Here are the morning’s top stories on Tuesday, October 1, 2024…

The Borel Fire was the largest wildfire in Kern County’s history. It tore through 60,000 acres in the southern Sierra Nevada and consumed the historic town of Havilah earlier this summer. State crews have only just begun cleanup efforts as those displaced reckon with the devastation.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing a Eureka hospital for denying a patient a needed abortion.
One of the oldest environmental organizations in the country is suing the Imperial Irrigation District in southeastern California.

Families Begin Slow Return To Kern County Town Damaged By Wildfire

The Borel Fire in Kern County has burned just shy of 60,000 acres since igniting late last month. With containment now over 90%, firefighters have released their first comprehensive look at the damage. More than 200 structures have burned, according to a Kern County Fire report. That includes 63 homes, 55 mobile homes and 34 motor homes. More than 8,000 structures in the fire’s path were saved, the report states.

Heather and Mark Carruthers’ ranch is among the properties destroyed. The family lives in Havilah, a historic Gold Rush Era community that was severely damaged by the fire’s spread. On a recent day, the couple provided water for a lone bull that survived the flames. The rest of their herd – about a dozen animals – were killed, they said. Asked if they planned to rebuild, “There’s no question,” a tearful Heather Carruthers told KVPR. “This is our home.”

California Sues A Catholic Hospital For Denying Patient An Emergency Abortion

California sued a Catholic hospital in Northern California for denying a pregnant patient emergency abortion care, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced during a Monday press conference.

In the lawsuit, filed in Humboldt County Superior Court, Bonta alleges Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka violated multiple laws, including the state’s Emergency Services Law, which mandates hospitals to provide care “necessary to relieve or eliminate the emergency medical condition.”

In February, Eureka resident Dr. Anna Nusslock was 15 weeks pregnant when her water broke, she said at the press conference. Multiple doctors told her that the twins she was carrying would not survive, and if she didn’t receive an emergency abortion, neither would she. But Providence St. Joseph Hospital told Nusslock that it could not provide her with an abortion due to a hospital policy prohibiting medical intervention so long as “fetal heart tones” were present.

While experiencing bleeding and “blinding pain,” Nusslock was rushed 12 miles to Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, California, where she received a life-saving surgery.

Why The Sierra Club Is Suing To Change A Deal Aimed At Protecting The Colorado River

One of the nation’s oldest environmental groups is suing Imperial County’s powerful water agency over a recent deal meant to help conserve the parched Colorado River.

Under the terms of the deal, the Imperial Irrigation District, or IID, will try to cut back its consumption of Colorado River water by 750,000 acre feet over the next three years. In return, the agency and farmers who conserve water could receive more than $600 million from the federal Bureau of Reclamation.

But those cutbacks will also reduce the amount of water flowing into the Salton Sea, which is slowly drying up. That could accelerate the release of harmful particles into the air from the exposed lakebed, according to the Bureau of Reclamation’s own environmental assessment of the deal.

That’s led the Sierra Club to challenge the deal, arguing it violates state law and puts residents along the Salton Sea in greater danger of breathing in toxic, chemical-laden dust.

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Community Perseveres After Fire Destroyed Much Of Historic Town