Axios PM: Record-setting blazes — U.S. ending airport COVID checks

Presented By American Bankers Association

Axios PM

By Mike Allen ·Sep 10, 2020

Good afternoon: Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 464 words, a 2-minute read.

⚡ Breaking: Russian military hackers who leaked Democratic emails in 2016 are at it again, "including unsuccessful attacks on people associated with both the Trump and Biden campaigns," Microsoft announced.

"China and Iran are also attempting to penetrate the Microsoft email accounts of people affiliated with the political campaigns," the WashPost reports. The RNC also was unsuccessfully targeted by Iran, per The Post.

1 big thing: Record-setting wildfire season

A burned gas station smolders during the Creek Fire in California. Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

The American West is experiencing a mind-bogglingly intense fire season this year, with some areas not expecting relief for months.

California has now seen the highest number of acres burned in a single season on modern record. The August Complex Fire is now the state's biggest on record.
In Colorado, it took a wet September snowstorm to halt the No. 1 and No. 4 biggest wildfires in the state's history.
Oregon and Washington are also getting hit hard.

The big picture: A potent mix of climate change and dense forests — the latter partially the product of nearly a century of fire suppression — is resulting in an abundance of drier vegetation that can fuel fires, Axios managing editor Alison Snyder reports.

The Bear Fire in Northern California grew by an estimated 230,000 acres in just 24 hours this week.
The Creek Fire, also in California, grew so fast that it required a dramatic helicopter rescue for 142 people.

Dozens of people are evacuated to safety on a Cal Guard Chinook, after the Creek Fire in central California left them stranded. Photo: California National Guard via AP

Between the lines: Fewer forests are naturally reestablishing after fires.

More dense, dry fuel means more severe fires with trees — and their seeds — burning in their entirety.
And more land is burning and viable seeds from areas that don't burn can't be dispersed far enough to recolonize large areas.
A recent study of forests in the southern Rockies projects this trend will continue, even under an unlikely scenario where carbon emissions are significantly curbed during the next 20 years.

The bottom line: "The rainy season in California is at least a couple months out, and offshore wind season is just beginning and is early and it could last through November," says UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain.

"Things could get worse before they get better, especially in California, Oregon and Washington."

Sign up for Axios Science.

2. Remembering 9/11

The Tribute in Light illuminates in the sky above Lower Manhattan in 2017. Photo: Jason DeCrow/AP

Dueling ceremonies will mark tomorrow's 9/11 remembrance in New York, reflecting a divide over the memorial's decision to suspend a cherished tradition of relatives reading victims' names in person, AP reports.

Some victims' relatives say they understand the ground zero observance had to change in a year when so much else has.
Others fear the pandemic is making plain what they have feared was happening unspoken: that the commitment to "Never Forget" is fading.

Just posted: Axios managing editor Jennifer Kingson's first-person account from 9/11.

A message from American Bankers Association

Supporting small business

When the pandemic hit, small businesses across the country turned to America's banks for help.

In the second quarter, even as the economy shrank by a third, bank business lending grew by nearly 6%. Click here to learn more about bank lending in the U.S.

3. Catch up quick

The Citi board has chosen Jane Fraser, currently Citi's president and CEO of global consumer banking, to succeed Michael Corbat as CEO. Go deeper.
Beginning next week, the U.S. will no longer require travelers arriving from certain countries to be funneled through 15 major airports to undergo enhanced coronavirus screenings. Go deeper.
Senate Democrats blocked GOP efforts to pass a slimmed-down $500 billion coronavirus relief bill. Go deeper.
President Trump claimed via tweet that journalist Bob Woodward withheld recordings of Trump because "he knew they were good and proper answers." Go deeper.
🎧 Axios Re:Cap features ESPN analyst Mina Kimes ahead of tonight's NFL kickoff. Listen here.

4. 1 fun thing: 5 days in Jersey

Via Facebook

Nine newly written Springsteen songs are on the way, with an album expected in October, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

The 12 song album, recorded with the E Street Band over five days at Springsteen's home studio in New Jersey, includes "three new versions of previously unreleased tracks from the 1970s."
It "turned out to be one of the greatest recording experiences I've ever had," Springsteen said in a statement.

A message from American Bankers Association

A new spin on financial wellness

Century Bank in Massachusetts created five full-time positions for recently graduated nurses to help the bank return to normal operations. Nurses take staff temperatures each morning and make sure employees are practicing social distancing.

See what else they're doing to keep employees safe.

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