There's a Political Power Struggle in the City of Avenal

Here are the morning’s top stories for Monday, July 27, 2026:

• The city of Avenal in Kings County is facing a political power struggle. Voters recently recalled four council members, but the city is disputing the election results, and the only member who wasn’t recalled now claims he is the mayor.
• Health care advocates are calling for stronger state oversight over rising hospital costs in Santa Barbara County.
• A team leading the closure of L.A. County’s aging Men’s Central Jail says people will have to be held there for at least five more years even though the facility was supposed to close in 2021.
• A judge has convicted a man of igniting the Park Fire in 2024, the largest wildfire that year and the fourth largest in the state’s history. He’s facing up to 25 years to life in prison for what prosecutors said was him pushing a burning car into an embankment, where the fire started.

Arriving in Avenal, known as the “Pistachio Capital of the World,” nothing seems out of the ordinary at first. The streets are quiet. Residents are going about their daily routines, stopping at local businesses or chatting with neighbors.

The loudest sounds come from birds perched in the trees, and large pickup trucks that roll through.

But behind its small-town charm, Avenal has become the center of one of the most unusual political disputes unfolding anywhere in California. It’s a battle over city leadership that has divided residents, drawn legal scrutiny and raised questions about how local government should function.

It all started last year when elected officials in Avenal wanted to establish their own fire department. At one point, the city was paying Kings County $425,000 each year for fire services, but last year, the county informed the city that the annual fee would increase to nearly $1.1 million.

Avenal officials, feeling the pinch of rising costs for fire services, ultimately pushed the city to consider creating its own fire department.

Kings County sued the City of Avenal for alleged Brown Act violations involving decisions made over the department.

The Registrar of Voters also certified the election results in May. Not all residents cast a vote, but of those who did, more than 75% voted to oust Mayor Alvaro Preciado and Councilmembers Leticia Gamez, David Reynosa and Pablo Hernandez.

The officials who were recalled have contested the election results, saying the election wasn’t valid because it wasn’t ordered by the city.

Health care advocates are calling for stronger state oversight of hospital costs in Santa Barbara County. During a virtual town hall last week hosted by Health Access California, advocates said rising hospital prices are driving up insurance premiums, deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for patients.

The group released a report highlighting Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital as one of seven hospitals statewide — identified by California’s Office of Health Care Affordability — as unusually expensive.

According to the report, nearly 48,000 Santa Barbara County residents report having difficulty paying medical bills. Health Access California argues that high hospital prices contribute to rising health care costs across the region.

“When hospital prices go up, that directly impacts how much people are paying for their premiums, as well as their deductibles and other cost sharing,” said Katie Van Deynze, policy and legislative advocate for Health Access California.

The report says Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital receives payments from commercial insurers that are significantly higher than Medicare reimbursement rates for the same care.

The team leading L.A. County’s push to close Men’s Central Jail says a full closure is not feasible in the next five years.

This is yet another delay since the county Board of Supervisors voted in July 2020 to close the jail within one year. A two-year plan was announced in 2021, then a five-year plan in 2024.

The Jail Closure Implementation Team, also known as JCIT, told the Board of Supervisors this week that they’ve outlined a framework that will improve conditions for thousands of people in L.A. County’s justice system, but the steps they’ve identified are still not enough to safely close the jail within the five-year timeline.

A judge convicted a Northern California man last week of starting the fire that destroyed hundreds of homes and burned for hundreds of miles.

Known as the Park Fire, the 2024 blaze was started by what prosecutors say was Ronnie Stout II pushing his mom’s burning car into an embankment. The fire started there, authorities said.

Stout faces 25 years to life for the crimes, with enhancements from the state’s so-called “Three Strikes Law” and for arson with special circumstances.

A witness for the state said that Stout had physically pushed the burning car he had previously been driving, though Stout’s lawyer argued that the vehicle could have been in the embankment because of its own movement.

Stout is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 9.