THE BIG STORY

Even climate scientists are freaked out by this year’s wildfires

In large parts of California, daylight simply never arrived. The morning came and the sky continued to be a red-orange glow, a result of raging wildfires on the West Coast.

In Oregon, thousands were evacuated as the fast-growing Glendower fire surged up Interstate 5, burning through the towns of Phoenix and Talent.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown described the weather conditions that spawned her state’s fires as a “once-in-a-generation event.” Others have called it a “new normal” in the face of climate change.

But here’s the thing — this isn’t simply a new normal, because it will likely get worse: Climate change is bound to pile on several more decades of warming and drying in the West, no matter what steps the world’s nations take to cut carbon emissions.

We talked to climate scientists about the West Coast’s wildfires. One told us, “I admit to being a little freaked out right now. But nothing so far has happened that couldn’t have been predicted.”

Firefighters watch as the Bear fire towers over their truck in Oroville, California, Sept. 9, 2020. Josh Edelson / Getty Images

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Young Latino voters say the fight for racial justice is pushing them to vote in November

According to new data from a national survey, young Latinos are being pushed to vote in the upcoming election by the protests that have gripped the country throughout the summer over the fight for racial justice.

More than 55% of young Latino voters said they’d actively participated in racial equality or Black Lives Matter movements by protesting or boycotting, according to the survey.

The survey, conducted by Telemundo and BuzzFeed News earlier this summer, also found that young Latinos are motivated by the coronavirus pandemic's outsize influence on their community.

SNAPSHOTS

A third-grade teacher has died of the coronavirus at 28. Less than two weeks after she was at the South Carolina school as part of her preparations to begin her third year of teaching the third grade, Demetria “Demi” Bannister died of complications caused by the coronavirus.

Judges blocked the Trump administration from excluding undocumented immigrants from the census count. A panel of federal judges found that President Donald Trump violated federal law when he ordered officials to exclude undocumented immigrants from census data used to calculate how many seats in Congress each state should get.

The US sanctioned one of Rudy Giuliani’s Ukrainian allies for election interference. The Trump administration blacklisted four Russia-linked individuals for attempting to influence the US election, including a Ukrainian lawmaker it called “an active Russian agent” who has helped Rudy Giuliani dig up dirt on Joe Biden.

Game of Thrones star Dame Diana Rigg has died at 82. Rigg, whose storied career included roles as Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones and James Bond's only wife, died on Thursday. Her agent said Rigg died “peacefully” at home surrounded by family.

THE LOST YEAR

At 35, Sarah was finally feeling secure in her adult life. The coronavirus completely derailed that.

We’re marking six months of the pandemic by telling stories about six people in six different age groups, whose lives have been set off course this year.

At the start of the year, Carrie Stuckwisch was a personal chef in New Orleans. She loved her life. She was reaching milestone after milestone, buying a car, reducing her debt, saving up to travel — things were looking up.

Now, she can barely function. Walking down the block leaves her winded. She had to give up her apartment, accept financial help from her dad, and replace dates with doctors’ appointments. She’s 35, and suddenly she’s starting from scratch.

Carrie is what is known as a COVID-19 “long-hauler,” part of a growing group of people across the globe who got sick with the virus but never received a positive test result and, months later, still have ongoing, debilitating symptoms.

Read how the coronavirus knocked Carrie off the path she was so relieved to finally be on.

HIT PAUSE FOR A BIT

Turn off the rest of the world and chill with some longreads

Keeping Up With The Kardashians is ending because Kourtney made it s o. After 20 seasons in 14 years, KUWTK will come to an end next year. Scaachi Koul wrote about Kourtney’s influence on the show’s ending: “Over the course of a decade and a half, Kourtney has clearly become less interested in the show, and less interested in having her fame be reliant on the series. That’s partly because Kourtney doesn’t seek out the same kind of fame her sisters do.”

A 24 year old activist talks about being at Standing Rock. In an excerpt from How We Go Home Again: Voices From Indigenous North America, Jasliyn Charger writes about being at the historic Standing Rock protests: “we held fast to the Seventh Generation Prophecy that we are going to be our own leaders. That we’re going to break the chains of oppression, of racism, of colonialism that have chained us to this reservation, and break the feeling we can’t do anything, and we don’t matter, and that no one’s going to listen to us.”

Take some time to set boundaries so you can properly rest,

Elamin