Free Republic

A former college professor has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison over a string of arson fires in Northern California in 2021 as fire crews were battling the second-largest fire in the state’s history. Gary Stephen Maynard, 49, of San Jose, pleaded guilty in February to three arson counts in connection to fires in the Shasta National Forest and near the Dixie Fire in the Lassen National Forest. The Dixie Fire burned over 1,500 square miles after igniting on July 13 and destroyed over 1,000 homes. Maynard was accused of setting fires behind firefighters battling the...

Sea otters weigh about 50 to 70 pounds, they float on their backs and they spend most of their lives in the ocean. River otters are two or three times smaller, they swim with their bellies down and they live mostly on land but travel by water to find food. Sea otters nearly went extinct in the early 1900s because of the fur trade. River otters are common and of “least concern” in California, but are threatened or endangered in some other states. But Heath offered a warning. “They’ll hiss at you if you get too close,” she said. “They’re...

While sometimes I feature the work of professional photographers, I found these three at the linked site. Interested readers are invited to search and post their own favorites of these features, if so inclined. Lassen Peak Bumpass Hell Burney Falls -- a beautiful and unique waterfall I'd never heard of before