Axios

Trump-appointed health department aides interfered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly COVID-19 reports “in what officials characterized as an attempt to intimidate the reports’ authors and water down their communications to health professionals,” Politico’s Dan Diamond reported late on Friday.

What it says: "[E]mails from communications aides to CDC Director Robert Redfield and other senior officials openly complained that the agency’s reports would undermine President Donald Trump's optimistic messages,” reports Diamond, citing emails reviewed by Politico and three people familiar with the matter.

A "safe little bubble" exists that's isolated from coronavirus — where people mingle without masks, ski, socialize and watch the pandemic unfold from thousands of miles away, AP reports.

The state of play: That place is Antarctica, the only continent without COVID-19. As COVID-19 has shaken diplomatic ties around the world, the 30 countries that comprise the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs decided to keep the virus out. Now, as nearly 1,000 scientists and others who wintered on the ice are seeing the sun for the first time in weeks, a global effort wants to make sure incoming colleagues don't bring the virus.

A new study finds that partisan conservative media led to "hurricane skepticism" among Trump voters before Hurricane Irma hit Florida in September 2017, discouraging evacuations.

Why it matters: As the divided response to the coronavirus pandemic underscores, how we view the world politically is increasingly determining how we view the threat of natural catastrophes. With extreme weather on the rise, that's a dangerous recipe.

Hundreds of people assembled at a church in Germany on Sept. 5 to hear an organ change chord.

The big picture: The organ at the church of St. Buchardi is playing the composer John Cage's Organ/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible), which is meant to take 639 years — so long that last week's chord change was the first in nearly seven years.

Wildfires in Oregon have put about 500,000 residents under evacuation notices and left dozens missing as first responders sift through the rubble, AP reports.

The state of play: State emergency management director Andrew Phelps said Oregon is "preparing for a mass fatality event," but has not yet published an official death count. At least six deaths have been reported, according to the state-operated dashboard.

Portland and Seattle currently have the worst air quality in the world, thanks to wildfires raging along the length of the West Coast. Residents have been advised to stay indoors, particularly those with medical conditions.

The big picture: Wildfires are raging near population centers at the same time as they threaten cherished state landmarks.

Six of the 20 largest wildfires in modern California history have been this year, the N.Y. Times reports (subscription) in "A Climate Reckoning in Fire-Stricken California."

What they're saying: "It's really shocking to see the number of fast-moving, extremely large and destructive fires simultaneously burning," Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, told The Times.

Wildfires in Oregon have caused more than 500,000 people — over 10% of the state’s 4.2 million population — to evacuate and the blazes have burned over 1,400 square miles across the state this week, state authorities said Thursday per AP.

What they're saying: Gov. Kate Brown said there are known fatalities as a result of the fires, but the exact number of lives lost remains unknown. So far, at least three deaths in the state have been reported in association with the fires.

Go deeper: August Complex is now the largest wildfire in California recorded history