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Another brush fire broke out Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 8, in Acton, to the northeast of Santa Clarita, prompting evacuations in the area.Firefighters responded to the Lidia fire around 1 p.m. to the 5700 block of Soledad Canyon Road, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.By 4:11 p.m., the fire had grown to 80 acres. Officials earlier estimated the fire was burning between five and seven acres around 2 p.m.Around 6:30 p.m., Cal Fire reported the fire was measured at 348 acres.The Angeles National Forest said the fire was 40% contained, meaning that a control line has been established to…

By ROB GILLIESTORONTO (AP) — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s comments that Canada should become the 51st state are no longer a joke and are meant to undermine America’s closest ally, Canada’s finance minister said Wednesday.Dominic LeBlanc, the country’s point person for U.S-Canada relations, said Trump was smiling when he first made the comment during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in late November.“The joke is over,” said LeBlanc. “It’s a way for him, I think, to sow confusion, to agitate people, to create chaos knowing this will never happen.”Trump keeps floating the idea that Canada should join…

By MICHAEL KELLY The Associated PressDENVER — On a night when each team was missing a future Hall of Famer, the Denver Nuggets took care of the Clippers with the help of two former Clippers.Jamal Murray had 21 points and nine assists, former Clippers sparkplug Russell Westbrook added 19 points and eight assists and former Clippers center DeAndre Jordan had his best night of the season as the Nuggets pounded the Clippers, 126-103, on Wednesday night.Clippers star Kawhi Leonard was not available after he flew back to Los Angeles before the game to help his family deal with the wildfires.…

Strong winds continue to fuel Los Angeles-area wildfires. The Palisades fire has already charred 15,800 acres and forced the evacuation of at least 30,000, and the Eaton fire near Pasadena has claimed five fatalities and burned 10,600 acres. Fire officials are concerned about the fires continuing to spread east to west, and so far there has been minimal containment. Live cams some typically trained on beach conditions offered a real-time view of the Palisades fire and dense clouds of smoke pouring into the air. Eaton fire crews have also been monitoring AlertCalifornia live cameras from UC San Diego in the…

PARIS (AP) — Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is advising the world “not to waste a lot of time” on what President-elect Donald Trump has been saying about Greenland.Trump made clear again this week that he’d like the semiautonomous territory of Denmark to come under U.S. control and said he would not rule out the use of military force to make that happen.“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” Trump said.But Blinken said Wednesday that the incoming president’s ambitions are unlikely to amount to anything more than talk.“The idea expressed about Greenland is obviously not a good one,” the senior…

By NOAH TRISTER AP Sports WriterCOLLEGE PARK, Md. — On a night when JuJu Watkins didn’t play her best, the USC supporting cast was up to the task.Watkins scored 21 points before fouling out in the final minute, Kiki Iriafen also had 21 and Kennedy Smith fueled a critical fourth-quarter run as the fourth-ranked USC women’s basketball team rallied to hand No. 8 Maryland its first loss, 79-74, on Wednesday night.Shyanne Sellers scored 26 points for Maryland, but the Terrapins (14-1 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) came up empty down the stretch after leading by seven in the fourth quarter.Maryland led…

Wildfires spared Tim Scanlon’s Altadena home as of Wednesday afternoon, even after devouring a neighbor’s landscaping and torching several nearby properties.But the music licensing executive worried that the firestorms rampaging across Los Angeles County still will affect his pocketbook, pushing already rising insurance premiums even higher.He’s paying $4,500 a year for homeowner insurance, which recently rose by $500.“After this, who knows if I’m insurable anymore,” Scanlon said while resting beside his house, well within the fire evacuation zone. “If we can’t get insurance up here, our property values will plummet, and in California, that’s our nest egg.”See also: Anguished homeowners…

The Sunset fire began burning in the Hollywood Hills between Runyon Canyon and Wattles Park on Wednesday evening, Jan. 8.The fire, one of several that have been devasating large swaths of Los Angeles County since Tuesday amid strong winds, erupted at around 5:30 p.m. and has burned more than 19 acres as of 6:30 p.m., according to ABC7. The Los Angeles Fire Department is responding with 20 fire engines.• Also see: This map shows where the Sunset fire is burning in the Hollywood HillsA mandatory evacuation order is now in effect for Laurel Canyon Boulevard (western boundary), to Mulholland Drive…

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and COLLEEN LONG, Associated PressLOS ANGELES (AP) — President Joe Biden added a new title on Wednesday: great-grandfather.His granddaughter, Naomi Biden Neal, gave birth to her first child, a boy, with husband Peter Neal at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The baby’s name is William Brannon Neal IV, according to an Instagram post from the first lady that included a photo of her and the president with their new great-grandson.Biden, who was in Los Angeles and saw the baby at the hospital, announced the birth at the end of an official briefing on wildfires in Southern…

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports WriterDANIA BEACH, Fla. — It’s been a long time since either Notre Dame or Penn State reached college football’s mountaintop as national champions. It was 1988 for the Fighting Irish, 1986 for the Nittany Lions. There have been good seasons and bad seasons in the three-plus decades that have followed, coaching changes and a complete overhaul of what the sport looks like.Yet here they are – back again, on the doorstep of a title shot.The loss to Northern Illinois is no longer relevant to Notre Dame. The losses to Ohio State and Oregon don’t matter…