California
California Wildfire Updates: Fires Near Full Containment—As Officials Warn Of Flooding, Mudslides
Three active fires in Los Angeles neared full containment Sunday, as the region receives much-needed rain that has produced flood and mudslide warnings lasting through Monday.
Cal Fire data marked the Palisades Fire at 87% containment, the Eaton Fire at 95% containment and the Hughes Fire at 92% containment.
A flood watch lasting until Monday at 4 p.m. goes into effect for areas in or near burn scars created by the Eaton, Franklin, Palisades, Hughes and Bridge fires, with the NWS noting a 10% to 20% chance of significant debris flows (see what areas are at risk here).
The NWS’s red flag warning for most of Los Angeles and Ventura counties expired, meaning firefighters should receive a break from strong winds and gusts that swept through the regions Wednesday and Thursday.
President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to visit Los Angeles on Friday, suggested abolishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is set to cover 100% of the cost of California’s disaster response to the fires for 180 days, suggesting the federal government would still fund disaster response efforts but states would be responsible for response actions.
The National Weather Service forecasted a low pressure system “likely” to bring much needed rain to Southern California would move through the area Saturday into Sunday, though experts have warned the precipitation could create flash flooding, mudslides and toxic runoff.
The National Weather Service warned Thursday is a particularly dangerous day for fires in Los Angles and Ventura counties, adding most of both counties are at “critical red flag levels” with humidity less than 15% and winds that frequently hit 25 mph or greater.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday night, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal disaster funds from California as he blamed the state’s fish conservation efforts in its north for water shortages that have hampered the firefighting efforts. Trump told Fox: “I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department said it was able to stop forward progress of the Sepulveda Fire, which covered 40 acres near the Getty Center and Los Angeles’ upscale Bel Air neighborhood.
The wildfires have cost the city of Los Angeles at least $385 million so far, according to a preliminary report released by the city on Wednesday. Around $350 million of that cost is linked to the damage caused by the fire to the city’s infrastructure.
A small new fire, called the Sepulveda Fire, was reported in Los Angeles county near the Getty Center and state freeway 405, and according to Cal Fire it covers around 20 acres.
According to Cal Fire’s latest update the Hughes Fire expanded to cover 10,176 acres with 14% of the blaze contained—but despite it swelling in size, no structural damage or casualties have been linked to the Hughes Fire so far as the blaze mostly covers hills in the northern part of Los Angeles County.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) called for an investigation into delayed evacuation orders issued for Western Altadena, where 17 people died, at the start of the Eaton Fire on Jan. 7.
According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate due to the Hughes Fire while evacuation warnings were issued to another 23,000 people.
Cal Fire officials announced the Hughes Fire reached over 9,400 acres, noting no buildings or homes were destroyed as of the early evening.
The Hughes Fire increased to 8,096 acres, spreading northeast and triggering 12 evacuation warnings and 10 evacuation orders for adjacent areas.
The Hughes Fire spread to 5,054 acres in a largely mountainous area.
The Hughes Fire grew to 3,407 acres, according to Cal Fire, with evacuation orders extending to the community of Castaic and evacuation warnings stretching to the northernmost parts of Santa Clarita, which had an estimated population of 224,028 in 2023.
The Hughes Fire began just north of the city of Santa Clarita and quickly spread to about 500 acres, with 0% contained, triggering evacuation orders in Naylor Place and Martins.
Cal Fire data marked the Palisades Fire at 68% containment and the Eaton Fire at 91% containment, listing no other active fires in Los Angeles as a red flag warning is in effect for much the region until Friday evening.
A “particularly dangerous situation” is forecasted to develop in parts of Ventura County, the San Fernando Valley and adjacent areas just north of the regions, with the National Weather Service warning of 50 to 70 mph wind gusts across coasts and valleys, as well as 60 to 100 mph gusts in mountains and foothills from noon Monday to Tuesday morning.
President Donald Trump commented about the fires in Los Angeles during his inauguration speech, focusing on the impact they have had on “some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country,” with Trump adding, “They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting.”
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced another eight people were charged for crimes linked to the wildfires in Los Angeles, bringing the total to 17 as the accused face charges such as looting, arson and impersonation of a firefighter.
The National Weather Service said winds peaked for the day and would lower into the evening, noting the end of several red flag warnings at 6 p.m. with the exception of warnings in mountainous regions that remain effective until Thursday at 3 p.m.
Some 25 people have died, with nine confirmed deaths from the Palisades fire and 16 from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said. An earlier toll for the Eaton Fire was at 17, but officials later clarified that a set of remains was non-human.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order aimed at cracking down on “predatory land speculators making aggressive and unsolicited cash offers” to victims of the fire to purchase their property. The order makes it illegal to make “unsolicited undervalued offers to purchase property,” in specified areas of Los Angeles County.
Cal Fire says the Auto Fire, which broke out Monday in Ventura County, is 25% contained several hours after fire crews stopped forward progress on the 56-acre blaze.
The National Weather Service’s “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties went into effect through Wednesday, and the agency’s LA office noted that while such warnings “do not predict fire starts, they do highlight an extremely dangerous environment that is favorable to very rapid fire growth if a fire does start.”
The Auto Fire started late on Monday night and rapidly grew to cover 56 acres (the fire received its name because of the large number of auto dealerships in the impacted area, according to the Los Angeles Times).
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power issued a warning that it may be forced to cut off power supply—with outages potentially lasting as long as 48 hours—in certain areas as a safety measure to prevent wildfires while the Red Flag Warning remained in effect.
Local, state, and federal officials announced help for those affected: former President Joe Biden announced wildfire victims are eligible for a $770 one-time payment designated for essential items (here’s who can apply), while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order aiming to expedite the process of rebuilding homes, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed $2.5 billion in additional funding for disaster response and recovery efforts in Los Angeles that will need to be approved by the legislature.
Hochman announced nine people were charged in connection to looting carried out in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, in addition to one arson charge for a man who allegedly started a fire in the city of Azusa, which is located about 20 miles east of Altadena.
The NWS issued a red flag warning for a large portion of southern California until Wednesday and said much of the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County would be in a “Particularly Dangerous Situation”—an especially severe fire warning—from early Tuesday morning until noon Wednesday. Forecasters are expecting 45 to 70 mph wind gusts and low humidity capable of creating rapid fire growth in the most hard-hit areas: “In other words, this setup is about as bad as it gets,” the agency said.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 23 people have been reported missing as a result of the fires—17 near the Eaton Fire and six near the Palisades Fire—and LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said six people are also missing and unaccounted-for in the city of Los Angeles, though it’s unclear if there’s overlap with Luna’s count. The death toll remains at 24, including a former child actor from Australia, a surfer from Malibu and a 67-year-old amputee who refused to leave his disabled son behind. Luna also said 34 people have been arrested since the fires began for breaking curfew and other offenses, including three arrests for drone-related incidents.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN the agency will cover the full cost of removing wildfire debris for six months—180 days—but warned cleanup from the disaster is going to take longer.
The Pasadena Unified School District announced all its schools will remain closed this week as evacuation orders remain in effect, the air quality in the area is “unhealthy” and “damage to school facilities and safety concerns, make it impossible to reopen schools for in-person learning at this time.”
Bass announced firefighters and engines were being “strategically pre-deployed in areas close to the Palisades Fire as well as various fire stations throughout the city,” in response to the National Weather Service’s warnings about strong gusts winds on Tuesday and Wednesday that have raised risk of further flareups early this week.
The Hurst Fire, the smallest of the active fires which covers 799 acres, is now 95% contained and has no active evacuation orders or warnings linked to it.
The Los Angeles United School District said it will reopen most of its schools and all of its offices on Monday but officials will continue to “monitor conditions” and inform families about any changes by 5.30 a.m. on Monday.
Authorities will start drawing up plans for evacuated residents to return to their neighborhoods “first thing Thursday,” after another bout of heavy wind subsides, County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said in a meeting.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN, “the winds are potentially getting dangerous and strong again,” adding that the firefighters’ response in the coming days “all depends on the weather.”
All evacuation warnings linked to the Archer Fire in Granada Hills are lifted as the blaze lessened in size to about 19 acres, after officials lifted evacuation orders and said the fire was no longer spreading.
Newsom directed state water and fire officials to conduct an independent investigation into causes of the “lost water supply and water pressure in municipal water systems” during the fires, also requesting reviews of preparation and response procedures taken by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, as well as Los Angeles County Officials.
Biden, who described Los Angeles as a “war zone,” said the death toll for the fires is still expected to rise, though it’s not clear how significantly: “There are still a lot of people who are unaccounted for. We don’t know where they are,” he said.
Bass said FEMA has pledged to reimburse disaster relief expenses, as the Palisades Fire expanded to more than 20,000 acresand the Eaton Fire increased to nearly 14,000 acres.
Kevin McGowan, director of Los Angeles County’s Office of Emergency Management, apologized during a press conference for an evacuation alert mistakenly sent to millions of county residents at about 4 a.m. local time, saying the error was “not human driven” while acknowledging “an extreme amount of frustration, fear and anger.”
Satellite images released by Maxar on Jan. 9 showed the scale of devastation caused by fires so far as Cal Fire’s latest update says the blazes have destroyed more than 10,000 structures, including homes and businesses.
Biden announced he has approved Newsom’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration, adding that it will allow “folks impacted by the Southern California wildfires to get cash assistance to cover things like groceries and medicine.”
The Kenneth Fire grew in size to cover nearly 1,000 acres, according to Cal Fire’s latest update, but firefighters have managed to contain 35% of the blaze.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department said a fire fighting plane struck by a civilian drone over the Palisades Fire was the SuperScooper—an amphibious plane which can scoop up water from a river or lake and aerially dump it on a fire—and has been grounded, though it managed to land safely.
The death toll from all the fires rose to 10, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office announced.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said his department has requested support from the California National Guard and is trying to implement a curfew between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. in the areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires to prevent looting and other crimes.
The Ventura County Fire Department said, “forward progress of the Kenneth fire has been stopped,” and the fire continues to hold at 960 acres with 0% containment.
The LAPD told local outlets they received a call informing them that a “suspect was ‘attempting to light a fire’ in the area of the Kenneth Fire,” and while the suspect is now in custody the department added: “We are continuing our investigation and we CANNOT confirm any connection to any fire.”
Los Angeles Police have arrested a man suspected of arson in the Woodland Hills area, and the department told NewsNation they are now investigating if the Kenneth Fire was intentionally set.
Newsom approved a request from Los Angeles County to deploy 8,000 National Guard members to the region to help combat fires and prevent looting (the sheriff’s department arrested 20 people for looting as of Jan. 9).
The NFL announced the Jan. 13 wild card playoff matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings will be moved from SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, citing concerns for public safety.
The Kenneth Fire began in the neighborhood of West Hills and spread to 50 acres, triggering evacuation orders for some residents in the Hidden Hills community.
The death toll from the fires reached six, according to multiple outlets, with the city of Malibu reporting its first death of a resident killed in the Palisades fire.
Biden said the federal government will pay the full cost of the disaster response for 180 days, covering the costs of things like “debris and hazard removal, temporary shelters, first responders’ salaries and all necessary measures to protect life and property” (the federal funding initially covered 75% of eligible firefighting costs).
Bass said the Sunset fire in the Hollywood Hills was “fully contained” after the fire began Wednesday evening and spread to 43 acres.
Los Angeles Unified School District announced its schools and offices will remain closed through Friday, adding students will continue to have access to digital academic resources, meal distribution and mental health support services.
Pasadena urged residents in a portion of the city to not use tap water for drinking or cooking “until further notice,” citing the Eaton Fire’s damage to reservoirs and pump stations that potentially impacted water quality in certain areas.
The wildfires severely impacted the air quality in the Los Angeles area with levels of PM 2.5 pollutants—airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter—hitting 165, which is labeled “unhealthy” by the EPA’s AirNow tracker and 11 times above the World Health Organization’s recommended safe limit of 15.
At least 2,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been destroyed by the fires so far, and more than 130,000 people have been forced to evacuate—some even multiple times as the fires spread to other parts of Los Angeles county.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said “the majority of the Evacuation Zone for the Sunset Fire is LIFTED” in an update shortly after midnight as Cal Fire’s tracker showed the size of the blaze in the Hollywood Hills shrinking from its previous size of 60 acres to 43 acres at 12:17 a.m. PST.
The city of Santa Monica instituted a mandatory curfew from sunset to sunrise on Wednesday night “to support law enforcement efforts in these zones, and other measures to facilitate an effective response,” the Palisades Fire.
Another fire, called the Sunset Fire, broke out around 6 p.m. PST in the Hollywood Hills which has rapidly grown in recent hours to engulf more than 50 acres or area, prompting mandatory evacuations.
Biden canceled the final overseas trip of his presidency on Wednesday—shortly before he was set to travel to Italy and the Vatican—to stay in Washington D.C. and monitor the emergency in California.
Biden approves a Major Disaster Declaration for California, making federal funding available to those impacted by the fires in Los Angeles County.
Nearly 1 million customers of electricity providers in Los Angeles County were without power, PowerOutage.us reported before it said the outage management system of Southern California Edison—the main electricity provider in the county—went offline.
The Palisades Fire in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades—an affluent coastal neighborhood—exploded to 15,832 acres, according to Cal Fire, making it the largest fire of the four burning in Los Angeles County as of Wednesday afternoon.
The Eaton Fire in Altadena, a small city directly north of Pasadena, grew to 10,600 acres with 0% containment, according to the Cal Fire.
Bass announced Los Angeles Fire Department air operations resumed after a lengthy suspension of air support began Tuesday due to high winds.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said FEMA is “closely monitoring” the wildfires and has authorized additional assistance from the agency to support firefighting efforts.
The Woodley Fire began in the Sepulveda Basin neighborhood, expanding to 30 acres before being brought under control, according to The New York Times.
The Hurst Fire ignited in the suburban area of Sylmar.
Newsom declared a state of emergency, urging residents to heed evacuation orders and saying, “This is a highly dangerous windstorm creating extreme fire risk, and we’re not out of the woods.”
The Palisades Fire started in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and resulted in about 30,000 people receiving evacuation orders as it initially spread to about 2,000 acres.
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The Palisades Fire began Jan. 7 and burned 23,448 acres as of Sunday, with about 87% of the fire’s perimeter contained, according to Cal Fire. Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said Jan. 9 “it is safe to say that the Palisades Fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles.”
The second blaze, called the Eaton Fire, began in the evening on Jan. 7 in Eaton Canyon near the San Gabriel Mountains and grew rapidly, covering 14,021 acres with 95% contained as of Sunday. The fire triggered a round of mandatory evacuations in the nearby areas of Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre.
The Hughes Fire, which broke out Wednesday north of Santa Clarita, has burned about 10,425 acres and is 92% contained as of Friday. At least 31,000 people in the area were under evacuation orders the day the fire broke out.
The Sepulveda Fire started Thursday and covered about 45 acres, eventually reaching 60% containment as of Friday. The fire broke out near the Bel-Air neighborhood, east of the Palisades Fire.
Preliminary data from Cal Fire indicates the Palisades and Eaton fires rank among California’s most destructive wildfires in state history:
JPMorgan analysts led by Jimmy Bhullar estimated in a note Jan. 9 there could be $50 billion in total damages, including $20 billion in insured losses, though they noted “estimates of potential economic and insured losses are likely to increase.” Those estimates would place the fires as the costliest in U.S. history. Jasper Cooper, vice president-senior credit officer at Moody’s Ratings, said the credit rating business expects “insured losses to run in the billions of dollars given the high value of homes and businesses in the impacted areas,” adding “commercial property losses could be significant.”
A mix of extremely gusty winds, drought conditions and low humidity created conditions conducive for fires to quickly spread. The appearance of weather conditions suggestive of La Niña, a climate phenomenon linked to drier conditions and drought in southern parts of the U.S., likely played a large part in priming southern California for extreme fire conditions. Los Angeles in particular has seen an underwhelming amount of rain in the last eight months alongside a dry winter. The last time the city recorded over a tenth of an inch of rainfall was last May, according to the Los Angeles Times, contributing to drought. The dry conditions paired with historically strong winds gave way to this week’s fires. Wind gusts of up to 99 mph were reported near Altadena and other nearby areas early Wednesday. The National Weather Service forecast wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph in parts of southern California and up to 100 mph gusts in mountains and foothills last week. The conditions are the result of a wind pattern called the Santa Ana winds or “devil winds,” which are often fast-moving, dry and warm winds that originate inland, around Nevada and Utah, and blow toward the coastal regions of Southern California. Cal Fire is still investigating the specific causes for each of the fires blazing in Los Angeles County.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner confirmed 27 people had died as of Friday, including 17 from the Eaton Fire and 10 from the Palisades Fire, though the number could climb. At least 16 others were reported missing to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, but that number could also climb.
See a full list here. Paris Hilton, who wrote she had evacuated her home, reportedly lost her Malibu home to the fire. Billy Crystal and his wife Janice said they lost their Pacific Palisades home to the fire, after first moving to the location in 1979. Jamie Lee Curtis said she likely lost her home to the fire and wrote on Instagram calling for people to “reach out to anyone who lives in Los Angeles” to offer assistance. Eugene Levy, the Pacific Palisades’ honorary mayor, told the Los Angeles Times he fled his home and said the “smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon.” Meanwhile, actor Mark Hamill wrote on Instagram he evacuated his Malibu home, while Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Los Angeles was put under an evacuation order, though no one was in the home at the time the order was placed, spokesperson Ernesto Apreza said.
Curtis, who advocated in a “Tonight Show” appearance for people to donate to relief efforts, said she was donating $1 million to start a support fund for the city and people impacted by the fire. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly made monetary donations to relief efforts, and donated clothing, children’s items and other supplies. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, the third-wealthiest person in the world, said he and his wife Priscilla are personally donating to relief efforts, and Jared Isaacman, the billionaire businessman tapped by Trump to serve as the next administrator of NASA, has said he will match the first $1 million donated to his company’s relief campaign. The NFL is donating $5 million to relief efforts.
Most Los Angeles Unified Schools were reopened Jan. 13 after being shut down on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10. Schools in areas most impacted by the fires or accompanying evacuation orders were temporarily moved to alternate sites (list here). Pepperdine University announced its Malibu campus will resume in-person classes on Jan. 21.
The voting deadline for the Academy Awards was pushed back to Jan. 19, with the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees also delayed to Jan. 23 at 5:30 a.m. PST. The award show is set to take place in early March. The Grammys are reportedly still scheduled for the first weekend of February, though organizers say this year’s show will focus on fundraising for relief efforts. The Critics Choice Awards—slated for Sunday—were postponed due to the fires, while the Screen Actors Guild cancelled its in-person awards nomination ceremony last week. Several TV shows—from “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to “NCIS”—paused production last week but reportedly plan to resume this week (see here for a list).
An NFL wild card playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings took place in Arizona instead of SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area. The Rams secured 750 spots on 15 buses to take fans from Los Angeles to Phoenix and back. Several other sporting events in the L.A. area were postponed, including an NHL game between the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames, an NBA matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets and a women’s college basketball game featuring Pepperdine University and the University of Portland.
Los Angeles International Airport, located about 19 miles south of the Pacific Palisades, has not experienced significant flight cancellations, according to FlightAware.
Trump and one of his key advisers, Elon Musk, have been critical of the local government’s response to the fire since they broke out. In a Jan. 9 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk claimed “the immense loss of homes in LA is primarily due to” bad governance leading to a shortage of water and “nonsensical overregulation that prevented creating fire breaks and doing brush clearing.” Trump has also taken aim at Bass and Newsom, saying on Truth Social Jan. 9 “nobody has ever seen such failed numbers before!” (referring to the Palisades Fire’s zero containment at the time) and blamed it on “gross incompetence” by Newsom and Bass.
Ten days since sexual abuse allegations were disclosed in a chilling New York Times investigation against farmworkers rights advocate César Chávez, the race to erase his name and likeness from public life is moving at a breakneck pace.
Municipal governments and agencies from the Bay Area to Phoenix, Denver and Texas are removing statues, renaming his holiday (March 31) and cutting mentions from history classes and beyond.
While action has been quick in removing Chávez’s name, there has been plenty of debate on how best to move forward.
A similar process played out a few years back in Burbank, when a student-led investigation propelled the changing of David Starr Jordan Middle School to, coincidentally, farm labor leader Dolores Huerta.
Four years removed, the school’s former principal, Jennifer Meglemre, and a former Burbank Unified Board of Education member, Steve Frintner, have advice for those not sure how to navigate a controversial name change.
Burbank name change background
In early 2018, Jordan student Ixchel Sanchez Jimenez investigated her school’s namesake as part of a class project.
What she found led her and her mother, Laura Jimenez, to push for a name change in May 2018.
Jordan was known for being the founding president of Stanford University and a famed ichthyologist, or fish scientist.
But he was also a believer and supporter of eugenics, a system of controlled breeding and separation of certain people to increase the chances for desirable heritable characteristics. It was a belief espoused by the Nazis.
University of Vermont associate professor and historian Lutz Kaelber estimated that roughly 20,000 people in California deemed undesirable were forcibly sterilized until 1964 due to eugenics policies. Most were sterilized because they were believed to be mentally ill or mentally deficient.
The name-changing process
Burbank Unified set up committees to debate the topic, first to decide whether there should be a name change, and then what the new name should be.
The committees took input from students, teachers, administrators and community members.
Frintner said it was critical not to rush the decision and allow for thorough conversations.
“It’s important to make sure you’re giving people in the community a voice because they want to feel a part of this process,” Frintner said.
After agreeing to drop Jordan, Burbank Unified’s renaming process centered on a few considerations: should the school replace David Starr with another notable Jordan (Texas lawmaker Barbara Jordan), should the school be named after another individual or something less contentious like a tree or a street.
Those decisions mirror the current Chávez debate. Los Angeles is changing César Chávez Day to Farm Worker’s Day, while some advocates, including former farmworkers, are asking that Chávez be replaced with Dolores Huerta, the civil rights leader who fought alongside the man who allegedly raped her.
Resistance to change
Meglemre said resistance to the school name change came from all sides: from those not wanting to drop Jordan and others who did not want the school renamed for a living person.
“The discussions were about how people are flawed and we don’t want to get into a situation where something is named after a person still alive and something terrible ends up happening,” Meglemre said.
After three years of debate, hampered in part by COVID-19, the committee settled on Dolores Huerta. (César Chávez was never a top contender.)
“Almost all the schools in Burbank are named after a person and we wanted to continue that tradition,” Meglemre said.
Frintner said the district committees wanted to choose someone with Southern California ties and was either a minority or a woman.
Last piece of advice
Meglemre said that while there was heated debate and pushback from community members, after a couple of years, most people “moved on with their lives.”
Frintner believes more research is always a positive.
“My advice is make sure you’re doing as much background as possible,” he said. “You do want to honor people but you don’t want to be in a position where you’re having a hard time defending your decisions.”
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Residents in the San Gabriel Valley are contending with a dramatic surge in black flies, a painful little pest known for biting around the eyes and necks of people and pets.
The San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District issued a warning this week advising residents of a spike in black fly activity in foothill communities including Altadena, Azusa, Bradbury, Duarte, Glendora, Monrovia, San Dimas and Sierra Madre. The flies develop quickly in flowing waters, where females will lay 200 to 500 fertilized eggs at a time.
“Black flies are currently very active in the San Gabriel Valley, and many residents are feeling overwhelmed,” the district said in a statement. “Right now, populations are increasing due to favorable conditions, and black flies can travel up to five miles from where they emerge, which is why they’re being seen throughout the community.”
The district is treating river breeding sites to reduce populations, but warns this might take several weeks to take effect.
In the meantime, residents are advised to take protective measures such as wearing long pants and long sleeves and using protective netting over one’s face. People should also consider using DEET-containing repellent on exposed skin and turning off personal water features such as decorative fountains for 24 hours once a week, according to the district.
The bugs, measuring two to three millimeters, are so small they can be hard to see. Still, their bite can pack a painful punch.
Azusa resident Constance Yu described the persistent bugs as “like little demons but tiny,” while she swatted away the critters during an interview with CBS News this week.
Though the flies cause discomfort, they are not known to transmit diseases in L.A. County, according to the vector control district.
Spikes in black fly activity are often caused by scheduled water releases from upstream dams, which are necessary for the region’s water management but also create ideal breeding conditions for the pests.
The district monitors and sprays pesticides at breeding sites — including local rivers, streams and locations such as Morris Dam — and sets traps in foothill communities to track the population size and minimize the effects on residents.
This time last year, surveillance traps had single-digit counts of black flies. Now they are capturing more than 500 flies at a time, district spokesperson Anais Medina Diaz told LAist.
Diaz also said it is usual to see such so much fly activity this time of year, noting that the uptick is probably connected to the recent record-setting heat wave. Southern California is experiencing the hottest March on record, leading to a surge in snow runoff from the mountains.
“We are experiencing them now because of the warmer temperatures we’ve been having,” Diaz said. “And of course, all the water that’s going down through the river, we have a high flow of water that is not typical for this time of year.”
The black flies are not the only troublesome creature acting up during the unseasonably warm weather.
The Southland has also seen more rattlesnakes, with two recent human fatalities, as the early heat draws more serpents onto hiking trails. Toasty ocean temperatures have been linked to a great white shark sighting in Newport Beach that prompted a temporary beach closure Thursday.
Polling shows Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco leading the pack, while eight Democrats split the liberal vote.
Democrats face nightmare scenario in California governor’s race
Polling shows Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco leading the California governor’s race, while eight Democrats split the liberal vote.
Democrats’ 2026 comeback could be spoiled by California electing a Republican governor, as two GOP candidates are leading in recent polls.
Experts forecast a potential “blue wave” in the midterm elections, as Democrats have recently overperformed in special elections, including flipping a state senate seat in President Donald Trump’s own Palm Beach, Florida, district on March 24.
But the party is facing a nightmare scenario in the nation’s most populous state, where polling shows Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco leading the pack in the June 2 nonpartisan primary. The state’s liberal majority is split among eight Democratic contenders.
The Democrats’ dilemma stems from California’s unusual election system, in which the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the November general election. A Berkley ISG survey released March 18 of more than 5,000 registered voters showed Hilton, a conservative TV host, receiving 17% of the vote while Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, held 16%.
In third was Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, with 14%, then former Rep. Katie Porter holding 13%, followed by Tom Steyer at 10% and the five other Democratic candidates each getting 5% or less.
Other yardsticks show a similar trend, such as a March 18 survey commissioned by the California Democratic Party showing the two GOP candidates on top with Swalwell, Porter, and Steyer in a three-way tie for third place.
California Democrats enjoy a 2-to-1 voter registration edge over the GOP, but Golden State voters say there is a fog of confusion around the race due to the party’s failure to coalesce around a frontrunner. Olivya Reyes, a graduate student who lives in Oxnard, California, told USA TODAY the party still feels like it is trying to “find its footing” between a more moderate or progressive candidate.
“I feel like as a Democratic voter, what I would want to see from my party is clarity on who we’re supporting and getting behind,” she said.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is prevented from running due to term limits, has one eye on the presidency and hasn’t endorsed a successor or publicly nudged lower-performing candidates out of the race.
That neutrality could come at a cost, some experts say, should the two GOP aspirants prevail.
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Democrats prioritize electability over ideology as they regroup from 2024 losses and focus on winning amid shifting voter confidence.
‘Nobody has leapt out’: Voters disengaged, largely unenthusiastic
Reyes, 29, a lifelong Democrat, said typically by the end of March she would have a strong idea of which candidate she planned to support. She was planning to back former Vice President Kamala Harris or Sen. Alex Padilla, but both bypassed running, leaving her clueless about who was running or who to support.
She has only learned about Steyer, who has poured millions into the contest, and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
“I’m going to be honest in saying that I have been getting a lot of conflicting messaging, even from my own party, about who I should put my vote behind,” Reyes said. “Right now, it seems that the party is very much trying to find its footing on whether or not we’re going for a progressive candidate or for a more moderate Democrat.”
Experts say voter apathy typically occurs in California because it’s a heavily Democratic-leaning state, and that a majority of voters don’t pay attention until after the usually low-turnout primary.
The Berkeley survey underscored how much inattention is responsible for Democrats’ lack of enthusiasm for a specific candidate. It noted that voters “remain largely disengaged and unenthusiastic,” and about 16% of Californians are undecided.
The poll found that even among the candidates who are generally better known, “significant proportions of likely voters have no opinion” of them.
That might come as a surprise, given that the top three Democrats all ran for major office before. Porter made an unsuccessful bid for Senate in 2024 while Steyer and Swalwell launched uneventful presidential campaigns in 2020.
There are other notable contenders on the Democratic side: Becerra, the former health secretary in the Biden administration who had just 5% in the Berkley poll; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan who raked in 4%; Tony Thurmond, state Superintendent of Public Instruction and Betty Yee, a former state controller who both shared 1%.
“No one in particular has caught fire with the average Democratic voter,” said Brian Sobel, a veteran political analyst based in San Francisco. “Nobody has leapt out.”
Democrat Rick De Alba, a workers’ compensation rights attorney from Pacifica, California, said he prefers Beccera, but noted he consistently sits in the basement of the race. He doesn’t want his vote going to someone who doesn’t have a shot at winning, and wishes underdog contenders would heed state party leaders’ advice and bow out gracefully.
“I think realistically you need about $30 million to put on an effective campaign in California, and if you can’t raise that, you should step aside,” De Alba said. “California always votes Democrat, no matter what. We just need to know who the candidate is.”
Reyes, the graduate student, said she had hoped to learn more about the other Democrats running through a debate hosted by the University of Southern California, which was originally scheduled to air on March 24. But the university canceled the event at the last minute after an accusation that it purposefully left out candidates of color, casting a shadow over the event for days.
Swalwell, Porter, and Steyer are White, whereas the lower-polling candidates are mostly people of color. Becerra and Villaraigosa are Hispanic; Mahan is White; Thurmond is Black; and Yee is Asian American.
“As a person of color, it did make me take a pause, and it didn’t look good,” Reyes said. “But I feel like this was a chance for all of these Democratic candidates to kind of put their faces in front of California voters.”
GOP shutting out Democrats ‘theoretically possible’ expert says
Conservative-leaning California voters such as Bud Thompson, a 61-year-old state government employee, said they are enjoying the spectacle of the usually dominant California Democrats in disarray. He was surprised to learn that the two leading candidates in this year’s races were the two GOP candidates.
“I think that you can look at California and see what a mess it is. Look at who’s been running it for the last few years,” the Sacramento, California, native said in an interview. “I am going to start seriously looking at the two Republicans. It would be a nice change of pace.”
California, under Newsom, has been one of the larger state governments that have opposed much of the Trump administration’s agenda, so having either Hilton or Bianco, who are both decidedly behind the president, would be a drastic shift.
Bianco made headlines this month when he followed the administration’s lead by seizing roughly 650,000 ballots in Riverside County, based on a tip from a citizen-led group that has been criticized for delving into conspiracy theories by local officials and other voting rights experts. He’s also made support for the president’s controversial SAVE Act voting bill one of the central themes in his campaign.
“Investigations into irregularities must happen so that the public can have full confidence,” Bianco said in a March 22 post on X.
Hilton, a former Fox News host, has also spoken in favor of Trump’s election overhaul, arguing that “(u)niversal mail-in voting must end,” in a March 26 post on X. He has emphasized allegedly fraudulent government spending and slammed Bianco for calling to work with Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.
Thomas Holyoke, a political science professor at California State University, Fresno, said it’s “theoretically possible” that the two could shut out the Democrats, assuming GOP voters back their own candidates and earn enough votes from some independent voters.
But he said in the next couple of months, there will be a lot more pressure from state Democrats and others to significantly drain the pool of candidates so that the remaining contenders can consolidate support.
“I just got to imagine that pressure is really going to mount and a lot of donors to Democratic candidates may also push heavily for some Democrats to drop out,” Holyoke said.
Asked about the prospect of Republicans keeping Democrats out of the top two spots, national campaign officials who spoke with USA TODAY exuded optimism and spotlighted the party’s history of success in the state.
“We are confident that will not happen, and we are having active conversations with our partners in California about ways that we can ensure that doesn’t happen,” Johanna Warsaw, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association, told USA TODAY in an interview.
She noted the group was heavily engaged in other elections that turned out well for progressives, including the 2025 redistricting ballot initiative known as Proposition 50 and the failed 2021 recall battle against Newsom.
Democrats express confidence as Newsom’s absence scrutinized
As the California election comes into focus, Newsom’s role in picking a successor is also being heavily scrutinized, especially given that he’s a rumored 2028 presidential contender.
Newsom served as lieutenant governor under former Gov. Jerry Brown, a longtime fixture in the state, before taking the reins in 2019. But Newsom’s second-in-command, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, dropped out of the running last August.
“There isn’t a logical heir to the throne this time around,” said Eric Schickler, a political science professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Newsom’s office did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment, but he addressed the lack of a focused message among the Democratic pool when speaking with Politico’s “On the Road” podcast. The governor noted that Harris and Padilla declining to run created “a lot of chill and a lot of delay” in this year’s campaign.
“You have this condensed period of time with a lot of candidates,” Newsom told host Jonathan Martin.
Sobel, the Bay Area political analyst, said Newsom has worked with many of the top candidates in various capacities previously and might want to avoid playing favorites. The 58-year-old governor will need their diverse and wide-ranging networks of support should he formally announce a White House bid.
“He’s going to need them again, sooner than later,” Sobel said.
Many of the low-polling candidates carry significant weight within the party at the local and state level, too, and some have been running for governor as far back as 2023. They are used to fighting ugly political battles, observers say, so they won’t go away easily.
The Yee campaign, for instance, points to the state party chair’s March 3 letter urging candidates to “honestly assess (their) viability” as an example of powerbrokers trying to clear the field for a select few.
“I’m not going to let that happen. Voters are still shopping,” Yee, a former state party vice chair, told USA TODAY in a statement. “Every poll shows the race remains wide open. Californians have a right to see and hear from a range of candidates, not just the billionaire-backed voices. Let the voters decide. Anything less is undemocratic and simply un-American.”
While the race might have some Democrats biting their nails, psychologist Steve Flannes, of Piedmont, California, said he’s pleased that so many people are running for governor. He said it’s a chore examining all the candidates, but he hopes it won’t be too cumbersome in the coming weeks.
“I’m trying to narrow down the options for myself,” Flannes, 75, said. “I’ve still got a couple of months to figure it all out, right?”
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