🔥 Axios PM: The West's warning

Plus: New mail trucks | Friday, September 13, 2024

Open in app View in browser   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Sep 13, 2024 Happy Friday! Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 528 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.     1 big thing: California's fiery future   A Cal Fire bulldozer retreats as the Airport Fire overtakes Ortega highway on Wednesday. Photo: Jon Putman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images The wildfires roaring through Southern California this week may be a preview of the West's future, Axios extreme-weather expert Andrew Freedman writes. Climate change, population growth and land management practices are combining to create dangerous and damaging blazes. 🚒 Where it stands: The three large fires burning right now near L.A. and Orange County have scorched roughly 100,000 acres of land. The largest of the three is only 3% contained, according to Cal Fire. More than 30,000 California residents have had to evacuate, and 100,000 more are under evacuation warnings. Statewide, wildfires have burned through almost 1 million acres so far this year. Damage caused by the Airport Fire is seen today in Orange County, Calif. Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images ⚠️ Extreme fire weather conditions like those California has experienced this year are becoming more common and more severe because of climate change, and the resulting fires are sometimes harder to fight. The past few days, for example, have featured wildfires that have run up and over mountains, backed down hills and into communities, and manufactured their own weather, complete with towering clouds of smoke and ash that produced thousands of lightning strikes. "The public largely believes we can extinguish all the fires all the time, and this is not true," said Mike Flannigan, a wildfire expert at Thompson Rivers University. Go deeper.     2. 🧠 Chatbots vs. conspiracies   Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   AI chatbots can help talk people out of believing in conspiracy theories, Axios' Alison Snyder writes from a new study published in Science. Conversing with a chatbot about a conspiracy theory can reduce a person's belief in that theory by about 20% on average, researchers found. A reduction — though not as big — was seen even in those whose conspiracy beliefs were "deeply entrenched and important to their identities," the researchers wrote. 🛸 Yes, but: "The very presence of these chatbots will inevitably become the focus of new conspiracy theories, which will likely scare conspiracy-minded people away," said Robbie Sutton, a University of Kent professor who studies conspiracy theories. Share this story.     3. Catch me up   Justin Timberlake speaks after his court hearing today in the Hamptons. Photo: Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images ⚖️ Justin Timberlake pleaded guilty to drunk driving in Sag Harbor, N.Y. He was ordered to pay a $500 fine and perform community service. Go deeper. 🏡 Allies of former President Trump are working on plans to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, The Wall Street Journal reports. ✝️ Pope Francis criticized both former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris as being "against life," given their respective stances on migration and abortion. Go deeper.     4. 📫 1 for the road: Mail truck upgrade   The U.S. Postal Service's next-generation delivery vehicle sits next to the model it's replacing. Photo: Michael Conroy/AP There's no sugarcoating it: The Postal Service's new delivery trucks, which began rolling onto the streets this summer, are pretty ugly. But carriers tell AP the new vehicles are a huge and welcome upgrade over the familiar, boxy trucks they've been working with for the past 37 years. 🚚 Zoom in: The new delivery vehicles have air conditioning, airbags and antilock brakes. The old ones have none of those. The odd shape allows carriers to stand upright while retrieving mail and packages. The old trucks get just 9 miles per gallon. Almost 100 of them caught fire last year alone. Most of the new fleet, once it's completed, will be electric. Go deeper.   Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Advertise with us. Axios, PO Box 101060, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: