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Harris bolsters White House and campaign staffing as race enters final stretch
Vice President Kamala Harris continues to build out a national presidential campaign, but is also staffing up at the White House amid a crush of press inquiries in the wake of her unexpected presidential bid.
Her office is bringing on Nate Evans, a veteran of her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, as a senior communications adviser. He is on detail from his most recent post as principal senior adviser for strategy and communications for Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Before his time with the U.S. mission at the U.N., he was a deputy chief of staff for Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and served on Harris’ 2020 campaign as head of rapid response and as New Hampshire communications director.
Kirsten Allen, Harris’ communications director, and Ernie Apreza, her press secretary, will remain in their roles at the White House.
A growing press and communications team continues to build out at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, led by communications director Michael Tyler and Brian Fallon, a senior communications adviser to Harris who is most notably responsible for crafting her daily message and negotiating with television networks about presidential debates and interview requests.
They have been joined by a handful of White House staff in recent weeks, including Ian Sams, who until last month handled press inquiries for the Biden administration regarding Republican congressional oversight investigations and the special counsel probe of President Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents that was eventually closed without prosecution.
While Harris is expected to primarily focus on campaign-related activities in the closing seven weeks before Election Day, she does still attend to official duties, including attending events Wednesday to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She also attends high-level national security briefings at the White House.
With Congress negotiating a short-term spending agreement and working through dozens of final Biden nominations, there’s always a chance she could be summoned to Capitol Hill to cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.