The Wall Street Journal - 21.08.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Wednesday, August 21, 2019 |A

U.S. NEWS

Weinstein’s case because of a

carnival-like atmosphere in

Manhattan. Mr. Cosby was

convicted of sexual-assault

charges in a second trial.

In advance of Mr. Wein-

stein’s trial, New York state

court officials have planned for

additional security and an un-

usually large jury pool. Court

officials anticipate summoning

2,000 potential jurors beyond

a normal pool, which would

likely result in about 600 extra

jurors showing up to court, a

state court spokesman said.

Total acres burned in

all jurisdictions

Source: Cal Fire

Note: 2018 and 2019 data is preliminary. Total acres include Cal Fire, U.S. Forest Service and local government jurisdictions.

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Mr. Weinstein’s court appear-

ances had been marked by a

circuslike atmosphere with

news conferences on the

courthouse steps by victims-

rights activists.

“It is safe to say that New

York City is the least likely

place on earth where Mr.

Weinstein could receive a fair

trial, where jurors could hear

evidence, deliberate, and ren-

der a verdict in an atmosphere

free of intimidation from pres-

sure to deliver a result that

the politicians, the activists,

the celebrities and the media

demand,” Mr. Aidala wrote.

He said that Suffolk County,

on Long Island, or Albany

County upstate would be ap-

propriate locations.

A spokesman for the Man-

hattan district attorney’s of-

fice, which is prosecuting the

case, declined to comment.

Judges rarely grant re-

quests to move trials. Within

the past few years, federal

judges in New York City de-

nied requests to move the tri-

als of Mexican drug lord

Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán

Loera and “Chelsea bomber”

Ahmad Khan Rahimi. Both

men were convicted.

In the first sexual-assault

trial of entertainer Bill Cosby

in Pennsylvania, which ended

in a mistrial, the judge or-

dered a jury pool transferred

in from another county and

sequestered the jury. Mr. Aid-

ala said bringing in jurors

from outside New York City

wouldn’t be sufficient in Mr.

Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

That agency reported 3.

million acres had burned na-

tionwide so far this year as of

Friday—mostly in Alaska—com-

pared with a 10-year average of

4.9 million. Ms. Gardetto attri-

buted the decrease to cooler

temperatures and high rainfall

across the West this year.

Alaska has suffered hot, dry

conditions that officials say

have fed its fire outbreak. Fire

destroyed dozens of homes

and other structures over the

weekend north of Anchorage.

California sorely needs the

respite. Ten of the state’s top

20 most destructive wildfires

have struck since 2015, includ-

ing the Camp Fire in Novem-

ber that destroyed the most

structures (18,804) and ac-

counted for the greatest loss

of life (86), according to Cal

Fire. A new state record also

was set in terms of total land

burned on state and federal

land: 1.7 million acres.

With the break in big infer-

nos, fire and police agencies

are replenishing their re-

sources. In the last fiscal year,

Cal Fire’s costs soared to $

million from a five-year aver-

age of $534 million, while na-

tionally a record $3.1 billion

was spent fighting fires on

federal land. In the first 10

weeks of the current fiscal

year that began July 1, Cal Fire

has spent $11 million, said

Deputy Chief Scott McLean.

“In many different ways

this reprieve helps,” said Mr.

McLean. He added that fire-

fighters also are getting time

to recover from the physical

and emotional trauma many

have experienced being on the

front lines.

Many agencies are spending

the down time trying to play

catch-up on deferred fire-pre-

vention projects, such as

clearing brush and weeds from

near buildings. But no one is

relaxing.

“Everybody who has been

through these is on edge,” said

Sheriff Brian Martin of Lake

County, a rural area about 100

miles northeast of San Fran-

cisco that has been hit with

six major wildfires since 2015.

“Whenever anybody hears si-

rens, they are immediately

calling to ask what it is.”

The added vigilance is

partly responsible for the

smaller fire acreage this year.

The Contra Costa County Fire

Protection District said it had

responded to 209 vegetation

fires so far this year as of Fri-

day compared with 229 at the

same time last year, but none

had grown out of control be-

cause of swift fire response.

However, grasses and other

fuels are so high after last win-

ter’s rains that officials of the

district, which serves about one

million residents in a suburban

area east of San Francisco, say

they worry a blaze could easily

blow out of control.

“Every one of those small

fires is an opportunity for a

fire to get away from us and

turn into that big disaster,”

said Steve Hill, spokesman for

the district.

SAN FRANCISCO—Califor-

nia is off to one of its slowest

wildfire seasons in years, giv-

ing firefighters and fire-prone

communities a much-needed

break after last year’s huge

and destructive infernos.

As of Aug. 18, just 24,

wildland acres have burned so

far this year compared with

621,784 at the same time last

year, according to the most re-

cent statistics by the Califor-

nia Department of Forestry

and Fire Protection, or Cal

Fire. Emergency officials attri-

bute the quieter year, in part,

to a wet, cool spring that has

tamped down wildfire activity

across much of the West.

Fire scientists say a return

to abundant precipitation the

past few years following pro-

longed drought has helped re-

plenish forest moisture from

New Mexico to Idaho. They

warn, however, that the tin-

der-dry autumn months—

when fires in California histor-

ically rage at their worst—are

around the corner.

“The potential for fires to

become large and problematic

is still there, so we ask people

to continue to be careful,” said

Jessica Gardetto, spokeswoman

for the National Interagency

BYJIMCARLTON

California Gets Respite From Fires

An air tanker released retardant Aug. 3 near Brentwood, Calif. Fewer wildfires have hit California this year, though experts warn that the fire seasonis far from over.

NOAH BERGER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

More women should be
tested for gene mutations that
could increase their risk of de-
veloping cancer, according to
new recommendations by the
U.S. Preventive Services Task
Force.
The task force, a govern-
ment-backed panel of experts
in prevention and medicine,
said women with previous
breast, ovarian, fallopian-tube
or abdominal cancer diagno-
ses who have completed treat-
ment should be assessed for
mutations of the BRCA1 and
BRCA2 genes.
Normally, BRCA1 and
BRCA2 genes are responsible
for repairing damaged DNA,
which helps lessen the
chances for certain cancers
developing. But when the
genes undergo a rare muta-
tion, it can result in further
gene mutations that could
lead to breast, ovarian and
other cancers.
Women with ancestry more
predisposed to those muta-
tions, such as Ashkenazi Jew-
ish women, should also be
tested, according to the ex-
panded recommendations,
published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association.
The task force already had
a longstanding recommenda-
tion encouraging doctors to
assess women with relatives
who have had cancer related
to the gene mutations.
“We have identified groups
of women who might be at
risk and need assessment, and
for some, they will benefit
from genetic counseling and
testing,” said Douglas Owens,
Task Force chairman and pro-
fessor of medicine at Stanford
University. “But most women,
fortunately, will not need
this.”

BYTALALANSARI

Women Urged

To Get Cancer

Gene Test

A lawyer for Harvey Wein-

stein has asked to move the

Hollywood producer’s coming

criminal trial out of New York

City, saying jurors can’t fairly

decide his case in Manhattan.

Mr. Weinstein, 67 years old,

is scheduled to go to trial on

Sept. 9 on sex-crime charges

including rape. He faces the

possibility of up to life in

prison. He has pleaded not

guilty and denied all accusa-

tions of nonconsensual sex.

In papers filed with a New

York state appellate court, Ar-

thur Aidala, a lawyer for Mr.

Weinstein, cited New York City

as “ground zero” for media

coverage and #MeToo activism

surrounding the case. He said

BYCORINNERAMEY

Weinstein Lawyer Asks to Move

Trial Outside of New York City

Harvey Weinstein is slated to go to trial next month on sex-crime

charges. He denies all accusations of nonconsensual sex.

KENA BETANCUR/GETTY IMAGES

Traditional home insurers

are backing away from insur-

ing homes in high-risk wildfire

areas in California, new data

from the state’s insurance reg-

ulator shows.

Homeowners in fire-prone

regions have complained in

the past year about being

dropped from their home-in-

surance policies and forced to

buy coverage from surplus

carriers or from the state in-

surer of last resort, the Cali-

fornia FAIR Plan. Surplus in-

surers specialize in unusual

risks and can charge much

higher premiums.

In California ZIP Codes hit

by wildfires in 2015 and 2017,

insurers chose not to renew

8,751 home insurance policies

in 2018, a 9.6% increase from

the prior year, according to

the California Department of

Insurance.

In those same areas, the

number of policies provided

by the California FAIR Plan

rose 1.7%.

In comparison, overall in-

surer-initiated non-renewals

rose 3.4% last year for the

state, and FAIR Plan policies

declined.

“I have heard from many lo-

cal communities about how

not being able to obtain insur-

ance can create a domino ef-

fect for the local economy, af-

fecting home sales and

property taxes,” Insurance

Commissioner Ricardo Lara

said. “Without action to re-

duce the risk from extreme

wildfires and preserve the in-

surance market, we could see

communities unraveling.”

California wildfires in 2017

and 2018 killed dozens of peo-

ple and caused more than $

billion in insured losses.

Insurers chose not to renew

167,570 California home-insur-

ance policies in 2018, the state

data shows. Of those, slightly

more than half occurred in

less-populous rural areas

where fire risk is higher, the

state said.

Insurance availability could

worsen, the regulator said, be-

cause consumers in ZIP Codes

affected by the fires in 2018

are at risk of non-renewals

this year or in 2020. State law

requires insurers to give 45

days’ notice before non-renew-

ing a policy.

After facing severe wildfire

losses in recent years, tradi-

tional insurers like Allstate

Corp. and State Farm filed

with state regulators for per-

mission to raise home-insur-

ance rates. But state regula-

tions limit how quickly

insurers can increase rates

and what factors they can take

into account.

Home insurers in California

also are trying to buy more

coverage from reinsurers,

which sell insurance to insur-

ers. But it has become pricier,

and the coverage is more lim-

ited, Moody’s Investors Ser-

vice said in a recent report.

Insurers are also getting

stricter about requiring home-

owners to reduce their wild-

fire risk by clearing trees and

brush around their homes.

BYNICOLEFRIEDMAN

Home Insurers Retreat From Scorched Areas

WASHINGTON—The White
House on Tuesday canceled
President Trump’s planned
visit to Denmark after the
prime minister said she
wouldn’t entertain his pro-
posal to purchase Greenland
from the Scandinavian nation.
“Denmark is a very special
country with incredible peo-
ple, but based on Prime Minis-
ter Mette Frederiksen’s com-
ments, that she would have no
interest in discussing the pur-
chase of Greenland, I will be
postponing our meeting
scheduled in two weeks for
another time,” Mr. Trump
wrote on Twitter.
The White House said later
the president’s entire visit,
which was scheduled for Sept.
2-3 and was to include dinner
with Queen Margrethe II, had
been canceled.
“The Prime Minister was
able to save a great deal of ex-
pense and effort for both the
United States and Denmark by
being so direct. I thank her
for that and look forward to
rescheduling sometime in the
future!” Mr. Trump added on
Twitter.
The Wall Street Journal
last week first reported Mr.
Trump had discussed acquir-
ing Greenland, with varying
degrees of seriousness.
Greenland is an autono-
mous Danish territory. While
Greenland’s government con-
trols most domestic matters,
foreign and security policy is
handled by Copenhagen.
“Strategically, for the
United States, it would be
nice,” Mr. Trump told report-
ers on Sunday. “Essentially,
it’s a large real-estate deal,”
said the president, a former
real-estate developer.
Mr. Trump, who called Den-
mark an important ally,
added, “It’s not No. 1 on the
burner.”
Ms. Frederiksen on Sunday
said it was “an absurd discus-
sion,” though she said a closer
relationship with the U.S. was
welcome.

BYALEXLEARY

Trump

Cancels

Denmark

Trip Over

Greenland