In Brief: California firefighters work to prevent resurgences of wildfires
Escondido, Calif. – Firefighters scoured charred hillsides north of San Diego on Saturday to guard against a resurgence of flames that ripped through the region, while the last of tens of thousands of evacuees prepared to return home. For those battling a series of blazes for days, the relief was mixed with a sense of dread that drought-sapped vegetation, high temperatures and low humidity portend a long fire season ahead.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has responded to more than 1,500 fires this year, compared with about 800 during an average year.
At least 10 fires spanning 39 square miles have chewed a destructive path through San Diego County since Tuesday, destroying 11 houses, an 18-unit apartment complex and two businesses.
A burned body was found in a transient camp, and one firefighter suffered heat exhaustion.
Ocean breezes and lower temperatures Saturday aided firefighters, who focused on a 1,000-acre blaze on the Camp Pendleton Marine base and a 4-square-mile blaze that started in the suburb of San Marcos.
Cornell William Brooks named president, CEO of the NAACP
Washington – As a Head Start and Yale Law School graduate, Cornell William Brooks calls himself a direct beneficiary of Brown v. Board of Education.
Now the lawyer and activist is taking over as the next national president and CEO of the NAACP, whose legal arm brought that landmark legal case challenging segregation in public schools.
On the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision that said separating black and white children was unconstitutional, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization announced Brooks’ selection. The NAACP’s board made the final decision Friday night.
Brooks will be formally presented to the Baltimore-based organization’s members at its national convention in Las Vegas in July.
“I am a beneficiary, an heir and a grandson, if you will, of Brown versus Board of Education,” Brooks told the Associated Press.
Brooks, 53, of Annandale, New Jersey, will become the NAACP’s 18th national president, replacing interim leader Lorraine Miller. Miller has served in that position since Benjamin Jealous ended his five-year tenure last year.
Dog owned by former President George W. Bush ‘put to rest’
Dallas – Miss Beazley, former President George W. Bush’s beloved Scottish terrier, has died.
Bush’s office announced Saturday that Miss Beazley was “put to rest” this weekend after battling cancer. She was nearly 10 years old.
Miss Beazley was born in October 2004. The pooch was later presented to Laura Bush as a birthday present from her husband.
The family pet was featured in a December 2005 video, “A Very Beazley Christmas” – a look at White House holiday life presented from the dog’s point of view.