In brief: Cooler weather helps stem California fire

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – All evacuations were lifted Saturday after cooler weather helped firefighters gain more ground against a Northern California wildfire that has forced hundreds of people from their homes.

The blaze is 70 percent contained after sweeping through nearly 109 square miles of rural timberlands and brushy hills in Lake, Colusa and Yolo counties, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Cooler overnight weather and relative humidity allowed fire crews to make progress. About 3,000 firefighters continued to fight the blaze Saturday.

Uber admits misstep in licensing of driver

DALLAS – Uber said an internal investigation found it mistakenly granted driver status to a man now accused of sexually assaulting a female passenger.

WFAA-TV of Dallas-Fort Worth reported that Leandre Johns, general manager of the Dallas office of the ride-sharing service, revealed the problem in a letter to Dallas code compliance officials.

Johns said Talal Ali Chammout presented a fake city permit to obtain Uber approval as a driver.

Officials say Chammout, because of a felony on his record, would have failed the Dallas background check. Records show Chammout was released in 2012 after serving time on a federal weapons charge.

BLM to forgo quarters at Burning Man festival

RENO, Nev. – The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has rescinded its request for VIP accommodations at the Burning Man festival and granted the permit needed to hold the event in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert starting Aug. 30.

The federal agency announced Friday that it scrapped a request for festival organizers to build the so-called Blue Pit Compound at a cost of $1 million. The on-site living quarters for BLM law enforcement and officials from Washington, D.C., would have included flushing toilets, laundry washers and dryers, hot water, air conditioning, vanity mirrors, refrigerators and couches.

“We worked to maximize the efficiency of the operation, and it’s essentially back to where it was last year,” BLM Nevada spokesman Steven Clutter told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Under the new agreement, BLM staffers will have the same caterer used by Burning Man organizers, and they’ll stay in the town of Gerlach as they have in the past, although the BLM will still have an on-site command center where officials can coordinate safety, security and environmental efforts.