TV News LIES

A federal judge late Wednesday temporarily blocked a Trump administration effort to overturn California’s clean car rules through Congress.

Judge Beryl Howell, an appointee of former President Obama, blocked an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) move that would have allowed Congress and President Trump to overturn California rules related to vehicle and lawn equipment emissions.

In years past, the EPA allowed these regulations to move forward by granting waivers that exempted them from the Clean Air Act’s preemption of state laws that are stricter than federal standards.

In June, the agency classified these waivers as “rules,“ an effort to let Congress overturn them using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows lawmaker to nix recently passed rules with simple majority votes and presidential approval. 

“The central problem for EPA is that the waivers themselves explicitly state that they are not rules, while the CRA limits invocation of this statute only to agency rules of general applicability, which EPA, in its own words, has emphatically stated Clean Air Act waiver orders are not,” Howell wrote in her ruling.

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Severe flash flooding in the Grand Canyon on Saturday caused significant damage to infrastructure, forced the evacuation of over 60 people and has left more than a dozen missing.

At least 62 people have been evacuated from Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab rail to the South Rim by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and National Parks Service, according to a release by NPS. Additional evacuations were scheduled at the Cottonwood Campground and Phantom Ranch for Sunday.

At least 20 people are missing or unaccounted for, according to the NPS. Anyone who knows hikers or campers who were in the area at the time should contact the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch.

Flooding near Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch has destroyed several structures and damaged other infrastructure and utilities.

The Black Bridge and Silver Bridge crossing the Colorado River and nearly all footbridges crossing Bright Angel Creek were destroyed by the flooding, and several trails, including the North Kaibab Trail, are closed.

Tom Martin, a Grand Canyon River Runner, said torrential rain fell on the Dragon Bravo fire scar and debris poured down the North Rim of the canyon, resulting in large debris flows.

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About 85 Americans remain missing after a devastating flood swept through a remote region of the Nepali Himalayas, the State Department said on Sunday.

The US figure is just a small fraction of the more than 2,500 people that remain missing after the disaster.

Some 781 people have been confirmed dead by authorities after the wall of water, mud and debris tore through the region and overwhelmed entire villages early Wednesday.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told ABC talk show “This Week” that nine Americans have been evacuated and that he was unaware of any US nationals dying in the disaster.

“The remoteness of this location makes getting reliable information difficult. But our dedication remains, our commitment remains,” Pigott said.

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A fire in California’s Big Sur region doubled in size overnight, forcing the evacuation of nearby residents, in a coastal region where firefighters have battled another blaze for weeks.

The Plaskett fire, which sparked on Tuesday, had swept through more than 5,900 acres (2,400 hectares) in Monterey county as of Friday, and remained un-contained, according to Cal Fire. Its cause is under investigation.

Fire authorities have deployed helicopters and air tankers to suppress the flames with targeted water drops, but the remote area’s steep terrain and scarce roads have hindered ground crews’ ability to access the fire.

Meanwhile, to the north, the Timber fire continues to burn through more than 24,000 acres (9,700 acres), as authorities have it under 21% containment. The blaze broke past certain containment lines. Smoke from the fire and cloud cover prevented officials from mapping the fire’s expansion overnight.

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At least 359 people have died, and nearly 1,000 others are reported missing after a flash flood struck a mountainous area in Nepal and the Tibet region of China on Aug. 26.

The working theory is that a glacial collapse produced the flood that washed away buildings, cars and people with incredible speed and force, scientists told USA TODAY. The U.S. Geological Survey said a glacial collapse, in which part of a glacier breaks away, produced a seismic event at about 8:37 a.m. local time.

The collAs emergency officials continue to search for the dead and missing after a horrific Himalayan river flood, scientists race to assess the risk of even more flooding and piece together how it all began. It could take days or weeks to fully understand the event. Here's what we know so far:

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Afast-growing wildfire forced over 42,000 people to evacuate near Reno, Nevada, over the weekend, while more than 40,000 others remained under evacuation warnings.

The blaze, dubbed the Hawk Fire, started northwest of Reno on the morning of Aug. 22 and quickly grew to more than 15,000 acres by the afternoon of Aug. 23, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Firefighters expect the fire to spread to the northeast, "impacting multiple major thoroughfares, structures, businesses" and infrastructure in Stead, Nevada, the fire center posted in an update.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo declared an emergency for Washoe County, which includes Reno and the northeast portion of Lake Tahoe. "This is an active and rapidly evolving situation, and I urge everyone in the affected areas to remain vigilant and follow the direction of local officials," said Lombardo in a statement shared on social media.

The Hawk fire had burned an undetermined number of structures, according to Shane Akerson, a battalion chief with the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District during an Aug. 23 briefing. The fire, which started in the Peavine Peak area of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, was human-caused and the source of the ignition remains under active investigation, Akerson said. At least six people had been injured, including three civilians and three first responders.

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