Oregon’s fire marshal resigned Saturday just hours after the state’s governor placed him on administrative leave. The Oregon State Police declined to release reasons for Jim Walker’s suspension, but The Oregonian reported that Walker had largely relinquished his responsibilities to his chief deputy, Mariana Ruiz-Temple, and that Superintendent Travis Hampton, his immediate superior, had lost confidence in him. Hampton appointed Ruiz-Temple acting fire marshal in his stead. Local Oregon politicians had made multiple public statements that the state had failed to coordinate a unified response to the fires. Hampton said in a statement, “Mariana is assuming this position as Oregon is in an unprecedented crisis which demands an urgent response. This response and the circumstances necessitated a leadership change.” Historic blazes, the largest of any recorded fire season, have devastated Oregon in the past week, incinerating entire rural towns and killing at least seven people. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s wife solicited help from State Department employees to write her personal holiday cards and asked them to keep the request hush-hush, per emails obtained by the Kansas City Star and McClatchy. The exchange is the first documented instance of the Pompeos asking their government employees to help with personal business. The couple has been accused of misuse of government resources, which is the subject of ongoing inquiry by the State Department inspector general’s office. Using her personal email, Susan Pompeo wrote to Toni Porter, the Secretary of State’s adviser and his former aide from his tenure as a Kansas congressman. “I’m wondering if we are sending the last of our personal cards out, who will be there to help me,” Pompeo asked Porter, who then forwarded the email to Lisa Kenna, a State Department executive secretary. “I’d worry about asking others for personal things,” Kenna replied, volunteering to help with the cards.

What could possibly have provoked this? President Donald Trump has gone on a rant at the NFL, calling football “boring as hell” at the end of a weekend of player protests against racism and police brutality. All 22 players on the field at the start of Sunday’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Atlanta Falcons took a knee in protest against racial injustice, and some teams remained in locker rooms during the pregame playing of the national anthem. At an ill-advised packed indoor rally in Henderson, Nevada on Sunday night, Trump said: “Football’s boring as hell. It’s just not the same, right?” Last week, Trump’s son Eric tweeted that “Football is officially dead” after Dallas Cowboys players were given the green light to protest racism.

The two Los Angeles County deputies who were shot in what authorities have described as an ambush attack are expected to survive their injuries, according to Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Video of the incident appears to show an individual in dark clothes walking up to the deputies’ car, unloading a gun into it, and running away. “It looks like they’re going to be able to recover,” said the sheriff on Sunday afternoon. He added: “We’ll see what the long-term impact is. We don’t know that yet, but they survived the worst.” The deputies have not been identified by name, but are reported to be a 31-year-old mother and a 24-year-old man. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to capture of the shooter, who has not been identified. Both President Donald Trump and election rival Joe Biden have condemned the shooting.