Trump to Announce SCOTUS Pick.
President Trump will announce his nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy tonight. According to reports Trump has not settled on the pick but has narrowed his choice down to four contenders, all current federal appeals court judges: Brett Kavanaugh, a Bush-era appointee and DC insider who clerked for Kennedy; Raymond Kethledge a low-profile Midwesterner also appointed by Bush; Amy Coney Barrett, a respected-but-inexperienced conservative appointed by Trump in 2017; Thomas Hardiman, the first in his family to finish college and who was on the short list to fill Antonin Scalia's seat last year. Coney Barrett in particular could be a wildcard - she has excited social conservatives as a potential nominee but brings along questions about the impact of her faith on judicial decisions. The announcement will be televised live tonight from the White House (9pm ET).
Kanye West is currently running at 1,000-to-1 odds to be the nominee.
California Wildfires.
One person died and one firefighter was injured in
multiple wildfires that raged across California over the weekend. It was the state's first wildfire fatality since just after the new year, when the Thomas Fire -
the state's largest in modern history - burned through 282,000 acres. Despite nearly 1,000 firefighters battling the spread, fires more than doubled over the weekend and caused hundreds to evacuate throughout Northern California. Though the fires were mostly concentrated in the North, seasonal wildfires
also sparked up in the southern part of the state - a large and fleeting fire in Santa Barbara County burned around 20 structures and forced thousands to evacuate on Friday. By the end of the weekend the largest of the blazes, the County Fire near Sacramento, had been about 65% contained after burning close to 90,000 acres, though hot and dry conditions
are expected through the week.
The fires come as the southern part of the state is experiencing a
record heat wave, with downtown Los Angeles reaching 108 degrees over the weekend.
First 2018 Hurricanes Arrive in the US.
Two separate storm systems are approaching Puerto Rico and North Carolina, the first hurricane-level storms to hit the United States this year. Tropical Storm Beryl - which was
the first hurricane of the 2018 season before being downgraded yesterday - is expected to bring 40 mph winds and up to five inches of rain to Puerto Rico by this afternoon. Off the North Carolina coast, Tropical Storm Chris is picking up steam and is expected
to be upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane today. Current models project that Chris will not make direct landfall (
see trajectory), but travel up the East Coast throughout the week. The storms mark a gentle entrance into this year's hurricane season following a particularly devastating 2017, which was the fifth-most active season since 1851 and
the most expensive on record, with damages exceeding $200B.
In unrelated weather news, nearly 100 were killed and 50 people are missing
after torrential rains caused flash flooding and landslides in Japan.
