BY Evan Denny
News Editor
California Wildfire
A massive wildfire that killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes in Northern California has been fully contained after burning for more than two weeks, authorities said Sunday.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the camp fire had been surrounded by firefighters following several days of rain in and around the devastated town of Paradise.
It dropped an estimated 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain over the burn area during a three-day period without causing significant mudslides, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley of the National Weather Service.
The nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century killed at least 85 people, and 249 are on a list of those unaccounted for. The number of missing dropped in recent days as officials confirmed that more people were alive.
General Motors Layoffs
General Motors will lay off 14,700 factory and white-collar workers in North America and put five plants up for possible closure as it restructures to cut costs and focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles.
The reduction includes 8,100 white-collar workers, some of whom will take buyouts and others who will be laid off. Most of the affected factories build cars that won’t be sold in the U.S. after next year. They could close or they could get different vehicles to build. They will be part of contract talks with the United Auto Workers union next year.
Affected facilities include assembly plants in Detroit; Lordstown, Ohio; and Oshawa, Ontario, as well as transmission factories in Warren, Mich., and Baltimore.
About 6,000 factory workers could lose jobs in the U.S. and Canada, although some could transfer to truck plants.
Inmate Confesses to 90 Killings
A man convicted of three California murders and long-suspected regarding numerous other deaths now claims he was involved in about 90 killings nationwide spanning nearly four decades, and investigators already have corroborated about a third of those, a Texas prosecutor said Thursday.
Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said 78-year-old Samuel Little was booked into jail this week following his indictment in the 1994 death of a Texas woman. Investigations are ongoing, but Little has provided details about more than 90 deaths dating to about 1970, Bland said.
If the number of killings Little claims to have committed proves true, it would make him one of the most prolific killers in U.S. history.
During his 2014 trial in Los Angeles, prosecutors said Little was likely responsible for at least 40 killings since 1980.
Papadopoulos Imprisoned
Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was scheduled to report to prison on Monday after a federal judge rejected his last-minute bid to delay his two-week sentence.
Papadopoulos was sentenced in September for lying to the FBI in the Russia investigation. He had sought a postponement of his prison term until an appeals court had ruled in a separate case challenging the constitutionality of special counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment.
Four federal judges have upheld Mueller’s appointment as proper.
In recent months, he has spent many nights posting on Twitter, as has his wife, venting anger about the FBI and insisting he was framed by the government. He also has offered to testify before the Senate’s intelligence committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, if he’s granted immunity or other conditions.
Midwest Storm
A wintry storm brought blizzard-like conditions to parts of the Midwest early Monday, grounding hundreds of flights and causing slick roads for commuters as they returned to work after the Thanksgiving weekend.
The Chicago area was slammed with up to a foot of snow, and whiteout conditions stalled commuter traffic on the roads. The National Weather Service said 7.5 inches of snow fell at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and 4.9 inches fell at Midway International Airport.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
