“Millions of Americans live in the shadow of an orange sky”

Wildfires continue to ravage the West Coast; Japan's Liberal Democratic Party chooses a new prime minister. Tonight's Sentences was written by Cameron Peters. TOP NEWS Wildfires leave at least 35 dead and the West Coast shrouded in smoke Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images - Historic wildfires are still burning this week on the West Coast, where the death toll has now risen to at least 35. Much of California, Oregon, and Washington remain blanketed in heavy smoke. [[AP / Lindsay Whitehurst and Sara Cline](] - As of Monday, almost 100 separate fires are still active, and 4.6 million acres have already burned. The true death toll still isn’t known, but it’s likely to get worse: On Friday, Oregon emergency management warned of a potential “mass fatality incident.” [[Guardian / Richard Luscombe and Dani Anguiano](] - In Oakland, California, the air quality has grown so bad that the city has opened “clean air centers” to provide a respite. Last week, fires deposited a layer of ash over parts of the Bay Area. [[CNN / Eliott C. McLaughlin, Amir Vera, and Susannah Cullinane](] - And Oregon is struggling with a tide of right-wing disinformation about “antifa supporters” deliberately starting fires. According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, 911 dispatchers have been “overrun” by false reports of politically motivated arson. [[The Intercept / Robert Mackey](] - Conditions may not improve anytime soon: Portions of Oregon and California are still under a red-flag warning, and the National Weather Service cautioned Monday that weather "will likely contribute to a significant spread of new and existing fires.” [[Washington Post / Paulina Firozi](] - As Vox’s Umair Irfan explained last week, the 2020 fire season is so severe due to a confluence of factors, including a dry summer, a heat wave, and high winds. Climate change, however, is ultimately responsible for the growing fire risk on the West Coast. [[Vox / Umair Irfan](] - President Donald Trump, however, has explicitly denied the reality of climate change and derided efforts to address it. In California Monday, he instead chalked up the wildfires to forest management issues, which experts say is incorrect. [[AP / Will Weissert, Jonathan Lemire, Ellen Knickmeyer, and Aamer Madhani](] - “We know that climate change is making fires start easier, spread faster and intensify,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday. “And it is maddening right now … to have a president to deny that these are not just wildfires, these are climate fires.” [[Politico / Allie Bice](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Japan gets a new prime minister - On Monday, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party selected chief cabinet secretary Suga Yoshihide as the party’s new leader, all but assuring his ascension to prime minister later this week. [[Washington Post / Simon Denyer](] - His predecessor, Abe Shinzo, was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister but resigned suddenly last month because of chronic health issues. Suga was a top Abe ally prior to Abe’s resignation. [[NBC News / AP](] - Suga’s prime ministership is still subject to a vote in Parliament, which is set to take place Wednesday. As his party currently holds the majority, though, the vote should be straightforward, and the BCC reports that Suga, 71, is likely to serve at least until elections in 2021. [[BBC](] - Suga, who is said to be an efficient behind-the-scenes politician, is likely to continue many of Abe’s policies once he takes office. Despite a relatively low public profile, polling suggests he has popular support as the prime minister-to-be. [[NYT / Motoko Rich and Makiko Inoue](] - According to Foreign Policy, though, Suga could also mark a departure from the Abe era and a return to a “cycle of short-lived and unmemorable prime ministers, maneuvered by factions within the Liberal Democratic Party.” [[Foreign Policy / William Sposato](] MISCELLANEOUS Another hurricane is headed for Louisiana's Gulf Coast. [[NPR / Bill Chappell](] - Political appointees at the CDC are trying to manipulate Covid-19 reports to conform with Trump’s public statements. [[Politico / Dan Diamond](] - The Trump administration is appointing a climate change denier to help lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which conducts climate change research. [[Washington Post / Andrew Freedman and Jason Samenow](] - Congress’s failure to pass more stimulus is disproportionately harming people of color. [[Vox / Aaron Ross Coleman](] - Astronomers think they may have discovered signs of life in Venus’s atmosphere. [[NYT / Shannon Stirone, Kenneth Chang, and Dennis Overbye](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( VERBATIM "Hurricanes don't swerve to avoid red states or blue states. Wildfires don't skip towns that voted a certain way. The impacts of climate change don't pick and choose. That's because it's not a partisan phenomenon. It's science." [[Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Trump's climate denialism / ABC7](] LISTEN TO THIS [How to think about coronavirus risk in your life]( Harvard epidemiologist Julia Marcus offers a framework for making key life decisions while managing coronavirus risk. [[Spotify / Ezra Klein](] [Read more from Vox](#) [11 ways to fix America’s fundamentally broken democracy]( [Meet the students thriving in remote learning]( [The ways Democrats could retake the Senate majority, explained]( [Why Covid-19 case numbers are falling in the US]( [The Trump administration has already made huge refugee cuts. 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