Evacuations ordered in rural Texas as wildfire mushrooms within hours

Evacuations were being ordered Tuesday in rural Texas where a wildfire has ballooned in size, burning through ranchland and forcing schools to delay or cancel classes.

The fire that began early Monday afternoon has ripped through more than 78 square miles (200 square kilometers) across lightly populated areas in two counties in north central Texas.

Perfect fire conditions allowed the fire to shoot up in a matter of hours, said officials with Palo Pinto County’s emergency services district. “We’ve thrown everything at this, and we’re still having minimal effect,” said Danny Watkins, the fire chief.

Wildfires have been popping up across the South and western U.S. in recent days as extremely dry conditions persist. A dozen new large fires were reported on Sunday alone, the National Interagency Fire Center said.

Nationwide, there have been more than 50,000 wildfires so far this year, the most over the past 10 years covering the same time period, according to the center.

Firefighters in Nevada were making progress in slowing a fire that forced thousands to evacuate in Reno over the weekend after flames spread dangerously close to densely populated neighborhoods.

The Hawk Fire has destroyed more than 30 homes across about 23 square miles (60 square kilometers). Authorities in Nevada said on Monday that the fire was 27% contained.

The number of residents in the Reno area under evacuation orders and warnings dropped to about 63,000, down from more than 90,000 people. The fire near the California state line began Saturday and rapidly grew in size on Sunday. At least seven people — three first responders and four civilians — were injured.

Fire officials in Reno blame human activity for the Hawk Fire, saying it was either intentionally set or accidental.

In Texas, the Ross Fire was only slightly contained as it churned through ranchland about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Fort Worth. At least five structures have been destroyed, according to officials in Palo Pinto County.

Authorities opened evacuation centers and some schools were closed Tuesday. Ranchers and a livestock commission were offering barns to temporarily hold animals that need to be evacuated.

Emergency officials expect the fire to keep growing Tuesday as temperatures increase through the day.

This image taken from video shows active wildfires Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Reno, Nevada. (Tim Walton via AP)

This image taken from video shows plumes of smoke rising from active wildfires Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Reno, Nevada. (Tim Walton via AP)

This image taken from video shows active wildfires Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Reno, Nevada. (Tim Walton via AP)

This photo shows Crystal Hallock's property on Aug. 23, 2026, in northwest Reno, Nevada, after the Hawk Fire destroyed her home. (Brenda Means via AP)

This image taken from video shows a charred neighborhood following wildfires Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Reno, Nevada. (Tim Walton via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to overturn her sex trafficking conviction and be freed from prison was rejected by a federal judge Tuesday who said the claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate that new evidence had emerged were “demonstrably meritless.”

Maxwell filed a habeas petition last December seeking to set aside her conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence, claiming exonerating information was withheld and false testimony presented at her trial, resulting in a “complete miscarriage of justice.”

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer rejected her arguments, saying in his written ruling they “all or almost all are frivolous” and that she had presented nothing that could upend the outcome of her trial.

“Nearly all its claims are procedurally barred; the overwhelming testimonial and documentary evidence adduced at trial conclusively established her guilt; and her petition’s claims are demonstrably meritless, and generally based on speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods,” Engelmayer wrote.

A request for comment was sent to lawyers who represented Maxwell in the past.

Habeas petitions are often filed as a last resort and to protect against unlawful confinement after appeals are exhausted, as happened after Maxwell’s conviction and sentencing.

Epstein, a millionaire financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. Ordered detained until trial, he was found dead in his cell at a New York federal jail in August 2019 and his death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell, a British socialite, was arrested a year later and was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021. She was moved from a Florida prison to a prison camp in Texas last year, shortly after she was interviewed by the Justice Department’s then second-in-command, Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's former criminal defense attorney and now U.S. attorney general.

The judge noted that many of Maxwell's claims of “new evidence” stem from documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

As a result of that law, the Justice Department over the last eight months has released 18 categories of investigative materials gathered in the massive sex trafficking probe, including search warrants, financial records, notes from interviews with victims and data from electronic devices.

Engelmayer said that material is “largely irrelevant to the charges against Maxwell and does not support her claims of error.”

“On the contrary, to the extent it is relevant, far from exculpating her, it incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges,” he wrote.

The judge also rejected Maxwell's claim that she was selectively prosecuted and made a “scapegoat” when the Justice Department did not indict four co-conspirators named in a government document or 25 men who settled with victims.

Engelmayer said she could have raised that claim on appeal after her trial, but he found it to be frivolous nonetheless.

Among the recently released Justice Department documents, “she does not cite any that reveals the existence of an uncharged confederate, let alone one as instrumental as she in facilitating Epstein’s horrific crimes,” the judge said.

FILE - Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during a news conference in New York on July 2, 2020. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)