Many Childcare Providers Facing Challenges After LA Fires

Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, March 13, 2025…

• Many childcare providers lost their homes in the January fires in Los Angeles, and those homes often doubled as places of work. The state offered financial assistance for a month, but that money ran out in early February. For some, it’s been a real challenge trying to get any type of relief.
• A Fresno County man who tested positive for measles is quarantining at home. He presented to a health center last Friday evening after traveling internationally.

Some Childcare Providers Lost Everything In The Eaton Fire. Why Can’t They Get Any Relief Money?

Do you remember the last time you were on endless hold with customer service? Or in line at the DMV with no end in sight?

Take those experiences and multiply them together and it might begin to explain what life’s been like for Felisa Wright since January. She lost her Altadena home, where she also ran a childcare business, in the Eaton Fire. That was just the beginning. A few dozen other local childcare providers are in a similar situation. The state offered financial assistance for a month, but that money has since run out.

Wright said what’s followed is an endless bureaucratic maze as she seeks the help she needs to recover. That path is laid with blockades and countless visits to the disaster center in Pasadena and the post office. And still, two months later, Wright and her family don’t have a permanent place to live. She said she hasn’t been able to access a small business loan, or FEMA money beyond an initial emergency $770. Even her disaster unemployment hasn’t started yet.

Wright and other childcare providers told LAist that their recovery efforts are layered with Catch-22s. Wright said she was rejected when applying for a small business loan because she didn’t make enough money. But to start making money again, she’ll need to reopen her childcare center. She hasn’t been able to rent a new place in part because she doesn’t have proof of income or any savings. But she can’t get new income until she rents a new place and resumes her business there. She said she has yet to receive disaster unemployment payments, too.

Fresno County Reports First Measles Case In Two Years

A Fresno County resident has tested positive for measles for the first time since 2023. The highly infectious virus has made a resurgence in the last decade after it had been nearly wiped out in the U.S. by vaccines.

Public health officials with both Fresno and Madera counties told media on Wednesday that the patient is an adult male who had not been vaccinated against measles and contracted the virus during a recent trip abroad.

“He’s doing pretty well,” said Fresno County Interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra. “He is recovering, he’s quarantining at home, and he’s getting really good care and following all of our advice and recommendations.”

The patient also attended a “fairly large faith-based convention” in Madera County while infectious, according to Madera County Health Officer Dr. Simon Paul. Paul and Vohra did not reveal the nature of the convention, but said it took place on March 2. Vohra and Paul said they are now working to trace the patient’s contacts and prevent a full-blown outbreak, which is defined as three or more related cases. So far, this is the only case of the virus reported in either county this year.