A 32-year-old man from the Tuolumne County town of Columbia has been charged by a federal grand jury with starting the devastating Rim Fire. Federal prosecutors say that Keith Matthew Emerald faces a four-count indictment. According to the indictment, Emerald kindled a fire on Aug. 17, 2013, in the Stanislaus National Forest and let it spread beyond his control, despite a temporary ban on fires. He is also charged with lying to a federal agent by saying he did not start the fire. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Fires started by lightning often erupt in very remote, mountainous parts of the state, far from any roads. Sometimes the only way to get fire crews to them is to have them jump out of planes. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)
Nicaraguan folk dance group Hijos de Maiz rehearses at Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Francisco. These families have had a very different immigration experience from other Central Americans now flooding into the U.S. Since October, the U.S. Border Patrol has apprehended almost 60,000 unaccompanied children plus tens of thousands of families -- mostly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Nicaraguans are strikingly absent. (Jeremy Raff/KQED)
The San Francisco Planning Commission approved a plan by Supervisor David Chiu to legalize and regulate home rental services following a marathon meeting that began the afternoon of Aug. 7 and lasted into the night. Under Chiu’s proposal, San Franciscans whose homes are their primary residences for nine months of the year could legally rent them out for up to 90 days. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)
Mill Valley resident Judah Schiller pedaled into the national spotlight last fall when he attached a pair of pontoons to a road bike and rode it across San Francisco Bay. He repeated the feat in New York by crossing the Hudson River. Schiller later formed a company, Schiller Sports, and has released a model of a high-end water bicycle, now available for sale. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)