West
Los Angeles wildfire czar's $500K paycheck for 90 days of work draws swift blowback, mayor reverses course
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass backtracked on Saturday amid reports that her wildfire recovery czar, Steve Soboroff, would be compensated $500,000 for 90 days of work.
The Los Angeles Times first reported Saturday morning that Soboroff, a real estate developer and longtime civic official, would be paid $500,000 over the course of three months for working as the city’s “chief recovery officer.”
His compensation was to come from charity organizations, but Bass, who first tapped Soboroff for the job on Jan. 17, quickly reversed course by Saturday evening. She said Soboroff would now manage the rebuilding of the city free of charge.
“Steve is always there for LA. I spoke to him today and asked him to modify his agreement and work for free. He said yes,” Bass said, according to the Times. “We agree that we don’t need anything distracting from the recovery work we’re doing.”
LOS ANGELES FIRE VICTIMS TO BE BOOTED FROM RED CROSS SHELTER TO MAKE SPACE FOR FILM CREWS, EVENTS
Mayor Karen Bass and Steve Soboroff discuss recovery efforts during a press conference in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 27, 2025. (Drew A. Kelley/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images)
Another person, longtime real estate executive Randy Johnson, was to be compensated $250,000 from philanthropic groups for assisting Soboroff, but he too would now do the job for free, Bass said.
On Johnson, Bass said she was “grateful for his generosity and expertise,” but the mayor’s office declined to name the charity organizations or clarify how the funding was raised, according to the Times.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, a member of the five-person committee tasked with recovery, told the Times it was “infuriating” that philanthropic groups would pay two people $750,000, calling the amount “obscene.”
“He’s getting paid $500,000 for 3 months of work?” President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Ric Grenell, wrote on X of Soboroff. “And they call this a charity. Gross. Offensive.”
A helicopter drops water as the Palisades fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and Encino, California, on Jan. 11, 2025. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Grenell, who was seated next to Trump during a round table discussion in the Pacific Palisades last month, added: “I’m getting paid $0 – as are many people. It’s a good thing there will be strings on the Federal money for California.”
Larry Vein, a Pacific Palisades resident whose home suffered smoke damage, condemned Soboroff’s reported $500,000 compensation, saying no one should handle recovery efforts for “financial gain.”
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Steve Danton, who resides in a temporary apartment in Marina del Rey after his home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire, said Soboroff’s compensation is a “money grab,” adding that the city is experiencing a “crisis of leadership.”
Soboroff, who previously served in volunteer roles on the Board of Police Commissioners and on the commission that oversees the Department of Recreation and Parks, defended the $500,000 amount to the Times earlier Saturday.
Charred homes and burnt cars in the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates in Los Angeles on Jan. 13, 2025. (Agustin Paullier/AFP via Getty Images)
He said he has specialized expertise, is taking on sweeping responsibilities, including communicating with federal agencies, and is giving up other real estate and environmental consulting work to become the wildfire recovery czar.
“I’ve been doing this for 35 years for free on some of the biggest civic projects for the city of Los Angeles. But nobody ever asked me to drop everything. This time they did,” Soboroff told the Times. “And I said OK, under the condition that my pay not be taken out of city money, or from any wildfire survivors who would otherwise benefit from that money.”
Soboroff said he has taken questions from “thousands of residents,” made recommendations on the city permitting process and advised the mayor to hire an outside project manager to lead city agencies in replacing damaged infrastructure.
“At the end of the day, I’m doing the stuff that all these other people are just studying,” he said. “I’m implementing to help people reach their goals of getting back in their houses and getting their jobs back.”
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San Francisco, CA
San Francisco rolls out heightened security measures ahead of World Cup knockout match, 4th of July
The city of San Francisco is taking heightened police and security measures in advance of two major events in the Bay Area this week – the 4th of July and the first knockout round of the FIFA World Cup.
Mayor Daniel Lurie hosted a press conference Monday to address the public on how the city plans to manage the overlapping swarms of soccer fans and 4th of July revelers.
“No matter the occasion, our top priority, and my top priority, remains the same: keeping San Francisco residents and visitors alike safe,” said Lurie.
The two events would be major draws for crowds independently, but combined, and with special occasions marking both, the city wants to ensure that security is a top priority.
The World Cup has already brought hundreds of thousands of people from across the country and the world to the Bay Area, but this week’s game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara is especially notable for the San Francisco as the host city and the United States as a host nation. The stadium, renamed San Francisco Bay Area Stadium for the duration of the World Cup, will host the knockout round match between the U.S. and Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday.
Official fan zones and watch parties for the U.S. match, as well as for Mexico’s match against Ecuador on Tuesday, will be held at multiple locations in San Francisco, including at Thrive City at the Chase Center and at the Pier 39 Fan Zone.
This year’s 4th of July in San Francisco, which already boasts large crowds across the city each year, will have another draw as the city prepares to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. The city will be hosting a fireworks show on the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday night – only the third time that pyrotechnics have ever been set off from the iconic San Francisco landmark. Fireworks will be launched off the two towers of the bridge and from barges in the water.
The Golden Gate Bridge show will be the only official one in the city – fireworks are illegal in San Francisco.
Authorities advised attendees to use public transportation and to leave plenty of time on both ends of their travel for traffic and delays. Caltrans has announced road closures and detours on U.S. Highway 101 and the entire Golden Gate Bridge for the fireworks show.
San Francisco Police Chief Derrick Lew said the department is collaborating with multiple state and local agencies to keep people safe, and that police officers have had their days off cancelled to meet the staffing needs that July 4 will require.
“This week will be safe because that’s what we’ve been doing every day,” Lurie said. “It is a glorious time to be here in San Francisco.”
Lurie cited past heavily attended events like Sunday’s San Francisco Pride Parade and Super Bowl 60 in February as examples of the city’s successful management of major crowds.
The Nuggets are declining Jalen Pickett’s fourth-year team option for the 2026-27 season, releasing him from his contract, league sources told The Denver Post.
Former Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth drafted Pickett with the 32nd overall pick in 2023. The 6-foot-2 reserve combo guard has struggled to break into Denver’s everyday rotation throughout his first three years in the league.
His $2.41 million salary next season would’ve offered the Nuggets a sliver of cap relief, but they chose instead to move on from the former Penn State star. Monday was the deadline to make a decision on his option.
Pickett, 26, averaged 5.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 16.1 minutes per game last season. He appeared in 50 games, highlighted by a career-high 29-point, seven-assist performance in January to lead the Nuggets in an upset over Philadelphia without their entire starting lineup.
Pickett is shooting 38.7% from the 3-point line on two attempts per game in his first three years. He also boasts a sturdy 3.63 career assist-to-turnover ratio.
But he’s remained a deep bench option under two different head coaches in Denver, from Michael Malone to David Adelman. Booth was fired in April 2025. Then, new co-general managers Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer signed veteran point guard Tyus Jones off the buyout market late last season when the Nuggets wanted ball-handling depth. Jones received playoff minutes over Pickett during their first-round series against the Timberwolves.
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