Monthly Archives: August 2021

Collectively, the group of forwards at this weeks LA Kings Development Camp has more experience than what youd normally see at an NHL development camp. While the roster does have its share of junior and college players as well as recent draft picks, eight of the 16 forwards have already spent time with the teams American Hockey League affiliate, the Ontario Reign.

Not only does that group have pro experience, but lots of it came on the same ice sheet being used for this weeks camp at the Toyota Sports Performance Center during the teams shortened 40-game season.

It was a bumpy ride for the Reign last year, but the group recovered after a 1-10-2 start in their first 13 games to go 16-9-2 down the stretch, gaining confidence leading into the 2021-22 year.

Even though there were struggles at the start, the head coach of the group, John Wroblewski, who is looking on as an interested observer this week, has fond memories of the year because of the teams perseverance.

The way that we finished the year was tremendous, Wroblewski said. We turned it around from 1-12 to finishing up as one of the better teams in the American League at the end. And we didnt do it through skill, we did it through competitiveness and ability. As disappointed as I was that we didnt win in the playoffs, after the last game I told the guys Im still so proud of them as people. I thought that everyone involved could hold their shoulders high and hold their chin up.

The eight talented attackers from Wroblewskis Reign roster that are in El Segundo this week include Quinton Byfield, Martin Chromiak, Aidan Dudas, Samuel Fagemo, Rasmus Kupari, Tyler Madden, Johan Sodergran and Alex Turcotte. All former LA draft picks with the exception of Madden who was acquired in a trade with Vancouver a year and a half ago, the group is part of an elite prospect pool universally heralded as one of the best in any NHL organization.

Now, being back in the facility that served as a home rink has these prospects feeling at ease as they go through the weeks camp among some new faces.

I feel a lot more comfortable, said Turcotte. I remember my first development camp a few years ago and I was pretty nervous and I didnt really know anyone. Its definitely nice being back here.

Wroblewski was encouraged by what he saw from Turcotte on the ice during the first day of action at camp on Monday. The former fifth overall pick is a player that hes gotten to watch dating back to his days as a coach at the USA National Team Development Program where Turcotte spent the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

The difference that I saw with him, and I dont want this to come off the wrong way because Alex is ultimately the type of player that is going to be just the consummate teammate, but I think hes looked for reassurance before, and today I just saw a guy really comfortable in his skin, Wroblewski said. He knows hes a leader out there, and I know you cant put all your stock in summer hockey, but his game looks amazing, and you can see the differences in the body type, the confidence level and the way his shot explodes off his stick just a little bit crisper.

Its earned confidence. Thats a term that I try to use with these guys, you cant be cocky, but if youve earned it, then own it. Whether or not he cracks the Kings this year, its not going to determine his career.

Turcotte, who spent the full 2020-21 season with Ontario, also felt his first pro year was great for his development.

Coming in I didnt start off too hot so it kind of took me a while to get going and that was part of the process, Turcotte said. But I felt that halfway through the season I got comfortable and started playing my game more. I kept that going the rest of the year and finished really strong.

The development of these young players like Turcotte has Wroblewski excited for the new season on the horizon.

Ive just never been more excited for a year, Wroblewski said. Ive never kept in closer touch with a group. I ran into Fagemo and Sodergran in Manhattan Beach the other day, I went for lunch and those guys were renting bikes right next door to the place. I got to hug these guys, got to say how proud I am of their offseason, and getting to watch all these other guys, I just think theres a lot of men on a mission here.

I dont get the feeling that theyre trying to push it. Theyre good in their skin right now. Were going to keep competing, no matter whether a guy is Ontario or LA, theyre going to own up to whatever challenge it is every day.

The Kings are hoping that the friendly competition seen at this weeks camp will continue next month when many of these players return for the 2021 Rookie Faceoff in Arizona. Then theyll turn their attention to main training camp where the best of this group may have an opportunity to compete for an NHL roster spot.

Read more from the original source:

Progress At Development Camp Has Wroblewski, Reign Ready For New Year - lakingsinsider.com

Season two of Showtimes Work in Progress the critically acclaimed, slice-of-life comedy starring co-creator and executive producer Abby McEnany debuted Sunday night. It picks up with its lead (McEnany playing a version of herself) still reeling from a bad break-up, still searching for the perfect therapist, and still supporting best friend Campbell (Celeste Pechous) as she mourns the tragic death of her dog.

While Abbys relationship with Chris (Theo Germaine) proved to be a central storyline for the first season, dont expect her love life to get equal airtime in forthcoming episodes. That is by design.

This show was never about a love story, explained McEnany on Saturday evening while seated on stage inside the Directors Guild of Americas Theater 2 during an Outfest special preview event presented by Showtime in partnership with The Hollywood Reporter. Im somebody whos usually single and Im very happy about it. We live in a world where people, especially women, are often seen as valuable or worthwhile if theyre loved by somebody. It drives me to the fucking brink add it to the list. Its just a trope that really pisses me off. So, no, this show is really about how people get through life. How do people come together as a family? I survived because of my friends and my family.

McEnany had many friends in the theater listening to her speak on a panel alongside her Work in Progresscollaborators: executive producer and co-star Julia Sweeney, co-star Armand Fields, and writer and co-star Brendan Dowling. She gave a special shout-out to Chicago improv peers, some of whom attended the screening and represented a city that not only provides the backdrop for the series but fuels it with talent.

But about that survival she mentioned, the rest of this season will continue to follow her character as she navigates a mental health journey in the shadow of wanting to commit suicide. In season one, Abby really is in crisis basically the whole time, McEnany explained. This season, we wanted to show that Abby shows up for other people, but then privately, shes still a mess, but its exhausting. Its exhausting just being mentally ill, right? Its exhausting to always be a burden and its valid and I own it.

McEnany joked on stage about the challenge of speaking about herself and then speaking about her character, Abby, since they share many similarities. Dowling was then asked where Abby the character begins and where Abby the real-life person ends. Dowling came to work on the series after having known McEnany from Chicagos improv scene and helping her shape her one-woman show as its director.

Thats something we talked a lot about in the [writers] room and about how Abby, the character, is a different person and we would always be very careful to talk about Abby the character versus Abby the person, Dowling noted. But in terms of where they began, I think both Abby, the real Abby, and the character Abby, are super loyal to their friends. They show up for them time and time again. Their friends mean everything to them. But [the show] is a heightened version of Abby. We take all the things that we love about Abby in real life and then heighten them.

Dowling also spoke to McEnanys talents off-screen as well as her loyalty. She drafted many Chicago peers to work on Work in Progress, and in many cases, gave people opportunities to staff on a major Showtime show they might not have had otherwise. Abby is a force of nature, he said. When you meet her, you just get drawn into her orbit and are soon a part of her life.

That is true for Fields, too, who met McEnany years ago, out and about on the Chicago scene. When Work in Progress went to series, Fields was able to audition. We got to see each other, Fields recalled. And it was, like, this huge love fest. When I got [the part], it was amazing. And here we are its wild.

Wild is similar to how Sweeney describes her path to working on the series. McEnany and her co-creator Tim Mason met the Saturday Night Live alum at Second City after her own one-woman show. I remember it just exactly, Sweeney recalled from the stage. I was charmed by Abby immediately.

Sweeney continued that she was charmed, in a way, by the idea that the pair pitched. They wanted her to play herself as she is confronted by Abby in a restaurant about how Pat, Sweeneys androgynous SNL character, negatively impacted Abbys life. It mightve seemed like a tough sell, but Sweeney said she was instantly sold.

I loved the idea of it, and it was right up the alley of what I had been thinking about in terms of the Pat character and androgyny in general, she continued. It really was like a dream come true because it was just like, wow, this is just perfect, and then, of course, I just loved Abby. It was so special.

Her thoughts about Pat are not as easily distilled into a quick soundbite. I cant say everything I want to say about it because its so complex and Im still actually thinking it through myself, Sweeney said. I feel both apologetic and defensive about Pat, and I feel like both are actually worthy of being felt by me. Its not like I just think, oh, that was terrible. I actually thought, in my mind, I was advancing the cause of androgyny. I mean, it wasnt just about making fun of this character. It was about bringing up some issues We felt like we were putting forth something provocative, and from a lot of the responses I got from people, including a huge positive response in the gay community, I felt I was doing that.

Joining Work in Progress allowed Sweeney to more fully process the character and reckon with the impact it may have had, while also poking fun at herself. It was really fun to play a heightened version of myself being a bumbling idiot about having played Pat. I love the idea of taking something thats partly real and exaggerating it, just like the whole show does. But particularly with me, my feelings of ambivalence about the character itself, was fun to play with because thats partly real, even though it was completely absurd, this character that I play; Julia Sweeney is an idiot.

Another key figure in telling the story of Work in Progress is Lilly Wachowski. Though the acclaimed filmmaker and transgender activist was not in attendance, that didnt stop the panelists from professing their love and praising the work that shes done for the series. She came out of retirement to do this, McEnany said of her friend whom she met in Chicago. Shes just changed my life. To have somebody who, first of all, gives zero fucks about what people think of her how do you do that? and then to trust me and give me a voice? Shes amazing and she defends me.

Wachowski also changed the makeup of the show. McEnany credited her with enforcing the mission statement that they would have 70 percent of crew jobs filled by women, people of color and LGBTQ professionals. Shes awesome.

Sweeney agreed. Shes my favorite person Ive had direct me. Shes so relaxed but shes ahead of schedule. Its really unbelievable. Ive never been with a showrunner like that, whos also directing, has so much on their plate, but seems relaxed, gives you the right note, gets what they need to get, and is like two pages ahead. Shes really amazing.

McEnany had the last word on the subject: When people meet her, theyre like, Oh my God. Oh my God. Rightly so. Shes changed cinema and shes amazing. But she works very hard to make everybody feel like they have a voice, and she works very hard at [putting] people at ease when theyre with her.

This panel was sponsored by Showtime.

Read more:

Abby McEnany on Vision for Work in Progress Season 2: This Show is Really About How People Get Through Life - Hollywood Reporter

Belief in progress is part of Americas cultural DNA. Each generation will do better than the last, with better understood in terms of rising income, bigger homes and more stuff. Sure, we have problems pollution, racial injustice, a pesky drought, fires on the horizon but Americans just get to work fixing those problems. To live in America is to reside on an ascending material curve.

I look out my window at the smoke that fills our valley. Later today I may go to town. Or not. The traffic discourages me from leaving the house. I need groceries, but when I walk into the store some shelves are empty; tourists have cleared them and there arent enough employees to keep things stocked. Id like to go for a hike in Death Canyon, but between the heat and the smoke and the traffic and the crowds on the trail I think Ill stay inside with my air purifier.

What has happened to our summers? It doesnt feel like things are getting better anymore. Visits to San Francisco or Boulder, Colorado, arent as much fun as they used to be. The New York Times recently described urban growth along the I-35 corridor between San Antonio and Austin as being a blur of subdivisions, commercial development and soul-crushing traffic, coalescing into a singular mass of population. Everything seems to be defined by excess: too expensive, too much traffic, too long a wait, too much heat.

Back in Jackson we should first acknowledge that a lot of this is outside our control. We cant stop the smoke or the drought, heat and fire that causes it. And the state of Wyoming wont let us put tollgates on the highways into town to limit access.

On the other hand, we arent resourceless. There are things we can do to improve our situation if we are willing to question our underlying assumptions.

In other words, theres a philosophical aspect to our difficulties. We say that we cant stop people from coming here. Its their right if they can afford the hotel prices. Its how we make our living. And how is Jackson going to progress if it doesnt continue to grow? Then we sit back and watch things spin further out of control.

Celebrate individual freedom and grow the economy: Its been the American definition of progress for a very long time.

Every culture is built upon a set of fundamental beliefs about what constitutes a proper (or acceptable, or meaningful) way of life. America was founded on open space, endless resources and constant technological innovation. There were so many resources that you could get yours without blocking others from doing the same. And if there was a problem wed just call in the scientists and engineers to invent a work-around. Our challenges were technical rather than political or philosophical in nature.

There is no technology, however, that will create more space in our valley. Building more roads to deal with traffic means that we will have to deal with the construction. Then traffic will get a little better for a while, which will encourage more people to come, which then increases the overall traffic. As for nature, we arent going to build new trails up Death Canyon. Even if we did that would mean a bigger parking lot below and even less of the solitude that we and the animals seek. The same is true in Denver and New Orleans: The solutions to our problems now often feed back into and worsen the problems that they were meant to solve.

There are no easy answers to our situation. But we can begin by questioning our dogmas.

We could take seriously the possibility that the way of life that worked for 300 years may need adjustment for the 21st century. We could adapt our ideals of freedom and opportunity to a world where space and resources are limited. We could challenge the assumption that more growth in Jackson equals a higher quality of life, and ask whether 1 million visitors to Yellowstone National Park in a single month is good for us, the visitors or the environment.

Jackson is a microcosm of our general situation: The American way of life will have to change. This might sound unpleasant. The very idea might make you angry. But cultures that do not adapt to changing conditions slide into decay.

For instance, it may seem painful to have to check our cars at the entrance to the parks or to give up our personal automobiles entirely. But such changes could lead to a way of life that is both more beautiful and more sustainable in the long run. Progress can be redefined in ways that are less materialistic, more inclusive, and easier on the environment.

Its worth considering.

Hoback resident Robert Frodeman writes on technology and the environment. He can be reached at robert.frodeman@gmail.com. Guest Shots are solely the opinion of their authors.

Continued here:

We may need to redefine 'progress' to find sustainability - Jackson Hole News&Guide

Nine-time All-Star James Harden has always been known for his durability. You can count on him to always show up. The Beard has played in 657 regular season games since 2012 while averaging 36.9 MPG in that time period. In his first stint with the Nets coming from Houston, it was the first time Harden suffered from an injury both prior and during the postseason. This has now raised concerns on what to expect going into training camp.

Harden, of course, is still fully recovering from a hamstring strain which reached a grade 2 sprain in the playoffs. You can pinpoint this to some lack of conditioning at the start of the season or maybe age. Now at 32-years-old, all the minutes the Nets star has compiled since 2012 can be catching up.

Nevertheless, one thing is for sure, and that is that we are going to find out in the next couple of months when the season commences. Theres some good news though for Brooklyn. In a recent workout video, Hardens hamstring is making significant progress that isnt hard to notice:

Link:

James Harden is making noticeable progress with his hamstring - Nets Wire

RANTOUL, Ill. Just as the Half Century of Progress show is an opportunity for the owners of vintage tractors and other farm equipment to strut their stuff, so it is for the village of Rantoul.

We get to put our best foot forward. Champaign County gets to put its best foot forward, said Scott Eisenhauer, the village administrator of Rantoul.

Eisenhauers duties as village administrator include overseeing day-to-day operations, budget and financing and economic development for the village.

So, he recognizes not just the economic benefits that the Half Century of Progress show brings, but also the additional benefits that might not be measured in dollars and cents.

But the economic benefit itself is significant.

There is no question there is a significant economic advantage to it. When you bring that number of people into your community, they are buying gas, they are eating food, they are staying in hotels or at the campground. There is no question there is a revenue generation that benefits the community as a whole when we host this event, Eisenhauer said.

The dollars that participants in the show and visitors to the show spend in the community go back into the community.

Its good not only for the village financially, but also those are dollars that we can spend on other things to make the community better, which thereby benefits the residents, Eisenhauer said.

Dollars and economic activity are just one benefit that the four-day show, which draws participants and visitors from across the United States and even internationally, brings to Rantoul.

The other thing, though, that I think is just as critically important as the financial advantage and that is the ability for Rantoul, Illinois, to be in the national and, in some ways, the international spotlight for that week. Its a great opportunity for us, every two years, to promote our community, Eisenhauer said.

As the countdown to the show goes on, the village is putting the finishing touches on the welcome mat it will roll out for the show.

This is the lull before the storm. We are making sure that our resources are in place, that the things that we have the most involvement in, traffic patterns and parking, that those are all being addressed. We already have our recreation crew on the grounds, doing some work around the airport, getting grass cut and weeds cut and stumps ground and things like that, to make sure we have a nice, clean and visually appealing area, Eisenhauer said.

That recreation crew is deeply involved in preparing for the show and as the show gets ready to start.

The recreation department does a great job in preparing the grounds in advance of the show and then also setting up and providing resources to help with the set up process, Eisenhauer said.

Employees at the Rantoul Airport also have been busy getting ready for the show. The airport is maintained by the village.

The airport has been ramping up in going around and making sure the electric works and the lights work and those types of things are ready to go so when we hit that mark, the weekend before the show takes place, and they start moving onto the grounds, everything that we need to have done in preparation is finished, Eisenhauer said.

The planning process for the show is extensive.

The village is heavily involved in the planning process with the leadership of the Half Century of Progress show and particularly that deals with parking logistics and traffic logistics. Those are really two of the most prevalent areas, getting people into the show and then, once we get them to the show, getting them parked and ultimately getting them back out. That is a large task taken on by our police department, Eisenhauer said.

But the villages involvement in the show doesnt end as the tractors and other equipment roll onto part of the former Chanute Air Force Base.

During the show we also provide police involvement, security. Our fire department is present to provide fire response and we also work with other entities leading up to the show that have ancillary relationships with the show, Eisenhauer said.

An additional benefit comes in the form of the working relationship the village and village officials have with the leadership of the Half Century of Progress.

The incredible men and women that we get to work with, from John to Russell and everybody who serves on a committee for the show, they could take this show anywhere, but weve built that partnership, weve built that relationship. We believe in what they are doing and I think they believe in what we are willing to assist with in order to keep that show here in this community. We are so grateful, as a village and as a community, that the Half Century of Progress located here originally and continues to flourish here in the community. Its always fun to be around people who are passionate and dedicated to pulling together an event and well organized enough to make that happen, Eisenhauer said.

Read more from the original source:

Rantoul rolls out the welcome mat for Half Century of Progress show - Agri News

Lakewood Ranch's Elly Barr was ready to send her kids back to school for a somewhat normal school year.

Her daughter was entering seventh grade and her son was going into eighth grade at R. Dan Nolan Middle School. They were not planningto wear masks as the district started the year with an optional mask policy.

But then the number of cases among students and employees throughout the School District of Manatee County increased.

The first day of school Aug. 10, nine cases were reported. By the end of the first week, there were 179 cases in the district. Two weeks into school, the district reported 825 cases with 227 of those cases coming from schools in East County.

In the entirety of last year, East County schools reported 347 cases.

Now families are adjusting to the increase in COVID-19 protocols at school that the district hopes will mitigate the number of cases on campuses. With more cases, parents are uncertain of how the year will progress.

"All of a sudden it seemed to explode," Barr said. "It's very mental right now. If you don't wear a mask, it's like you don't care. If you do wear a mask, it's like you're being over protective of your child. It's been very judgmental. I don't actually know what to do for the best anymore. I'm just doing what I feel is right."

After the second day of school, Barr's daughter, Alice, was sent home to quarantine after possibly being exposed at school.

Barr now is sending her children to school wearing masks. With her eldest, who is a student at Lakewood Ranch High School, returning home after having a spinal fusion, she's worried someone will bring COVID-19 home and possibly spreading it among family members.

"I'm a bit nervous about that, so I'm taking care of my family as well," Barr said. "Everything just seems to have gone out of control. I don't know how it's looking for the future to be honest."

River Place's Nicole Hamer described the first two weeks of school as chaotic. She has two third graders at Braden River Elementary, a seventh grader at Braden River Middle and a freshman at Braden River High School.

Hamer said one of her sons already has been sent home to quarantine, and her seventh grader and freshman are having transportation issues due to the district's bus driver shortage.

"For my middle schooler, the bus has not comeand when it has come, it's been very late," Hamer said. "For my high schooler, they didn't even have enough room on his bus. They said the bus is full and we can come back in an hour and a half to get you."

Mike Barber, a spokesman for the district, said the district has 133 bus routes and in the weeks leading up to school, 20 drivers left the district to take other jobs. Then another 20 drivers had been out at different times during the first eight days of school for "health reasons."

Barber said everyone in the transportation department is certified to drive, so everyone in the office staff is driving buses to help with the shortage in drivers.

As for the increase in COVID-19 cases throughout the district, Hamer said she's not concerned because "it seems like almost everyone is going to get this, vaccinated or not."

"I don't really know how to feel," Hamer said. "I know a lot of people that have been vaccinated and have gotten it and have it right now. It's kind of hard to judge how I feel. I'm just kind of going with the flow."

Hamer isn't sending her kids to school with masks because she doesn't believe it's mentally healthy for her children. She's also had friends whose kids go to schools that require masks and their children still are being sent home to quarantine or are testing positive.

"I think everyone is doing the best they can," Hamer said. "I think it's just going to be a virus where people are going to have to build up their immune systems. I mean everybody's got a tough job. I can't comment anything negatively. I think everybody's doing a great job with what we're being dealt with."

Lakewood Ranch's Amy Hammon pulled her daughter from Robert E. Willis Elementary School last year because she wasn't doing well with e-learning, but she didn't want to send her to school because of COVID-19.

Kate Barlaug, the principal of Carlos E. Haile Middle School, helps a student navigate her way around campus. Photo courtesy of the School District of Manatee County.

Now, her children are attending Pinnacle Academy because they have a mandatory mask mandate in place that doesn't have an opt-out option until the positivity rate in the area is lower. She said the mask mandate makes her feel her children will be safe on campus.

"My children will continue to wear masks and take all precautions possible," Hammon said.

Although her children are in private school now, Hammon continues to write to the School Board of Manatee County, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Richard Corcoran, the commissioner of the Florida Department of Education, to advocate for everyone to wear masks in school.

"We have to fight for our children who are defenseless right now," Hammon said. "We are actually going to have to beg the state of Florida to allow our children to have the smallest sense of safety, which is a mask, because we have something that they don't and that is a vaccine. If we have the opportunity and have chosen to, we have been vaccinated. My family has been vaccinated. If my children were older, they would be vaccinated. Essentially, we are sending our children to school unprotected."

View post:

Lakewood Ranch-area parents uncertain of how the school year will progress - YourObserver.com

As the 101st anniversary of American women's right to vote is celebrated on Thursday, it's a good time to reflect on the past, present and future of gender equity.

Congress designated Aug. 26 as Women's Equality Day in 1973 to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment. Even though it wasn't until years later that women of color were effectively included, the day has become a marker to honor women's suffrage and remember the barriers females still face.

It's a time to think about the countless contributions women have made over the decades to turn the dream of equality into reality; about women who were not necessarily well known but who helped advance the cause. Many of those women's stories are told in the current Minnesota Historical Society exhibit "Extraordinary Women.'' It includes information about:

Katie McWatt, the educator and civil rights activist whose 1964 campaign for St. Paul City Council broke through race and gender barriers for city campaigns.

Sarah Burger Stearns, who petitioned to have the word "male'' struck from the Minnesota Constitution's definition of eligible voters in 1860s.

Marie Bottineau Baldwin, of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, who helped handle legal cases for Ojibwe people in Minnesota and North Dakota. In the 1890s she moved to Washington, D.C., earned her law degree and joined the fight for treaty rights and tribal sovereignty.

Though we can celebrate the achievements of these women and others who paved the way for the progress enjoyed in the 21st century, we must also remember that more remains to be done. The goal of full gender equity has yet to be realized, either in the U.S. or globally. And, of course, women around the world lack many of the rights American women enjoy.

Today, the earnings difference between males and females still affects women's economic power, and gender-based discrimination still occurs in workplaces and business transactions. In 2020, women earned 84% of what men earned in the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center analysis, a figure that has remained the same for the last 15 years.

And though the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was introduced in 1923, but not heard in Congress until the 1970s, it took until 2020 for the required 38 states to vote for ratification. It still awaits official adoption because the U.S. House voted to eliminate the deadline for passage in the original legislation, but similar language is pending in the Senate.

Then there are the current attacks on voting rights that would ban drive-through voting, limit voting hours, make absentee voting more difficult and empower partisan poll watchers. Those changes could have a disproportionately negative impact on elderly and low-income women and on women of color.

While it's important to remember the advances of the past century, it's also essential to understand that women's equal rights are a work in progress. One of the best ways to celebrate and honor those who brought us thus far is to continue the struggle for gender equity and fairness throughout every sector of society.

See more here:

Equality is a work in progress - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Thanks to a stretch of highly welcomed cooler and moister weather in recent weeks, crews have made significant progress on wildfires in Northwest Montana, allowing authorities to lift evacuation orders and further establish containment lines from Thompson Falls to Polebridge to Troy.

Even with the moderate conditions, fire and land managers remind the public that Stage 2 fire restrictions are still in place throughout the region. Those restrictions include a prohibition on campfires. For more information, visit http://www.mtfireinfo.org.

Evacuation warnings issued in late July for the lightning-caused Hay Creek Fire near Polebridge were lifted on Aug. 18 amid cooler temperatures and higher humidity. The Type 3 incident management team overseeing attack operations transitioned to a local Type 4 incident command from the Flathead National Forest on Aug. 21.

The fire was 2,894 acres and at 60% containment late last week, according to an incident report update.

The lightning-caused Thorne Creek Fire near Thompson Falls, the states fourth largest at 39,053 acres, was at 80% containment following an infrared flight over the weekend that resulted in a significant increase in containment, according to an incident report.

Saturdays rain kept fire activity to a minimum which allowed firefighters to secure most of the fireline, bringing containment to 80 percent, the report states.

The Thorne Creek Fire initially forced evacuation orders for more than 200 residents in late July, but the Aug. 23 update noted that the Thompson River Zone is now in pre-evacuation status and open to residents only. No structures have been lost.

The Southern Area Gold Team planned to transfer command of the Thorne Creek Fire back to the Lolo National Forest on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m.

Over the weekend, crews finished a direct line on the northwestern corner of the 12,522-acre South Yaak Fire, located near Troy, increasing total containment to more than 60%, according to an Aug. 23 update. The nearby Burnt Creek Fire was burning at 4,066 acres and 29% containment on Monday.

No updated incident reports for the Boulder 2700 Fire on the east shore of Flathead Lake have been posted since Aug. 16, although crews were making ample progress and evacuation orders had been lifted. The fire leveled more than 20 structures when it grew abruptly under warm winds on the night of July 31.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Division of Fire has shifted its regular updates from the Boulder 2700 Fire to the Crooks Fire burning 10 miles east of Arlee.

According to an Aug. 22 update, the Crooks Fire was 3,258 acres at 0% containment, with 147 personnel attacking the blaze. No structures were threatened at that time, and no evacuation orders were in place.

Read more:

Crews Continue Making Progress on Wildfires Across Northwest Montana - Flathead Beacon