CMA Awards Give Female Artists a Far Bigger Look as Miranda Lambert Leads Nominations With Seven

View on web New reader? Subscribe Breaking News September 01, 2020 CMA Awards Give Female Artists a Far Bigger Look as Miranda Lambert Leads Nominations With Seven The CMA Awards nominations gave women more prominence than usual. Miranda Lambert led with seven, followed by Luke Combs and Maren Morris. Read More This email was sent to stevenmagallanes520.nims@blogger.com by Variety. Please add email@email.variety.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the Preferences Center to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. Copyright © 2020 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. 11175 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA, 90025 View in Browser | Privacy Policy | Your Privacy Rights | Ad Choices | Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Update Profile

                                                           

California Today: How to Read California’s Air Quality Index

Here’s what you need to know about reading daily pollution levels.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story September 1, 2020 By Marie Tae McDermott A haze of smoke lingers over Lake Berryessa, Calif.Max Whittaker for The New York Times Good morning. Over the past few weeks, hundreds of fires in California have incinerated more than a million and a half acres, destroyed over 3,000 structures and taken seven lives. And it’s still early in the wildfire season. My colleague Thomas Fuller recently captured the mood in the Bay Area, a region engulfed in fire and choked by smokey haze four years in a row. “First there was the coronavirus, then the threat of fires and power outages, and now the smoke,” he wrote. According to the California Air Resources Board, the state agency tasked with tracking and maintaining healthy air quality throughout the state, one quarter of California is classified as under very high or extreme fire threat and more than 25 percent of the state’s population lives in these high fire-risk areas. Even more people are vulnerable to plumes of smoke that can travel long distances and hover over populated areas. Understanding the quality of the air we breathe is vital and the information is readily available at our fingertips, according to a group of experts I spoke to from the agency. Here are four takeaways from our conversation. We are collecting more information on air quality than ever before. According to CARB, for 50 years California has maintained one of the most extensive air-monitoring networks in the world. There are over 250 monitoring sites in the state alone. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT To get the latest pollution readings, the board recommends using AirNow, a website and app run by the Environmental Protection Agency. AirNow has a separate fire and smoke map that uses portable sensors to track smoke plumes as they travel around the state. If you don’t have access to the internet, local newspapers also publish general air quality levels for that day. AirNow uses the Air Quality Index, or A.Q.I., a measure of air quality from 0 to 500 that is composed of six categories, from “good” to “hazardous.” An A.Q.I. of 50 or below represents good air quality, while an A.Q.I. of over 300 represents hazardous air quality that is unhealthy for any person to breathe. Check the index daily, the way you would check the weather. It’s generally a good idea to check the index before engaging in outdoor activities, said Webster Tasat, a manager from CARB’s air quality planning and science division. People should also think about whether they fall into a sensitive group. “People who are in sensitive groups are especially vulnerable to air pollution,” said Bonnie Holmes-Gen, a health expert at CARB. This includes pregnant women, children, seniors and people that have existing respiratory conditions such as asthma or heart conditions and pre-existing respiratory illnesses. When the A.Q.I. reaches 100 or more, outdoor air is no longer safe for sensitive groups. Air pollution affects people all year, not just during wildfire season. On Aug. 24, smoke from wildfires raging in the Bay Area made the air quality four times worse than in Beijing or New Delhi. Three days later, the E.P.A’.s smoke map showed much of Northern California buried under a dark gray haze. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Mr. Tasat said that from Aug. 18 to 24, the daily average particle pollution level in California was about 500 percent higher than it was the same week in 2019, largely because of the wildfires. However, California is subject to air pollution throughout the year. Sometimes there are high levels of both ozone and particle pollution during a particular season. Ozone pollution tends to be worse in the summer, Mr. Tasat said. Fine particles in the soot, ash and dust of wildfire smoke make up particle pollutants, which can be inhaled by the lungs. During summer, the mixture of smoke pollutants and hotter temperatures generate what Ms. Holmes-Gen calls a “double whammy of ozone pollution and particle pollution.” “One unique aspect of this time period, unfortunately, is that people can be affected by multiple types of air pollution,” she said. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT You can reduce your exposure to air pollution. The effects of air pollution can be mild, like eye and throat irritation, or serious, requiring hospitalization for heart or respiratory issues. Smoke and pollution can cause inflammation of the lung tissue and increase the vulnerability of infections, Ms. Holmes-Gen said. The most effective way to reduce your exposure to air pollution is to stay indoors with windows and doors closed, said Melanie Turner, a public information officer for the California Air Resources Board. Air-conditioning should remain on continuously, not the auto cycle, which cycles on and off, Ms. Turner said. It’s also helpful to close the fresh air intake so that smoke doesn’t get inside the house. If your system allows for it, it’s recommended to install a high efficiency air filter, classified as MERV 13 or higher. Portable air cleaners can also reduce indoor particulate matter in smaller spaces, like individual rooms. CARB certifies all air cleaners that are currently sold in California to ensure they meet its regulations for ozone emissions. Here’s what else to read A bill passed on Monday gives tenants a temporary reprieve from missed rent payments.Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press On Monday, California lawmakers passed a bill to extend protections to renters who have lost income because of the pandemic. The bill grants tenants a temporary reprieve from missed payments and gives them until January to pay in full. Some tenant advocates were still worried. [San Francisco Chronicle] CalMatters is compiling a list of newly passed bills from this year’s legislative session and tracking their fate through the bill-signing period. One decade and several lawsuits later, the Terraces of Lafayette, a proposal for 315 apartments that has become emblematic of California’s housing crisis, was finally approved. [SFGate] The saga was chronicled by my colleague Conor Dougherty in his book “Golden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America,” an excerpt from which you can read here. Because California lacks a uniform policy for reporting workplace coronavirus outbreaks, the public, and oftentimes essential workers, are left in the dark about how many workers have been sickened with the virus. [CalMatters] The California Public Utilities Commission fired its executive director, Alice Stebbins, on Monday in response to allegations of unethical hiring decisions discussed in a recent personal audit. [San Francisco Chronicle] San Francisco’s Chinatown has been hit hard by the pandemic, but there’s hope in seeing how it has weathered a shrinking economy and xenophobia in the past. [San Francisco Chronicle] Facebook employees are angry with Mark Zuckerberg because they said the company did not do enough to take down pages promoting misinformation and conspiracy theories before the shooting in Kenosha, Wis. [BuzzFeed News] For decades, Tad Jones lived alone in a California forest. His friends thought that if anyone could survive a wildfire it would be him, more a friend of nature than of man. [The New York Times] “We all want new experiences, but that’s been hard to come by.” College students in the Covid-19 era are starting “collab houses” — but to go to school without staying at home with their parents. [The New York Times] Modeled after food-delivery services in Seoul, a tiny Los Angeles Koreatown business keeps neighborhood restaurants running through the pandemic. [The New York Times] California Today goes live at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for California Today here. Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, went to school at U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for California Today from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

Here is your opportunity to vote in upcoming primary elections! Register now and request your absentee ballot at FVAP.gov

Register to vote and request your absentee ballot at FVAP.gov now for this year's elections: The following states have elections in the next 90 days: P- Presidential Primary; S- State Primary; D- District Primary; T- Territory Primary ** Denotes a recent change in date Note: This information is current as of September 1, 2020. Election dates marked with an asterisk are updated and state-verified. As further changes may occur, please check the election calendars and state pages at FVAP.gov for real-time information. September 2020: September 1: Massachusetts (S) September 8: New Hampshire (S); Rhode Island (S) September 15: Delaware (S) October 2020 - 30 Day Notice: There are currently no scheduled elections for federal office in October 2020 November 2020 - 60 Day Notice: November 3: General Election December 2020 - 90 Day Notice: December 1: Arkansas (General Election Runoff)   December 5: Louisiana (General Election Runoff) COVID-19 ELECTION UPDATE - FVAP is working closely with state election offices, the Military Postal Service Agency and other federal agencies to bring you up-to-date information on state election changes and mailing delays.  Please visit FVAP.gov/COVID-19 for the latest information on any international postal disruptions or contact your installation military post office. Here are some important things to remember: Submitting your Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) early is the best way to help ensure the absentee voting process goes as smoothly as possible. The FPCA provides you, as Service members, and your eligible family members as well as any overseas citizens, with an option to request that your blank ballots be delivered to you electronically. Submitting the FPCA allows you to use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) as a backup ballot, if needed. To register to vote and request your ballot, fill out the FPCA using FVAP's easy online assistant. You may also use the fillable PDF or pick up a hard copy version from a Voting Assistance Officer on your installation or at the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate's American Citizen Services Office. FVAP recommends all military members and their eligible family members, as well as U.S. citizens overseas, who are currently away from their voting jurisdictions or who have recently changed their address to send in a new FPCA as soon as possible to ensure receipt of absentee ballots for all federal office elections in this election year. To find your state's election website for specific information on candidates, elections, contact information, and links to your local election offices, visit our contact page. You can also reach out directly to your election office for status updates on your registration and absentee ballot. *The Department of Defense is required to send this email notification monthly, starting 90 days before each election for federal office. You will receive these messages through the 2020 General Election. ### If you would like more information on the Federal Voting Assistance Program, or need help with the absentee voting process, please go to FVAP.gov or call 703-588-1584 (toll free 1-800-438-VOTE or DSN 425-1584) or email (vote@fvap.gov).

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