| Newsom's budget includes $200 million to make up for Trump's canceled EV rebates, among other climate items - Los Angeles Times |
| Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday doubled down on California’s commitment to electric vehicles with proposed rebates intended to backfill federal tax credits canceled by the Trump administration.
The plan would allocate $200 million in one-time special funds for a new point-of-sale incentive program for light-duty zero-emissions vehicles. It was part of a sweeping $348.9-billion state budget proposal released Friday, which also included items to address air pollution and worsening wildfires, amid a projected $3-billion state deficit.
EVs have become a flashpoint in California’s battle against the Trump administration, which moved last year to repeal the state’s long-held authority to set strict tailpipe emission standards and eventually ban the sale of new gas powered cars.
Last year, Trump ended federal tax credits of up to $7,500 for EV customers that were part of President Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. In September, his administration also let lapse federal authorization for California’s Clean Air Vehicle decal program, which allowed solo EV drivers to use carpool lanes.
“Despite federal interference, the governor maintains his commitment to protecting public health and achieving California’s world leading climate agenda,” Lindsay Buckley, spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board, said in an email. “This incentive program will help continue the state’s ZEV momentum, especially with the federal administration eliminating the federal EV tax credit and carpool lane access.” [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-01-09 |
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| Acton gains backing vs. battery storage | News | avpress.com |
| ACTON — Los Angeles County firefighters are urging county officials to halt battery energy storage projects near residential areas, a position Acton residents say bolsters their opposition to the proposed Prairie Song facility.
In a cease-and-desist letter dated Jan. 2, Los Angeles County Firefighters Local 1014 called on county fire officials to stop considering or approving energy storage system facilities near homes or occupied fire stations. The letter specifically references a proposed battery storage project behind Fire Station 43 at 921 South Stimson Ave. in the City of Industry. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-01-09 |
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| 'Active shooter' or ICE agent's victim? Dual claims after L.A. killing |
| When Adrian Metoyer first heard government officials describing his best friend as an “active shooter” and threat to his community, he was furious.
Keith Porter Jr. was a lot of things: a jack of all trades who worked dozens of jobs, a proud “girl dad” to his two daughters, an avid fisherman, a die-hard San Francisco 49ers fan and a “performer” who loved to drive a room to laughter with his “goofy” antics, friends and relatives said.
But, they contend, Porter wasn’t the threat Trump administration officials claimed he was after an off-duty U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed him in Northridge on New Year’s Eve.
“That is far from the truth. I can’t even fathom that idea of him being looked at in a negative light. Calling the officer a hero, before any investigation had been conducted … this is ridiculous,” Metoyer, 45, said.
In the week that has passed since Porter’s death, his loved ones and community activists have rejected the narrative offered by federal officials to explain his killing, acknowledging he may have been armed but maintaining he was only celebrating the new year — not trying to shoot anyone.
The use of deadly force by immigration agents was back in the national spotlight on Wednesday, after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis and drew condemnation from the city’s mayor, who called the incident “reckless.” [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-01-09 |
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| Fact check: What evidence is behind Trump's decision to freeze all childcare benefits to CA? | LAist |
| In halting childcare and welfare benefits to hundreds of thousands of low-income Californians, the Trump administration says it’s “concerned by the potential for extensive and systemic fraud.”
“These concerns have been heightened by recent federal prosecutions,” states the funding freeze letters to California from Trump-appointed officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). [Article] |
| by , . 2026-01-09 |
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| Anger in west Altadena: Where is the accountability for 19 deaths, epic losses? - Los Angeles Times |
| The “Rising Together” float in Pasadena’s Rose Parade was supposed to celebrate the resiliency of Los Angeles in the face of the unprecedented double disaster that flattened thousands of homes and took 31 lives last January.
But amid the float’s proud phoenix and colorful California poppies, two frustrated fire survivors unfurled a surprise message: “AG Bonta, Altadena demands an investigation.”
A parade worker quickly pulled down the sign, but the statement made its mark, cutting through conversations about recovery and progress with the gnawing questions that continue to haunt so many Eaton fire survivors:
Why were timely evacuation alerts not issued for west Altadena, which accounted for almost all of the Eaton fire deaths and experienced the most widespread devastation?
Why were there almost no fire trucks in west Altadena, known to be a historically Black, less affluent section of the unincorporated town?
And why have repeated probes resulted in almost no answers? No accountability?
“It is shameful that we have not yet seen any kind of serious undertaking of righting the wrongs that were committed in this fire,” said Gina Clayton-Johnson, a lifelong Altadenan who helped unroll the sign on the Tournament of Roses float. “We have a responsibility to not let this kind of thing happen again.” [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-01-09 |
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| Vacant lots in Altadena, Palisades areas are piling up, as investors move in, according to Redfin report – Daily News |
| Investors in Altadena and the Palisades area bought two of every five vacant lots sold in the third quarter of 2025, according to a Redfin News report of county data.
The report, released Dec. 30 by the online real estate listing site, was a snapshot of a time, one year after both fires broke out, when residents are pausing on whether to rebuild, given growing financial uncertainty. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-01-09 |
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| El Super workers demand immigration enforcement protocols to protect them and shoppers | LAist |
| Maria Silva works at the El Super off Century Boulevard in Inglewood, in the same sprawling parking lot as a Home Depot.
She's been on the job for 17 years. The work is hard, and her wages are low. But since summer, her role as a supervisor at the grocery store chain has included a new challenge: co-workers and customers are worried about ICE. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-01-09 |
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| ‘We don’t want ICE in our cities’: Hundreds protest Minneapolis killing at courthouse |
| The courthouse in Eureka was again the site of a demonstration Thursday evening, with around 150 to 200 people as of 4:20 p.m. taking part in a demonstration against the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The reasons attendees offered for participating were varied, but centered around the collective hope that nonviolent resistance could provide an avenue toward change in a charged national and local political environment. It was also a common sentiment that the federal government was taking actions perceived by protesters to be authoritarian and nurturing the idea of a fictitious “other” to fear. [Article] |
| by , Eureka Times-Standard. 2026-01-09 |
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| LA lawmakers push sweeping film-permitting reforms amid production slowdown – Daily News |
| When filmmaker and screenwriter Austin James Wolff was scouting locations for a recent movie, Los Angeles should have been the obvious choice. Instead, navigating different permit rules, fees and public safety requirements across multiple cities made shooting locally difficult—and in some cases unaffordable.
“L.A. as a metro area is made up of many different municipalities, and they don’t all talk to each other,” he said. “The permitting process for one can be different from L.A. itself, and that made location scouting extremely difficult for us.” [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-01-09 |
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| Why are housing starts still falling despite lower mortgage rates? - Los Angeles Times |
| Housing starts fell in October to the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic as data delayed by last fall’s government shutdown showed builders continued to cut back amid still-high prices and mortgage rates.
New residential construction decreased 4.6% to an annual rate of 1.25 million homes in October, government figures released Friday showed. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg saw 1.33 million housing starts.
Starts of one-family homes rose 5.4% to an annualized 874,000 pace, though they remained near the lowest levels of the last two years. Starts of structures with five or more units fell almost 26% in October, to a five-month low.
The data indicate builders continued to pump the brakes in the fall, trying to cut construction times and find other efficiencies while waiting for customer demand to return. An index of homebuilder sentiment published by the National Assn. of Home Builders and Wells Fargo remains at a weak reading of 39, with anything below 50 meaning more builders see conditions as poor than good.
That’s despite some improvement in the nation’s affordability crisis. Mortgage rates that were close to 7% in May fell throughout September and October, eventually reaching 6.25% earlier this month, a more than one-year low. And prices for new homes fell for most of last year, according to the most recent federal data through August. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-01-09 |
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| The LA fires burned Angelenos' wild havens. A year later, nature is starting to recover | LAist |
| The destruction of last year’s January fires was devastating. Not just in how they leveled more than 16,000 structures and took at least 31 lives, but also how they stripped bare landscapes that many Southern Californians had become familiar with and had found solace visiting for decades. Hillsides that we’d long seen covered in dense green chaparral and coastal sage scrub were turned to ash, with the charred carcasses of native plants left behind. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-01-09 |
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| Federal judge blocks Trump administration's freeze of $10 billion in child-care funds - Los Angeles Times |
| A federal judge in New York has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s move to freeze $10 billion in child-care funds in five Democrat-led states including California.
The ruling Friday afternoon capped a tumultuous stretch that began earlier this week when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told California officials and those in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York that it would freeze federal funding over fraud concerns.
On Thursday the states sued the administration in federal court in Manhattan. The states sought a temporary restraining order, asking the court to block the funding freeze and the administration’s demands for large volumes of administrative data.
An attorney for the states argued Friday morning that there was an immediate need for funding — and that withholding it would cause chaos by depriving families of their ability to pay for child care, and would harm child-care providers who would lose income. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-01-09 |
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| 131-unit affordable housing complex underway at 1023 N. Berendo St. in East Hollywood | Urbanize LA |
| In East Hollywood, work has commenced for a new affordable housing complex near Metro's Vermont/Santa Monica Station, per city permit records.
The project from Los Angeles-based developer Uncommon, located at 1023 N. Berendo Street, calls for the construction a six-story building featuring 131 studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom dwellings with parking for 33 vehicles.
All of the apartments would be reserved for rent by very low-, low-, and moderate-income households, according to city approvals. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-01-09 |
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| Burn scars |
| One year later, I needed perspective. I headed to Griffith Park, 4,310 acres of the mountain range that slices horizontally through the middle of the city of Los Angeles, our very own municipal wildland-urban interface. Little clusters of LADWP-branded cones stood along the fire roads washed out by nearly a year's worth of rain falling over a few months; compare/contrast to last year, when we'd rolled into 2025 without our "first flush." Mini waterfalls stair-stepped beneath the glossy deep-green canopies of oak trees. In the distance, freeways hummed and train horns blared and the rhythmic thwacking from multifamily residential construction sites alternated with the screeches of chimpanzees at the zoo (at least I hope that's what it was). As I ran high above the city, I counted people speaking four different languages. One year later, LA remains LA. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-01-09 |
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| Opinion | California’s insurance crisis is pervasive but fixable |
| California is facing an insurance crisis that threatens the financial security of families, homeowners, and small businesses across the state.
Coverage is becoming harder to obtain, premiums are rising, and policy cancellations are increasing. These developments are understandably alarming. But the good news: There is hope. [Article] |
| by , CalMatters. 2026-01-09 |
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| What to know as Trump targets safety net funding to states led by Democrats | AP News |
| President Donald Trump’s administration has told states that it is restricting some social safety net funds that cover services including child care subsidies, cash assistance and job training for low-income families with children.
The administration says the moves are designed to root out fraud as a result of reported problems, but five Democratic-led states are a special focus of its attention, and some of their leaders say children are being harmed for political reasons.
Those five states challenged the freeze in court, and a federal judge on Friday halted it for at least two weeks. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-01-09 |
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| How did LA transit riders evacuate from the fires? | LAist |
| People who take transit in Los Angeles largely depended on catching rides from friends, family or ride-share companies to evacuate from the January 2025 wildfires, according to a forthcoming study led by researchers at UCLA.
Some evacuees, left without any other option, escaped danger on foot. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-01-09 |
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| ‘Boom, he’s out’: bear living ‘rent-free’ under California home has been removed | California | The Guardian |
| Getting rid of an unwanted houseguest can be difficult, but seldom does it involve a paintball gun and an electrified mat. A 550lb black bear that took residence under a southern California home for more than a month has finally been removed, KTLA has reported.
Altadena resident Ken Johnson first noticed the bear was living in the crawl space below his home in late November.
“He’s a nuisance and he’s living under my house rent-free,” Johnson told the Orange County Register last month. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-01-09 |
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| Opinion | For this family, Eaton Fire didn’t arrive on neutral ground |
| By the time my parents made a home in Altadena, they had already survived the Jim Crow South. They had carried with them an understanding that for Black families, safety, property and opportunity are never guaranteed.
Homeownership for them was not simply a personal achievement; it was an act of repair. It was a way of claiming dignity in a country that had long denied Black families the right to build, keep and pass down stability. [Article] |
| by , CalMatters. 2026-01-09 |
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| L.A. wildfire-scarred businesses are still stuck in the aftermath - Los Angeles Times |
| The charred remains of the historic Pacific Palisades Business Block cast a shadow over a once-bustling shopping district along West Sunset Boulevard.
Empty lots littered with debris and ash line the street where houses and small businesses once stood. A year since the Palisades fire roared through the neighborhood, only a handful of businesses have reopened.
The Starbucks, Bank of America, and other businesses that used to operate in the century-old Business Block are gone. All that remains of the Spanish Colonial Revival building are some arches surrounding what used to be a busy retail space. The burned-out, rusty remnants of a walk-in vault squat in the center of the structure.
Nearby, the Shade Store, the Free-est clothing store, Skin Local spa, a Hastens mattress store, Sweet Laurel Bakery and the Hydration Room are among the many stores still shuttered. Local barbershop Gornik & Drucker doesn’t know if it can reopen.
“We have been going back and forth on what it would take to survive,” co-owner Leslie Gornik said. “If we open, we have to start over from scratch.”
Hundreds gathered around Business Block on the anniversary of the fire on Wednesday to witness a military-style white-glove ceremony to pay respects to the families who lost loved ones. Photos of those killed from the neighborhood were placed at the Palisades Village Green next door. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-01-09 |
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