VIRUS OUTBREAK NBA FINALS Stuttgart steps up virus Scientists say virus may Lakers defeat Heat restrictions after spike stay on touch screens, in Game 6 to capture puts city on red alert banknotes for weeks record-tying 17th title Page 4 Page 5 Back page US hits Taliban with airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Helmand province » Page 3 stripes.com Volume 79, No. 127 ©SS 2020 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2020 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas Barrett Senate confirmation hearings begin Republicans praise nominee as Democrats cast judge as a threat to ‘Obamacare’ Page 7 Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett is sworn in during a confirmation hearing Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. PATRICK SEMANSKY / AP First monument honoring military women at Arlington to be unveiled BY NIKKI WENTLING said Phyllis Wilson, president of ors all military women. Stars and Stripes the Women in Military Service The monument, titled The for America Memorial Founda- Pledge, will be unveiled during a WASHINGTON — The Women tion and a retired chief warrant ceremony Saturday. In bronze, it in Military Service for America officer. depicts a service woman outfitted Memorial, at the gateway to Ar- for combat, kneeling and staring lington National Cemetery, is The memorial has been closed for about seven months during face-to-face with a military work- regularly placed on lists of “hid- ing dog. The base of the monu- den gems” within the nation’s the coronavirus pandemic. It re- ment says it honors “all women capital — a perspective on the opens Oct. 18 with a new feature of the U.S. military, past present Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation memorial that its leaders are that Wilson hopes will draw more trying to change. people inside: the first monument and future.” The monument titled The Pledge honors the commitment of service “I don’t want it to be hidden,” in the Washington area that hon- SEE MONUMENT ON PAGE 3 women, in all the jobs they do. PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Tuesday, October 13, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES PG&E equipment seized in fatal Calif. fire probe Military rates Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9091 Euro costs (Oct. 13) ..............................$1.15 Thailand (Baht) ..................................... 31.15 Dollar buys (Oct. 13) .........................€0.8259 Turkey (Lira) .........................................7.8780 British pound (Oct. 13) ........................ $1.33 Associated Press (Military exchange rates are those to neighboring Tehama County. As of Friday, it had Japanese yen (Oct. 13) ......................103.00 available to customers at military banking South Korean won (Oct. 13) ..........1,129.00 scorched 88 square miles and destroyed more than Commercial rates facilities in the country of issuance SAN JOSE, Calif. — Fire investigators looking for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Bahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3771 200 buildings, about half of them homes. Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For into what caused a wildfire that killed four people British pound .....................................$1.3044 nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., The utility said it does not have access to the evi- Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.3115 in far Northern California have taken possession of purchasing British pounds in Germany), China (Yuan) ........................................ 6.7455 dence collected by Cal Fire, which has yet to deter- check with your local military banking equipment belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric, Denmark (Krone) ................................6.2997 facility. Commercial rates are interbank mine a cause for the fire. Egypt (Pound) ....................................15.6961 the utility has reported. rates provided for reference when buying Customers in the area where the fire started, Euro ........................................$1.1815/0.8464 PG&E said in a filing Friday with the Public Utili- Hong Kong (Dollar) .............................7.7502 currency. All figures are foreign currencies near Zogg Mine Road and Jenny Bird Lane north Hungary (Forint) .................................302.43 to one dollar, except for the British pound, ties Commission that investigators with the Califor- which is represented in dollars-to-pound, of Igo, are served by a 12,000-volt PG&E circuit. Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.3808 nia Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Japan (Yen) ...........................................105.33 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) seized some of its electrical equipment near where On the day the Zogg Fire began, the utility’s auto- Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3059 INTEREST RATES the Zogg Fire started Sept. 27. mated equipment in the area “reported alarms and Norway (Krone) ...................................9.1525 Philippines (Peso).................................48.64 Prime rate ................................................3.25 The fire erupted in Shasta County during high other activity between approximately 2:40 p.m. and Poland (Zloty) ..........................................3.80 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 3:06 p.m.,” PG&E told regulators. The line was then Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ...........................3.7514 Federal funds market rate ...................0.09 winds and quickly grew, killing four people in the Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3568 3-month bill ............................................. 0.10 community of Igo, population 600. It later spread de-activated. South Korea (Won) ......................... 1,508.63 30-year bond ...........................................1.58 WEATHER OUTLOOK TUESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST TUESDAY IN EUROPE WEDNESDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 61/50 Kabul 75/46 Seoul 55/48 Baghdad 96/64 Kandahar 71/37 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 61/48 64/61 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 51/47 50/41 64/54 Iwakuni 70/64 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 91/86 Brussels 46/42 Guam 94/74 53/47 Ramstein 69/63 85/82 Lajes, 54/37 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 89/65 91/74 69/66 49/42 45/40 Aviano/ Vicenza 55/39 Naples 63/54 Okinawa Morón 80/77 80/50 Sigonella Rota 70/53 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 92/76 72/55 74/70 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..... 11 Classified .................. 13 Comics ...................... 15 Crossword ................. 15 Faces ........................ 14 Opinion .................16-17 Sports .................. 18-24 Tuesday, October 13, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 WAR/MILITARY US launches strikes on Taliban in Helmand BY PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN U.S. troops “should” be home by Stars and Stripes Christmas. KABUL, Afghanistan — Amer- Trump’s comments “alarmed ican forces launched airstrikes in Pentagon and State Department Afghanistan’s southern Helmand officials who fear that putting a province after Afghan forces definitive date on troop withdraw- there came under attack from the al could undercut negotiations to Taliban, a U.S. military official finalize a peace deal between the said Monday. The two days of strikes were Taliban and the Afghan govern- in line with the peace agreement ment,” USA Today reported last signed by the Americans and week. Taliban in February, USFOR-A Military officials have said spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett the Taliban have not held to ver- said on Twitter. The U.S. said in bal agreements with the U.S. to the agreement that it would de- fend Afghan troops if they came reduce violence against Afghan under attack. forces. The Taliban also have “USFOR-A has & will continue fallen short of conditions in the to provide support in defense of February deal, including that the ANDSF under attack by the they would sever ties with ter- Taliban,” Leggett tweeted. rorist groups like al-Qaida — the In a separate statement Leggett posted on Twitter, USFOR-A masterminds of the 9/11 attacks commander Gen. Scott Miller on the U.S. called on the Taliban “to imme- The beginning of intra-Afghan diately stop their offensive ac- talks, another condition, only got tion in Helmand Province and J.P. LAWRENCE / Stars and Stripes underway in September, after ex- reduce their violence around the tensive delays, and are expected country.” An Afghan army outpost used to watch over a highway in Helmand province in April 2019. The announcement of the tar- to take months, if not years. geted airstrikes followed heavy kar Gah. The Taliban have also the U.S. is on course to fulfill a May next year. Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this clashes over the weekend that been blamed for a rash of fighting key commitment it made under But President Donald Trump report. brought the Taliban to the out- around the country. the deal with the Taliban — to blindsided military leaders [email protected] skirts of Helmand’s capital, Lash- Despite the escalating violence, withdraw all foreign forces by when he tweeted last week that Twitter: @pwwellman Monument: Reveal marked Japan vows by 100th anniversary of 19th defense hike after parade Amendment on women’s rights by N. Korea FROM FRONT PAGE ment, guaranteeing and protect- ing women’s constitutional right It will be placed in the center BY MARI YAMAGUCHI to vote. It also comes after the of the memorial’s lobby to draw Associated Press visitors in to see the rest of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Gins- exhibits,