Southwest
Texas hiker says Grand Canyon flash flood rescue was 'craziest day'
A Texas hiker recalled the deadly flash flooding that surged through Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park and stranded more than 100 hikers last month as the “craziest day of their lives.”
Whitnye Raquel, 35, told SFGate that she and her friend Paige Renae had gone to the Havasupai Reservation for three nights, where the idyllic waterfalls, creek-side campground and the canyon’s famed blue-green waters draw visitors from around the world.
But steady rain on Aug. 22 quickly turned to disaster as the creek turned a muddy color and swelled, with water sprouting from the canyon walls and dislodging rocks.
“We just see boulders crumbling, and the sides of houses and school buildings just tumbling down the canyon walls,” Raquel told the outlet. “I grabbed Paige, because I thought it was going to come right through their grocery store and end us. You don’t think that you’re going to see something like that in real life. It felt like a movie.”
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The flash flood struck the area on Aug. 22, stranding more than 100 park visitors. (Michael Langer via AP)
Raquel said Havasupai tribal members allowed tourists to shelter in their village inside a school cafeteria. The initial flash flood had wiped out wooden bridges and ladders used to cross streams along the trail, and a second rush of water made hiking out impossible.
The flash flood washed out wooden bridges used to cross the creek and made hiking out impossible. (Michael Langer via AP)
“That’s when they said, ‘The trail is now impossible,’” Raquel recalled the tribal members saying. “‘There are boulders blocking the trail. Nobody can hike in or out. You guys will all be helicopter-evacuated tomorrow morning. Nobody is hiking out of here.’”
Raquel said all the hikers sheltering with the tribe helped each other through the ordeal after having gone through what she called “the craziest day of their lives.”
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While a private helicopter service and an Arizona National Guard Blackhawk helicopter worked to ferry 104 evacuees out of the canyon, park officials confirmed that two hikers – a husband and wife – had been swept away in the rush of water near where Havasu Creek empties into the Colorado River.
The two hikers were identified as Andrew and Chenoa Nickerson, of Gilbert, Arizona. Andrew Nickerson was rescued later that night by a group rafting the 280-mile stretch of the river that runs through the Grand Canyon.
“I was seconds from death when a random stranger jumped from his river raft and risked his life without hesitation to rescue me from the raging waters,” Nickerson wrote later on social media.
Havasu Creek is a tributary to the Colorado River, where Nickerson’s body was found days after being swept away in a flash flood, officials said. (National Park Service)
His wife, 33-year-old Chenoa Nickerson, was swept into the river’s main channel and remained missing for days. Like most hikers at Havasupai, she wasn’t wearing a life jacket.
Members of a commercial river trip later found her body floating in the Colorado River.
Raquel told SFGate that the experience serves as a reminder “that the human doesn’t stand a chance compared to the sheer force of mother nature.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read the full article from Here
Southwest
EXCLUSIVE: Red state sues insurer for using customer data to build ‘world’s largest driving behavior database'
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Allstate insurance company for allegedly illegally collecting, using and selling the driving behavior data of over 45 million Americans.
Paxton filed the suit in the District Court for Montgomery County, Texas, on Monday morning. In the suit, he accuses Allstate, and its subsidiary data analytics company “Arity,” of secretly using driving data from over 45 million Americans’ mobile devices, in-car devices and vehicles to build the “world’s largest driving behavior database,” consisting of “trillions of miles” worth of data.
“Our investigation revealed that Allstate and Arity paid millions of dollars to install Allstate’s tracking software,” Paxton said in a Monday statement. “The personal data of millions of Americans was sold to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent in violation of the law. Texans deserve better and we will hold all these companies accountable.”
A representative for Allstate Corporation, however, claims that its data collection system “fully complies with all laws and regulations.” Allstate is one of the largest auto, home and life insurance companies in the U.S. It is headquartered in Glenview, Illinois.
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Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a rally featuring former President Trump, Oct. 22, 2022, in Robstown, Texas. (AP Photo/Nick Wagner, File)
The suit said that in 2015, Allstate and Arity developed and integrated software into several third-party apps so that when a consumer downloaded these apps onto their phone, they unwittingly downloaded the tracking software. Once Allstate’s software was downloaded onto a customer’s device, they could monitor the consumer’s location and movement in real time.
According to the suit, the company used the driving data to justify raising customers’ insurance rates and further profited by selling the data to third parties, including other insurance companies.
“Defendants [Allstate and Arity] never informed consumers about their extensive data collection, nor did Defendants obtain consumers’ consent to engage in such data collection,” the suit said. “Finally, Defendants never informed consumers about the myriad of ways Defendants would analyze, use, and monetize their sensitive data.”
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Texas state Capitol in Austin, Texas. (Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images)
Paxton said that because tens of millions of Americans, including millions of Texans, were never informed about their driving data being gathered, Allstate’s data-gathering scheme violates the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, the Data Broker Law, and the Texas Insurance Code’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive acts and practices in the insurance business.
He is asking the court to permanently block Allstate from continuing to gather and use customers’ data and to impose thousands of dollars in civil penalties per customer.
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Tom Wilson, chairman and chief executive officer of Allstate Corp., listens during the CEO Initiative event in New York, on Sept. 25, 2017. (Misha Friedman/Bloomberg)
Meanwhile, a representative for Allstate Corporation told Fox News Digital that its data collection system is completely legal.
“Arity helps consumers get the most accurate auto insurance price after they consent in a simple and transparent way that fully complies with all laws and regulations,” the representative said.
According to Paxton, this suit is the first enforcement action ever filed by a state attorney general to enforce a comprehensive data privacy law.
Fox News Digital reached out to Allstate but did not immediately receive a response.
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LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Recent wildfires have left a devastating mark on the Los Angeles area, displacing families and exacerbating an already dire housing crisis.
Rents in the region are on the up, with accusations of short-term price gouging by landlords making national headlines. While experts say rents increasing by as much as 20% is unlikely, KTLA 5 consumer reporter David Lazarus noted that the upward trend is undeniable and adds significant stress for displaced residents.
Lazarus spoke with Marco Giacoletti, a housing expert at the University of Southern California, to better understand the crisis.
One potential solution to help with the ongoing housing crisis involves revisiting zoning laws to permit higher-density housing in working-class neighborhoods like Altadena, which was ravaged by the Eaton Fire.
“Rather than putting up single-family residences, we could allow developers to build duplexes and apartments,” Lazarus said.
And while this could increase housing availability, Lazarus says it would undoubtedly “change the character of many neighborhoods,” and would be a tough sell for longtime residents.
“I think it would be highly controversial,” Giacoletti said. “So it’s hard to say whether this is going to happen or not.”
Lazarus pointed out that most major cities globally have adopted higher-density housing to address similar challenges, avoiding long commutes and keeping residents closer to urban centers.
But for residents in Pasadena, Altadena, Malibu and Pacific Palisades, distance from the city center may have been a selling point for laying roots there, not a detriment.
“As with the rest of the world, at some point, L.A. is going to have to perhaps consider these steps, that these neighborhoods, these very homey neighborhoods that we’ve enjoyed for decades now, might not be in step with the times,” he said.
The fires have also renewed calls for a rent freeze in Los Angeles County.
While consumer advocates argue such measures are necessary, Giacoletti warned of potential unintended consequences in the form of landlords taking their properties off the marketplace altogether, further worsening the housing crunch.
For those who lost their homes, rebuilding poses significant hurdles, Lazarus said.
“In Altadena, there’s a number of people who are uninsured. They’re just off the playing field at this point,” Lazarus explained. Even for those with insurance, Laz said, overages and delays could prolong the process for years. “Some estimates say it could take five years or more for many of these residents to rebuild.”
Compounding the difficulty are offers from predatory buyers and lowball settlement offers from insurers. Lazarus says to be very skeptical of any cash offer you might receive.
“If you get such an offer, not saying walk away from it, but get a second opinion first,” Lazarus advised. He emphasized the importance of consulting real estate professionals or other insurers to understand the long-term value of properties.
“The value of the structure, if your house is burned down, is zero,” Lazarus said. “The value of the underlying land can still be profound,” accounting for up to two-thirds of the overall value, according to the Los Angeles County Assessor.
As Los Angeles faces an uncertain future, the path to recovery will require innovative solutions, resilience, and adaptability in the wake of the crisis.
Southwest
Abbott orders flags at full-staff for Trump's inauguration despite one month order to honor Carter
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced that flags at the state Capitol building in Austin and at all state office buildings will be raised to full-staff next Monday, Jan. 20, to mark President-elect Trump’s inauguration.
The move comes despite the official order by President Biden after the Dec. 29 death of former President Jimmy Carter that flags across the country would fly at half-staff for a 30-day mourning period.
Abbott said in his announcement that “on January 20, our great nation will celebrate our democratic tradition of transferring power to a new President by inaugurating the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. As we unite our country and usher in this new era of leadership, I have ordered all flags to be raised to full-staff at the Texas Capitol and all state buildings for the inauguration of President Trump.”
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former President Trump attend a briefing with state officials and law enforcement before touring the U.S.-Mexico border wall on June 30, 2021, in Weslaco, Texas. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
“While we honor the service of a former President, we must also celebrate the service of an incoming President and the bright future ahead for the United States of America,” added the conservative three-term Texas governor.
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An Abbott adviser told Fox News that flags at the Texas Capitol and at state offices would resume flying at half-staff on Jan. 21.
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter is carried into the National Cathedral for a funeral service, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
“Texas continues to mourn with our fellow Americans across the country over the passing of former President Jimmy Carter,” Abbott said in his statement. “President Carter’s steadfast leadership left a lasting legacy that will be felt for generations to come, which together as a nation we honor by displaying flags at half-staff for 30 days.”
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According to the U.S. flag code, U.S. flags are flown at half-staff for a 30-day period to mark the passing of a current or former president, at federal government buildings, military installations and vessels, and at U.S. embassies and other facilities around the world.
Flags fly at half-staff in honor of former President Jimmy Carter at Union Station in Washington, D.C., Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Since the U.S. flag code dictates that no flag should fly higher than the American flag on the same or nearby poles, state flags also are lowered during such mourning periods.
Trump earlier this month claimed on social media that “Democrats are all ‘giddy’” about flags being flown at half-staff during his inauguration.
“Nobody wants to see this,” Trump argued. “No American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The U.S. flag code isn’t mandatory, which means that Trump could technically override it once he’s inaugurated as president.
The U.S. flag is shown at the Mar-a-Lago compound in Palm Beach, Fla., while a U.S. Coast Guard boat patrols around the vicinity, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. U.S. flags at President-elect Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club are back to flying at full height. Flags are supposed to fly at half-staff through the end of January out of respect for former President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The Associated Press observed that a flag at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida was flying at full height on Monday.
The flag had been flying at half-staff, but had been raised in the days after Carter’s funeral service at National Cathedral in Washington D.C. and burial in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, both of which took place on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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