Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Jan. 8.
- Winds whip up devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
- Meta ends fact-checking ahead of Trump presidency.
- And the top 10 places to visit in California in 2025.
California wildfires
1.
As hurricane-force winds whipped the Los Angeles region Tuesday, a wildfire exploded across nearly 5 square miles in Pacific Palisades, the affluent Los Angeles neighborhood wedged between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Reporters counted dozens of structures ablaze, including two schools and several restaurants along Pacific Coast Highway. Abandoned vehicles clogged one of the limited escape routes after frantic residents resorted to escape by foot, some toting suitcases. “Cops began running down the road telling anyone stuck in traffic, ‘Run for your lives,’” Ellen Delosh-Bacher told the Los Angeles Times. L.A. Times | KTLA | LAist
- Track the Palisades fire.
2.
Another dangerous blaze, named the Eaton fire, erupted Tuesday night in the San Gabriel Mountains above Pasadena and Altadena, quickly spreading to more than 1,000 acres. Several homes burned, but the exact number was unclear, reports said. The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was engulfed in flames. Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derderian urged residents to heed evacuation warnings. “We’re not playing around,” she said. “This is serious.” L.A. Times | KTLA | NBC Los Angeles
- Track the Eaton fire.
- Other fires were burning in Santa Paula, and two San Fernando Valley suburbs — Sylmar and Sun Valley.
3.
Several longtime Angelenos said on Tuesday that they had never seen such fierce wildfire activity. Reaching speeds of nearly 100 mph in the mountains, the winds were so powerful that firefighting aircraft had to be grounded for a time. Yet the worst could be yet to come. Some of the strongest winds were expected between 10 p.m. through 5 a.m. on Wednesday. “This event is not only not over, but it is just getting started and will get significantly worse before it gets better,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said. L.A. Times | N.Y. Times
4.
Other wildfire developments:
- A 25-year-old female Los Angeles firefighter sustained a serious head injury while battling the Palisades fire, officials said. KTLA
- The grounds of the historic Getty Villa Museum caught fire, but the institution itself had so far been spared, museum officials said. Fox 11 | LAist
- The windstorm forced President Biden to cancel a trip to the Coachella Valley to announce two new national monuments in California. He said was being briefed on the wildfires. “I have offered any federal assistance that is needed,” he said. A.P. | Politico
- Pacific Palisades is popular among Hollywood types. Among those who fled their homes: Eugene Levy, Steve Guttenberg, and James Woods. FOX 11 | CNN
5.
The Southern California wildfires, in pictures and video:
- A McDonalds was engulfed in flames in Pasadena.
- A man cut it close fleeing his home near Rustic Canyon.
- An “absolutely horrific” view of the Palisades inferno from the sky.
- Nursing home residents were evacuated amid smoke in Pasadena.
- A precision water drop on the Palisades fire.
- A dramatic view of the wildfire above Pasadena.
- The Sylmar blaze threw embers across the 210 Freeway.
- See photo galleries. 👉 Washington Post | A.P.
Statewide
6.
Gov. Gavin Newsom offered a preview of his $322 billion budget proposal on Monday that was light on details. The blueprint, he said, would maintain fiscal discipline while making “significant commitments to accountability, transparency and results.” But columnist Anita Chabria noticed a telling shift in Newsom’s language, which was more practical and less aspirational than in the past. “Democrats are trying really, really hard to sound more like Republicans, without actually acting like Republicans — a clear retrenching in the wake of the presidential defeat,” she wrote. L.A. Times
7.
With a newly unleashed river and three new or expanded national monuments, it’s shaping up to be a great year for exploration in California. The San Francisco Chronicle gave its top 10 picks for places to visit in 2025, including newly protected Molok Luyuk, or Condor Ridge, pictured above — a dramatic confluence of mountain and valley along Northern California’s inner Coast Range that is said to be among the finest places anywhere to see plate tectonics in action.
8.
Daniel Lurie, a wealthy but politically inexperienced heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, will be sworn in Wednesday as San Francisco’s 46th mayor. For many Democrats, he has become a symbol of a new way forward for the party after Donald Trump improved his election numbers in many liberal cities, including San Francisco. “Resistance” to Trump is not on Lurie’s agenda. “The question, though,” wrote Heather Knight, “is whether a man who inherited tremendous wealth, with a life far removed from most residents, and has no experience in elected office can turn San Francisco around.” N.Y. Times
9.
Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would get rid of the fact-checkers who have for years sought to curtail misinformation on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, suggesting the program had undermined the company’s commitment of free expression. Zuckerberg acknowledged that more “bad stuff” would appear on the platforms, but said the alternative was worse. “Fact checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created,” he said. The move was seen by critics as capitulation to President-elect Donald Trump. N.Y. Times | Wall Street Journal
- The “MAGA-ization” of Zuckerberg is now complete, wrote Joe Garofoli. S.F. Chronicle
- It’s not so simple as that, wrote Derek Robertson. Politico
10.
The authorities have now linked at least six home invasions and kidnappings across Northern California to the man behind the notorious 2015 kidnapping and rape of Denise Huskins, which was initially dismissed as a hoax by Vallejo police. On Tuesday, El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said investigators believe Matthew Muller engaged in a criminal spree that dated back to 1993 when he was just 16 years old. The investigative breakthroughs have come from Muller himself, who said he wanted to unburden himself, officials said. Mercury News
11.
Huntington Beach sued California on Tuesday over its sanctuary law, alleging that the policy limiting cooperation between law enforcement and immigration authorities puts the city’s residents in jeopardy. “To put a fine point, as a charter city, Huntington Beach’s Police Department does not belong to the state. Rather, the Huntington Beach Police Department belongs to the city – and as such, the Police Department should be free from state interference and control,” the court filing read. Voice of OC | O.C. Register
12.
Josh Daiek, a 41-year-old freeskier from El Dorado County, launched himself over Highway 50 outside of South Lake Tahoe in what appeared to many as an act of lunacy. Using a gas-powered winch, Daiek hit 40 mph off an ice ramp and soared 170 feet above the pavement before deploying a parachute at the last moment. The landing was not pretty. “Was it perfect? No,” he wrote. “Was it a failure? Definitely not.” YouTube | S.F. Chronicle
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The California Sun is written by Mike McPhate, a former California correspondent for the New York Times.
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