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day. The smell of smoke drifted into the Denver area and smoke spread as far away as central Nebraska, western Kansas and Texas.
• Strong winds, meanwhile, grounded aircraft fighting a 40-square-mile wildfire near the mountain community of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. Crews were working to build a fire line around the blaze, which started Friday and has damaged or destroyed 36 structures.
• It wasn't immediately clear how many of the structures lost were homes. "We're still trying to take a tally," Kerry Gladden, public information offi

cer for Ruidoso, said late Sunday afternoon.
• ___

• SAN GABRIEL, Calif. (AP) -- Police are investigating two traffic collisions allegedly caused by U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson in the Los Angeles area that left him injured and unconscious, authorities said Monday.
• One of the crashes was under investigation as a felony hit and run, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department and the San Gabriel Police Department said.
• Bryson, 68, was treated at a hospital for non life-threatening injuries following the crashes around 5 p.m. PDT Saturday, the agencies said in a joint statement.
• "As far as we know he is still admitted," sheriff's deputy Tony Moore said early

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