I leave town, Monterey County goes to the devil. I hope the two are unrelated.

I’m in New York City for the first time in my life. (“What? You’ve never been to New York?” most people ask in astonishment.) To the New York question, I respond: “No.” It’s a Chicago thing. In Chicago we have all of the tall buildings, art and culture. Far better thin-crust pizza too. (No, don’t email me and explain why New York-style is better. It’s not.)

There’s no reason to go to New York if you’re from Chicago.

But I haven’t been a Chicagoan for quite awhile. So here I am. The city is prepping for the arrival of Pope Francis and streets are already being blocked off even though he doesn’t get here until Thursday. Cab drivers are already complaining about the traffic headaches created by the convening of the 70th Session of U.S. General Assembly, where the pope will talk about climate change and sustainability on Friday. Even the rats are laying in food so they can avoid going out – Google “NYC Pizza Rat.” Even rats here like a good slice. Even the rats here can become instant video stars.

This whole column was meant to be in that vein: light, breezy, amusing, full of comparisons between the West Coast and here. (Here, tons of smokers, here, everything open all the time, here, pizza rats!)

But I made the mistake of turning on Wi-Fi on the plane to finish up a little bit of work and found that a wildfire had broken out in Corral de Tierra (due to some idiot dragging a chain behind his vehicle), a far worse fire had exploded in Cachagua, likely started by a man who set himself on fire (see story, p. 14). For some pretty scary and demoralizing hours late Saturday, KSBW reporter Caitlin Conrad thought one of those homes was hers because her landlord told her it was gone. She was finally able to get back into the area Sept. 21 and found her place still standing. But one of those destroyed belonged to a Cachagua volunteer firefighter – his house was consumed by flame just shortly after he left to help neighbors save their property.

And then there was Monday. Horrible, bloody Monday. I was having dinner with a college friend who’s now the general counsel of Actors’ Equity, the Broadway actors union, and got an excellent insider’s tour, when my phone blew up with the news two police officers from tiny Sand City had been shot during a gun battle in the parking lot of the Target shopping complex. Details were still unfolding Tuesday morning, but it appears at least one of the three suspects was wanted on warrants, someone spotted him in the parking lot and called it in (see p. 16).

Some media jumped the gun and came to the conclusion that one of the officers was dead, and reported it as such. In reality, both officers are expected to survive and two suspects were killed. One California Highway Patrol officer ordered Weekly photographer Nic Coury to stop taking photos and threatened to confiscate his camera. That wasn’t because Coury had stepped behind barriers or was interfering with police at the scene – he hadn’t, but that would be legit grounds to confront him – but because she wanted his pictures as evidence, displaying a fundamental lack of understanding about the oath she took to defend the Constitution when she became a police officer.

As of this writing, we’re still sussing out the details on all of these and many other situations. We don’t know why the man in the Tassajara blaze set himself on fire. We don’t know if police have arrested the driver who was dragging chains behind his vehicle. We don’t know what warrants the suspects in the Sand City gun battle were wanted for, or why they chose to pull handguns and try to fight their way out. Sheer stupidity at best, pure evil at worst.

What I do know, though, is that while I’m on vacation, I have a small but relentless newsroom of people back in Seaside who have been working since Saturday afternoon, busting their asses to cover fires, shootings, the California GOP convention and more than a dozen other stories. Many of you have reached out to me on Facebook to tell me how much you appreciate what’s been called the most complete coverage of these situations. To that: Right back at you, because I appreciate the fact you’re reading it. I’m back next week. Here’s hoping everything calms way down.

MARY DUAN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com or follow her at twitter.com/maryrduan