Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, January 16, 2025…
- Fire crews are still on the front lines battling the Los Angeles blazes, but California’s Democratic state leaders are bracing for a different fight ahead: a potential clash with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump over disaster aid.
- A 14-year-old in Los Angeles is trying to help restore a sense of normalcy for girls who lost everything in the wildfires there. Her effort to give those girls some free retail therapy has gone viral.
- The fires that have destroyed homes have also burned through thousands of acres of wildland that’s home to bears, mountain lions, squirrels and other animals.
Trump’s Misinformation About LA Fires Fuels Concerns Over Future Disaster Aid For California
While firefighters battle unprecedented blazes in Southern California, Democratic state leaders are bracing for a different fight ahead: a potential clash with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump over disaster aid.
In the days after the deadly fires broke out amid bone-dry conditions and hurricane-force winds, Trump posted more than half a dozen social media statements blaming Gov. Gavin Newsom and local leaders for the fires. Trump falsely tied the urban fires to state water policies and environmental protections for the Delta smelt, a tiny, endangered fish.
Conservative politicians and commentators, including billionaire Elon Musk, piled on, blaming forest management and even DEI initiatives.
However, it’s not just the rhetoric that concerns state leaders: In Trump’s first term, he refused to send disaster relief funds to California until an aide showed him how many people voted for him in one of the impacted areas. Last fall, Trump made a direct threat, saying if Newsom wouldn’t send more water to Central Valley farmers, “we won’t give him money to put out all his fires.”
Pasadena Girl Helps Fellow Teens With Fire Recovery
A 14-year-old in the Los Angeles area has started a wildfire relief fund to help fellow teenagers impacted by the wildfires.