Good morning. I’m Gustavo Arellano, a Metro columnist for The Times, which means I’m allowed to express opinions.

Like: La Virgen de Guadalupe is cool.

But before I get into that, here’s what you need to know to start your day.

An O.C. shrine to the Empress of the Americas

Thursday was the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the apparition of the Virgin Mary that the Catholic Church maintains appeared before St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin throughout December 1531 in what’s now modern-day Mexico City. Her image is part of Southern California’s visual landscape: a pregnant, brown-skinned woman in a green veil with her hands clasped in prayer and an angel underneath her feet. She beautifies walls in the form of murals, looms over front yards and backyards in small home altars, adorns lowriders, decorates candles and has even appeared as a water stain on a sidewalk in Artesia.

If you are Mexican and Catholic, there’s a good chance you either stayed up late on Wednesday night or got up early Thursday morning to attend one of the many celebrations for la Virgen across the Southland. I was one of the latter. My place of worship: the massive shrine to Guadalupe constructed by Luis Cantabrana every December for the last 14 years at his house on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street in Santa Ana.

Even if you’re not a person of faith, you can’t help but to stand in awe at this living piece of folk art.

Cantabrana, a native of the Mexican state of Nayarit, covers the left and right side of his Craftsman-style home in green and red Christmas lights to mimic the Mexican flag. The porch is covered in fake roses, from its pillars to ceiling to gable, where Cantabrana places a small Guadalupe statue in its apex. On his home’s sloping roof, Cantabrana fashions a Mexican tricolor cross out of more Christmas lights, which he uses to also spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” at the base of a second-story gable, where Cantabrana puts another Guadalupe statue.

The centerpiece is the 4-foot tall statue of Guadalupe that stands before what’s usually Cantabrana’s front door. Every year, he changes the theme of her background. In 2023, it was a shot of a Southwestern desert landscape; this year, it’s a forest scene complete with the front steps covered in wrinkled blue sheets meant to mimic a waterfall. They wrap around brown sheets bunched up to form faux rocks.

“People always tell me there are no other altars like this one and every year it gets better,” Cantabrana told De Los last year.

This is no mere neighborhood holiday display contest, though. The guadalupano (devotee of Guadalupe) breaks down the fence around his front lawn to fit tents festooned with red, white and green papel picado. Every night from Dec. 3 through the 12th, Cantabrana lines up rows of chairs to host nightly rosaries, handing out pan dulce and hot drinks — cinnamon tea, champurrado, ponche — at the end.

I’ve been posting photos of this scene every year on Instagram for at least a decade (in 2022, Meta bizarrely took down my Guadalupe post because the company said it promoted violence and hate speech). I’ve gone to Cantabrana’s rosaries, and also to the big celebration on the night of Dec. 11, when Aztec dancers perform in front of hundreds.

This year, I decided to show up at 4 a.m., the traditional time for Mexicans to serenade Guadalupe with mañanitas — our traditional birthday song.

As a proud guadalupano, I was hoping that Cantabrana would host something even more spectacular than anything I’ve seen him do all these years. Instead, all the lights were turned off. I was the only person there.

Even Guadalupe needs to rest, I guess.

I thought about going to one of the two nearby Santa Ana parishes named Our Lady of Guadalupe to warm up. But the Empress of the Americas didn’t deserve to be alone so early in the morning of her feast day. Besides, the scene was gorgeous. All that illuminated us were dozens of votive candles at the base of her feet, most bearing Guadalupe’s resplendent image. The chilly air was fragrant with hundreds of real roses left behind by the faithful. Another large Guadalupe statue — this one topped with a crown — accompanied Cantabrana’s centerpiece.

Someone had placed a bathroom mat on the walkway. I knelt down, recited a few Hail Marys in Spanish and then softly sang the two hymns most associated with Guadalupe’s day: “Las Mañanitas” and “La Guadalupana.” A truck warming up across the street was my musical accompaniment.

Cantabrana will keep up his display until Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany (which Latinos mark as the Día de los Reyes Magos — The Three Wise Men). Swing by and stare in wonder. Leave a couple of bucks in the donation bucket to help Cantabrana pay for his masterwork. And if you know of a better home display that’s visible to the public in Southern California, email me at gustavo.arellano@latimes.com so I can check it out. ¡Que viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!

Today’s top stories

Firefighters battle the Franklin fire next to a business along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu Tuesday.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Could Southern California’s high fire threat linger into the New Year?

• By this time of year, Southern California has usually had some measurable rainfall and Santa Ana winds have typically died down. This year, neither is the case.
• Two recent stretches of dangerous Santa Ana winds played out exactly the way forecasters worried they would. And Similar conditions are likely to remain a threat across the Southland, given the latest forecast and climate trends.

Outdoor dining in Los Angeles got a last-minute reprieve

• Mayor Karen Bass this week extended a pandemic-era outdoor dining program that was set to expire at the end of the year. Restaurant owners now have until the end of 2025 to make their outdoor spaces permanent.
• The extension comes as restaurants continue to face a tough time. Higher labor costs, increased food prices and pandemic fallout have forced many L.A.-area restaurants to shut their doors.

After losing reelection, San Francisco Mayor London Breed says she is leaving office as “a winner”

• After tackling a series of crises, including entrenched homelessness and the COVID-19 pandemic, Breed said she leaves office with her head held high.
• Her track record in the face of these challenges became a decisive factor in the mayor’s race. Breed lost to Daniel Lurie, a nonprofit executive and heir to the Levi Strauss family fortune who has never held elected office.

The powerful earthquake in Northern California last week prompted an endangered fish to get busy

• The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that rattled a large swath of Northern California likely increased spawning activity in the Devils Hole pupfish in an effort to to protect their population, scientists said.
• The pupfish were labeled an endangered species in 1967. The population hit an all-time low of 35 fish in 2013. But scientists found 191 pupfish in April — the highest spring count since 1999.

What else is going on

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

• Trump-friendly billionaires are taking aim at the federal agencies that protect workers and consumers, business columnist Michael Hiltzik writes.
• Gov. Newsom’s failure to close Aliso Canyon is hurting us all, climate columnist Sammy Roth writes.
• Christopher Wray just broke a prime rule of dealing with Donald Trump, columnist Jackie Calmes writes.
• The U.S. should not yet trust Syria’s new regime, writes Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow and director of the program on counterterrorism and intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

This morning’s must reads

(Ayman Oghanna / For The Times)

Amid the joy after Assad’s ouster, Syrians search for their missing. Loved ones are now searching for the estimated 150,000 people who were detained and disappeared in Bashar Assad’s Syrian government gulags, reports Times foreign correspondent Nabih Bulos.

“It’s my second day searching. I’ve gone to all the hospitals here in Damascus. So far nothing,” said a 32-year-old man who was looking among the unidentified dead for a brother he last saw in 2011. “My parents don’t dare to come. They don’t want to go through this.”

Other must reads

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your downtime

Death & Co.’s freshly baked chocolate chip cookies give Santa’s regular milk-and-cookies combo a run for its money.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• 🍪 Looking for holiday-inspired cookies? Some of L.A.’s best bakeries may satisfy your craving for nostalgic sweets.
• 🛳️ Away from the cruise ship passengers and conventioneers, you’ll find people passionate about their own unique corners of Long Beach.
• 🌌 The micro amusement park Two Bit Circus returns as a pop-up in Santa Monica that includes a “space elevator.”

Staying in

And finally … your great photo of the day

People watch a sunset at Hilltop Park in Signal Hill in 2008.

(John Galloway)

Advertisement

Today’s great photo is from John Galloway of New Castle, Pa.: Hilltop Park in Signal Hill.

John writes: “Hilltop Park is one of my favorite places in Southern California. I spent many hours there over the 43 years I lived in Lakewood — from a place to take a date or just chill to watch a sunset.”

Show us your favorite place in California! Send us photos you have taken of spots in California that are special — natural or human-made — and tell us why they’re important to you.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Defne Karabatur, fellow
Andrew Campa, Sunday reporter
Hunter Clauss, multiplatform editor
Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Stephanie Chavez, deputy metro editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

The report shows that annual emissions decreased by an average of 2.5% between 2018 and 2022. That number would need to come down to 4% annually to meet California’s 2030 climate targets.

“We absolutely have to reduce emissions by a greater amount between now and 2030, but we’re moving in that direction,” Perry said. “When you take all the climate policies in California and see the progress that we’re making, I think we have a good shot at hitting that.”

Part of this calculation depends on the incoming Trump administration. Vehicle emission standards are set by the federal government, but the Clean Air Act allows California to put forth its own clean car rules so long as it applies for a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency. The state expanded how many of these waivers it asked for during the Joe Biden administration.

California has relied on these permissions to enforce its nation-leading clean air and climate rules for decades, but Trump revoked some of these waivers in his first term, and promises to do so again in his second.

One waiver currently under consideration at the EPA would allow the state to mandate that all new passenger cars sold be zero-emission by 2035. Trump has said he wants to block this.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission all did not reply to requests for comment on this report.

A Republican lawmaker has set his sights on federal funding for California’s high-speed rail, driven by the ambitious initiative’s escalating costs and significant delays.

On Wednesday, California Representative Kevin Kiley announced that he would be proposing a bill to halt federal funding for the “failed California High-Speed Rail Project.”

“California’s high-speed rail project has failed because of political ineptitude, and there is no plausible scenario where the cost to federal or state taxpayers can be justified,” Kiley said on Wednesday. “Our share of federal transportation funding should go towards real infrastructure needs, such as improving roads that rank among the worst in the country.”

Newsweek reached out to the California High-Speed Rail Authority via phone and email for comment.

When contacted for comment, Kiley’s office said that the bill would be introduced at the beginning of the 119th Congress, set to commence on January 3.

Kiley’s office added that the bill aims to terminate the project entirely, after which proposals will be introduced advocating for federal funding to be directed toward California’s roads and existing infrastructure.

While Kiley’s bill will need to go through the customary legislative procedures of House, Senate and Executive approval before becoming law, it is only the latest example of opposition to the ballooning costs and minimal returns associated with the massive infrastructure project.

What is California’s high-speed rail project?

The project, funding for which was first authorized in 2008, is a planned high-speed rail route connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco, with second-phase plans incorporating routes to San Diego and Sacramento.

It was initially expected to be operational by 2020. However, in its 2024 business plan, the California High-Speed Rail Authority set a target to launch service in the Initial Operating Segment (IOS) connecting Merced and Bakersfield between 2030 and 2033.

The purpose of the project, which would be the United States’ first high-speed rail network, is to create an efficient and environmentally friendly transportation system, reducing traffic congestion, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and offering Californians an alternative to air and car travel.

“California’s high-speed rail project plays an important role as part of the broader climate solution in our state,” the California State Transportation Agency has said. “It will provide the backbone of our statewide rail service that will increase connectivity between communities, statewide, regional and urban areas.”

Funding for the project comes from the state and federal level, $3.1 billion of which was recently allocated as part of the Biden Administration’s 2023 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Why is the project facing pushback?

The project has been heavily criticized for escalating costs and numerous setbacks in its construction. Opponents argue that state and federal funds would be better spent on alternative transportation projects to connect Californians.

The project was initially expected to cost taxpayers $33 billion. As of February, however, the California High-Speed Rail Authority estimates that completing the route will cost between $89 and $128 billion. It justified this figure by stating that constructing “equivalent highway and air passenger capacity” would require between $179 to $253 billion in funds.

In recent remarks on the House floor, Kiley called the project “perhaps the single greatest example of government waste in United States history.”

In the Wednesday announcement, Kiley cited recent criticisms of the project from the Department of Government Efficiency, the new advisory body announced by President-elect Donald Trump. Led by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the unofficial department has been tasked with devising strategies to curb excessive federal spending and eliminate unnecessary government regulations.

“This is a wasteful vanity project, burning billions in taxpayer cash, with little prospect for completion in the next decade,” Ramaswamy wrote of the California project in late November.

Kiley, who also sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has instead advocated for federal funds to go “towards real infrastructure needs” of Californians, such as improvements to existing roads.

Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.