DOWNTOWN Calgary in Alberta, Canada (WIiipedia).

Air pollution from Canadian wildfires continues to blanket the eastern and midwestern United States.

The Associated Press reports that more than 400 fires have forced over 20,000 to evacuate and the smoke from them has reached as far south as North Carolina.

The smoke has forced the cancellation of three big theater productions in New York City and two Major League Baseball games, according to The New York Times. People in affected areas have taken to putting on masks as they did during the coronavirus pandemic.

The New York state government has announced it had a million N95-style masks available for free in New York City and across the state.

House conservatives in control

U.S. CAPITOL, seat of Congress (Shutterstock).

Control of the floor of the U.S House of Representatives remains with “hard-right” Republicans protesting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt limit deal with President Joe Biden.

They allied with Democrats to defeat a procedural motion allowing legislation to advance, and most activity in the lower house of Congress has ground to a halt.

McCarthy conceded there was “a little chaos going on” but promised to get his party to act with unity soon.

Also in the news … Lionel Messi, considered by many to be the best soccer player in the world, has signed a contract to play with Inter Miami, a member of Major League Soccer in the U.S.

Sports: Reds beat Dodgers; Angels over Cubs

The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered their fourth consecutive defeat on Wednesday, losing 8-6 to the Cincinnati Reds and falling two games back in the National League West race.

Will Benson’s two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth gave the home team a walk-off victory, breaking a 6-6 tie that lasted since the third inning.

The Reds outhit the Blue Crew 13-8. although the visitors got home runs from Mookie Betts (16th), Miguel Vargas (sixth) and Will Smith (ninth). Going deep for Cincy were Tyler Stephenson (fourth) and Benson.

With the loss, the Dodgers are 35-27 and trail the first place Arizona Diamondbacks (37-25) who have won eight of their last 10 games.

The Reds and Dodgers will meet again on Thursday.

In Anaheim, the Los Angeles Angels beat the Chicago Cubs 6-2 for their third straight victory to improve to 33-30.

Weather: Clouds hanging in there

You won’t be able to work on your tan in our West Orange County area for a while. Clouds will remain in the sky for the next couple of weeks. The forecast for Thursday is for partly cloudy conditions with a daytime high of 73 and an overnight low of 59. Friday will see the start of a cooling trend with mostly cloudy skies and a high of 70 (61). Saturday is cloudy with a drop to 68 (61).