A total of 15 students grades five to eight from south Butte County schools presented projects Saturday for the Oroville Kiwanis Science Fair at the Oroville Convention Center

Jenna Fairbanks, student at Ishi Hills Middle School, presented for her second year and this time asked — which tastes better: homemade caramel popcorn, or five different store-bought popcorns?

Polling 41 of her neighbors, Fairbanks brought popcorn to their doorstep and analyzed her data.

“My hypothesis was that the homemade one would be the better one … No. 6, the homemade one, was the favorite,” Fairbanks said.

After all, Fairbanks made it herself.

“We made promises to bring them caramel popcorn,” said Anna Fairbanks, her mother.

Oroville Kiwanis organizer Laurie Sousa said the students spent their extra time outside of school for this science fair.

Sousa said the Oroville Kiwanis began the science fair in 2023 as something to do to serve the community, in light that their popular Hooked On Fishing ended.

“This isn’t a teacher thing — this is parents helping out. They’re not getting a grade on it unless the school wants to do something like that,” Sousa said. “Our focus is community.”

Students conducted bona fide research analyses of their hypothesis and results — which apple variety rots quickest; which mouthwash best kills germs, among others.

And, yes, the classic volcano was brilliantly demonstrated by student Lilliana Carrasco-Scruby of Ophir Elementary School.

Students in attendance were from Ophir Elementary School, Oroville Christian School, St. Thomas Catholic School and Lake View Charter School attended the fair, hosted by the Oroville Kiwanis in partnership with Cal Water and the Oroville YMCA.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Facing public pressure to get in vitro fertilization services restarted, Alabama lawmakers moved closer to approving protections for fertility clinics that shut down after a state court ruled that frozen embryos are the legal equivalent of children.

Both chambers of the Alabama Legislature advanced bills Thursday that would shield clinics from prosecution and civil lawsuits. Each bill now moves to the opposite chamber for debate. Bill sponsor Rep. Terri Collins said they are aiming to get the measure approved and to the governor on Wednesday.

“This would at least keep the clinics open and the families moving forward,” Collins said. She described the legislation as a temporary fix while lawmakers weigh if additional action is needed.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in mid-February that three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a storage facility could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.” The ruling, treating an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful death statute, raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics. Three major providers announced a pause on IVF services.

Republicans’ proposal focused on lawsuit protections instead of attempting to address the legal status of embryos. The legislation would shield providers from prosecution and civil lawsuits related to the “damage to or death of an embryo” during IVF services.

The bills advanced with broad bipartisan support. Representatives voted 94-6 for the proposal, and state senators voted 32-0 for it.

Some Republicans said they want to consider future restriction on what happens to unused embryos.

Republican Rep. Ernie Yarbrough of Trinity tried unsuccessfully to put an amendment on the bill that would prohibit clinics from intentionally discarding embryos that are unused or after genetic testing.

Republican Rep. Mark Gidley of Hokes Bluff said he wants lawmakers to consider putting regulation on fertility clinics.

“This is what is important to me and a lot of members of this House. Understand, that once that is fertilized, it begins to grow, even though it may not be in a woman’s uterus,” Gidley said.A Democratic lawmaker said the state, which has a stringent abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, has spent too much time interfering with the decisions of women.

“I am so tired of folks telling me as a female in Alabama what I’m going to do with my own body. It’s time that we stop this,” Democratic Rep. Barbara Drummond of Mobile said. She said a woman texted her this morning asking if the state would take “custody” and responsibility of her frozen embryos if they are now considered children.

Democrats in the Alabama Senate had unsuccessfully tried to amend the bill to state that a human embryo outside a uterus can not be considered an unborn child or human being under state law. Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, a Democrat from Birmingham, said that was the most direct way to deal with the issue. Republicans blocked the amendment from coming up for a vote.

In their ruling, Alabama justices cited anti-abortion language added to the Alabama Constitution in 2018, saying Alabama recognizes and protects the “rights of unborn children.” The constitutional amendment was approved by 59% of Alabama voters.

Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, said lawmakers may be able to provide a temporary solution through legislation but a long-term solution must address the 2018 constitutional amendment, which he said essentially established “personhood” for embryos.

“There are far-reaching ramifications of personhood,” England said.

More than 200 IVF patients filled the Statehouse on Wednesday pressuring lawmakers to get IVF services restarted in the state. They showed lawmakers babies created through IVF treatment or described how the ruling halted their path to parenthood.

LeeLee Ray underwent eight miscarriages, one ectopic pregnancy and multiple surgeries before turning to surrogacy in hopes of having a child. She and her husband found a surrogate through a matching program, but now can’t have their embryos transferred to her and are unable to move their embryos out of state.

“I’m just frustrated. We had a light at the end of the tunnel,” Ray said Wednesday.

Family physician and public health specialist Dr. George Rust has warned some of his colleagues about a potential measles outbreak in Florida “for at least the past year,” he said, because of the rise in vaccine hesitancy in pockets of the community.

Now, his fears have come true.

The Florida Department of Health in Broward County is investigating six cases of measles as part of an outbreak at an elementary school in Weston. Two additional cases in children younger than 10 were reported by the Florida Department of Health, raising the county total to eight. Broward County Public Schools said the total within the district remains at six.

Statewide, “most kids in our public schools have had the vaccine, although there’s been some slippage in that in recent years. The kids who are not vaccinated, if they’re exposed to measles, 90% of them will get measles. So it’s a highly infectious disease, very contagious,” said Rust, a professor in the Florida State University College of Medicine and director of the university’s Center for Medicine and Public Health, who provides medical expertise to local public health departments.

On Tuesday, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo wrote in a letter to parents and guardians about the outbreak that it is “normally recommended” for people who have been exposed to measles and who are not vaccinated against the virus or who do not have a history of infection to stay home for up to 21 days, the length of the incubation period for measles. However, his letter leaves that up to choice.

The state health department is “deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance,” Ladapo wrote.

The letter contradicts guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which states that “unvaccinated children, including those who have a medical or other exemption to vaccination, must be excluded from school through 21 days after their most recent exposure.”

So, “there’s the possibility that children who are not immunized and who are susceptible to measles are attending school, potentially getting measles and then transmitting it to other kids,” Rust said. “Now, you’ve, on the one hand, allowed parents to make their own choices for the child who was not immunized, but you’ve also taken away some choices for those parents who may feel that their children should be protected.”

He added that “most public health experts” would agree that excluding unvaccinated children from the classroom during a measles outbreak protects that child from infection while reducing the risk of the virus spreading.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that can lead to complications and turn deadly, according to the CDC. Symptoms may include fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and a rash of red spots. In rare cases, it may lead to pneumonia, encephalitis or death. Measles also can weaken the immune system and may “delete” its immune memory.

“The CDC recommendations are telling us the right thing to do,” Rust said. “For the parents, keep your kid at home if they’re not immunized, and maybe go get them immunized.”

Experts recommend that children get the measles, mumps and rubella or MMR vaccine in two doses: the first between 12 months and 15 months of age, and a second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is about 93% effective at preventing measles if you come into contact with the virus. Two doses are about 97% effective.

Nationwide, about 92% of US children have gotten the MMR vaccine by age 2, according to a 2023 report from the CDC – below the federal target of 95%.

“Local transmission of measles had been largely eliminated in the US, but we see sporadic outbreaks, especially when immunization levels drop even a little bit,” Rust said.

“If a susceptible person travels overseas and comes in contact with measles, they can bring it back into our communities and transmit it to others while they are still asymptomatic,” he said. “Measles is highly contagious – 90% of unvaccinated people who are exposed are likely to catch it – but vaccinated people are 97% protected.”

The measles virus can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes, lingering in the air for up to two hours after they leave a room.

Cases have emerged in several states this year. As of Thursday, 35 measles cases have been reported by 15 jurisdictions: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, according to the CDC. In comparison, a total of 58 cases were reported for all of last year.

“We have had scattered cases throughout the years in those who are unvaccinated. Recently, we know from the Louisiana Department of Health that two individuals, both of whom were unvaccinated and had traveled out of state, have been diagnosed with measles in the Greater New Orleans Area,” Dr. Katherine Baumgarten, the system medical director for infection control and prevention at Ochsner Health in New Orleans, wrote in an email Friday.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen a decrease in the overall vaccination rate for measles as well as other diseases. This is very concerning and can most likely be attributed to children falling behind on the scheduled childhood vaccines through the recent pandemic and overall vaccine hesitancy in recent years,” she said. “With the decrease in vaccination rate, the highly contagious measles virus has reappeared and could spread through the general public among those unvaccinated.”

CNN’s Carlos Suarez contributed to this report.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump said Friday that he would “strongly support the availability of IVF” and called on lawmakers in Alabama to preserve access to the procedure. It was his first comments after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that led some providers to suspend in vitro fertilization treatments and has divided many Republicans nationally over the issue.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social network, said: “Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families. We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder!”

The comments come after a ruling by the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. Since then, several clinics in the state have announced pauses on IVF services.

As president, Trump nominated three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, paving the way for dramatic restrictions in access to abortion across the country.

Some anti-abortion advocates have suggested courts should go further to rule embryos are children, which would sharply ramp up restrictions on treatments like IVF.

NBA champion and “Survivor” contestant Scot Pollard is “awake and feeling great” a day after a heart transplant, his wife said Saturday on social media.

“Scot has a new heart!” Dawn Pollard posted Friday night on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Surgery went well and I’ve been told the heart is big, powerful and is a perfect fit! Now on to the crucial part of recovery.”

She posted an update Saturday, writing: “Look who’s awake and is feeling great! Breathing tube came out early this morning and he started cracking jokes and singing, ‘I left my heart in San Fran-Nashville.’ We are all amazed at Scot’s recovery so far!”

Pollard, who turned 49 on Monday, needed a transplant because of damage to his heart from a virus he caught in 2021 that likely triggered a genetic condition he has known about since it killed his father at 54, when Scot was 16. Pollard’s size complicated efforts to find a donor with a heart big enough to fit his 6-foot-11, 260-pound body.

Earlier Friday, Dawn Pollard posted that a heart had been found.

“It’s go time!” she posted on X. “Please keep the prayers coming for Scot, the surgeons, for the donor and his family who lost their loved one. This donor gave the most amazing gift of life and we are forever grateful.”

Pollard retired after that season, then dabbled in broadcasting and acting. He was a contestant on the 32nd season of “Survivor,” where he was voted out on Day 27 with eight castaways remaining.

Pollard went public with his condition last month and began the process of listing himself at transplant centers. He was admitted to intensive care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Feb. 7.

“I’m staying here until I get a heart,” he said in a text message to The Associated Press from his hospital room in Nashville, Tennessee. “My heart got weaker. (Doctors) agree this is my best shot at getting a heart quicker.”

Officials in central Oregon this week reported a case of bubonic plague in a resident who likely got the disease from a sick pet cat.

The infected resident, the cat, and the resident’s close contacts have all been provided medication, public health officials say, and people in the community are not believed to be at risk.Plague isn’t common, but it also isn’t unheard of in the western United States, where a handful of cases occur every year. It’s different from Alaskapox, a rare, recently discovered disease that killed a man in Fairbanks, Alaska, last month.

Here are a few things to know about what the plague is, who is at risk and how a disease that was once a harbinger of death became a treatable illness.

What is plague?

Plague is an infectious disease that can affect mammals. It’s caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is carried by rodents and fleas. Sunlight and drying can kill plague bacteria on surfaces, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Humans and pets suspected to be sick with plague are typically treated with antibiotics, and sometimes with other medical measures.

Plague symptoms can manifest in a few ways. Bubonic plague — the kind contracted by the Oregon resident — happens when the plague bacteria gets into the lymph nodes. It can cause fever, headache, weakness and painful, swollen lymph nodes. It usually happens from the bite of an infected flea, according to the CDC.

Septicemic plague symptoms happen if the bacteria gets into the bloodstream. It can occur initially or after bubonic plague goes untreated. This form of plague causes the same fever, chills and weakness, as well as abdominal pain, shock and sometimes other symptoms like bleeding into the skin and blackened fingers, toes or the nose. The CDC says this form comes from flea bites or from handling an infected animal.

Pneumonic plague is the most serious form of the disease, and it occurs when the bacteria gets into the lungs. Pneumonic plague adds rapidly developing pneumonia to the list of plague symptoms. It is the only form of plague that can be spread from person to person by inhaling infectious droplets.

All forms of plague are treatable with common antibiotics, and people who seek treatment early have a better chance of a full recovery, according to the CDC.

Am I at risk of plague?

In the U.S., an average of 7 cases of human plague is reported each year, according to the CDC, and about 80% of them are the bubonic form of the disease. Most of those cases were in the rural western and southwestern U.S.

A welder in central Oregon contracted it in 2012 when he pulled a rodent out of his choking cat’s mouth in 2012 — he survived but lost his fingertips and toes to the disease. A Colorado teen contracted a fatal case while hunting in 2015, and Colorado officials confirmed at least two cases last year — one of them fatal.

Worldwide, most human cases of plague in recent decades have occurred in people living in rural towns and villages in Africa, particularly in Madagascar and Congo, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

People can reduce the risk of plague by keeping their homes and outdoor living areas less inviting for rodents by clearing brush and junk piles and keeping pet food inaccessible. Ground squirrels, chipmunks and wood rats can carry plague as well as other rodents, and so people with bird and squirrel feeders may want to consider the risks if they live in areas with a plague outbreak.

The CDC says repellent with DEET can also help protect people from rodent fleas when camping or working outdoors.

Flea control products can help keep fleas from infecting household pets. If a pet gets sick, they should be taken to a vet as soon as possible, according to the CDC.

Isn’t plague from the Middle Ages?

The Black Death in the 14th century was perhaps the most infamous plague epidemic, killing up to half of the population as it spread through Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa. It began devastating communities in the Middle East and Europe between 1347 and 1351, and significant outbreaks continued for roughly the next 400 years.

An earlier major plague pandemic, dubbed the Justinian plague, started in Rome around 541 and continued to erupt for the next couple hundred years.

The third major plague pandemic started in the Yunnan region of China in the mid-1800s and spread along trade routes, arriving in Hong Kong and Bombay about 40 years later. It eventually reached every continent except Antarctica, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and is estimated to have killed roughly 12 million people in China and India alone.

In the late 1800s, an effective treatment with an antiserum was developed. That treatment was later replaced by even more effective antibiotics a few decades later.

Though plague remains a serious illness, antibiotic and supportive therapy is effective for even the most dangerous pneumonic form when patients are treated in time, according to the World Health Organization.

WHITEFISH POINT, Mich. — Shipwreck hunters have discovered a merchant ship that sank in Lake Superior in 1940, taking its captain with it, during a storm off Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society and shipwreck researcher Dan Fountain announced Monday the discovery of the 244-foot (74-meter) bulk carrier Arlington in about 650 feet (200 meters) of water some 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula.

The Arlington left Port Arthur, Ontario, on April 30, 1940, fully loaded with wheat and headed to Owen Sound, Ontario, under the command of Captain Frederick “Tatey Bug” Burke, a veteran of the Great Lakes.

But as the Arlington and a larger freighter, the Collingwood, made their way across Lake Superior they encountered dense fog and then a storm after nightfall that battered both ships. The Arlington began to take on water.

The ship’s first mate ordered the Arlington onto a course to hug the Canadian North Shore, which would have provided some cover from wind and waves, but Burke countermanded and ordered his ship back onto a course across the open lake, the discoverers said.

Early on May 1, 1940, the Arlington began to sink and the ship’s chief engineer sounded the alarm. The crew, “out of fear for their lives, and without orders from Captain Burke,” began to abandon ship, they said in a statement.

All crew made it safely to the Collingwood except for Burke, who went down with the Arlington. Reports indicate he was last seen near its pilothouse, waving at the Collingwood, minutes before his ship vanished into the lake.

The shipwreck society said in the statement that “no one will ever know the answer” as to why Burke acted as he did before his ship was lost.

“It’s exciting to solve just one more of Lake Superior’s many mysteries, finding Arlington so far out in the lake,” Fountain said in a statement. “I hope this final chapter in her story can provide some measure of closure to the family of Captain Burke.”

The Arlington was discovered thanks to Fountain, a resident of Negaunee, Michigan, who has been conducting remote sensing in Lake Superior in search of shipwrecks for about a decade, said Bruce Lynn, executive director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.

Fountain approached the group with “a potential target” near the northern tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, and the Arlington was discovered last year. Lynn said.

“These targets don’t always amount to anything … but this time it absolutely was a shipwreck. A wreck with an interesting, and perhaps mysterious story,” he said in the statement. “Had Dan not reached out to us, we might never have located the Arlington.”

The forum, hosted by Smart Growth Advocates, gained a full house after rescheduling twice. Guests took pamphlets, paid for by campaign committee Stop Valley’s Edge urging residents to vote no on local Measure O and Measure P.

Maps of Chico, placed around the hall, highlighted areas of potential infill and special planning development — Valley’s Edge was marked with a red X.

Discussion was moderated by Chico State professor Mark Stemen. Panelists included Jared Geiser with Altacal Audubon Society, Chico Councilor Addison Winslow, retired nurse David Welch, Allen Harthorn with Friends of Butte Creek, Susan Tchudi with Smart Growth Advocates, Eric Nilsson, board chair at Inspire School of Arts and Sciences; Chico State professor Jackie Chase and attorney Marty Dunlap.

Arguments

Opponents gave their takes on potential environmental, traffic and fire consequences of development; and their opinions on possible alternatives to housing and commercial for the growing city.

Nilsson spoke about two components unavoidable to development of the area — greenhouse gas emissions, which he said the “sprawl development of this kind makes little sense” knowing emissions have a significant impact on climate change. Second, that habitat and aesthetics may be destroyed.

“This is Chico’s opportunity to preserve these 1,448 acres for the wellbeing of the entire community knowing we have the capacity to provide housing without the sprawled development that is Valley’s Edge,” Nilsson said.

Dunlap spoke about the alternative to Valley’s Edge: building on infill lots.

She said Chico’s projected housing needed through 2045 is 9,500 units, and that 9,400 can be built out excluding Valley’s Edge. Dunlap also argued most homes planned at Valley’s Edge will be too expensive to purchase for a median-income household in Chico — and that Chico’s listed need of 68% of all housing to be affordable won’t be met if only 6% of Valley’s Edge units are considered affordable.

“The proponents claim that Chico needs housing and that Valley’s Edge will have housing for every budget. We agree Chico needs housing, but we don’t agree on the primary type of housing Chico needs nor the location of the housing,” Dunlap said.

Winslow covered the topic of greenhouse gas emissions; that traffic emissions and paving over carbon sequestering grasslands impacts Chico’s targets for emission reductions. He said some houses are two miles away from the nearest commercial zone — and that low density around those commercial spaces means there will likely not be “neighborhood serving retail.”

Chase spoke about wildfire risk, stating she thinks the wildfire risk analysis on Valley’s Edge isn’t well done; that planners have chosen to overlook warnings from the insurance industry and fire researchers; and that residents and homeowners associations are assumed to be vigilant about keeping their areas fire safe.

“This project will destroy this buffer of land that could protect the city from spreading wildfire coming from forested areas,” Chase said.

Harthorn focused his time on Mima mounds, a rare type of ecosystem found between small watersheds consisting of a thick layer of damp soil growing much taller grasses than normal grasslands.

“They can’t build on the streams; they can’t take out all the trees … but they’re going to build on this land in between these little drainages,” Harthorn said. “We learned these areas are called Mima mounds … it’s something very few people know about. It’s a pretty impressive system that I think everyone needs to be aware of. This is something we can lose 100%.”

Geiser criticized a proponent’s claim that there will be 0% impact to endangered species. He spoke about the importance of preserving oak woodlands and the habitat they provide for other species; and how the disappearance of wildland in general leads to habitat loss.

Tchudi pleaded with Chico residents to look at Chico with “new eyes” and imaginative thinking, to look at empty lots like the former K-Mart building as opportunities to grow the city.

“Those abandoned buildings; those large asphalt areas that can be turned into livable spaces for diverse people who live in Chico,” Tchudi said. “This is the alternative to Valley’s Edge.”

Canceled

Before panelists began their plea, Dunlap and Stemen prefaced the circumstances of this panel discussion, which was canceled twice after attempts to hold it at Chico State. Also, the League of Women Voters was not able to host an impartial forum in the scheduled time.

Dunlap acknowledged the panel did not have representation by proponents for the Valley’s Edge Specific Plan. She said the Chico Chamber of Commerce held an online panel Jan. 16 with nine people in favor of Valley’s Edge, and upon her asking to participate in the discussion, was told it was too late to join and there was no more room. Winslow said his request was declined, too.

“As you heard, all the speakers on that panel supported the project. And that is fine. We all can gain a greater understanding with in-depth discussions like that and I encourage you to visit those websites and why they supported the project. The folks here tonight feel differently about the proposed development,” Stemen said. “Once again you must decide what you believe about the project yourself.”

Proponents of Valley’s Edge did not make themselves apparent Friday evening to make counterpoints or submit questions critical to panelists’ points, but a minority did attend.

Van Overbeek responds

Chico Councilor Tom van Overbeek, a proponent of Valley’s Edge, said by phone Saturday he sees opportunity costs in arguments made against the development. He said growth is unavoidable, not just in Chico, and that communities outside of Chico may very well be developed into urban sprawls that opponents aim to avoid. What would be a two-minute commute in Chico may turn into a 30-minute drive from Oroville, he said.

“The idea that it’s better for the environment to not build Valley’s Edge is nonsensical. Because those people are going to make longer commutes and we’re going to have more sprawl. Frankly, the arguments on the other side I’m struggling to understand,” van Overbeek said.

As far as habitat, van Overbeek said conservation is a “ridiculous” argument that was used when Cal Park was proposed for development. He said climate mitigation can be achieved by having shorter car trips to Chico — not driving from far away.

“People are going to live somewhere. There’s a question of where they live there in Valley’s Edge where it’s contiguous to existing developments or they live 10 or 15 miles away,” van Overbeek said. “The same issue — they need space to live. That’s just the reality of life.”

Van Overbeek said he agrees infill should be developed and thinks it’s a great idea, but that building infill lots and homes at Valley’s Edge aren’t mutually exclusive. All housing development types are needed to meet housing demand in the very long term, van Overbeek said, and developing infill has its own challenges like finding suitable land.

“We either try to plan for the future or we just let it happen to us,” he said. “The difference between building Valley’s Edge, which is a plan for the next 30 or 40 years to accommodate some of the growth that happens here, and the opponents — we just throw up our hands and we’ll figure it out as we go along. That’s not how you ensure the future of your town.”

HONOLULU — A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the world’s largest active volcano on Friday — Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii — knocking items off shelves and cutting power in a nearby town but not immediately prompting reports of serious damage.

The earthquake, which didn’t cause a tsunami and which the U.S. Geological Survey initially reported as magnitude 6.3, was centered on Mauna Loa’s southern flank at a depth of 23 miles (37 kilometers), 1.3 miles (2 kilometers) southwest of Pahala.

“It shook us bad to where it wobbled some knees a little bit,” said Derek Nelson, the manager of the Kona Canoe Club restaurant in the oceanside community of Kona, on the island’s western side. “It shook all the windows in the village.”

There was a power outage affecting about 300 customers in Naalehu that appeared to be related to the earthquake, said Darren Pai, spokesperson for Hawaiian Electric Company.

The earthquake struck after 10 a.m. local time, less than two hours before a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.6 shook Southern California.

Mauna Loa last erupted in late 2022. It’s one of five volcanoes that make up the Big Island, which is the southernmost in the Hawaiian archipelago.

Earthquakes can occur in Hawaii for a variety of reasons, including magma moving under the surface. In Friday’s case, scientists believe the likely cause was the weight of the Hawaiian Islands bending and stressing the Earth’s crust and upper mantle.

That’s what caused a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck off Kiholo Bay on the Big Island’s northwest coast in 2006. That temblor damaged roads and buildings and knocked out power as far away as Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) to the north.

The observatory said Friday’s earthquake didn’t affect either Mauna Loa or a neighboring volcano, Kilauea.

Jessica Ferracane, a spokesperson at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, said there was no apparent damage to its roads or visitor centers. Earthquakes are not uncommon, she said, but this one was “much more intense” than usual.

The Hawaiian Islands have been built by successive volcanic eruptions over millions of years. The vast majority of earthquakes in Hawaii occur on and around the Big Island. About once every 1.5 years, there is an earthquake in the state that is magnitude 5 or greater, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

The Big Island is mostly rural and hosts cattle ranches, coffee farms and resort hotels. But it also has a few small cities, including the county seat of Hilo, population 45,000.

Friday’s earthquake could be felt in Honolulu. Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth was at a cardiologist appointment there and initially thought he was experiencing side effects from a procedure: “All of a sudden I felt like I was getting dizzy.”

He said he immediately got on the phone with his emergency management officials when he realized it was an earthquake, and that he was heading to the Honolulu airport to try to get an earlier flight back.

Grace Tabios, the owner of Will and Grace Filipino Variety Store in Naalehu, said the shaking knocked down her husband, who was working at their coffee farm in Pahala. At the store, jars of mayonnaise and medicine from the Philippines fell off the shelves.

“Some things fell down but didn’t break,” Tabios said.

Associated Press writers Mark Thiessen in Anchorage and Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.

A handful of super powerful tropical storms in the last decade and the prospect of more to come has a couple of experts proposing a new category of whopper hurricanes: Category 6.

Studies have shown that the strongest tropical storms are getting more intense because of climate change. So the traditional five-category Saffir-Simpson scale, developed more than 50 years ago, may not show the true power of the most muscular storms, two climate scientists suggest in a Monday study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They propose a sixth category for storms with winds that exceed 192 miles per hour (309 kilometers per hour).

Currently, storms with winds of 157 mph (252 kilometers per hour) or higher are Category 5. The study’s authors said that open-ended grouping doesn’t warn people enough about the higher dangers from monstrous storms that flirt with 200 mph (322 kph) or higher.

Several experts told The Associated Press they don’t think another category is necessary. They said it could even give the wrong signal to the public because it’s based on wind speed, while water is by far the deadliest killer in hurricanes.

Since 2013, five storms — all in the Pacific — had winds of 192 mph or higher that would have put them in the new category, with two hitting the Philippines. As the world warms, conditions grow more ripe for such whopper storms, including in the Gulf of Mexico, where many storms that hit the United States get stronger, the study authors said.

“Climate change is making the worst storms worse,” said study lead author Michael Wehner, a climate scientist at the Lawrence Berkley National Lab.

It’s not that there are more storms because of climate change. But the strongest are more intense. The proportion of major hurricanes among all storms is increasing and it’s because of warmer oceans, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy, who wasn’t part of the research.

From time to time, experts have proposed a Category 6, especially since Typhoon Haiyan reached 195 mph wind speeds (315 kilometers per hour) over the open Pacific. But Haiyan “does not appear to be an isolated case,” the study said.

Storms of sufficient wind speed are called hurricanes if they form east of the international dateline, and typhoons if they form to the west of the line. They’re known as cyclones in the Indian Ocean and Australia.

The five storms that hit 192 mph winds or more are:

— 2013’s Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in the Philippines.

— 2015’s Hurricane Patricia, which hit 215 mph (346 kph) before weakening and hitting Jalisco, Mexico.

— 2016’s Typhoon Meranti, which reached 195 mph before skirting the Philippines and Taiwan and making landfall in China.

— 2020’s Typhoon Goni, which reached 195 mph before killing dozens in the Philippines as a weaker storm.

— 2021’s Typhoon Surigae, which also reached 195 mph before weakening and skirting several parts of Asia and Russia.

If the world sticks with just five storm categories “as these storms get stronger and stronger it will more and more underestimate the potential risk,” said study co-author Jim Kossin, a former NOAA climate and hurricane researcher now with First Street Foundation.

Pacific storms are stronger because there’s less land to weaken them and more room for storms to grow more intense, unlike the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, Kossin said.

So far no Atlantic storm has reached the 192 mph potential threshold, but as the world warms more the environment for such a storm grows more conducive, Kossin and Wehner said.

Wehner said that as temperatures rise, the number of days with conditions ripe for potential Category 6 storms in the Gulf of Mexico will grow. Now it’s about 10 days a year where the environment could be right for a Category 6, but that could go up to a month if the globe heats to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. That would make an Atlantic Category 6 much more likely.

MIT hurricane expert Kerry Emanuel said Wehner and Kossin “make a strong case for changing the scale,” but said it’s unlikely to happen because authorities know most hurricane damage comes from storm surge and other flooding.

Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center, said when warning people about storms his office tries “to steer the focus toward the individual hazards, which include storm surge, wind, rainfall, tornadoes and rip currents, instead of the particular category of the storm, which only provides information about the hazard from wind. Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale already captures ‘catastrophic damage’ from wind so it’s not clear there would be a need for another category even if the storms were to get stronger.”

McNoldy, former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Craig Fugate, and University of Albany atmospheric sciences professor Kristen Corbosiero all say they don’t see the necessity for a sixth and stronger storm category.

“Perhaps I’ll change my tune when a rapidly intensifying storm in the Gulf achieves a Category 6,” Corbosiero said in an email.