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National

Smoke from Canada's wildfires has drifted across the border and prompted air quality alerts across multiple U.S. states over the weekend.

Why it matters: Wildfire smoke poses a threat to people's health even when hundreds of miles from the fire sites because of its harmful microscopic particles, studies show.

Threat level: States including Colorado, Utah, Montana and Idaho issued air quality alerts and advisories due to the dozens of fires burning across western Canada over the weekend.

Some Canadian oil production has been curtailed due to the weeks-long fires in Alberta, where 83 wildfires were burning as of Sunday evening.

A screenshot of an NWS Sioux Falls tweet of a smoky sky saying: "A mainly blue sky to start the day today in our area but webcam images from northwest South Dakota (near Coal Springs) show that a murkier looking sky is expected by later today as thicker upper level wildfire smoke pivots southeastward once again."

Photo: National Weather Service Sioux Falls/South Dakota Department of Transportation/Twitter

State of play: Nearly all of Montana was affected by the smoke Sunday and hazy conditions were expected to continue through Monday. The National Weather Service's Glasgow, Montana, office recommended people with respiratory illnesses remain indoors and urged drivers to take precautions.

Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment noted that while air quality conditions had improved across much of the east of the state on Sunday, "another plume of wildfire smoke is approaching" from the north.

Utah's Department of Environmental Quality warned air quality would remain "unhealthy for sensitive groups" through Monday.

Meanwhile, smoky conditions remained in parts of North Dakota Sunday and the NWS' office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, forecast "plenty of high-altitude smoke" would linger across the region through Tuesday.

Context: Studies show that climate change is leading to larger, more intense and frequent wildfires.

The bottom line: Smoke will continue to impact the northern tier of the U.S. as Canada deals with a wildfire crisis that is setting it up for a long and damaging season.

Go deeper: Record 64M Americans facing daily spikes in deadly particle pollution

Record 64M Americans facing daily spikes in deadly particle pollution

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Smoke from Canada's wildfires prompts air quality alerts across U.S.

This will keep happening as Canada deals with a wildfire crisis that's setting it up for a long and damaging season.

A satellite image of smoke from Canada's wildfires, which are impacting northern U.S. states.

A satellite image of smoke from Canada's wildfires that was impacting multiple U.S. states over the weekend. Photo: CIRA

Wildfires

Extreme weather

Climate change

News and analysis of the scientific advances fueling AI and quantum computing, revolutionizing biology and medicine, and tackling climate change. Science is changing the world and colliding with the global politics that shape it.

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Breaking climate science and policy coverage as extreme weather events reshape communities. Keep tabs on the race to a low carbon economy, which may be bumpy as governments, climate tech startups and major oil and gas companies race to find their niche amid the changing energy landscape.

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The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Health

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday rejected Russia's claim that it had fully captured the eastern Ukrainian city of Bahkmut. 

Why it matters: Western officials and others have said Bakhmut offers little strategic importance, but the city — and who controls it — has taken on symbolic meaning after nearly a year of fighting and heavy losses on both sides. The city has also been largely destroyed. 

Driving the news: Bakhmut has seen intense fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian fighters, including members of the brutal Wagner mercenary group, since the spring of 2022. 

The city is located in Ukraine’s Donetsk province — one of four regions Russia annexed in a move widely condemned as illegal.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday claimed in a tweet that "as a result of offensive actions by the Wagner assault units, supported by" Russian troops, "the liberation" of the city had been "completed."

The leader of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had said several hours earlier that his mercenaries had completely taken the city. 

But Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky, pushed back on those claims, saying Ukrainian troops were still in control of some areas in Bahkmut, though they did acknowledge the situation in the city was "critical." 

What they're saying: "Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today," Zelensky told reporters at the G7 summit in Japan on Sunday. 

Zelensky was clarifying comments he made earlier Sunday when he appeared to confirm Bahkmut had fallen. 

Zelensky also acknowledged that the city has largely been leveled. "They’ve destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It’s a pity. It’s [a] tragedy," Zelensky said. 

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Sunday that all "military personnel who distinguished themselves in the operation [in Bahkmut] will be recommended for state decorations."

It added that Russian President Vladimir Putin "congratulated the Wagner assault units as well as all service personnel of the Russian Federation Armed Forces who had rendered them the required support and protected the flanks, on the completion of the operation to liberate" the city. 

Ukraine's Zelensky denies that Russian forces are occupying Bakhmut

The monthslong battle has led to heavy losses on both sides.

A school and apartment buildings in Bakhmut. Satellite image via Maxar

Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Former President Trump's second-term governing plans are coming into clearer focus, as he lays out a vision for a dramatic expansion of federal power — particularly the presidency.  

Why it matters: In public statements, videos and posts on his campaign's website, Trump complains about Washington's "swamp" — but lays out a plan that would give him, as president, more control of virtually every facet of life in America.

Zoom in: Trump's plans go well beyond the provocative promises he made during his recent CNN town hall — to pardon nearly all of the convicted Jan. 6 rioters (there have been about 500), and to immediately broker an end the war in Ukraine.

Such pardons would effectively nullify what Attorney General Merrick Garland has called the Justice Department's most far-reaching and important investigation in its history.

Trump's comments on Ukraine were in line with his opposition to continued military aide to help that nation resist Russia's invasion.

Those moves would be extremely controversial, but generally within a president's authority. Much of Trump's agenda, however, would represent an unprecedented power grab by the executive branch — driven by far-right conservatism and Trump's grievances.

Federal workforce:  He wants to give the president the authority to hire and fire federal workers at will — not a new idea, but now part of a broad effort to "clean out" investigators and officials he sees as disloyal or who have questioned his conduct.

Education: As part of a sweeping plan for the federal government to exert more control of education, Trump wants to fire "radical left" officials who accredit universities, reward schools that abolish tenure for teachers, eliminate many college administrators and remove diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Law enforcement/intelligence: Trump — who's facing a range of criminal charges — said after he was indicted in New York that he wanted to "defund" the Justice Department and the FBI. That might have been an exaggeration, but Trump does want his brand of politics to reshape the Justice Department and U.S. intelligence.

 He's vowing to get rid of  "Marxist prosecutors " and create an auditing system to monitor U.S. intelligence agencies “to ensure they are not spying on our citizens." 

Gender issues: He wants DOJ to investigate Big Pharma and the big hospital networks to determine whether they have "deliberately covered up the long-term side-effects of 'sex transitions.'" He also wants to boot hospitals or providers from Medicaid and Medicare if they offer gender-affirming care.

Crime: Trump wants to use the U.S. military to go after drug cartels and street crime.

Housing: He wants to eliminate an Obama-era rule that requires cities  and local governments to address residential segregation and poverty in order to receive federal housing grants.

Cities/housing: His “quantum leap to revolutionize the American standard of living” includes baby bonuses to create a new baby boom and the design of 10 new “Freedom Cities” in the U.S.

Guns: Trump wants national concealed carry reciprocity, which would allow people with a concealed carry permit in their home state to have that privilege in any other state.

The intrigue: Trump has taken credit for the Supreme Court overturning abortion rights under Roe v. Wade, a decision made possible by three Trump-appointed justices. 

But he hasn't said whether he'd sign a federal abortion ban — as many conservatives want — or embrace a law like Florida's ban after six weeks of pregnancy, one of the nation's strictest abortion laws. It was pushed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump's chief rival for the GOP nomination.

Trump has said abortion is a "losing issue" for conservative Republicans — but he still wants their votes.

Reality check: Many of Trump's ideas are outlined in broad strokes, without details of how they'd be implemented or funded.

What they're saying: "What Trump is proposing for 2025 ... is the trappings of a democracy. ... But it's a Potemkin village," said Norman Ornstein, an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

reward schools that abolish tenure for teachers

who's facing a range of criminal charges himself 

He's vowing to get rid of  "Marxist prosecutors "

Trump's 2025 vision, revealed

He's laying out a plan for a dramatic expansion of federal power — particularly the presidency.

Photo illustration of Donald Trump in front of the mob that stormed the Capitol. 

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos: Mandel Ngan (AFP)/Getty Images

Donald Trump campaign

Elections 2024

Donald Trump

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

House Republican negotiators declined an offer from the White House to freeze government spending in the 2024 budget as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The development underscores how far apart the two sides are on the fundamentals of a deal. 

GOP turned down White House offer to freeze spending

The White House called the McCarthy's counter-offer a "a big step back."

Axios

Sunday's top stories

Smoke from Canada's wildfires prompts air quality alerts across U.S.

Ukraine's Zelensky denies that Russian forces are occupying Bakhmut

Trump's 2025 vision, revealed

GOP turned down White House offer to freeze spending

School gun violence torments America's youngest generation

Bankers are better behaved at home than in the office

Biden and McCarthy's shared math problem

Why you can't find cheap Taylor Swift concert tickets

Charted: Changing trends in baby names