| LA County opposes Trump order, rejects federal takeover of local permitting in fire zones – Daily News |
| Los Angeles County is pushing back against President Trump’s executive order to take over the rebuilding process in the Palisades and Eaton fire zones, threatening to sue the administration if local land-use powers are overridden.
The Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 without discussion on Tuesday, Feb. 3, to monitor the actions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA), the agencies Trump’s order put in charge of expediting housing rebuild permits and “to cut through bureaucratic red tape and speed up reconstruction” in the fire-scarred areas where more than 16,000 structures were lost on Jan. 7, 2025. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-04 |
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| Could Californians pay by the mile to drive? – NBC 7 San Diego |
| California drivers already face some of the highest costs in the nation, and a proposal moving through the state legislature is raising questions about whether driving could eventually become even more expensive.
Assembly Bill 1421 has passed the California Assembly and is now in the Senate Rules Committee. Lawmakers behind the bill stress it does not create a new mileage tax or road usage charge. [Article] |
| by , KNSD NBC San Diego. 2026-02-04 |
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| California’s 4.5% economic growth only 25th among the states – Daily News |
| California’s economic growth hit its fastest pace in a little more than two years – but on a national scale, it was just a middle-of-the-pack performance.
My trusty spreadsheet reviewed the third quarter report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis on state gross domestic product – a broad yardstick of business output. It’s an inflation-adjusted measurement of the value of goods and services produced. Annual growth rates are a benchmark for comparing the progress of various economies.
In the three months ended in September, California’s GDP grew at a 4.5% annualized pace. That was California’s fastest growth since 2023’s second quarter.
Nationally, GDP growth was 4.4%, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2023. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-04 |
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| Anaheim’s city manager, the ‘longest-tenured’ in the city’s recent history, resigns – Orange County Register |
| Anaheim’s top administrative executive resigned Tuesday night, just a week after he left a closed session questioning seemingly unscathed and with vocal support from at least two councilmembers.
The City Council unanimously accepted City Manager Jim Vanderpool’s request to move up his plans for retirement and step down, which he put in for days after he was questioned behind closed doors by city leaders for having attended an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce-funded retreat to Lake Havasu without listing the trip as a gift in his 2020 statement of economic interests.
Vanderpool’s resignation “in connection with his retirement,” was effective at 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to his notice, which was signed by Mayor Ashleigh Aitken. Aitken was the one to call for his closed session questioning and, later, a review by an ethics officer — the results of which she asked be public. [Article] |
| by , Orange County Register. 2026-02-04 |
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| Can a state like California get to universal child care? These experts say yes | LAist |
| It’s no secret that childcare is expensive — and unaffordable — for many families. In L.A. County, costs for childcare take up, on average, nearly 20% of a family’s household income. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-04 |
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| Fort Jones looks to modernize while preserving small-town character | Jefferson Public Radio |
| Fort Jones, California, is a small town in Siskiyou County's Scott Valley. The city is known for its scenic beauty and quiet atmosphere. The town was founded in 1852 as a U.S. Army fort to protect settlers. The fort itself no longer stands, but the city preserves its history through the Fort Jones Museum, which houses regional artifacts and military memorabilia.
Mayor Madeleine DeAndreis describes Fort Jones as “the land that time forgot.” She took office after a remarkable 104-104 tie in the local election, eventually winning the seat when her opponent conceded. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-04 |
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| Santa Ana adopts use of police drones despite surveillance concerns | LAist |
| After a heated debate, Santa Ana became the latest city in Orange County to approve the use of drones as first responders.
Santa Ana Police Chief Robert Rodriguez told the council the drones will help the department improve response times. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-04 |
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| LA County agencies given chance to review Eaton fire after-action report, raising questions over draft edits – Daily News |
| LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County agencies were given an opportunity to review and provide feedback on an independent after-action report examining alerts and evacuations during the catastrophic January wildfires that destroyed parts of Altadena, officials said on Wednesday.
It was unclear whether county agencies proposed minor or major edits to the report. County Counsel said drafts of any documents, including the alert after-action report, will not be released, citing legal concerns. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-04 |
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| California sues Rady Children's over transgender health care cutoff |
| On Friday evening, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the state’s largest children’s health provider. The complaint accused Rady Children’s Health in San Diego of taking steps to illegally terminate gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
News of the lawsuit spread quickly through chat groups of parents of transgender kids, LGBTQ organizations and the broader transgender community. It was the first major action the state has taken against a hospital that had severely limited or ended transgender health services. [Article] |
| by , CalMatters. 2026-02-04 |
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| Editorial: LA County right to pause fraud-plagued settlement payments – Daily News |
| Any incident of sexual abuse, most especially of a minor, is inexcusable, and not to be tolerated by our society.
And it’s a sign of health in our society that we now refuse to allow such abuse to be minimized and not addressed by responsible parties, including government social-service agencies that are supposed to protect citizens in their care.
On the one hand it’s understandable why many supported a 2019 California law, Assembly Bill 218, which lifted the statute of limitations on bringing abuse lawsuits against government agencies in the state which employed people who engaged in abuses in the course of their job. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-04 |
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| Is Another City Hall Probe on the Horizon For Santa Ana? |
| Santa Ana city leaders have launched at least three different investigations against each other in the past few years and are on the brink of a fourth one after the most recent probe fizzled out. [Article] |
| by , Voice of OC. 2026-02-04 |
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| 4 killed in L.A. County homeless encampment since October. Are deaths linked? - Los Angeles Times |
| Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide detectives are looking for possible links among the recent slayings of four homeless people in Willowbrook, including the killing of former NFL lineman Kevin Johnson, who was stabbed to death last month.
Johnson, 55, known in his playing days as “Big Kev,” was found dead after sheriff’s deputies on Jan. 21 got a call of an unconscious man at a homeless encampment where he had been living. Responding paramedics declared the former player dead at the scene.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner listed the journeyman NFL player’s cause of death as “blunt force trauma” and “stab wounds.”
Homicide detectives say his slaying was one of four since October of people living in a homeless encampment on East 120th Street near Central Avenue. Authorities are now investigating whether any of the deaths are related or the work of the same perpetrator.
“We are looking at the possibility that they are connected,” said Nicole Nishida, a department spokeswoman, adding that at this early stage it is just one path being pursued and that no conclusions have been made.
The proximity of the killings to each other and that all the victims are from the same unhoused community along the Compton Creek, just south of Los Angeles, has ignited the concern that one or more may be tied together.
But each slaying had a different method. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-04 |
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| Water District’s EV Charging Depot Will Have Power to Spare |
| A massive electric vehicle (EV) charging depot is expected to open in southern California this spring, capable of charging a wide swath of fleet vehicles ranging from heavy-duty pickups to dump trucks.
The facility is part of the Helix Water District’s Operations Center in El Cajon and will include 87 high-speed chargers ranging from 40 kilowatts to 640 kilowatts, with a total charging capacity of 5.9 megawatts, which is enough power to support 4,425 to 5,900 homes. [Article] |
| by , Government Technology. 2026-02-04 |
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| How one local mom saves money at the grocery store | KPBS Public Media |
| First, in a new KPBS series, we talk with a local mom who shares how she makes ends meet in San Diego County. Then, the second part of a series on Black defendants having a higher likelihood of facing charges that could lead to life without parole than their counterparts. . We also tell you details around California psychiatric hospitals having a new deadline to adjust to new staffing rules. Also, Olympic soccer is coming to San Diego! Plus, our Cinema Junkie offers a creative alternative to Super Bowl Sunday. [Article] |
| by , KPBS - San Diego. 2026-02-04 |
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| Dodgers pledged $100 million to wildfire relief fund. So far, they've given $7.8 million - Los Angeles Times |
| Not long after Pacific Palisades and Altadena had burned, Gov. Gavin Newsom summoned reporters and television cameras to Dodger Stadium. Newsom stepped behind a podium dropped within a stadium parking lot, with a commanding view of Los Angeles as the backdrop.
He was there to unveil LA Rises, a signature initiative under which the private sector and philanthropists could unite to help Southern California rebuild and recover.
The most valuable player that day: Mark Walter, the Dodgers’ chairman and controlling owner. The big announcement: Walter and two of his associated charities — his family foundation and the Dodgers’ foundation — would contribute up to $100 million as “an initial commitment” to LA Rises.
“We should clap for that,” Dodgers co-owner Magic Johnson told the assembled media. “A hundred million dollars, that’s an outstanding thing.”
One year later, Newsom’s initiative has struggled to distinguish itself amid a panoply of wildfire relief efforts. LA Rises has delivered $20 million to date, including $7.8 million from Walter’s family foundation, according to Newsom’s office.
“If it’s a number of 20 million after one year, after such a severe occurrence, and with Los Angeles having the giving capacity to meet that goal, I would have expected to hear that there had been more commitments, at a minimum,” said Casey Rogers, founder of Santa Barbara-based Telea Insights, which advises philanthropists and leaders of nonprofit organizations. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Times. 2026-02-04 |
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| Thousands of mule deer will be killed on Catalina Island as part of restoration plan | LAist |
| The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has approved a plan to kill and sterilize roughly 2,200 mule deer on Catalina Island as part of a large-scale restoration effort. The project — proposed by the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy — also includes plans to monitor fauna, such as the Island fox and monarch butterflies, and increase biodiversity by removing invasive vegetation and seeding native plants. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-04 |
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| Imprisoned former OC Supervisor Andrew Do loses law license for taking bribes – Orange County Register |
| Former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for accepting bribes, has been stripped of his law license.
Do, who served nearly a decade on the board, was summarily disbarred Dec. 31, the California Bar announced late Wednesday, Feb. 4.
Do pleaded guilty in October 2024 to accepting $868,000 in bribes to steer more than $10 million in pandemic relief funds to certain nonprofits, primarily one that employed his daughter, Rhiannon. Do admitted to diverting money that was meant to feed the elderly and disabled through his county office, mainly to the startup charity Viet America Society. [Article] |
| by , Orange County Register. 2026-02-04 |
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| Citing ICE raids fallout, LA County proposes raising threshold for evicting tenants late on rent | Boyle Heights Beat |
| Renters in Los Angeles County who fall behind on rent by up to two months could soon be protected from eviction under a new rule forwarded Tuesday by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. [Article] |
| by , . 2026-02-04 |
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| Fullerton City Council Cracks Down on Reckless E-Bike Use |
| New laws are coming for electric bicycles in Fullerton as city leaders join a growing list of Orange County cities cracking down on reckless e-bike riding, especially for minors. [Article] |
| by , Voice of OC. 2026-02-04 |
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| California is far from reaching its recycling target — and that’s OK – Daily News |
| Californians have been conditioned to consider recycling to be an unchallengeable proposition. It’s a moral imperative. Those who don’t cling to the faith are heretics. Yet fewer are practicing what they preach.
Data from CalRecycle show that of the 77.2 million tons of waste generated in 2024, only 32.4 million tons or 42% was recycled. The rest, 44.7 million tons, was dumped in landfills. This is far from the state’s goal to reduce, recycle or compost 75% of all the waste produced, a target mandated by 2022’s Senate Bill 54. In 2024, 10.2 million tons, or 13%, was exported overseas, with another 1% going to Mexico. This is significant: Much of this state’s waste is sent to countries where stewardship of the garbage stream is far too casual. Rather than recycled, it’s often lost into the environment. Plastic, that bane of California policymakers and activists, is hardly recycled. [Article] |
| by , Los Angeles Daily News. 2026-02-04 |
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