to take up the case.

“It seems like when you’ve seen the worst, you haven’t yet,” Wiley said. “Anything we can do helps.”The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit

“With Leo XIV, it’s clear he not only loves America, but he even loves the White Sox,” Pecknold said via email. “That can only have a good effect, not only upon American Catholics, but also American bishops, and indeed, everyone. It’s good to feel like the pope is on your side.”During the latter years of Francis’ papacy, one of the most divisive issues among U.S. bishops was whether Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights — including then-President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — should be barred from receiving Communion.Francis stressed he would not reject politicians who support abortion rights and Biden received Communion during a visit to Rome in 2021.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, whoin the archdiocese, described Leo as a “bridge builder.”

“He will be a good force for unity in the church,” Cordileone told KPIX-TV in San Francisco. “Even with differences of opinion and different ideas of strategy and so forth, we can have unity in the church.”

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican and outspoken abortion opponent, took heart from a homily delivered early this year by Leo when he was Cardinal Robert Prevost. The passage cited by Smith: “God’s mercy calls us to protect every life, especially those society overlooks — the child yet to be born and the elderly nearing their journey’s end — because each bears Christ’s face.”In some cases, the municipal systems needed to fill Heli-Hydrants could go empty during major fires. As the

in Los Angeles burned, three 1-million gallon tanks that helped pressurize city hydrants in the Pacific Palisades ran dry as demand soared and burning pipes leaked water.Other times, helicopters just can’t access them. When winds are fierce, flying is nearly impossible; hurricane-force winds that supercharged the Los Angeles infernos initially grounded firefighting aircraft. When multiple helicopters respond to large blazes, they can’t all use the Heli-Hydrant. And smoke can make it hard to see it.

Portable water tanks can accomplish some of the things that Heli-Hydrants do, but can require time, people and equipment to set up.Glenn Chavez sets the distance for which a helicopter pilot can remotely turn on a Heli-Hydrant, a small, open tank that helicopters can rely on to get water faster for urban fires, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Cabazon, Calif. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)