That’s Odd

Mexico and morphed into the largest wildfire currently blazing in the U.S.

In a statement, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said that the Service will conduct a 90-day review of protocols, decision support tools, and practices ahead of planned operations this fall.

He explained, “Our primary goal in engaging prescribed fires and wildfires is to ensure the safety of the communities involved.

“The communities we serve, and our employees deserve the very best tools and science supporting them as we continue to navigate toward reducing the risk of severe wildfires in the future.”

According to Moore, “In 99.84 percent of cases, prescribed fires go as planned,” but wildfires are becoming increasingly extreme due to climate change and drought.

In a statement, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said, “It is critical that federal agencies update and modernize these practices in response to a changing climate, as what used to be considered extreme conditions are now much more common — the situation unfolding in New Mexico right now demonstrates without a doubt the grave consequences of neglecting to do so.”

Prescribed burning is the intentional, controlled application of fire to a forest. It is sometimes used to reduce fuel loads as a wildfire prevention tool. Other times, it is used to maintain forest types and can help to control the spread of diseases found in flora.

Prison for Sons of Panama Pres.

A New York court on Friday sentenced two sons of a former Panama president to three years in prison.

The sentence, issued against Luis Enrique and Ricardo Martinelli, sons of former Panama President Ricardo Martinelli, also included a fine of $250,000.

The brothers were sentenced on charges of corruption linked to the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Prosecutors had originally requested a sentence of 9-11 years.

The Martinellis, who pleaded guilty in December after being extradited from Guatemala to the U.S., had been accused of having received $28 million in bribes from the construction group, $19 million of which allegedly passed through U.S. accounts.

Meanwhile, Panama is demanding that the pair face charges there in another corruption scandal.

The brothers’ father, Ricardo Martinelli, is also accused in the case.

Grupo Odebrecht is Latin America’s largest construction conglomerate. It started out as a small family construction group in the 1940s founded by Brazilians of German origin. It grew quickly, and at its peak, around 2010, the company had 181,000 employees across 21 countries. Its focus is on building large projects, such as Caracas’ metro, a port in Cuba, and much of the infrastructure used by Brazil in the 2014 World Cup, including some of the stadiums.

Odebrecht is one of the firms that have been caught in Operacao Lava Jato, Brazil’s corruption probe into the state oil giant Petrobras. Dozens of companies acknowledged paying bribes to politicians and officials in exchange for contracts with Petrobras.

In June 2015, the group’s chief executive, Marcelo Odebrecht, the grandson of its founder, was arrested. Since then, he and dozens of other company executives have been jailed.

In 2016, all of them signed deals with Brazilian investigators, agreeing to confess to crimes and to identify corrupt officials in exchange for shorter prison sentences. An international taskforce of investigators is looking into bribery in 10 countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

In December 2016, Odebrecht signed a leniency deal with authorities in the U.S. and Switzerland, agreeing to pay $2.6 billion in fines for its past mistakes – the largest sum of its kind in the world.

Redistricting Again

A rural New York judge has approved maps that will replace earlier redistricting maps found to be in violation of New York’s Constitution.

The new maps set political district boundaries in New York, giving Democrats less of an advantage than they had previously hoped for. The 10th Congressional District has been redrawn and now

The maps were drawn by the court’s outside expert, Jonathan Cervas, and are more competitive than previous maps drawn by the Democratically-controlled state Legislature, which were later thrown out by an appeals court.

The redistricting process, which is carried out once every ten years, will see New York lose one of its 27 congressional districts.

The maps will be used starting with the 2022 midterms.

The judge, Patrick McAllister, had until Friday to formally approve the new maps. New Yorkers sent in over 3,000 comments asking for changes to the maps, but no hearings about the complaints were held – partly in an attempt to allow candidates enough time to campaign in their new districts.

Meanwhile, some voting rights groups have urged New York to postpone the primaries.

Steep Sneaks

Think that sneakers have become so expensive?

You’re right – especially if you’re going to be encasing Balenciaga’s newest offering on your feet. The Paris High Top Sneaker Full Destroyed is being hawked on the company’s website as the coolest shoes.

Yup, this sneaker may have a whopping $1,850 price tag attached, but it looks like it should be thrown in the trash.

The shoes are supposed to look like they’ve been shredded and destroyed.

“It is finished with distressed canvas and rough edges, affecting a pre-worn look,” the website states.

The word “Balenciaga” is written on the side of the sneaker as if someone wrote it with a pen.

Is variety something you crave while wearing overpriced footwear?

Don’t worry. These sneaks come in two colors: white or black.

Pick your poison.

Never Too Late

It’s never too late to graduate.

This week, Mae Beale received her college degree. Beale is no spring chicken; she was 82 years old when she walked across the stage to accept her diploma.

Lest you think that Beale has been twiddling her thumbs for the past few decades, she has been busy. Beale worked as a licensed practical nurse for many years. Now, she has an event planning business. Going to school for her degree in business management was done in effort to grow her business.

She was working as a nurse at Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid when she was inspired to make event planning her new career.

“My supervisors thought I had something special,” she said. “When I was working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, I organized some large events and everybody was impressed with it, so I started coordinating their IT information conferences.”

Beale turned 82 on Tuesday and then got her birthday present on Wednesday: her bachelor’s degree.

Live and learn.

Don Gorske is a person of habit.

In fact, when he says he’s going to stick to something, he sticks to it like glue.

Take his Big Mac habit, for instance. Gorske, 68, passed a major milestone this week when he celebrated 50 years of eating McDonald’s Big Macs almost every day.

Gorske has held the record for most Big Macs consumed in a lifetime for more than two decades. On Tuesday, he hit the half-century mark of eating the iconic sandwich made of two patties, three buns and special sauce, according to a statement from Guinness World Records.

Gorske was first recognized for the distinction in 1999, when the organization said he had already eaten 15,490 Big Macs. Guinness updated Gorske’s record in August, noting his new official lifetime number reached 32,340 Big Macs.

Months later, Guinness said Gorske has only missed 8 days of chowing down Big Macs in 50 years.

In a video tweeted this week by Guinness, Gorske says he bought his first three Big Macs on May 17, 1972. His taste buds immediately fell in love, Gorske said.

“I said right there that I’m going to probably eat these the rest of my life.”

Eating Big Macs daily is not for the faint of heart. Gorske makes sure to keep meticulous records of his habit and collects the cartons and receipts. He also keeps a running tally on calendars.

For now, Gorske says he averages around two Big Macs a day.

“I’m not a type of person that tries new stuff,” he acknowledged. “When I like something, I stick with it all the time.”

Back in 2011, Gorske was honored for reaching 25,000 Big Macs consumed at his hometown McDonald’s.

The sign beneath the golden arches that day read: “Congrats Don Gorske 25000 Big Macs.”

Gorske, a retired prison guard, said back then, “I plan on eating Big Macs until I die.”

If it doesn’t kill you first.

What better way to show your support for something than to toast it with a beer?

A small brewery in Finland has launched a NATO-themed beer to mark the Nordic country’s bid to join the Western military alliance.

Olaf Brewing’s OTAN lager features a blue label with a cartoon version of a beer-drinking medieval knight in metal armor emblazoned with NATO’s compass symbol.

The beer’s name is a play on the Finnish expression “Otan olutta,” which means “I’ll have a beer,” and the French abbreviation for NATO, which is “OTAN.” NATO has two official languages, English and French.

CEO Petteri Vanttinen said that the craft brewery’s ad hoc decision last weekend to start producing the beer was motivated by “worries over the war in Ukraine” and its consequences for Finland.

Finland and Sweden recently submitted an application to join NATO at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.

Olaf Brewing said its new beer also honors the eastern Finnish town of Savonlinna, the brewery’s base located a few dozen kilometers from Finland’s border with Russia.

“Our small hometown Savonlinna has always lied in the borderlands between East and West. Many battles have been fought in the town area and at St. Olafs Castle,” the brewery said in a Twitter post.

Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, the longest of any European Union member.

Vanttinen described the new lager as having “a taste of security, with a hint of freedom.”

We’ll drink to that.