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Los Angeles Wildfires Complicate Efforts to Increase Housing Affordability

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An aerial view of beachfront homes that burned in the Palisades Fire as wildfires cause damage and loss through the LA region on January 15, 2025 in Malibu, Los Angeles County.  (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, January 24, 2025: 

  •  As the Southern California wildfires have made tragically apparent, California Democrats’ goal to lower the cost of living are running headlong into the impacts of extreme weather brought on by climate change.
  • President  Trump is expected to visit Los Angeles today to see the wildfire damage firsthand, but some of the details around the visit are murky. That’s after he signed an executive action earlier this week aiming to reroute Northern California water to the rest of the state.
  • The state’s response to the bird flu outbreak could be hobbled as the Trump Administration pauses all communication released from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
  • State Assemblymember Dawn Addis, who represents Morro Bay, says she’s introducing legislation to regulate new battery storage facilities in California. That comes a week after a fire at the world’s largest such facility in Moss Landing, owned by the Vistra Corporation. 

California Democrats Prepare for Trump, But Vow Renewed Focus on Affordability

After Republican victories in the November election, Democrats in California vowed to renew their focus on increasing affordability, but the fires in Los Angeles show why efforts to lower the cost of living won’t be easy.
Fires are affecting home electricity rates because utilities are upgrading their equipment to prevent fires and passing along those costs to residents. At the same time that the effects of a warming planet are hitting residents, state programs to slow climate change are also hurting Californians’ pocketbooks.
This will drive lawmakers to perform a balancing act between green policymaking and cost-cutting.  One solution could be programs like the California Climate Credit, which takes money from polluters and uses it to lower residents’ energy bills.

Trump Visits Los Angeles Wildfire Damage

On Wednesday, Trump told Fox News he “hadn’t even thought about” whether to include California Governor Gavin Newsom in his trip.
Since the wildfires began, Trump has been fixated not on offering aid but on tying the deadly blazes to state water policies related to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, even though LA’s water comes from other sources.
The president, as well as some congressional Republicans, have repeatedly floated the idea of tying aid to changes to water policy or even an increase in the debt limit; some congressional Republicans in California, however, have joined Democrats in opposing that move.

Trump-Led CDC Silence Could Hobble California’s Bird Flu Response, Experts Warn

Infectious disease specialists are warning that the Trump administration’s decision to pause all external communications from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could have significant consequences for California’s ability to respond to the evolving bird flu outbreak.
The pause, announced yesterday, includes halting health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to department websites, and social media posts.
Since the outbreak began, 38 residents have tested positive for an infection in California. Most cases stem from direct contact with sick cattle. The virus has infected 712 of the state’s more than 1,100 dairy facilities, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

State Assemblymember Introduces Bill to Regulate New Battery Storage Facilities in California

State Assemblymember Dawn Addis says that if her bill becomes a law, it will return the decision on whether to permit these storage facilities to local control. The bill would also restrict these battery facilities from being built near environmentally sensitive areas like high fire and flood zones.

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