s a robust pipeline of projects in the works. Vantage Data Centers, Taylor & Mathis, Stack Infrastructure and DC Blox announced large data center developments in Douglas County earlier this year.

Martynek declined to say how much his firm paid for the land for its latest data center plans. He estimated it will employ about 50 to 70 full-time workers.

“They’re office buildings for servers, not people,” he said.

A 2018 Georgia law provides tax exemptions to large data centers that serve “hyperscale” companies, large data users. The incentive, which sunsets in 2031, has proven divisive among economists, with some criticizing how much power, water and land these facilities require to operate and how few in-house workers they employ. Most recent data center projects in Douglas County and its cities have not received local tax abatements or incentives.

Martynek hinted that DataBank’s rapid expansion into the Atlanta market may not end with its fifth data center.

“We’re excited to continue to expand in the Atlanta area, and hopefully we’ll be doing that again in the future,” he said.

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© 2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A resurfaced video from 2011 shows independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposing a government-controlled “smart grid” to control electricity across the United States.

A video clip from a 2011 interview Kennedy participated in for the Commonwealth Club of California was shared Thursday by End Wokeness on X, revealing past comments the former Democrat candidate made pertaining to U.S. energy and climate change.

The video shared by End Wokeness was captioned, “RFK Jr. called for a gov-run ‘smart grid’ that could be easily turned on and off by the U.S. government. Trojan horse.”

Over a decade ago, Kennedy actively promoted plans for the federal government to build a smart grid that could power the majority of the United States, allowing the government to have full control over the entire power supply of the nation.

When asked how “a broke federal government” would be able to invest the amount of money that would be required to construct a national grid, Kennedy claimed that the actual cost of the power grid would not “cost that much.”

READ MORE: Trump Jr. calls 2024 presidential candidate a ‘Democrat plant’

He explained, “The grid itself will probably cost about $250 billion to build a smart grid that reaches most of America and that can do the things that we need to do like can send signals through the line, allow the utilities to send a signal through the line, to turn off the hot water boilers in a million homes for 15 minutes in order to avoid the peak demand that is the most expensive part of our electrical system.”

Kennedy claimed that by eliminating peak demand and “using the grid smartly,” the United States would save enough natural gas to power all of the country’s passenger cars. As examples, Kennedy said a signal could be sent through the grid to temporarily turn off every electric toothbrush charger or swimming pool re-circulator.

“All of these things, you don’t care if somebody click turns them off for 15 minutes,” he stated.

Kennedy also suggested that the proposed smart grid would be capable of borrowing stored electricity from American citizens’ cars.

“We need to build a smart grid that costs very little,” he emphasized. “About four months of the Iraq war, we have a whole national grid in this country.”

Bob Knight, the Hall of Fame Division I basketball coach featured in several films and portrayed in “A Season on the Brink,” has died. He was 83.

Knight was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991 and was known for a successful yet controversial career coaching the Indiana Hoosiers from 1971 to 2000. He was the sixth winningest coach in the history of men’s Division I basketball, but he was famous for his frequent outbursts of anger and volatility on the court. He was once accused of choking player Neil Reed during a practice, and of throwing a chair during a Purdue game. He lost his coaching job at Indiana in 2000 due to his “pattern of unacceptable behavior,” per the university.

Knight’s famous temper was showcased in ESPN’s first feature-length film “A Season on the Brink” (2002), which was based on John Feinstein’s book of the same name. Brian Dennehy portrayed Knight in the film. Knight also had a self-referential cameo in the 2003 film “Anger Management,” in which Adam Sandler’s character must go to anger management classes to avoid jail time. Furthermore, the temperament of the coach in the basketball drama “Blue Chips” was based on Knight, with Knight himself making a cameo.

The Knight family released a statement confirming the passing of the well-known coach.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share that Coach Bob Knight passed away at his home in Bloomington surrounded by his family,” his family said. “We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as Coach requested a private family gathering, which is being honored. We will continue to celebrate his life and remember him, today and forever as a beloved Husband, Father, Coach, and Friend.

“In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring Coach with a memorial contribution to the Alzheimer’s Association or Marian University.”

© 2023 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

In a historic move, Fort Gordon, Georgia, the last Army post carrying a Confederate namesake, has been officially rebranded as Fort Eisenhower.

The change, completed last Friday, marks the culmination of a nearly three-year initiative to remove Civil War-era names from military installations, according to Fox News.

Named after Confederate Lt. Gen. John Gordon, Fort Gordon has been a significant military post since its establishment. The renaming ceremony honored the legacy of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a celebrated World War II leader and an emblematic figure of American strength and unity.

Maj. Gen. Paul Stanton, commander of the newly named Fort Eisenhower, emphasized the significance of the change.

“Rising from second lieutenant to commander-in-chief, Eisenhower’s extensive, innovative, and effective military experience and leadership shaped our modern world,” Stanton told ABC News 7. “His dedication to ensuring equal rights for soldiers and citizens alike continues to be an example and inspiration for the present and future soldiers of the Army he so faithfully served and decisively led.”

READ MORE: Army captain dies after tragic accident

The rebranding of the military post is part of a broader effort initiated by the bipartisan Congressional Renaming Commission in 2020. Fort Eisenhower joins other prominent installations like Fort Cavazos, Texas, and Fort Liberty, North Carolina, in the sweeping name-change initiative.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has played a key role in implementing the name changes for military posts.

Last year, he explained, “The names of these installations and facilities should inspire all those who call them home, fully reflect the history and the values of the United States, and commemorate the best of the republic that we are all sworn to protect.”

ABC News 7 reported that Secretary of the Army Christine E. Wormuth, addressed the Department of Defense Naming Commission’s actions to disassociate the U.S. Army from Confederate symbols as a result of the protests that occurred in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.

“It was a moment of unrest and significant division in our country, and both political parties overwhelmingly agreed that names on certain military installations, and the legacies of those names, were only deepening our social and political divides,” Wormuth stated, adding, “Change is often necessary, but not often easy.”

This news article was partially created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and edited and fact-checked by a human editor.

During a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, host Joe Rogan shot an arrow at Elon Musk’s Tesla cybertruck to test Musk’s claim that Tesla’s cybertruck is bulletproof.

A Tesla cybertruck was recorded last month on a California highway with numerous bullet markings on the stainless steel exterior of the vehicle. According to Inside EVs, Musk claimed that the cybertruck held up under bulletproof testing from a 1920-style submachine gun.

While being featured on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Musk discussed the bulletproof testing, prompting Rogan to ask whether the Tesla cybertruck could withstand an arrow from a hunting bow.

“You know what I just realized?” Rogan asked. “I do have some broad heads… I think we should do it.”

In a video shared on X, formerly Twitter, Rogan can be seen shooting an arrow at the side of the Tesla cybertruck while Musk stood nearby, watching the podcaster.

According to Inside EVs, while Rogan used a very powerful compound bow capable of shooting arrows at up to 300 feet per second, the arrow barely scratched the exterior of the vehicle. Instead of piercing through the vehicle, the arrow bounced off the back door of the cybertrcuk and flattened the tip of the arrow.

Returning to the studio after the test, Rogan expressed his shock at how the cybertruck’s stainless steel exterior withstood the test.

“So, we just shot an arrow into it, and it barely scratched it,” he said. “It was probably moving 275 feet a second, that was a 545 grain arrow, that’s impressive. It just destroyed the broad head, the broad head flattened at the tip, and then the arrow blew apart. Amazing.”

READ MORE: Elon Musk makes all Tesla Superchargers free in Israel

Musk announced that Tesla will also release a video at a November 30 event that will show an entire magazine of a Tommy Gun being shot at the side of the cybertruck, as well as a 9mm gun and a 45mm shotgun, according to Inside EVs.

Marion’s police chief still worked toward criminal charges against a city councilwoman and two journalists in the face of an intense national backlash several days after he led raids on the local newspaper, as well as the homes of the paper’s publisher and the councilwoman.

Records obtained by the town’s newspaper, the Marion County Record, and provided to The Star show in the days following the raid Cody coordinated with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to consider charges against councilwoman Ruth Herbel and Marion County Record editor and publisher Eric Meyer, as well as reporter Phylis Zorn, for viewing the driving records of a local businesswoman.

“It’s just remarkable. Joan Meyer dies on Saturday and on Wednesday he’s trying to arrest Eric Meyer and the rest of these so-called co-conspirators,” Bernie Rhodes, an attorney representing the Record, said, referencing the death of the 98-year-old co-owner of the paper the day after the raid. Rhodes also represents The Star and The Eagle.

“He has no shame but he has the world’s largest ego,” Rhodes added.

Charges have not been filed against Meyer, Zorn or Herbel but the records show Cody remained focused on proving criminal wrongdoing even as he and his department faced widespread condemnation for the decision to raid the newspaper. The documents also show the level of communication between Cody and other law enforcement agencies before and after the raid was greater than previously known.

The draft affidavits, which Cody sent to a senior special agent at the KBI on Aug. 16 –five days after the searches – allege Herbel, Meyer and Zorn each committed identity theft, unlawful disclosure of division of vehicle records, and violated U.S. law on procurement of information for an unlawful purpose.

The draft affidavits also accuse Herbel of official misconduct, while accusing Zorn and Meyer of conspiracy to commit theft and computer crimes. Cody also accused Meyer of victim intimidation and Zorn of identity fraud.

Cody forwarded the drafts, which included evidence and statements obtained during the searches, to the KBI hours before Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey revoked the search warrants saying Cody lacked sufficient evidence. The revoked warrant could have impacted what evidence Cody could include in an affidavit.

The affidavits referenced the documents showing the business owner’s driving record as evidence of a crime committed, as well as statements from Zorn, Herbel and Meyer made while police were searching the newsroom and homes.

It’s unclear if police ever forwarded the affidavits to prosecutors for formal charges. Interim Police Chief Zach Hudlin and Ensey did not immediately respond to questions about whether the documents were forwarded.

Original drafts of the affidavits, which Marion County Sheriff’s Office Detective Aaron Christner sent Cody on Aug. 15 included fewer criminal charges than the drafts Cody ultimately provided to the KBI.

Records show Christner also drafted the original statements in support of search warrants and that the KBI was being updated on the case prior to the searches.

Cody resigned as Marion’s police chief early this month after city staff suspended him the prior week with no explanation. The embattled chief had come to Marion after leaving the Kansas City Police Department where sources told The Star he was facing demotion over comments he made to a subordinate. Prior to the raid, the Record had been investigating the reason for Cody’s departure from KCPD.

In his response to a former Marion County Record reporter’s lawsuit, Cody pointed the finger at other law enforcement agencies who were involved in the investigation that led to the search.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has been in charge of the Marion investigation since shortly after the raid but has not publicly said it is investigating Cody rather than staff members at the paper. But the former police chief said in his filing that the KBI’s continued investigation was “a conflict of interest.”

A spokeswoman for the KBI said in an email Monday that the investigation was still ongoing.

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© 2023 The Kansas City Star

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The babies are born with small heads, underdeveloped jawbones, conjoined toes and rounded, “rocker-bottom” feet.

Physicians at Nemours Children’s Health say they all have one thing in common: They were exposed in utero to significant amounts of fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid.

In a new study, the authors say they’ve identified 10 such babies so far, describing their constellation of symptoms as a “novel syndrome associated with prenatal fentanyl exposure.”

Six of the children were identified at Nemours clinics in Delaware. Four others were identified by physicians in California, Boston and Rhode Island who are coauthors of the study, published this fall in Genetics in Medicine Open.

While illicit fentanyl use has been on the rise for years, no one had previously established a link between the drug and these birth defects. That’s likely because children born to parents who use the drug may not receive regular medical care, or their pediatricians may not know the parents’ medical history, said senior study author Karen W. Gripp, chief of the Nemours division of medical genetics.

As a result, such children may have been misdiagnosed as having a genetic condition with some of the same symptoms, called Smith Lemli Opitz syndrome. She said that’s what happened at first with several of the Nemours children. After additional testing, none turned out to have genetic mutations that could explain the unusual symptoms, which also can include genital anomalies and cleft palate.

Further study is needed to prove definitively that fentanyl causes this collection of symptoms, but the evidence from these 10 babies is compelling, Gripp said.

“We have enough information to feel confident to say yes, there is something here,” she said.

McMaster University clinical geneticist Margaret J.M. Nowaczyk, who was not involved with the research and reviewed it at The Inquirer’s request, agreed.

“We’re going to see more of these children, that’s my gut feeling,” she said.

In Philadelphia, the rise of fentanyl has fueled an increasingly deadly opioid epidemic, with 1,413 people dying of overdoses in 2022. Still, it was not immediately apparent if the city’s two pediatric hospitals had seen cases of the syndrome.

Physicians at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children say they have not identified any children with such symptoms. At Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a spokesperson was not immediately able to say Friday whether that hospital had such cases.

Gripp, the Nemours physician, said she hoped the study would increase awareness, so that pregnant people who use fentanyl or other opioids can get proper treatment.

Pregnant people who take opioids, whether prescribed by a doctor or not, are generally advised not to quit cold turkey during pregnancy, because entering withdrawal can cause early labor or even a miscarriage, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pregnant people with opioid use disorder should instead start treatment with an opioid-based addiction medication, like methadone, according to clinical recommendations from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

That’s to ensure that the fetus doesn’t experience distress during pregnancy — and also to reduce the risk of the patient relapsing, the college says.

A chance observation

The Nemours study was prompted by a chance observation by genetic counselor Erin Wadman at one of the health system’s clinics in August.

The patient, a 2½-month-old boy with a smaller-than-average head and an underdeveloped jaw, reminded her of other recent patients who had been diagnosed with Smith Lemli Opitz, the genetic syndrome.

“It was that kind of ‘aha’ moment, like you’re recognizing someone you think you’ve seen before in a different setting,” she said.

But unlike most children with that condition, this boy had normal muscle tone. What’s more, genetic tests revealed he did not have genetic mutations that cause SLO.

Gripp, who also saw the child that day, then obtained a key clue: The boy’s guardian mentioned that his biological mother had used “significant” amounts of fentanyl during pregnancy.

She and Wadman went on to identify five other children with similar symptoms whose prenatal exposure to fentanyl could be substantiated. All had a smaller-than-average head circumference, a small jaw, a thin upper lip and an overall distinctive appearance that they said was hard to put into words.

The researchers did not simply trust their own eyes. They also used artificial intelligence software to analyze images of the babies’ faces, demonstrating that they had a statistically distinct set of features.

Babies born with unique medical needs

Some of the children also experienced developmental delays. Others have needed feeding tubes. Attentive follow-up care will be essential, Gripp said.

“That’s one of our big concerns,” she said. “How will these children fare long term?”

Babies who were exposed to opioids or other drugs in utero also are at risk of developing a kind of withdrawal known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). They may experience tremors, cry excessively, and have problems with sleeping and seizures, according to the CDC.

One limitation of the Nemours fentanyl study was that the authors did not have precise information about how much fentanyl the babies’ parents had used during pregnancy. That meant they could not tell if higher levels of drug exposure were connected to more severe symptoms — a typical hallmark of a cause-and-effect relationship.

Still, Gripp noted that other research provides additional support for their theory that fentanyl is behind the infant symptoms. The drug is thought to interfere with prenatal metabolism of cholesterol, a substance that is key to the development of the brain and other organs.

The mutations that cause Smith Lemli Opitz syndrome also disrupt cholesterol metabolism, perhaps explaining the overlapping symptoms between that genetic condition and the fentanyl-related syndrome, Gripp said.

Also unclear is why the symptoms seem to be associated with the use of fentanyl but not other opioids. One possibility is that illicit fentanyl is contaminated with other substances that are contributing to the syndrome, she said.

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© 2023 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

At least three structures were destroyed and six others damaged as a wildfire continued to burn Tuesday in Riverside County, where about 4,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders.

The Highland fire began around 12:37 p.m. Pacific time Monday in the unincorporated neighborhood of Aguanga and quickly exploded in size as it met with strong Santa Ana winds and dried vegetation. At least 15 additional structures are threatened by the 2,200-acre blaze, which had 0% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

More than 300 firefighters are battling the fire from the air and ground, according to Rob Roseen, a public information officer with Cal Fire in Riverside County.

Winds are coming out of the southeast and pushing the fire northwest, although there is some spread in all directions, he said. A wind advisory remains in effect until 8 p.m. across much of the Inland Empire region, including Riverside County, with gusts of up to 50 mph possible, according to the National Weather Service.

“We’re looking at single-digit humidity this afternoon,” said Philip Gonsalves, a meteorologist with the weather service in San Diego, which includes Riverside County in its coverage area. “So from a weather perspective, conditions are favorable for fire growth.”

Evacuation orders remain in place for residents south of Sage Road and Golden Eagle Drive, north of Cottonwood Creek, west of Boulder Vista and east of Becker Lane, as well as residents south of Highway 371, west of Sorensen Road and north of the San Diego County line.

An additional evacuation order was issued at 6:20 a.m. Tuesday for residents south of Highway 79, north of the San Diego County line, east of Forest Route 8S07 and west of Crosely Truck Trail.

An evacuation warning is in effect for areas east of Vail Lake, west of Shirley Way, south of Pueblo Drive and Exa Ely Road, and north of David Street. An evacuation warning is also in effect for areas west of the Cahuilla Tribal Reservation Boundary and north of County Line Road.

A reception center has been opened at Great Oak High School in Temecula. Large and small animals can be taken to the San Jacinto Animal Shelter.

In total, approximately 1,139 homes are under evacuation orders, and 489 homes under an evacuation warning, Cal Fire officials said.

“We just ask that the public please remain vigilant,” public information officer Maggie Cline De La Rosa said in a video update. “If you received an evacuation order, please leave. If you received an evacuation warning, please continue to pay close attention to those.”

The fire is burning in an area that only recently was saturated by Tropical Storm Hilary, a rare storm that tore through swaths of Southern California in August. Gonsalves, of the weather service, said the storm’s rainfall contributed to “green-up” in the area, or the growth of new grasses, which may have subsequently dried out and could be feeding the fire.

It’s something experts warned of in the weeks after Hilary made landfall. Nick Schuler, Cal Fire’s deputy director of communications and emergency incident awareness, said in September that fire season was not over and that a prolonged wind event could still fan a blaze.

“When you have Santa Ana winds — winds that come from the east and blow to the west — it dries everything out,” Schuler said. “If you look at some of the largest fires in California’s history, especially Southern California, they started later in the year.”

The dry, windy conditions fueled several other small fires across the state, including the Lizzie fire in San Luis Obispo, which was 35% contained at 100 acres Tuesday morning. Crews in San Diego were also battling a small brush fire near Interstate 805 in Kearny Mesa, according to Fox 5 San Diego.

In the unincorporated area of Aromas, on the border of San Benito and Monterey counties, a small fire ignited around 2 a.m. Tuesday and prompted brief evacuation orders. The fire was contained to a small water district maintenance yard, officials said.

Roseen, of Cal Fire, said Tuesday that the Highland fire is burning in light grasses and medium brush. Remote mountaintop cameras in the area showed billowing plumes of white smoke.

“We’ll have an increased augmentation of ground resources today,” he said. “They’ll be bolstered by numerous resources that will be working in the area, as well as our fixed-wing and helicopter assets that will be working over the fire throughout the day to try to build some containment on this.”

Roseen could not immediately confirm what types of structures had been destroyed. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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© 2023 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.