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Rachael Ray's home in upstate New York appears to have suffered major damage from a fire that ripped through the inside, shooting flames out the roof.

Firefighters were called to the celebrity cook's house in Lake Luzerne Sunday night around 8 PM to battle the blaze, the cause of which is still unknown ... according to officials.

Fortunately, Rachael and her husband, John Cusimano, are safe. Rachael's rep, Charlie Dougiello, tells TMZ ... "Rachael, her husband John and their dog Bella are safe. Their home was unfortunately damaged and we are in the process of accessing to what extent."

Rachael has owned the home since 2013, and has been filming live cooking segments of her daytime talk show there during the coronavirus pandemic.

She was at a charity golf outing with John earlier Sunday and had shared photos of elaborate spreads of food just hours before the fire.

A volcano in Indonesia exploded in spectacular fashion this week, sending a tower of ash flying three miles high ... leaving surrounding villages and communities shrouded in darkness.

Mount Sinabung erupted Monday on Indonesia's Sumatra Island, sending a massive column of volcanic ash spewing thousands of feet into the sky -- 16,400 to be exact. Luckily, no one was killed or seriously hurt from the explosion, but there were warnings of lava flows.

Folks were advised to stay at least three miles away from the crater's mouth, where lava could literally hijack the landscape. And, although the immediate area around the volcano has been roped off for years, people were still covered in ash below.

The AP reports up to 2 inches of ash gathered in some of the abandoned villages along the volcano's slopes. People further out carried on like normal, apparently -- except for the fact they had to turn on their car headlights to see through the darkness.

Mount Sinabung had been dormant for centuries before first erupting again in 2010 ... and since then, it's been active and experienced explosions a handful of times in the years to follow. The 2010 eruption killed two, 16 more were killed in 2014 and 7 died in 2016.

2020 has brought us a deadly pandemic, a devastating hurricane, tornados, shocking examples of police brutality ... so really, how surprising is a big earthquake in North Carolina?

A 5.1 quake rocked Sparta, NC Sunday, just after 8 AM. The epicenter is near the Virginia border and was felt in South Carolina and Georgia.

It's the biggest earthquake to hit the area in more than 100 years.

Check out the video ... the beauty salon surveillance video shows the force of the quake as items all around sway back and forth.

The Mayor of Sparta said the quake was so loud it sounded like a train roaring down the track.

Fortunately, no injuries and only minor damage, but the shaking was real.

A 5.1 is a big quake, but typically significant damage usually occurs when a quake is in the 6's or higher. Of course, depending on the way buildings were constructed ... a 5.1 could do serious damage ... though not the case here.

This back-to-school pic didn't just alarm parents worried about their kids and coronavirus ... it also got at least 2 teenagers suspended.

Georgia's North Paulding High School hit the student, 15-year-old Hannah Watters, with a 5-day suspension for posting that photo -- a shot she took out of concern for her safety ... as well as her classmates'.

Hannah had captioned the pic, "Day two at North Paulding High School. It is just as bad. We were stopped because it was jammed." She added that she was pushed multiple times, and defiantly posted, "This is not ok. Not to mention the 10% mask rate."

The school's stance is that Hannah, and another student who posted the crowded hallway image, violated school policy about social media and posting images of minors without consent.

That's the letter of the school's law, obviously, but one could easily argue ... the safety of students and faculty should be getting some consideration here. Hannah clearly posted the photo because she was alarmed at the inability to social distance.

Hannah told BuzzFeed News she feels her suspension is excessive.

The photo went viral Tuesday as it highlighted the fears of parents, and for that matter ... teachers, as students return to schools for the first time since the pandemic began.

Oprah Winfrey is amping up the pressure to get justice for Breonna Taylor by blanketing Louisville with billboards demanding the arrest of the cops who shot her.

Oprah purchased dozens of billboards Thursday in Breonna's hometown -- her latest push for justice in the case.

The new billboards will also feature the Until Freedom website, a social justice org whose mission is to address systemic and racial injustice. This same group organized a rally outside of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's home, which resulted in 87 arrests. Their stories -- dubbed the "Louisville 87" -- are featured on Until Freedom's site.

There will be a total of 26 billboards across the city -- one for every year of Breonna's life. They're expected to be completed by Monday.

Remember, Det. Brett Hankison -- one of the 3 Louisville cops who fired their weapons during the deadly March 13 raid at Breonna's home -- has been fired but not charged.

The other 2 officers involved -- Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove -- were placed on administrative leave, but that's it.

The family has also claimed Breonna's home was targeted by cops as part of the city's gentrification plan.

As we reported ... Breonna posthumously made history last week when she landed on the cover of Oprah's magazine, the first time EVER in the magazine's 20-year history O herself was not front and center.

This video is incredible ... a guy on a jet ski captured the moment the entire city of Beirut shook after a massive explosion killed at least 135 people and injured 5,000.

The perspective is different from the video captured on land. The ferocity of the blast nearly capsized the jet ski as the driver reacts in panic.

The blast was equivalent to a 3.3 earthquake.

Lebanon's prime minister believes the cause of the explosion was 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that was just sitting for years in a warehouse. To put this in perspective ... it's 1,000 times more powerful than the Oklahoma City bombing.

A mom and daughter in England are not loving their McDonald's Chicken McNuggets -- they claim the little girl bit into the food and got a mouthful of face mask!!!

The not-so-Happy Meal was reportedly served Tuesday at a McDonald's in a London suburb. Laura Arber, the upset mother, claims her 6-year-old daughter, Maddie, started making choking noises after chowing down on the McNuggets.

Laura claims she put a finger down her daughter's throat to make her throw up the food, which she says was speckled with blue. Mom says she did some more investigating, puzzled by what her daughter was eating, tearing into the Chicken McNuggets with her fingers to discover parts of a blue surgical face mask.

Laura posted video showing what appears to be more blue face mask parts inside other Chicken McNuggets her daughter had not yet eaten ... and it's really gross.

McDonald's corporate office has since apologized for the incident ... and mom says her little girl is fine.

President Trump has the black bear vote ... at least that's what someone wants you to think after a Trump 2020 sticker was slapped on a wild animal's tracking collar.

Help Asheville Bears, an animal rights group based in North Carolina, says it's offering $5,000 to find the folks responsible for putting a Trump 2020 sticker on this bear's collar.

HAB calls the person responsible for the political statement is "cruel and heartless" ... and the group says this is the second black bear they know of with the Trump reelection campaign sticker.

The black bear was photographed by Asheville resident Sheila Chapman, and she says the animal was hanging out on her front porch when she snapped the pic. The sticker itself doesn't seem to be harming the animal, but it might have a hard time getting into the Democratic Convention.

Sheila thinks the bear is being tagged and tracked by The North Carolina Urban/Suburban Bear Study -- she claims she's seen bears with collars before in her neighborhood -- and says the sticker angered her and made her sad.

HAB seems to believe the person who effectively made the bear a walking Trump billboard might be someone involved in the study. Let's face it, ya don't see a lot of civilians walking up to wild bears ... with or without political agendas.

HAB is calling for a full investigation, and the bear study program told CNN its researchers don't condone people approaching bears for any reason.

Seems face masks aren't the only things getting political nowadays.

One lucky, and very rich, Elvis Presley fan has the memorabilia world all shook up -- after snapping up one of The King's rare guitars for a record-setting 7-FIGURE price!!!

That's right ... Elvis' 1942 Martin D-18 guitar -- which he owned from 1954 to 1956 -- sold at auction for a whopping $1,320,000. It's a WORLD RECORD for the most expensive Elvis Presley memorabilia ever sold ... via the folks over at Gotta Have Rock and Roll.

As we first reported ... the guitar's got tons of history. Elvis bought it at O.K. Houck's Piano Store in Memphis, trading in his Martin 000-18 model. He then went on to decorate the body of the guitar with adhesive metal letters spelling out "ELVIS." Today, the guitar's missing the "S."

While he owned the guitar, Elvis recorded a slew of his early classics, including "That's Alright (Mama)," "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Good Rockin' Tonight." The new owner is remaining anonymous ... for now.

Some other cool items that sold at the auction include Michael Jordan's game-worn modified Jordan 1 sneakers from the 1985-86 season. The pair sold for $474,696, also a record.

Eddie Van Halen's 2000 custom racing Ferrari sold for $156,250 and The Beatles' 1966 Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens concert poster sold for $68,750. That's also a world record ... for non-U.S. concert posters.

Congressman Jim Clyburn feels more strongly than ever ... Donald Trump is fashioning his presidency after the likes of Adolf Hitler, and if Americans aren't careful, history can repeat itself.

The veteran Democratic Congressman from South Carolina warned Americans that Trump's latest play -- suggesting the November election should be postponed because of phantom voter fraud -- is further evidence Trump has no intention of leaving The White House, even if he loses.

Clyburn told CNN, "I feel very strongly that Trump is Mussolini, Putin and Hitler... I don’t think he plans to leave the White House. He doesn’t plan to have fair and unfettered elections. I believe that he plans to install himself in some kind of emergency way to hold onto the office"

Clyburn said a few months back ... there have been many warning signs Trump fashions himself as a dictator. The Congressman noted that Trump said earlier this year he was the nation's chief law enforcement officer -- that's not the case, but it's evidence of a dictator trying to consolidate power.

More than 100 years too late, the Bronx Zoo is apologizing for its horrific treatment of Ota Benga, a Central African man, who was actually on display in the zoo's monkey house ... with an orangutan.

The Wildlife Conservation Society -- the organization that runs the zoo -- is formally apologizing for the 1906 imprisonment and caged display of Benga for one week.

The WCS says ... "We deeply regret that many people and generations have been hurt by these actions or by our failure previously to publicly condemn and denounce them."

The apology was clearly prompted by the social activism since George Floyd's murder, and the WCS added ... "We recognize that overt and systemic racism persists, and our institution must play a greater role to confront it."

Benga was a member of the Mbuti people of the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo, and for several days during the week of Sept. 8, 1906, he was held in inhumane conditions, forced to live with an ape ... and was only allowed short periods of time outside.

Benga started to resist and threaten zoo attendants, and was only released after a delegation of local black churches demanded it. When he was finally freed, Reverend James Gordon took him in at his Brooklyn orphanage ... but Benga died by suicide 10 years later.

Breonna Taylor posthumously made history by landing on the cover of Oprah's Magazine ... the first time EVER in the magazine's 20-year history O herself was not front and center.

Oprah stepped aside for one of her final print editions ... dedicating the September cover with Breonna's image, declaring, "If you turn a blind eye to racism, you become an accomplice to it." These words are emblazoned on the cover ... "HER LIFE MATTERS."

O dropped the news on Insta ... where she gave a touching tribute to Breonna ... "She was just like me. She was just like you. And like everyone who dies unexpectedly, she had plans. Plans for a future filled with responsibility and work and friends and laughter."

Take this with a big grain of salt, BUT ... we may have a legit UFO sighting on our hands here, people. Give it a gander and decide for yourself.

This footage was taken Sunday out in Long Beach, CA -- about 25 minutes south of central L.A. -- and it appears to show a UFO-like object in the air bolt across the sky at lightning-quick speed and disappear out of frame -- all while of-this-world fighter jets fly above.

The person who shot this insists it is not altered or edited at all -- if you buy that, then you gotta ask what the hell it is that zips across the camera's frame if only for a moment. Watch it as many times as you need to -- we even slowed it down/paused it for a close-up view.

If you look (and listen) carefully, you can see a black dot -- perhaps in a saucer shape, although it's hard to tell by how high it is -- flash across the screen and disappear.

At first glance, one could argue this looks like anything but a flying saucer -- could be a raisin, a fly or nothing at all. OR ... it could very well be aliens checking in on us (again?).

As for the jets you can hear in the background as well, we're told they were out there in LB flying around for no apparent reason for about 10 minutes or so. Unclear if their presence had anything to do with this alleged UFO sighting, but hey ... they could be related.

There's been other purported sightings in that area too of late -- about a couple weeks ago, someone posted another video of a strange object flying in the sky around sunset. They claim this was shot from about 2 miles away and at a height of 1,000 feet, more or less.

The YouTube user also says the thing disappeared on him when he stopped filming, but you don't see any of that on camera. Could just be a kite on a super long string -- or ... ALIENS!!

One last thing to consider ... the New York Times did a story this past week about Pentagon bigwigs working in their UFO Unit (yes, they have one of those). One of the subcontractors who used to work for the feds told the paper he recently briefed a Defense Dept. agency about "off-world vehicles not made on this earth" that they'd retrieved over the years.

Derek Chauvin -- the ex-Minneapolis cop charged with murdering George Floyd -- now has more legal trouble on his hands over his taxes ... and so does his estranged wife.

Chauvin and his estranged spouse, Kellie, were each hit Wednesday with 9 felony counts related to their alleged failure to pay state taxes in Minnesota -- including counts for aiding and abetting the filing of false or fraudulent returns and additional counts for failing to file returns at all.

According to court docs, officials in Washington County, Minnesota claim the couple's tax issues date back to 2014 and they're accused of not filing at all for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. They each face the same 9 counts.

Specifically, investigators claim the couple was significantly under-reporting their combined income. For instance, prosecutors say Derek was raking in tens of thousands of dollars on top of his police officer salary at MPD between side security gigs -- one of which prosecutors estimate totaled upwards of $95k between 2014-2019 -- as well as other odd jobs.

Prosecutors also claim Kellie was raking in tens of thousands herself from realtor work and her photography business. None of the money was reported, according to the charging docs. There's also alleged malfeasance over different homes they've purchased in Minnesota and Florida -- not to mention a new BMW that they allegedly registered in Florida, but had serviced more than 10 times in Minnesota.

And, get this ... prosecutors also allege that Derek and Kellie talked about these tax problems on the phone while he was in custody back in June. They claim Derek told Kellie people were looking into their records, and allege Kellie responded she was meeting with someone about "(2016) to now."

They go on to claim Chauvin told Kellie to use the same person "we have used to handle for many years." That person appears to have been Derek's own father, as prosecutors say Kellie responded, "Yeah well we don't want to get your dad involved because he will just be mad at me I mean us for not doing them for years..."

Long story short, we're talking a lot of money and alleged wrongdoing here -- and if convicted on each of the felony counts ... they could face up to five years in prison.

Of course, these legal woes are on top of the second-degree murder and manslaughter charges Chauvin faces in connection to George's killing earlier in May. He remains behind bars with his bail set at $1.25 million. He hasn't entered a plea yet in the case.

SpaceX's latest mission's off to a good start, thanks to the same rocket booster that launched NASA astronauts on their journey to the International Space Station in May ... and here's the incredible footage.

The Falcon 9 launched the ANASIS-II Mission rocket on Monday around 5:30 PM ET from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, this time to set a communications satellite into orbit.

Videographer Ryan Chylinski utilized a slo-mo camera and zoom lens to capture the stunning moment ... and the telescope-tracking vid shows the rocket in great detail.

As we reported ... Falcon 9 launched 2 American astronauts -- Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken -- into orbit on May 30, then returned to the ground on a remote droneship.

This may be the scariest video of the month ... a super curious bear spotted a few women, approached them, sniffed them, got on its hind legs and seemingly hugged them, and they lived to tell about it!!!

It went down Saturday in Mexico at the Chipinque Ecological Park. You see the bear at one point putting its paw on one of the women, almost nuzzling her.

As most people know, bears often attack when people panic or run, and how can you not when a bear is all over you?!!?

Well, these folks are amazing. They remain clam -- and pretty much still -- as 2 men in the background try to scare the bear away by talking loudly.

The bear eventually has had enough and leaves, and boy ... you can only imaging the heart rate of those women.

So here's what authorities say about black bears that get too close ... "Stay calm, never stand between a baby and its mother, do not go near or feed them, take shelter and watch it, avoid photographing it or taking selfies."

Yeah, selfies would be a real bad move.