📌 Kenneth Fire, Hottest Year, More

A fire broke out at the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Thursday afternoon and was spreading rapidly.

The Kenneth fire ignited adjacent to a trailhead near Victory Boulevard around 2:30 p.m. Fanned by strong winds, the fire had consumed 960 acres of brush by 5:30 p.m. and was burning south, officials said. It was spreading through open space and threatening homes in the Malibu Canyon area near Calabasas.

Los Angeles police took a man into custody on suspicion of arson in Woodland Hills about five miles from where the fire started, according to an LAPD spokesperson. Police said they could not connect the suspect to the Kenneth fire at this time.

Shortly before 6 p.m., Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that 900 additional firefighters were being deployed to fight the blaze. He also praised the pace at which helicopters were already working to douse the flames with water.

The new fire has emerged as firefighters are continuing to battle several other blazes around the region, including the nearly 20,000-acre Palisades fire and the Eaton fire in Altadena, which has charred around 13,700 acres.

Earth recorded its hottest year in 2024, with such a big jump that the planet temporarily passed a major climate threshold.

Last year’s global average temperature easily passed 2023’s record heat and kept pushing even higher. It surpassed the long-term warming limit of 1.5 C since the late 1800s called for by the 2015 Paris climate pact, said the EU’s Copernicus Climate Service, the UK’s Meteorology Office, and Japan’s weather agency.

The European team calculated 1.6 C of warming. Japan found 1.57 C and the British 1.53 C. American monitoring teams were to release their figures later today. The groups compensate for data gaps in observations that go back to 1850 — in different ways, which is why numbers vary slightly.

“The primary reason for these record temperatures is the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere” from the burning of coal, oil, and gas, said Samantha Burgess, strategic climate lead at Copernicus. The last 10 years are the 10 hottest on record and are likely the hottest in 125,000 years, Burgess said.

University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd said, “This is a warning light going off on the Earth’s dashboard that immediate attention is needed. Hurricane Helene, floods in Spain and the weather whiplash fueling wildfires in California are symptoms of this unfortunate climate gear shift.”

The world incurred $140 billion in climate-related disaster losses last year, with North America especially hard hit, according to a report by the insurance firm Munich Re.

Actor Alec Baldwin has filed a civil lawsuit for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday at state district court in Santa Fe, where a judge in July dismissed a charge of involuntary manslaughter against Baldwin in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust.”

Baldwin also alleges defamation in the suit, saying that prosecutors and investigators intentionally mishandled evidence as they pursued the case.

“Defendants sought at every turn to scapegoat Baldwin for the acts and omissions of others, regardless of the evidence or the law,” the lawsuit states. It also says prosecutors and investigators targeted Baldwin for professional or political gain.

The tort claim by Baldwin also takes aim at a special prosecutor who initially oversaw the investigation, while seeking unspecified punitive damages, compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees and interest.

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) shareholders want more details about the group’s “health-related costs and macroeconomic risks.”

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is requesting UNH’s board of directors to evaluate ”how company practices impact access to healthcare and patient outcomes” and how often prior authorization requirements or denials of coverage lead to delay or abandonment of treatment for patients.

ICCR shareholders argue that, while UNH’s policies may boost short-term revenue, they disempower patients, create long-term reputational and legal risks, and pose broader risks to the economy that threaten investors’ total portfolios. ICCR has a history of engaging with companies for corporate accountability.

The request comes one month after UNH CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in New York City. Prosecutors claim the alleged gunman, Luigi Mangione, criticized UNH for putting profits above patient care.

“UNH has been in the media and legislative spotlight for some time given its market dominance, aggressive marketing of Medicare Advantage and questionable use of AI algorithms to deny care to patients,” said Timnit Ghermay, who led the filing of the proposal.

“Public outrage over the exorbitant costs and restricted access to healthcare has reached a dangerous level in our country. Our proposal suggests some introspection by UNH that will help the company and all its stakeholders thrive,” Ghermay said. UNH has not commented on the ICCR proposal.

Protein powders used to build muscle mass can contain harmful heavy metals like cadmium and lead.

A report by the Clean Label Project says the organic option is often significantly more toxic. The report finds that 77% of plant-based protein powders, 79% of organic protein powders, and 65% of chocolate-flavored protein powders tested over California Proposition 65 safety thresholds for toxic metals.

The study tested 160 products from 70 top protein powder brands, though neither the products nor brands were named in the report. The sample pool represented 83% of the market.

Protein powders made from plants like rice, peas, or soy have been found to contain triple the amount of lead compared to products made from whey, the liquid byproduct of cheese, the report finds.

The report suggests the contamination could come from harmful agricultural practices — like some pesticides and fertilizers — as well as packaging or environmental exposure. Dark chocolate has also been found to have heavy metals.

“Chocolate-flavored protein powders contained four times more lead and up to 110 times more cadmium than vanilla-flavored powders,” said Jaclyn Bowen, executive director of the Clean Label Project.

An international team of scientists announced Thursday they’ve successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet.

They penetrated nearly 2 miles into Antarctic bedrock to reach ice at least 1.2 million years old.

“We will understand what has changed in terms of greenhouse gases, chemicals, and dust in the atmosphere,” said Carlo Barbante, an Italian glaciologist and coordinator of Beyond EPICA, the project to obtain the core

“Today we are seeing carbon dioxide levels that are 50% above the highest levels we’ve had over the last 800,000 years,” Barbante said. Levels have never exceeded those commencing with the Industrial Revolution.

Belgium's food safety agency issued a warning to residents to not turn their Christmas trees into food.

The warning followed the city of Ghent’s recycling recommendations which included cooking with conifer needles in its list of ways to recycle Christmas trees.

“In Scandinavia, they have been doing it for a long time: picking the needles from the branches, briefly immersing them in boiling water, pouring them through a sieve and drying them on a clean cloth,” Ghent's website reads. "Once the needles are dry, you can make delicious spruce needle butter with them.”

The agency responded by advising residents not to follow the suggestion. It said trees grown for Christmas decorations are most often treated with pesticides and other potentially dangerous chemicals.

“What's more, there is no easy way for consumers to tell if Christmas trees have been treated with flame retardant — and not knowing that could have serious, even fatal consequences,” the agency said.

Ghent edited the post on its website after the warning, changing a heading from, “Eat your Christmas tree” to “Scandinavians eat their Christmas trees” and including a warning: “Not all Christmas trees are edible.”