Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 27 november 2019

Most people who fled California wildfire allowed to go home

By STEFANIE DAZIO and in and the weather is the
JOHN ANTCZAK most extreme anywhere
Associated Press around," said Jim Harris, Los
GOLETA, Calif. (AP) — Most Padres National Forest fire
of the thousands of people chief.
who fled a raging Califor- Rudy Gruber, 79, watched
nia wildfire in the moun- the smoke and flames from
tains north of Santa Bar- the top of a hill near his
bara were told they could house in Santa Barbara.
return home Tuesday as an Despite orders to evacu-
approaching storm offered ate, he said he decided not
hope the flames would be to leave because he didn't
doused. think the fire would cross a
About 4,000 of the nearly canyon to his home. Plus,
5,500 evacuees were af- it'd be tough to move his
fected when authorities re- 50-pound tortoise, Amstel.
duced the size of the evac- Even so, he's been pre-
uation zone. pared for about a year,
The blaze had blackened packing photo albums,
more than 6.5 square miles computers and a carrier for
(16.8 square kilometers) his cat Scooter.
of the rugged Santa Ynez A DC-10 air tanker drops retardant to slow the Cave Fire burning in Los Padres National Forest, Gruber, who's lived in the
Mountains, but most of that Calif., above Santa Barbara on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019. area since 1976, was facing
acreage was scorched in Associated Press his fifth fire but said he's only
its first hours Monday. evacuated once, when he
Fire commanders de- that hadn't burned in 29 the slope," Santa Barbara the same area destroyed saw smoke in his neighbor-
scribed a fierce battle that years. County fire Battalion Chief more than 400 homes. hood in 1978. He didn't see
saved homes as the blaze "We've had winds move up Anthony Stornetta said. "It's just a hard, difficult any this time, so he decid-
consumed brush in an area slope, down slope, across An infamous 1990 wildfire in piece of country to fight fire ed to stay put.q

U.S. judge bars Trump's health insurance rule for immigrants

By GILLIAN FLACCUS by President Donald Trump tant check on the Trump emergency temporary re- dies.
Associated Press in October would only ap- administration's effort to re- straining order on Nov. 3 The Migration Policy In-
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A ply to people seeking im- write our nation's immigra- in response to the lawsuit stitute, a nonpartisan im-
U.S. judge in Oregon on migrant visas from abroad tion and health care laws and heard oral arguments migration think tank, says
Tuesday granted a pre- — not those in the U.S. al- in violation of the boundar- before issuing Tuesday's 57% of U.S. immigrants had
liminary injunction block- ready. ies set out in the Constitu- opinion. private health insurance in
ing a Trump administration Seven U.S. citizens and tion," said Esther Sung, an Under the government's 2017, compared with 69%
proclamation that would a nonprofit organization attorney with the Justice visa rule, the required in- of U.S.-born residents, and
require immigrants to show sued to prevent the rule Action Center. surance can be bought 30% of immigrants had
proof of health insurance from taking effect, saying The White House has pre- individually or provided by public health insurance
to get a visa. it would block nearly two- viously said it strongly dis- an employer, and it can coverage, compared with
U.S. District Court Judge Mi- thirds of all prospective le- agreed with Simon's deci- be short-term coverage or 36% of native-born resi-
chael Simon said in a writ- gal immigrants. sion to block the procla- catastrophic. dents.
ten opinion that the proc- The lawsuit also said the mation from taking effect, Medicaid doesn't count, The uninsured rate for im-
lamation could not take rule would greatly reduce declaring it "wrong and un- and an immigrant can't migrants dropped from
effect while a lawsuit chal- or eliminate the number of fair" for a judge in a single get a visa if using the Af- 32% to 20% from 2013 to
lenging its constitutionality immigrants who enter the court district to issue a rul- fordable Care Act's sub- 2017, since the implemen-
makes its way through the U.S. with family sponsored ing that could shut down a sidies when buying insur- tation of the Affordable
courts. visas. nationwide policy. ance. The federal govern- Care Act, according to
The proclamation issued "This decision is an impor- Simon previously issued an ment pays for those subsi- the institute.q