Firefighters make progress in California

LOS ANGELES—Firefighters combating one of the biggest blazes in California history have been making head way, officials said Wednesday, but they warned that with gusty winds forecast, the region still faced the risk of “extreme fire behavior” through Friday.

The wildfires burning throughthe region in and around Los Angeles have consumed swaths of Southern California since last week, destroying more than 1,000buildings — most of them single-family residences— and threatening thousand smore.

Ventura County fire officials said Wednesday morning that firefighters responding to the Thomas Fire reported “good progress” overnight.But even as authorities said the blaze was 25 percent contained, it had still grown to expand across more than 370square miles. Evacuation orders for several areas have been lifted.

Hayek accuses Weinstein

NEWYORK — Actress Salma Hayek told Harvey Weinstein “no” countless times as he badgered her at various hotel rooms — and even once threatened to kill her.

The actress revealed in an op-ed piece for the New York Times on Wednesday the harassment she endured for years at the hands of Mr. Weinstein. Ms. Hayek, now 51, did not detail specific encounters with Mr. Weinstein, but glazed over the different things she said “no” to when asked by the disgraced film honcho.

Ms. Hayek joins more than 80 women who have accused Mr. Weinstein of harassment or sexual misconduct. Rose McGowan and Asia Argento both have accused him of rape.

Senator commits suicide

FRANKFORT, Ky.— Dan Johnson, a Republican state lawmaker in Kentucky knownfor inflammatory Facebook posts comparing Barack and Michelle Obama to monkeys and who defiantly denied allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in the basement of his home, killed himself Wednesday.He was 57.

Bullitt County Sheriff Donnie Tinnell said Johnson shot himself.

Also in the nation ...

In a brief court appearance held via videoconference from a hospital room, Akayed Ullah, the Brooklyn man accused of detonating a homemade pipe bomb inside a crowded subway tunnel in Manhattan, was ordered held without bail Wednesday. ... Longtime talk show host Tavis Smiley has been indefinitely suspended from PBS amid “troubling” allegations he sexually harassed staffers and retaliated against those who rebuffed him.