Politics
County prosecutors probing whether Edison should be criminally prosecuted for Eaton fire
The Los Angeles County District Attorney is investigating whether Southern California Edison should be criminally prosecuted for its actions in last year’s devastating Eaton wildfire, which killed 19 people and left thousands of families homeless, the company said Wednesday.
Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, told Wall Street analysts during an afternoon conference call that the company was cooperating with the District Attorney’s office. He said he didn’t know the magnitude of the investigation.
The company said in its annual 10-K report, which was released Wednesday, that it “could be subject to material fines, penalties, or restitution” if the investigation “determined that it failed to comply with applicable laws and regulations.”
“SCE is not aware of any basis for felony liability with regards to the Eaton Fire,” the report said. “Any fines and penalties incurred in connection with the Eaton Fire will not be recoverable from insurance, from the Wildfire Fund, or through electric rates.”
The District Attorney’s office declined to comment.
The investigation into the fire, which destroyed a wide swath of Altadena, has not yet been released. Pizarro has said that a leading theory of the fire’s cause is that a century-old transmission line in Eaton Canyon, which had not carried power for 50 years, somehow re-energized and sparked the fire.
Edison executives have said they didn’t remove the line because they believed it would be used in the future.
Company executives knew idle transmission lines could spark wildfires. In 2019, investigators traced the Kincade fire in Sonoma County, which destroyed 374 homes and other structures, to a transmission line owned by Pacific Gas & Electric that was no longer in service.
The Times reported in December how Edison fell behind in maintenance of its transmission system before the fire.
Despite the dangerous Santa Ana wind conditions on Jan. 7, 2025, Edison decided not to shut down the transmission lines running through Eaton Canyon. Pizarro has said the winds that night didn’t meet the company’s threshold at the time for turning off the lines.
Pizarro told investors on the call Wednesday that he continued to believe that the company had acted as a “reasonable utility operator” before the deadly fire.
Under state law, if a utility is determined to have acted reasonably it can be reimbursed for all or most of the damages of the fire by a state wildfire fund.
Politics
OpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT
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A new report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that employees at Open AI, the artificial intelligence company known for creating ChatGPT, raised alarm about transgender Canadian mass shooter Jesse Van Rootselaar’s interactions with its chatbot but did not alert authorities.
Around a dozen employees reportedly were aware of the concerning interactions months before Van Rootselaar killed multiple family members and school-aged kids in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. The interactions, first flagged by an automated review system, included violent scenarios involving gun violence over the course of multiple days, people familiar with the matter indicated to the Wall Street Journal.
OpenAI’s policy is only to alert law enforcement if there is an imminent threat of real-world harm or violence, and some of the employees reportedly wanted to go to the police. But, in the end, the company opted not to contact authorities.
AI COMPANIONS ARE RESHAPING TEEN EMOTIONAL BONDS
A photo shows a smartphone and a laptop displaying the logos of the artificial intelligence OpenAI research company and ChatGPT chatbot. (MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
On Feb. 10, Van Rootselaar, 18, gunned down his mother and step-brother at their home in British Columbia, before heading to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where the deranged teen shot and killed five students and a teacher before turning the gun on himself. Twenty-five others were reportedly injured.
Authorities later revealed Van Rootselaar, who had dropped out of the school he attacked, was biological male who had been identifying as female since he was 6.
Police were aware of Van Rootselaar’s mental health struggles, as they had reportedly made visits to his house on multiple occasions in the past due to various incidents.
FAMILY SPEAKS OF ‘PROFOUND PAIN’ AFTER TRANS DAD GUNS DOWN EX-WIFE, SON AT HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY GAME
Police tape surrounds the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and other buildings in Tumbler Ridge, Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday, a day after a mass shooting there. (Jesse Boily /The Canadian Press via AP)
The teen killer was found to have had an obsession with death, being an avid poster on a website that hosts videos of people being murdered, according to the New York Post. Van Rootselaar’s social media footprint included images of him with firearms and content about hallucinogenic drugs. Van Rootselaar’s mother expressed alarm at his actions in a Facebook parent’s group in 2015, the New York Post also reported.
A spokesperson for the company told Fox News Digital that the company banned Van Rootselaar’s account in June 2025 for violating its usage policies, but determined the activity did not rise to the level where it needed to be alerted to law enforcement. They noted that the company is compelled to weigh privacy concerns, adding that being too trigger-happy with police referrals can create unintended harm.
OpenAI’s chatbot model is made to discourage real-world harm when it senses dangerous situations, Fox News Digital was told.
A screengrab from a video shows students exiting the Tumbler Ridge school after deadly shootings, in British Columbia, Canada, on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (Jordon Kosik via AP)
The company reached out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) after the incident, and is supporting their investigation with information on Van Rootselaar’s chatbot activity, the spokesperson indicated.
“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy,” the company said in a statement following the incident. “We proactively reached out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with information on the individual and their use of ChatGPT, and we’ll continue to support their investigation.”
Politics
Column: The slur ‘woke’ highlights what Trump fears most
The most prestigious board ever put together.
That is how the president of the United States, a man convicted of fraud, described his new team focused on international relations. A team that does not include representatives from our closest neighbors — Mexico and Canada — but did save room for leaders accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
Now, we do not know whether President Trump created his “Board of Peace,” which this week held its first meeting, specifically to undermine the authority of the United Nations. But we do know that the president has pledged $10 billion in tax dollars to the board’s mission while still owing the U.N. half that amount in back payments. We do not know whether Trump, who is indefinitely the leader of this peace board, intends to relinquish that power after he leaves the White House. But we do know he is still trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Whether the “Board of Peace” is the most prestigious panel ever assembled is debatable. What is not debatable is that it was conceived by an adjudicated sexual abuser who is referenced in the released Epstein files some 38,000 times.
That is not my take.
That is simply what is happening.
Which is why the president encourages his supporters to ban books and reject journalism. He doesn’t want voters to pay attention. He doesn’t want voters to understand his actions.
Ten years ago this month — after his Nevada caucus victory speech — Trump said, “I love the poorly educated.” And his reliance on this base is why, over the past decade, he and other conservatives have purposely misconstrued the term “woke” as a catch-all slur toward progressive and far-left policies. It used to mean “aware” and “informed.” The term was not born out of modern politics but rather the need to understand the history of the social economic systems we all are living in. The alternative is to be blindly led by an unscrupulous leader most concerned with his own well being.
Being “woke” is why the Boston Tea Party happened in 1773; it is why Thomas Paine published “Common Sense” in 1776; it is why Republicans formed the Wide Awakes to help get Abraham Lincoln elected in 1860. When voters understand the context in which decisions are made, we are better equipped to address shortcomings at the ballot box and in our daily lives.
Trump’s self-proclaimed love for the poorly educated has nothing to do with progressive policies or college degrees and everything to do with whom he can convince to believe him. And by making “woke” an insult, Trump and other conservatives have politicized the very tool necessary to help the country fulfill its promise: information.
This threat is the reason his administration attacks, and even arrests, journalists; the reason he refers to reports he doesn’t like as “fake news”; the reason he fired the labor statistics chief after an unflattering jobs report last year. He’s waging a war on information.
The reason 2025 marked the worst nonrecession year for job growth since 2003 isn’t that the country was “woke.” It’s because of shortcomings in leadership.
When Trump returned to the White House, he made lowering the U.S. trade deficit a key component to his economic policy. In 2024, the deficit was $903.5 billion. In 2025, it was $901.5 billion — and America’s families paid $230 billion more for goods because of his yo-yo tariff policies.
He told his supporters that other nations would be paying for the tariffs he enacted — obvious nonsense to anyone who attended a day of Econ 101. And we know that as a result of his reckless and ignorant policies, farmers in particular suffered. It’s not clear whether that financial burden was a consideration when the Supreme Court on Friday declared the president’s sweeping tariffs to be illegal. What we do know is before Trump entered politics, his businesses filed for bankruptcy six times — so perhaps he was never the economic savant he claimed to be.
Just as the saga of the Epstein files reveals he is not the protector of women and young girls that he claimed to be.
Just as his recent attacks on the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 14th Amendments show he was never the defender of the Constitution he took an oath to be.
Acknowledging the laundry list of untruths tied to his promises and presidency is not political or a symptom of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” It’s simply having information: the one thing that helps voters understand why things are the way they are. The one thing the president hopes his supporters never wake up to see for themselves.
YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow
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Ideas expressed in the piece
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The Board of Peace, while described by the president as the most prestigious ever assembled, excludes the country’s closest neighbors in Mexico and Canada while creating space for leaders accused of war crimes by the International Court[2][3].
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The administration is pledging $10 billion in tax dollars to the board’s mission while the United States still owes the United Nations $5 billion in back payments, raising questions about priorities and institutional commitment.
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The board represents a potential threat to the UN’s authority and the multilateral international order, with the president positioned to lead indefinitely without a clear succession mechanism independent of his personal tenure.
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The use of the term “woke” as a political slur by the president and conservatives serves to discourage informed and critically aware voters from engaging with factual information and journalism, undermining democratic participation.
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The administration’s economic policies have demonstrably failed, including tariff strategies that burdened American families with $230 billion in additional costs while the trade deficit marginally decreased from $903.5 billion to $901.5 billion, a result inconsistent with promised outcomes.
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The president’s record of attacks on the press, dismissal of unfavorable reporting as “fake news,” and removal of officials for releasing unflattering data represents a broader assault on the free flow of information essential to accountability.
Different views on the topic
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The Board of Peace represents a vital step in implementing the president’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which was endorsed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 and initially received broad international support from Western democracies[1][3].
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More than two dozen nations have signed on as founding members of the board, with member countries pledging $5 billion toward Gaza’s reconstruction, demonstrating substantial international engagement with the initiative[2].
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The Executive Board comprises leaders with expertise across diplomacy, development, infrastructure, and economic strategy, positioning the mechanism to provide strategic oversight and mobilize international resources for Gaza’s stabilization[1].
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The board functions as an overarching body designed to implement demilitarization and reconstruction efforts through subsidiary mechanisms including the Gaza Executive Board and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, with operational structures intended to deliver governance and development outcomes[1][3].
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The initiative was conceived as a focused mechanism to support stabilization and reconstruction in Gaza within the framework of the UN-endorsed 20-point plan, anchoring its original purpose in internationally recognized diplomatic processes[3].
Politics
Campus Radicals Newsletter: Teacher who lost job over 2-word post breaks silence, Chicago ‘racial segregation’
Students walk to A. N. Pritzker elementary school (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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DEI EXPOSED: Illinois district where faculty celebrated Charlie Kirk’s death exposed over racial ‘segregation’ plan
ART AXED: University of North Texas cancels exhibit featuring anti-ICE art
CAMPUS CAUTION: Illinois university moves classes online after learning ICE is operating in the same building
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Early morning fog surrounds a pond on a cold, snowy day on the Virginia Tech campus. (L) Photo of Virginia Tech professor Onwubiko Agozino taken on an unknown date. (istock; Virginia Tech)
ALLEGATIONS DISMISSED: White teens cleared of hate crime allegations levied by Black Virginia Tech professor
BOOK BATTLE: Nashville teacher allegedly threatened with termination for refusing to read LGBTQ book to first graders
DEPORTATION DENIED: Palestinian activist accused of expressing desire to ‘kill Jews’ wins deportation case
FACULTY REVOLT: Columbia pulls promotion for DHS career expo after faculty claims university is aiding ‘authoritarianism’
Harvard University is offering an “Immigrant Justice Lab” history course that allows undergraduates to earn credit by conducting research and writing for asylum applicants in partnership with a nonprofit legal group. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg)
HARVARD ACTIVISM: Harvard students earn course credit helping asylum seekers as critics calls school ‘bastion of woke activism’
CAREER DERAILED: Chicago-area teacher breaks silence after losing job over 2-word Facebook post supporting ICE: ‘Devastating’
TPUSA CONTROVERSY: Maryland woman says TPUSA high school event raised ‘serious concerns,’ says Child Protective Services notified
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