A memo from the secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture released last week outlines the Trump administration’s plans to quickly expand logging operations in the country’s national forests,

The wildfire — which some agencies called the Laws Fire — was reported Sunday afternoon near the highway bridge over the Owens River.

In South Carolina, an air quality alert is in effect until noon Thursday for the towns and cities of Mountain Rest, Rocky Bottom, Seneca, Walhalla, Oakway, Westminster, Easley, Dacusville, Clemson, Greenville, Taylors, Greer, Berea, Boiling Springs, Fingerville, Duncan, Lyman, Landrum, Wellford and Inman.

Find California poppies, fiddleneck, lupine, Indian paintbrush, purple vetch, blue dick, western redbud and more at these Northern California spots.

Efforts to battle the 1,250-acre fire in eastern California were complicated by strong winds, which were expected to continue through Monday.

However, drought maps also reported parts Southern California are in extreme drought, boosting fire risk this spring. That’s after Southern California was already devastated by wildfires in winter. “California is no stranger to drought. Drought is a ...