Tesla has been granted a permit to operate a taxi service in California, a spokesperson for the California Public Utilities Commission, a state regulator, said Tuesday. It marks the first step towards Tesla’s and CEO Elon Musk’s vision of operating a driverless taxi service in the state. One day, MuskContinue Reading
John Clarke Mills was in a Zoom meeting when everything went to hell. It was half past 10 on the morning of January 7, 2025, and Mills—slim, profane, voice charred by years of smoking—was talking up his free fire-tracking app, Watch Duty, to a coworker and one of his nonprofit’sContinue Reading
California’s weather whiplash has been a problem dating back centuries, or more. Fire is a natural and necessary part of California’s diverse ecosystems, but the so-called “expanding bull’s-eye” of urban areas spreading into prime wildfire zones has complicated things. Before humans arrived in Southern California, Safford estimates, the average watershedContinue Reading
California loves its electric cars. More than 2.1 million battery-powered vehicles are driving around the state, and last fall, over a quarter of new cars sold there were electric. Lawmakers are trying to ensure the future holds even more. In December, California received special permission from the US government toContinue Reading
Karen Short, a research ecologist with the Forest Service who contributed to the study and maintains a historical database of national wildfire reports, says understanding why they start is essential for preventing them and educating the public. Strategic prevention appears to work: According to the National Fire Protection Association, houseContinue Reading
