A person has been killed in a wildfire burning in the Colorado foothills as numerous blazes torch large areas around the western United States.

Authorities say embers from a smoldering scrap wood fire outside a home and a sparking power line separately caused a Colorado wildfire fanned by high winds that destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and left two people dead.

The New Orleans Saints will have eight coaches unable to attend Sunday’s road game against the Panthers because of positive COVID-19 tests.

(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas district judge on Friday upheld an order from El Paso County’s top elected official shutting down businesses while the region fights an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases. The state reported 540 confirmed coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours. ___TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas added a record-setting 5,418 new coronavirus cases over two days as hospitals warned that staffing was being seriously strained. ___PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo authorities ordered a weekend lockdown following a spike in daily coronavirus cases. Russia’s tally of confirmed coronavirus cases — currently the fourth largest in the world —has exceeded 1.7 million following a quick spread of contagion since September.

BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, Fla. – A South Florida police officer who had been on administrative leave amid allegations that he violated his agency's social media policy has been reinstated. Bay Harbor Islands Police Department Cpl. Pablo Lima was restored to full duty Thursday, Town Manager J.C. Jimenez said in a statement. An internal affairs investigation concluded that Lima didn’t violate department policy when he chose to “like” several comments to a social media post that his wife, Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub, shared on her public page. “I further find that Corporal Lima was expressing his First Amendment rights showing support for his wife,” Lt. Curtis Johnson wrote in his close-out memorandum.