Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed off on the Utah Social Media Regulation Act on Thursday as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled on Capitol Hill — with one analyst describing Chew’s evasive testimony as a “disaster” for the video-sharing app as it faces a potential US ban.

Under Utah’s laws — which go into effect next March — minors will be barred from using social media sites like TikTok, Snap and Instagram between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.

The legislation also blocks social media companies from implementing addictive features and advertising aimed at underage users, and makes it easier for families alleging their children were harmed by the platforms to sue for damages.

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Source: https://nypost.com/2023/03/24/utah-enacts-age-limits-curfews-for-social-media-use-in-major-crackdown/

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — As several states in the American West face intense drought, it’s shaping up to be a very difficult year for New Mexico farmers because of limited irrigation supplies, with some saying conditions haven’t been this dire since the 1950s.

Snowpack and precipitation are below average, spring runoff is trailing, and New Mexico comes in last among nearly a dozen Western states for dismal reservoir storage levels. Along the Rio Grande, New Mexico’s largest reservoir stands at less than 11% capacity, meaning the irrigation season for farmers in the southern part of the state will likely start late and include only small allotments.

Further north, managers with the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District are in a position not seen in decades. There’s no extra water in the reservoirs and interstate water-sharing agreements are restricting both storage and releases from upstream reservoirs since New Mexico has fallen short of what it owes Texas.

The district was forced to wait a month — until April 1 — to start its irrigation season due to the meager supplies. Farmers were encouraged to consider resting their fields given that demand will surely outpace supply, but many are used to the risk that comes with planting each season so just a fraction of the acres throughout the Middle Rio Grande valley have been fallowed.

Feast or famine — it’s the way of life in the Rio Grande basin.

The lack of water is the culmination of a sequence of unfortunate spring runoffs over recent years, not just a single year, said David Gensler, water operations manager for the conservancy district.

“We continue to be dealt losing hands, hydrologically speaking. We’ve played them for all they were worth, but we just continue to draw bad cards,” he said, noting that water managers could not have done anything differently to get a positive outcome.

Statewide, more than half of New Mexico is dealing with exceptional drought — the worst category. A year ago, there was no exceptional or even extreme drought in the state.

Utah and Arizona are worse off in terms of drought severity, and Nevada is not far behind. California also appears to be in the midst of another drought.

In New Mexico’s largest city, utility officials have issued a drought declaration. Outdoor watering in Albuquerque is limited to twice a week, and fines for wasting water have doubled. Watering restrictions also went into effect Thursday in Las Cruces.

Water managers are warning that it will be a struggle to meet irrigation demands if spring and summer rains do not develop, leaving the Rio Grande to potentially go dry through Albuquerque. The threat of drying this far north isn’t new, but officials do not have any extra water to move around like they did in previous years.

In southeastern New Mexico, on the Pecos River, irrigation allotments haven’t been this low in a century. Meanwhile, officials with the Elephant Butte Irrigation District recently told farmers to plan for a short year, “recognizing that we will all need to make difficult decisions.”

That district went through a similar season in 2013, when farmers were allotted less than a few inches and water was released from a dam for only 47 days. This year, district managers anticipate running for one month.

But the hydrology of the Rio Grande can be volatile and turn on a dime, Gensler said. One well-positioned spring storm could change things or monsoons could develop just in time to keep the river flowing.

“As the saying goes, hope is not a plan,” he said. “It is entirely possible we will hit the wall later this spring, have no water, and the Rio Grande will stop flowing. But until it does, we will manage every drop as carefully as humanly possible for the benefit of farmers, fish, the bosque, the cities, downstream water users, and this fascinating river we all love so much.”

Source: https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/western-rivers-face-pinch-as-another-dry-year-takes-shape

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DENVER –  An erratic wildfire charging through extremely dry land in the heart of Colorado ski country destroyed three homes and forced people to flee, authorities said Thursday.

Elsewhere in Colorado, a rare high-elevation tornado touched down at the site of another wildfire Thursday but apparently caused little damage and had no effect on the fire.

They were among more than 60 large blazes burning across the United States, mostly in the West, where whipping winds and increasing heat have made it easy for flames to spread.

Fires exploded in Northern California, Utah and other areas, where a prolonged and severe drought has desiccated forests.

In Colorado, residents of multimillion-dollar properties, modest condos and mobile homes were ordered to evacuate early Thursday because of an unpredictable wildfire reported the night before near the town of Basalt. More than 500 homes were affected.

The Eagle County Sheriff’s Department said no other homes had been lost besides the three reported earlier.

Smoke from the fire temporarily halted flights into the resort town of Aspen, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away.

Authorities believe the flames started after people at a shooting range used tracer bullets, which illuminate the path of fired bullets.

A tornado was reported Thursday south of Fairplay, a central Colorado town about 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level. It appeared to touch down at or near the edge of a wildfire that has burned about 17 square miles (43 square kilometers), National Weather Service meteorologist Russell Danielson.

Tornadoes are rare at that elevation and are seldom seen at any wildfire, Daniels said.

Another Colorado wildfire about 205 miles (330 kilometers) southwest of Denver destroyed more than 130 homes and forced more than 2,000 people in three counties to evacuate. It grew to about 160 square miles (nearly 420 square kilometers) Thursday.

Rain was expected in parts of Colorado, which could dampen fires but trigger flash flooding in areas left bare by wildfires.

Hotter, drier weather was forecast in Northern California, where thousands of firefighters were battling a wildfire that was already about three times the size of San Francisco.

By Thursday night, the fire northwest of Sacramento had burned nine buildings and 137.5 square miles (356 square kilometers). However, authorities didn’t immediately indicate whether any homes had been destroyed in the rural area, although about 110 structures remained threatened, according to state fire officials.

The blaze was 33 percent contained.

“The cool weather on Wednesday helped firefighters, but it will become hotter and drier starting Friday and into the weekend, and that will be a challenge,” said Anthony Brown, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Some of the 2,500 people who were under mandatory evacuations orders were allowed to return home.

Authorities say a fire that jumped across Interstate 5 south of the Oregon border in California has closed the southbound lanes in that area.

The Oregon Department of Transportation said Thursday evening the southbound lanes would remain closed at Ashland, Oregon. Motorists were advised to take an alternate route toward California.

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Siskyou County, citing “extreme peril” to people and property. There were some evacuation in the tiny town of Hornbrook.

The fire called Klamathon started Thursday afternoon.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Thursday night that the blaze had burned nearly 8 square miles (20 square kilometers). Multiple structures are threatened, damaged or destroyed, the department said.

In northern New Mexico, a wildfire closed a ranch where novelist D.H. Lawrence once sought spiritual renewal. Officials said a fire in drought-stricken Carson National Forest has scorched nearly 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) since June 24 and is only partially contained.

Forest restrictions imposed last week closed the University of New Mexico’s D.H. Lawrence Ranch, which hosted the writer in the summers of 1924 and 1925 as well as Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, author Willa Cather and artist Georgia O’Keeffe after Lawrence’s 1930 death.

In Utah, scorching summer temperatures and winds quickly pushed flames through bone-dry vegetation near a popular fishing lake about two hours southeast of Salt Lake City. The 66-square-mile (171-square-kilometer) fire near Strawberry Reservoir has burned about 90 structures.

Darren Lewis’ family cabin is in the fire’s path and he fears the A-frame structure built 46 years ago by his uncle and father has burned, though he’s waiting for confirmation.

Lewis, 44, and his extended family planned to spend the Fourth of July at the property in a narrow canyon near a river but instead nervously watched social media for updates from the Salt Lake City suburb of Magna.

More than 1,100 people have been evacuated in the mountain area, and the family hasn’t been able to go back since Monday, he said. It is a frequent family gathering spot and has special sentimental value because his father and uncle both died last year.

“That’s our healing place,” Lewis said.

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Associated Press writers Russell Contreras in Albuquerque, Dan Elliott in Denver, Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/05/wildfire-near-aspen-colorado-sends-neighborhoods-fleeing.html

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