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"bio": "\u003ca href=\"http://www.MarkFiore.com\">MarkFiore.com\u003c/a> | \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/markfiore\">Follow on Twitter\u003c/a> | \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Fiore-Animated-Political-Cartoons/94451707396?ref=bookmarks\">Facebook\u003c/a> | \u003ca href=\"mailto:mark@markfiore.com\">email\u003c/a>\r\n\r\nPulitzer Prize-winner, Mark Fiore, who the Wall Street Journal has called “the undisputed guru of the form,” creates animated political cartoons in San Francisco, where his work has been featured regularly on the San Francisco Chronicle’s web site, SFGate.com. His work has appeared on Newsweek.com, Slate.com, CBSNews.com, MotherJones.com, DailyKos.com and NPR’s web site. Fiore’s political animation has appeared on CNN, Frontline, Bill Moyers Journal, Salon.com and cable and broadcast outlets across the globe.\r\n\r\nBeginning his professional life by drawing traditional political cartoons for newspapers, Fiore’s work appeared in publications ranging from the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times. In the late 1990s, he began to experiment with animating political cartoons and, after a short stint at the San Jose Mercury News as their staff cartoonist, Fiore devoted all his energies to animation.\r\nGrowing up in California, Fiore also spent a good portion of his life in the backwoods of Idaho. It was this combination that shaped him politically. Mark majored in political science at Colorado College, where, in a perfect send-off for a cartoonist, he received his diploma in 1991 as commencement speaker Dick Cheney smiled approvingly.\r\nMark Fiore was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for political cartooning in 2010, a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 2004 and has twice received an Online Journalism Award for commentary from the Online News Association (2002, 2008). Fiore has received two awards for his work in new media from the National Cartoonists Society (2001, 2002), and in 2006 received The James Madison Freedom of Information Award from The Society of Professional Journalists.",
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"content": "\u003cp>At age 95, there was no other way to describe Dalyce Curry, or “Momma Dee” to her large extended family, other than “fabulous.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>”My grandmother still wore her big hair, glasses, nails, you know, painted makeup,” her granddaughter and namesake Dalyce Kelley said, “You know, she was just fabulous, period.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1929, that big personality was destined for one place: Hollywood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She settled in Los Angeles, where she never became a star but did rub shoulders with some of the elites of old Hollywood, including backing up singer Pearl Bailey, being an extra in a scene with Diana Ross in \u003cem>Lady Sings the Blues\u003c/em> and being mentored by the first Black woman to ever sign a movie contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curry died last week at her home in Altadena as the Eaton Fire raged through the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her granddaughter had dropped her off at her house about 11:30 p.m., after she spent the day in the hospital for tests after she felt dizzy. On the drive, they saw the fire far off in the distance and power was out as they exited the interstate in Altadena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But power was on in her grandmother’s neighborhood, and there was no sign of immediate danger, so Kelley told her grandmother she’d check in later and left. She asked in a neighborhood text group for someone to call her if there were evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She woke about 5:30 a.m. the next morning to an urgent message in the group text, asking if Curry got out during the overnight evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelley rushed to Altadena but wasn’t allowed past a police barricade. An officer called her, saying her grandmother’s cottage burned to the ground. Then she frantically looked for her grandmother in shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four days later, the family received confirmation from the Los Angeles Coroner’s office that Curry had died, one of at least 25 victims of the devastating Los Angeles fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curry said all the family mementos, including photos going back nine decades, and all were lost in the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only thing of her grandmother’s that escaped unscathed was a 1981 midnight blue Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. It didn’t run, but Curry had been hoping to fix it up and rent it out to production companies making movies set in the 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curry had other ties to the movie industry, starting after she struck up a friendship with Nellie Crawford, who went by the stage name of Madame Sul-Te-Wan, at a Los Angeles beauty salon in the early 1950s, Kelley says, telling her grandmother’s stories as best she can.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_12022023,news_12022057,news_12021777\"]Crawford was the first Black woman to be featured in films after signing her contract with Fine Arts. She appeared in such movies as the 1915 landmark film \u003cem>Birth of a Nation\u003c/em>. When Curry told Crawford she was interested in arts and theater, Crawford said: “’Well, that’s it. I’m going to take you under my wing. You’re my goddaughter”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That led to Curry getting extra work in 1956’s \u003cem>The Ten Commandments\u003c/em>, in which she danced and bowed before king.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a small part, but we were big proud,” Kelley said. Curry also worked as an extra in\u003cem> Lady Sings the Blues\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Blues Brothers\u003c/em>, her granddaughter said, and sang and danced backing up Pearl Bailey in venues across the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In later life Curry became a nurse, working in convalescent homes and in private care. Curry, who used her maiden name, had one son. She also is survived by seven grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelley said she will miss her grandmother’s positivity, energy, light, strength, and her signature phrase: “Nothing is as bad as it seems, even at its worst.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone should just kind of live by that, even the people that have been victims of this fire and lost loved ones and lost everything, lost their homes and have had to see this devastation,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curry died last week at her home in Altadena as the Eaton Fire raged through the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her granddaughter had dropped her off at her house about 11:30 p.m., after she spent the day in the hospital for tests after she felt dizzy. On the drive, they saw the fire far off in the distance and power was out as they exited the interstate in Altadena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But power was on in her grandmother’s neighborhood, and there was no sign of immediate danger, so Kelley told her grandmother she’d check in later and left. She asked in a neighborhood text group for someone to call her if there were evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She woke about 5:30 a.m. the next morning to an urgent message in the group text, asking if Curry got out during the overnight evacuations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelley rushed to Altadena but wasn’t allowed past a police barricade. An officer called her, saying her grandmother’s cottage burned to the ground. Then she frantically looked for her grandmother in shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four days later, the family received confirmation from the Los Angeles Coroner’s office that Curry had died, one of at least 25 victims of the devastating Los Angeles fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curry said all the family mementos, including photos going back nine decades, and all were lost in the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only thing of her grandmother’s that escaped unscathed was a 1981 midnight blue Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. It didn’t run, but Curry had been hoping to fix it up and rent it out to production companies making movies set in the 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curry had other ties to the movie industry, starting after she struck up a friendship with Nellie Crawford, who went by the stage name of Madame Sul-Te-Wan, at a Los Angeles beauty salon in the early 1950s, Kelley says, telling her grandmother’s stories as best she can.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Crawford was the first Black woman to be featured in films after signing her contract with Fine Arts. She appeared in such movies as the 1915 landmark film \u003cem>Birth of a Nation\u003c/em>. When Curry told Crawford she was interested in arts and theater, Crawford said: “’Well, that’s it. I’m going to take you under my wing. You’re my goddaughter”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That led to Curry getting extra work in 1956’s \u003cem>The Ten Commandments\u003c/em>, in which she danced and bowed before king.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a small part, but we were big proud,” Kelley said. Curry also worked as an extra in\u003cem> Lady Sings the Blues\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Blues Brothers\u003c/em>, her granddaughter said, and sang and danced backing up Pearl Bailey in venues across the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In later life Curry became a nurse, working in convalescent homes and in private care. Curry, who used her maiden name, had one son. She also is survived by seven grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelley said she will miss her grandmother’s positivity, energy, light, strength, and her signature phrase: “Nothing is as bad as it seems, even at its worst.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone should just kind of live by that, even the people that have been victims of this fire and lost loved ones and lost everything, lost their homes and have had to see this devastation,” Kelley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s been a year since Pacific Gas and Electric Company left Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That exit deal included a promised $13.5 billion settlement to pay victims of wildfires that were caused by the company’s equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal represented the culmination of a promise to fire survivors, PG&E interim CEO Bill Smith \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/newsdetails/index.page?title=20200701_pge_emerges_from_chapter_11\">declared\u003c/a> on July 1, 2020. “Today’s announcement is significant for PG&E and for the many wildfire victims who are now one step closer to getting paid,” he said. “Compensating these victims fairly and quickly has been our primary goal throughout these proceedings, and I am glad to say that today we funded the Fire Victim Trust for their benefit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a year later, public records show that a special Fire Victim Trust created to distribute the settlement has been slow to pay out victims — and quick to wrack up big bills for lawyers and consultants. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, KQED and NPR’s California Newsroom \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kqed.org/news/11872328/survivors-stuck-in-limbo-as-pge-fire-victim-trust-pays-out-50-million-in-fees&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084036887000&usg=AOvVaw0hyR-8qqeBfPKqldP6UYeX\">published an investigation\u003c/a> into spending by the Fire Victim Trust charged with compensating survivors. We found that in its first year, the trust had racked up $51 million in overhead, and distributed only $7 million to fire victims. Ninety percent of outgoing funds paid lawyers and consultants in 2020 while the vast majority of fire victims waited for help. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pace of payments has picked up this year, but as of \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20982273-fvt-claims-data-report-63021-1\">June 30\u003c/a>, fewer than 3% of fire victims — 1,867 out of approximately 70,000 total — have had their claims fully processed. For now, they are getting 30% of what they were due while the Fire Victim Trust collects its fees in full. Approximately $436 million in compensation has been delivered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is still much we don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To date, the Trust has refused to share its budget, a quarterly breakdown of expenses or a detailed reporting of firms and individuals the Trust has paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trust also refuses to make public other details we’ve requested, like the terms of its retention deal with attorneys \u003ca href=\"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210224005907/en/PGE-Fire-Victim-Trust-Sues-PGE-Executives-and-Officers-for-Causing-Devastating-Northern-California-Wildfires\">suing former PG&E directors and officers\u003c/a> on the Trust’s behalf. The attorney leading that lawsuit, Frank Pitre, happens to sit on the Fire Victim Trust’s court-appointed Trust Oversight Committee, as do representatives from three other law firms involved. KQED has been asking to review the Trust’s retention agreement with these attorneys since February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"Scott McNutt, former California State Bar Board of Governors member and veteran bankruptcy attorney\"]‘One of the hallmarks of trust administration is transparency. That’s why they’re called trusts.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading experts told us the amount of secrecy surrounding the Trust was unusual. “One of the hallmarks of the bankruptcy process is transparency,” Scott McNutt, a former California State Bar Board of Governors member and veteran bankruptcy attorney, told KQED in May. “One of the hallmarks of trust administration is transparency. That’s why they’re called trusts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After we published our May investigation, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers asked California Attorney General Rob Bonta to probe the spending and administration of the PG&E Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is outrageous,” the lawmakers wrote to Bonta, “especially in light of the fact that thousands of fire victims are struggling to rebuild their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonta’s office said it is unable to comment on, even to confirm or deny, a potential or ongoing investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Trust Says Our Reporting Is ‘Inaccurate and Uninformed.’ They Are Wrong.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the lawmakers demanded an investigation, both the Fire Victim Trust and the Trust Oversight Committee, made up primarily of mass tort attorneys, wrote to the attorney general and disputed our reporting. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Fire Victim Trust is led by retired California Appeals Court Justice John Trotter, who KQED revealed billed $1,500 an hour. In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210224005907/en/PGE-Fire-Victim-Trust-Sues-PGE-Executives-and-Officers-for-Causing-Devastating-Northern-California-Wildfires\">video\u003c/a> released in response to our story, he said he had reduced his compensation to a “very adequate” salary of $150,000 a month. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More coveage\" tag=\"fire-victims-trust\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20974605-trustee-letter-to-ag-bonta-5-27-21-executed-4\">letter\u003c/a> to the attorney general, Trotter said he was “appalled by the carelessness with which it [the legislators’ letter] was written.” Without naming KQED or NPR’s California Newsroom, Trotter continued: “It appears to be influenced by a recent, inaccurate and uninformed news report with no attempt to understand the Trust’s operation or function.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20974607-trustoversightcommitteeletter&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084187566000&usg=AOvVaw0WGLrTJ-Rbvb9Ukj9L7Kpg\">letter\u003c/a>, the Trust Oversight Committee said the figures reported by KQED were “out-of-date or .. out of context.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both statements couldn’t be further from the truth, as the lengthy trail of emails between KQED and the Fire Victim Trust makes clear. We have made extensive efforts to understand the Trust’s operations and function, and have consistently brought our findings to them — through their spokespeople — so that they have the opportunity to comment and explain themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite their public attacks on our journalism, we have yet to see any legitimate examples of inaccuracies in our reporting on the Trust’s finances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As spelled out below, we have done our best to provide this accounting with the limited information in the public record. We welcome any and all additional transparency by the Trust into its spending and administration. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trustee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nNo attempt was made to understand the Trust’s operation or function. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’S Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nWe have gone to great lengths to familiarize ourselves with the Trust’s inner workings. We have combed through past bankruptcy court filings, hearing transcripts and correspondence from the Trust to fire victims. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve had dozens of contacts via email and by phone with the Trust’s PR firm asking detailed questions about our findings. We’ve also asked to interview the trustee, John Trotter, and the Trust’s claims administrator numerous times since our last interview with both in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also contacted all seven of the firms we identified as having been paid by the Trust. Just one responded to our inquiry. None answered questions about how much money they had received.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Again, we would welcome greater transparency into how the Trust does its work and spends its money. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trust Oversight Committee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nStating that the Trust spent almost 90% of the funds on overhead during the first year is “untrue and misleading as stated. Ninety percent of the funds in the Trust would be over $10 billion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’s Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nKQED has been clear from the first story published on the Trust’s finances that overhead comprised almost 90% of funds spent \u003cem>in its first year\u003c/em>. We have never suggested that the Trust has spent $10 billion — or anything near that amount — on overhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trust Oversight Committee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe statement that the Fire Victim Trust accumulated over $51 million in overhead costs but allocated just $7 million to fire survivors is “based on 2020 year end data, which is now five months old, even though the Trust has released more recent data regarding payments to survivors, which demonstrated a much different picture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’s Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThat 2020 year-end data on overhead costs is the only information the Trust chose to share in its annual report, which was published four months after the end of the reporting period it chose. Since then, the Trust has continued to incur overhead expenses without reporting updated figures to the public. The Trust has regularly released updated information on payments to fire survivors, however, and KQED has used the most up-to-date figures in all of our reports. We see that the Fire Victim Trust has begun posting this information publicly to \u003ca href=\"https://www.firevictimtrust.com/Documents.aspx\">its website\u003c/a> since we published our investigation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20792877/ltr-from-toc-to-legislature-re-fvt.pdf\">recent letter responding to state lawmakers\u003c/a>, the Trust Oversight Committee decided to come forward with the information we sought ahead of our story. Operating expenses through April of this year — pending an audit of April expenses — now top $84.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11875085\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11875085\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Survivors of the 2018 Camp Fire gather in Paradise, California, on May 22, 2021 to protest runaway overhead expenses by the PG&E Fire Victim Trust. \u003ccite>(Lily Jamali/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trust Oversight Committee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n“Many people worked between January 1, 2020, and July 1, 2020 to get the Trust off the ground but until July 1 it had no funds, save an advance of $15M made by PG&E in April 2020 to cover expenses incurred from January 1 forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’s Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nWe are clear in our story — and in fact, were first to report — about this “advance,” which amounts to millions of dollars paid toward startup costs in the first half of last year, which the Trust left out of its \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20974645-fvt-2020-annual-report\">2020 Annual Report\u003c/a>. Most of PG&E’s advance was ultimately credited back to the company, with fire victims footing the rest of the bill. It remains unclear why these costs were not included in the Fire Victim Trust’s annual report, despite KQED’s efforts to get answers ahead of publication of our first story. By our calculation, the Trust spent at least $12.7 million during the first half of last year. The Trust refuses to engage with us to confirm this calculation. PG&E has confirmed it for us. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trust Oversight Committee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe Trust needed to build a robust staff to develop a claims resolution process and root out fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’s Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThis and other explanations for the initially slow pace of payments have been clearly laid out in all of our stories. Despite the Fire Victim Trust’s decision to limit transparency, we have made every effort to be fair and include voices explaining why the process is taking time — even when the Trust would not provide this voice itself. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We note that an important reason for delay stems from the fact that a significant portion of compensation for fire victims came in the form of stock in PG&E itself. This rare outcome was actively supported by most members of the Trust Oversight Committee last year, as we \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kqed.org/news/11805766/pge-victims-weigh-rare-stock-funded-trust-amid-market-turmoil&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084358063000&usg=AOvVaw3wVoUySa0l_Tah06dyPGii\">reported then\u003c/a>. More importantly, fire victims themselves voiced these concerns as we reported \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kqed.org/news/11801571/fire-victims-ask-judge-to-reconsider-13-5-billion-pge-settlement&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084394101000&usg=AOvVaw0zrmC-iNt7w3FeZBIhOQEQ\">here\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kqed.org/news/11808826/fire-survivor-resigns-in-protest-from-pge-bankruptcy-committee&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084415239000&usg=AOvVaw22qb8ieHkyWA6ze_uvRx0G\">here\u003c/a>. Today, the tiny fraction of fire victims who have had their claims processed and paid are getting just 30% of their claim for now. In the words of the trustee \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XDLml9GEyg\">himself\u003c/a>: “We don’t know how much money we have because a substantial portion of the assets that are going to be used to pay you are in the form of common stock of Pacific Gas and Electric.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every dollar spent on overhead is a dollar not distributed to fire victims who need it. No one expects the Trust to execute the complicated task of fairly distributing billions of dollars without incurring costs. But the Fire Victim Trust has not been transparent about those costs. Fire survivors want and deserve timely, honest and clear explanations of where their settlement money is going, if not to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "One year after Pacific Gas and Electric Company emerged from bankruptcy, public records show that the special Fire Victim Trust created to distribute settlement money has been slow to pay out victims — and quick to wrack up big bills for lawyers and consultants. And there are still unknowns around the trust's spending.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s been a year since Pacific Gas and Electric Company left Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That exit deal included a promised $13.5 billion settlement to pay victims of wildfires that were caused by the company’s equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal represented the culmination of a promise to fire survivors, PG&E interim CEO Bill Smith \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/newsdetails/index.page?title=20200701_pge_emerges_from_chapter_11\">declared\u003c/a> on July 1, 2020. “Today’s announcement is significant for PG&E and for the many wildfire victims who are now one step closer to getting paid,” he said. “Compensating these victims fairly and quickly has been our primary goal throughout these proceedings, and I am glad to say that today we funded the Fire Victim Trust for their benefit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a year later, public records show that a special Fire Victim Trust created to distribute the settlement has been slow to pay out victims — and quick to wrack up big bills for lawyers and consultants. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, KQED and NPR’s California Newsroom \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kqed.org/news/11872328/survivors-stuck-in-limbo-as-pge-fire-victim-trust-pays-out-50-million-in-fees&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084036887000&usg=AOvVaw0hyR-8qqeBfPKqldP6UYeX\">published an investigation\u003c/a> into spending by the Fire Victim Trust charged with compensating survivors. We found that in its first year, the trust had racked up $51 million in overhead, and distributed only $7 million to fire victims. Ninety percent of outgoing funds paid lawyers and consultants in 2020 while the vast majority of fire victims waited for help. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pace of payments has picked up this year, but as of \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20982273-fvt-claims-data-report-63021-1\">June 30\u003c/a>, fewer than 3% of fire victims — 1,867 out of approximately 70,000 total — have had their claims fully processed. For now, they are getting 30% of what they were due while the Fire Victim Trust collects its fees in full. Approximately $436 million in compensation has been delivered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is still much we don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To date, the Trust has refused to share its budget, a quarterly breakdown of expenses or a detailed reporting of firms and individuals the Trust has paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trust also refuses to make public other details we’ve requested, like the terms of its retention deal with attorneys \u003ca href=\"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210224005907/en/PGE-Fire-Victim-Trust-Sues-PGE-Executives-and-Officers-for-Causing-Devastating-Northern-California-Wildfires\">suing former PG&E directors and officers\u003c/a> on the Trust’s behalf. The attorney leading that lawsuit, Frank Pitre, happens to sit on the Fire Victim Trust’s court-appointed Trust Oversight Committee, as do representatives from three other law firms involved. KQED has been asking to review the Trust’s retention agreement with these attorneys since February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading experts told us the amount of secrecy surrounding the Trust was unusual. “One of the hallmarks of the bankruptcy process is transparency,” Scott McNutt, a former California State Bar Board of Governors member and veteran bankruptcy attorney, told KQED in May. “One of the hallmarks of trust administration is transparency. That’s why they’re called trusts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After we published our May investigation, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers asked California Attorney General Rob Bonta to probe the spending and administration of the PG&E Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is outrageous,” the lawmakers wrote to Bonta, “especially in light of the fact that thousands of fire victims are struggling to rebuild their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonta’s office said it is unable to comment on, even to confirm or deny, a potential or ongoing investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Trust Says Our Reporting Is ‘Inaccurate and Uninformed.’ They Are Wrong.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the lawmakers demanded an investigation, both the Fire Victim Trust and the Trust Oversight Committee, made up primarily of mass tort attorneys, wrote to the attorney general and disputed our reporting. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Fire Victim Trust is led by retired California Appeals Court Justice John Trotter, who KQED revealed billed $1,500 an hour. In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210224005907/en/PGE-Fire-Victim-Trust-Sues-PGE-Executives-and-Officers-for-Causing-Devastating-Northern-California-Wildfires\">video\u003c/a> released in response to our story, he said he had reduced his compensation to a “very adequate” salary of $150,000 a month. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20974605-trustee-letter-to-ag-bonta-5-27-21-executed-4\">letter\u003c/a> to the attorney general, Trotter said he was “appalled by the carelessness with which it [the legislators’ letter] was written.” Without naming KQED or NPR’s California Newsroom, Trotter continued: “It appears to be influenced by a recent, inaccurate and uninformed news report with no attempt to understand the Trust’s operation or function.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20974607-trustoversightcommitteeletter&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084187566000&usg=AOvVaw0WGLrTJ-Rbvb9Ukj9L7Kpg\">letter\u003c/a>, the Trust Oversight Committee said the figures reported by KQED were “out-of-date or .. out of context.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both statements couldn’t be further from the truth, as the lengthy trail of emails between KQED and the Fire Victim Trust makes clear. We have made extensive efforts to understand the Trust’s operations and function, and have consistently brought our findings to them — through their spokespeople — so that they have the opportunity to comment and explain themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite their public attacks on our journalism, we have yet to see any legitimate examples of inaccuracies in our reporting on the Trust’s finances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As spelled out below, we have done our best to provide this accounting with the limited information in the public record. We welcome any and all additional transparency by the Trust into its spending and administration. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trustee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nNo attempt was made to understand the Trust’s operation or function. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’S Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nWe have gone to great lengths to familiarize ourselves with the Trust’s inner workings. We have combed through past bankruptcy court filings, hearing transcripts and correspondence from the Trust to fire victims. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve had dozens of contacts via email and by phone with the Trust’s PR firm asking detailed questions about our findings. We’ve also asked to interview the trustee, John Trotter, and the Trust’s claims administrator numerous times since our last interview with both in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also contacted all seven of the firms we identified as having been paid by the Trust. Just one responded to our inquiry. None answered questions about how much money they had received.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Again, we would welcome greater transparency into how the Trust does its work and spends its money. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trust Oversight Committee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nStating that the Trust spent almost 90% of the funds on overhead during the first year is “untrue and misleading as stated. Ninety percent of the funds in the Trust would be over $10 billion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’s Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nKQED has been clear from the first story published on the Trust’s finances that overhead comprised almost 90% of funds spent \u003cem>in its first year\u003c/em>. We have never suggested that the Trust has spent $10 billion — or anything near that amount — on overhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trust Oversight Committee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe statement that the Fire Victim Trust accumulated over $51 million in overhead costs but allocated just $7 million to fire survivors is “based on 2020 year end data, which is now five months old, even though the Trust has released more recent data regarding payments to survivors, which demonstrated a much different picture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’s Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThat 2020 year-end data on overhead costs is the only information the Trust chose to share in its annual report, which was published four months after the end of the reporting period it chose. Since then, the Trust has continued to incur overhead expenses without reporting updated figures to the public. The Trust has regularly released updated information on payments to fire survivors, however, and KQED has used the most up-to-date figures in all of our reports. We see that the Fire Victim Trust has begun posting this information publicly to \u003ca href=\"https://www.firevictimtrust.com/Documents.aspx\">its website\u003c/a> since we published our investigation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20792877/ltr-from-toc-to-legislature-re-fvt.pdf\">recent letter responding to state lawmakers\u003c/a>, the Trust Oversight Committee decided to come forward with the information we sought ahead of our story. Operating expenses through April of this year — pending an audit of April expenses — now top $84.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11875085\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11875085\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Paradise_Rally.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Survivors of the 2018 Camp Fire gather in Paradise, California, on May 22, 2021 to protest runaway overhead expenses by the PG&E Fire Victim Trust. \u003ccite>(Lily Jamali/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trust Oversight Committee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n“Many people worked between January 1, 2020, and July 1, 2020 to get the Trust off the ground but until July 1 it had no funds, save an advance of $15M made by PG&E in April 2020 to cover expenses incurred from January 1 forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’s Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nWe are clear in our story — and in fact, were first to report — about this “advance,” which amounts to millions of dollars paid toward startup costs in the first half of last year, which the Trust left out of its \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20974645-fvt-2020-annual-report\">2020 Annual Report\u003c/a>. Most of PG&E’s advance was ultimately credited back to the company, with fire victims footing the rest of the bill. It remains unclear why these costs were not included in the Fire Victim Trust’s annual report, despite KQED’s efforts to get answers ahead of publication of our first story. By our calculation, the Trust spent at least $12.7 million during the first half of last year. The Trust refuses to engage with us to confirm this calculation. PG&E has confirmed it for us. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Trust Oversight Committee’s Claim:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe Trust needed to build a robust staff to develop a claims resolution process and root out fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KQED’s Response:\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThis and other explanations for the initially slow pace of payments have been clearly laid out in all of our stories. Despite the Fire Victim Trust’s decision to limit transparency, we have made every effort to be fair and include voices explaining why the process is taking time — even when the Trust would not provide this voice itself. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We note that an important reason for delay stems from the fact that a significant portion of compensation for fire victims came in the form of stock in PG&E itself. This rare outcome was actively supported by most members of the Trust Oversight Committee last year, as we \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kqed.org/news/11805766/pge-victims-weigh-rare-stock-funded-trust-amid-market-turmoil&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084358063000&usg=AOvVaw3wVoUySa0l_Tah06dyPGii\">reported then\u003c/a>. More importantly, fire victims themselves voiced these concerns as we reported \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kqed.org/news/11801571/fire-victims-ask-judge-to-reconsider-13-5-billion-pge-settlement&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084394101000&usg=AOvVaw0zrmC-iNt7w3FeZBIhOQEQ\">here\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kqed.org/news/11808826/fire-survivor-resigns-in-protest-from-pge-bankruptcy-committee&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625084415239000&usg=AOvVaw22qb8ieHkyWA6ze_uvRx0G\">here\u003c/a>. Today, the tiny fraction of fire victims who have had their claims processed and paid are getting just 30% of their claim for now. In the words of the trustee \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XDLml9GEyg\">himself\u003c/a>: “We don’t know how much money we have because a substantial portion of the assets that are going to be used to pay you are in the form of common stock of Pacific Gas and Electric.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every dollar spent on overhead is a dollar not distributed to fire victims who need it. No one expects the Trust to execute the complicated task of fairly distributing billions of dollars without incurring costs. But the Fire Victim Trust has not been transparent about those costs. Fire survivors want and deserve timely, honest and clear explanations of where their settlement money is going, if not to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Fire victims and public officials are calling for increased oversight of the Fire Victim Trust set up to distribute billions of dollars in compensation to families displaced by fires sparked by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. equipment. That’s following a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11872328/survivors-stuck-in-limbo-as-pge-fire-victim-trust-pays-out-50-million-in-fees\">KQED investigation\u003c/a>, which found the Trust spent $51 million on overhead last year, while the vast majority of fire victims haven’t received a dime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, Kirk Trostle – a retired police chief who lost his home when the PG&E-sparked Camp Fire destroyed Paradise in 2018 – petitioned a federal judge to intervene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The administrative expenses are out of control,” Trostle \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20707787-kirk-trostle-letter-to-judge-montali-regarding-fvt-5-12-21-3\">wrote\u003c/a> to Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali, who has been overseeing PG&E’s bankruptcy proceedings, which led to the promise of $13.5 billion to be paid to 67,000 fire victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families are still living in cars, travel trailers, and FEMA trailers,” Trostle wrote Montali.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The multi-billion dollar settlement was announced in December 2019. At the end of the following year, KQED found, the Trust had paid out just $7 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11872328 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Bill-Cook-Home-1020x670.jpg']“Stating fire victims are languishing is an understatement,” Trostle added. “I request you speed up the process to a sprint-like manner and direct the [Fire Victim Trust] to provide transparency and accountability in the administration of the fire victims money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judge Montali did not respond to KQED’s request for an interview. His assistant said his consistent practice is to decline such requests in an active pending case. The administrator of the Trust, John Trotter, whom KQED found \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20698873-m034139804869-rep-1404090738?responsive=1&title=1\">billed $1,500 an hour\u003c/a> while victims waited, has declined repeated requests to comment. The top claims administrator, Cathy Yanni, makes $1,250 an hour, records show, and the Trust has spent millions more on a host of legal and financial advisers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trostle’s petition comes amid a cascade of outrage following KQED’s investigation — from lawmakers, legal experts and fire survivors themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11873745\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11873745\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1442\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle-800x601.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle-1020x766.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle-1536x1154.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kirk Trostle, a retired police chief who lost his home when the PG&E-sparked Camp Fire destroyed Paradise in 2018, with his wife, Patty. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Kirk Trostle)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat who represents Napa County and parts of Sonoma County, where thousands of fire survivors are also waiting for compensation, said the disparity uncovered by KQED “has a real and negative impact on people in our district who survived the fires and are still working to rebuild their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fire survivors have already been through so much and all parties involved must do everything they can to make survivors whole as fast as possible,” he said. A spokesperson for Sen. Dianne Feinstein said the senator is tracking the issue closely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican who represents Paradise, also expressed outrage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No victims’ compensation fund should see $1,500-an-hour lawyers, $1,250-an-hour administrators, and government taxes delaying disbursements or taking the lion’s share,” LaMalfa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The victims of the fire are our priority. The settlement has been made and agreed to. Two years and $50 million is way too much time and overhead. This trustee-led process needs the trust put back in as it seems to have lost the focus on the victims who quickly need these funds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11873739 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1149\" height=\"1460\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpeg 1149w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-800x1017.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-1020x1296.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-160x203.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px\">\u003c/a>Meantime, in the state Legislature, Assemblyman James Gallagher, a Republican who represents Paradise, went on Facebook, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/AssemblymanJamesGallagher/posts/2549431628685045\">posting\u003c/a> that KQED’s story “raises a lot of questions and concerns that need answers, both from the trustee and the bankruptcy court.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s really the bankruptcy court that needs to take action,” Gallagher told KQED. He also said it was time for Gov. Gavin Newsom to get involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing victims are not getting compensated in a timely fashion — that should rise to the top level,” Gallagher said. “[Newsom] is certainly commenting about a lot of things here lately. I would hope that this would be a top priority as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office declined to comment. “We do not have any information to provide at this time,” said Amelia Matier, a spokesperson for Newsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The structure of the Trust has been controversial from the outset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tell me why I shouldn’t think this is just a risk to have a very large amount of money be paid out without any kind of control over what happens,” Judge Montali said at a hearing last April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But attorneys representing fire victims pleaded with Montali to approve Trotter’s appointment. Minutes later, Montali relented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A major complicating factor in distributing claims is the fact that so much of the compensation to victims came in the form of PG&E stock, the value of which fluctuates daily. Once touted as worth $13.5 billion, today the amount available to pay victims is substantially less, thanks to the company’s flagging fortunes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='pge']The fund is currently worth around $11 billion, with a final infusion of $700 million in cash from PG&E expected after the current fire season — in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one is slacking,” said Amy Bach, a consumer advocate on the Trust Oversight Committee. Other than Bach, the committee is exclusively comprised of mass tort attorneys despite calls for fire survivors to have a seat as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, a spokesperson for the Fire Victim Trust said the Trust has increased its payments, and has so far distributed a total of $195.2 million to people who lost loved ones, homes and businesses to fires caused by PG&E. The spokesperson also said the Trust had made preliminary payments averaging about $13,000 to 9,532 of the 67,170 eligible families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, that comes to less than 2% of the $13.5 billion promised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is there are just a lot of claims and there’s a lot going down,” Bach said. “It’s hard for me to think there couldn’t have been some things to streamline, but with all the constraints that are on the team issuing payments and determinations, they seem to be extremely hamstrung by orders and legal agreements that were made a long time ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trostle had a front-row seat to discussions that led to the controversial settlement deal struck between PG&E and lawyers for fire victims in December 2019. At the time, he served on an 11-person committee representing fire survivors in PG&E’s most recent bankruptcy. But as it came time for fire victims to vote on the settlement last year, Trostle took the extraordinary step of resigning from the committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“PG&E’s reorganization plan is deeply flawed and very risky for all fire victims,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808826/fire-survivor-resigns-in-protest-from-pge-bankruptcy-committee\">wrote in his resignation letter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He explained he had been advised by lawyers for the committee that speaking out would conflict with his duty to his fellow fire survivors. So he quit. He has since relocated to Tennessee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is a collaborative project of NPR’s California Newsroom, including Northern California Public Media, CapRadio and KQED.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Fire victims and public officials are calling for increased oversight of the Fire Victim Trust set up to distribute billions of dollars in compensation to families displaced by fires sparked by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. equipment. That’s following a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11872328/survivors-stuck-in-limbo-as-pge-fire-victim-trust-pays-out-50-million-in-fees\">KQED investigation\u003c/a>, which found the Trust spent $51 million on overhead last year, while the vast majority of fire victims haven’t received a dime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, Kirk Trostle – a retired police chief who lost his home when the PG&E-sparked Camp Fire destroyed Paradise in 2018 – petitioned a federal judge to intervene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The administrative expenses are out of control,” Trostle \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20707787-kirk-trostle-letter-to-judge-montali-regarding-fvt-5-12-21-3\">wrote\u003c/a> to Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali, who has been overseeing PG&E’s bankruptcy proceedings, which led to the promise of $13.5 billion to be paid to 67,000 fire victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families are still living in cars, travel trailers, and FEMA trailers,” Trostle wrote Montali.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The multi-billion dollar settlement was announced in December 2019. At the end of the following year, KQED found, the Trust had paid out just $7 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Stating fire victims are languishing is an understatement,” Trostle added. “I request you speed up the process to a sprint-like manner and direct the [Fire Victim Trust] to provide transparency and accountability in the administration of the fire victims money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judge Montali did not respond to KQED’s request for an interview. His assistant said his consistent practice is to decline such requests in an active pending case. The administrator of the Trust, John Trotter, whom KQED found \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20698873-m034139804869-rep-1404090738?responsive=1&title=1\">billed $1,500 an hour\u003c/a> while victims waited, has declined repeated requests to comment. The top claims administrator, Cathy Yanni, makes $1,250 an hour, records show, and the Trust has spent millions more on a host of legal and financial advisers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trostle’s petition comes amid a cascade of outrage following KQED’s investigation — from lawmakers, legal experts and fire survivors themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11873745\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11873745\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1442\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle-800x601.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle-1020x766.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Trostle-1536x1154.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kirk Trostle, a retired police chief who lost his home when the PG&E-sparked Camp Fire destroyed Paradise in 2018, with his wife, Patty. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Kirk Trostle)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat who represents Napa County and parts of Sonoma County, where thousands of fire survivors are also waiting for compensation, said the disparity uncovered by KQED “has a real and negative impact on people in our district who survived the fires and are still working to rebuild their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fire survivors have already been through so much and all parties involved must do everything they can to make survivors whole as fast as possible,” he said. A spokesperson for Sen. Dianne Feinstein said the senator is tracking the issue closely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican who represents Paradise, also expressed outrage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No victims’ compensation fund should see $1,500-an-hour lawyers, $1,250-an-hour administrators, and government taxes delaying disbursements or taking the lion’s share,” LaMalfa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The victims of the fire are our priority. The settlement has been made and agreed to. Two years and $50 million is way too much time and overhead. This trustee-led process needs the trust put back in as it seems to have lost the focus on the victims who quickly need these funds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11873739 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1149\" height=\"1460\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpeg 1149w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-800x1017.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-1020x1296.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-160x203.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px\">\u003c/a>Meantime, in the state Legislature, Assemblyman James Gallagher, a Republican who represents Paradise, went on Facebook, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/AssemblymanJamesGallagher/posts/2549431628685045\">posting\u003c/a> that KQED’s story “raises a lot of questions and concerns that need answers, both from the trustee and the bankruptcy court.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s really the bankruptcy court that needs to take action,” Gallagher told KQED. He also said it was time for Gov. Gavin Newsom to get involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seeing victims are not getting compensated in a timely fashion — that should rise to the top level,” Gallagher said. “[Newsom] is certainly commenting about a lot of things here lately. I would hope that this would be a top priority as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office declined to comment. “We do not have any information to provide at this time,” said Amelia Matier, a spokesperson for Newsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The structure of the Trust has been controversial from the outset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tell me why I shouldn’t think this is just a risk to have a very large amount of money be paid out without any kind of control over what happens,” Judge Montali said at a hearing last April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But attorneys representing fire victims pleaded with Montali to approve Trotter’s appointment. Minutes later, Montali relented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A major complicating factor in distributing claims is the fact that so much of the compensation to victims came in the form of PG&E stock, the value of which fluctuates daily. Once touted as worth $13.5 billion, today the amount available to pay victims is substantially less, thanks to the company’s flagging fortunes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The fund is currently worth around $11 billion, with a final infusion of $700 million in cash from PG&E expected after the current fire season — in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one is slacking,” said Amy Bach, a consumer advocate on the Trust Oversight Committee. Other than Bach, the committee is exclusively comprised of mass tort attorneys despite calls for fire survivors to have a seat as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, a spokesperson for the Fire Victim Trust said the Trust has increased its payments, and has so far distributed a total of $195.2 million to people who lost loved ones, homes and businesses to fires caused by PG&E. The spokesperson also said the Trust had made preliminary payments averaging about $13,000 to 9,532 of the 67,170 eligible families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, that comes to less than 2% of the $13.5 billion promised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is there are just a lot of claims and there’s a lot going down,” Bach said. “It’s hard for me to think there couldn’t have been some things to streamline, but with all the constraints that are on the team issuing payments and determinations, they seem to be extremely hamstrung by orders and legal agreements that were made a long time ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trostle had a front-row seat to discussions that led to the controversial settlement deal struck between PG&E and lawyers for fire victims in December 2019. At the time, he served on an 11-person committee representing fire survivors in PG&E’s most recent bankruptcy. But as it came time for fire victims to vote on the settlement last year, Trostle took the extraordinary step of resigning from the committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“PG&E’s reorganization plan is deeply flawed and very risky for all fire victims,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808826/fire-survivor-resigns-in-protest-from-pge-bankruptcy-committee\">wrote in his resignation letter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He explained he had been advised by lawyers for the committee that speaking out would conflict with his duty to his fellow fire survivors. So he quit. He has since relocated to Tennessee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is a collaborative project of NPR’s California Newsroom, including Northern California Public Media, CapRadio and KQED.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A trustee who charges $1,500 an hour and a claims administrator who bills $1,250 hourly – during the first year of operation, the PG&E Fire Victim Trust \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/fiorepgefirevictimtrust\">spent nearly 90% of its funds on overhead\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If I were making $1,500 an hour, I would not be very incentivized to work myself out of a job by quickly distributing the money that is owed to the 67,000 people who are part of the December 2019 PG&E settlement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This . . . might . . . take . . . a . . . while.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, the vast majority of people who lost everything in wildfires sparked by PG&E equipment haven't received a dime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"disqusTitle": "Survivors Stuck in Limbo as PG&E Fire Victim Trust Pays Out $50 Million in Fees",
"title": "Survivors Stuck in Limbo as PG&E Fire Victim Trust Pays Out $50 Million in Fees",
"headTitle": "The California Report | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>Retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer Bill Cook lost his home in Paradise during the Camp Fire, the 2018 blaze \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11824596/pge-pleads-guilty-to-84-deaths-in-wildfire-that-destroyed-paradise\">sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. equipment\u003c/a> that ranks as the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two years later, Cook, 70, and his family are barely scraping by. Like Cook, the vast majority of the 67,000 PG&E fire victims included in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11791785/pge-axes-requirement-for-newsom-to-ok-13-5-billion-settlement-with-wildfire-victims\">December 2019 settlement\u003c/a> with the company have yet to see a dime. That's as lawyers and administrators have been paid millions, with the money coming directly from funds set aside to help survivors like Cook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Bill Cook, Camp Fire survivor\"]'They're paying themselves very well... It’s like everything is a black hole and nothing moves, and there’s nothing you can do about it.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A KQED investigation found that while they waited, a special Fire Victim Trust in charge of compensating survivors racked up $51 million in overhead costs last year. During that same period, the Trust disbursed just $7 million to fire victims – less than 0.1% of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/12/07/785775074/pg-e-announces-13-5-billion-settlement-of-claims-linked-to-california-wildfires\">$13.5 billion promised\u003c/a> – according to an analysis of federal bankruptcy court filings, court transcripts and correspondence between staff of the Fire Victim Trust and the victims themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During its first year of operation, the Trust spent nearly 90% of its funds on overhead, while fire victims waited for help, KQED found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Cook lives 100 miles away from Paradise in Davis, where he shares a three-bedroom rental with his 68-year-old wife, Leslie, their four adult children and three grandchildren. He’s eaten into his savings to pay rent, which costs triple what he paid for his mortgage in Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You’re stuck,\" Cook said. \"You can’t go anywhere. You can’t get anything. You can’t move forward.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11872334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11872334\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1436\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis-800x598.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis-1536x1149.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bill Cook sits at a table in the three-bedroom rental home in Davis where he now lives with his wife, Leslie, their four adult children including Evan (left) and their three grandchildren. The family used paper dividers in the den to create another bedroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Bill Cook)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Representatives for the Fire Victim Trust declined to be interviewed. An \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20698865-m034140771109-rep-2904080931?responsive=1&title=1\">annual report\u003c/a> filed in federal bankruptcy court last week by its trustee, John Trotter, reported $38.7 million spent on financial professionals, claims administrators, consultants and other operating expenses between July 1 and the end of 2020. Documents reviewed by KQED show the Trust took in an additional $12.7 million in funding provided by PG&E \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20698873-m034139804869-rep-1404090738?responsive=1&title=1\">last Spring\u003c/a> – cash spent to set up the claims process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trotter, a retired California Appeals Court judge, charges $1,500 an hour, according to another court \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20698873-m034139804869-rep-1404090738?responsive=1&title=1\">filing\u003c/a>, while claims administrator Cathy Yanni bills $1,250 an hour. Both work at Irvine-based JAMS, previously known as Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc, one of the nation's largest private dispute resolution provider firms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They're paying themselves very well. They have these enormous legal costs and there's not much to show for it,\" Cook said. \"It’s like everything is a black hole and nothing moves, and there’s nothing you can do about it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11872556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1149\" height=\"1460\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpg 1149w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-800x1017.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-1020x1296.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-160x203.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, Yanni told KQED she expected it would take two years to pay all victims with claims. Some fire survivors fear it will take much longer. The longer it takes, the higher the cost of overhead will be. Trotter wrote in April, in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20699521-letter_from_the_trustee_4-12-21?responsive=1&title=1\">letter addressed to fire victims\u003c/a>, that past claims processes he’s overseen ended up costing between 2% and 4% of overall funds, on average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My goal is to keep the cost of administration below or as close to 1% as possible,\" Trotter wrote of the Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E announced its plans to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2019, 10 weeks after its equipment sparked the Camp Fire, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11824596/pge-pleads-guilty-to-84-deaths-in-wildfire-that-destroyed-paradise\">killed at least 85 people\u003c/a> and destroyed almost 19,000 homes and businesses in and around Paradise. The settlement with tens of thousands of fire victims resulted from those proceedings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11833283 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/PGE-Subcontractors-Inspect-1038x576.jpg']There were concerns about overhead expenses as early as last Spring, when U.S. bankruptcy judge Dennis Montali mulled whether to approve startup costs for the Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Tell me why I shouldn't think this is just a risk to have a very large amount of money be paid out without any kind of control over what happens,\" Montali said at a hearing last April. Attorneys representing fire victims pleaded with Montali to approve Trotter’s appointment. Minutes later, Montali relented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Montali was encouraged to greenlight the overhead by some of the fire victims’ own attorneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gerald Singleton, an attorney who represents 6,500 fire victims and sits on the Fire Victim Trust Oversight Committee’s budget subcommittee, said he’s not concerned about the Trust’s overhead. \"When you’re talking about what they have to do, I certainly think the money is reasonable,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The amounts they make are phenomenal. They're just incredible amounts,\" Singleton said. \"But that's what people at their level make.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singleton agreed that the payments to victims have trickled out slowly, but he said the pace is picking up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Scott McNutt, a former California State Bar governor and veteran bankruptcy attorney told KQED the amounts are excessive for the meager results obtained so far and that the Trust \"has been completely non-transparent about what it’s doing for this money.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"One of the hallmarks of the bankruptcy process is transparency,\" he said. \"One of the hallmarks of trust administration is transparency. That’s why they’re called trusts.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process has been complicated by the terms of PG&E’s settlement with fire victims, which was funded half with cash and half with PG&E stock. The complicated arrangement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11805766/pge-victims-weigh-rare-stock-funded-trust-amid-market-turmoil\">which has few precedents\u003c/a>, made the fire victims major shareholders in the utility and made administering the Trust far more complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Fire Victims Trust told KQED the Trust had increased its payments to families this year and had now put $195.2 million into the hands of those who lost loved ones, homes and businesses lost to fires caused by PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That figure still comes to less than 2% of the amount promised to families when they voted on the settlement last year. The spokesman also said the Trust had begun to make partial payments to a small percentage of families. Those partial payments, which average approximately $13,000, have gone to 9,532 of the 67,170 eligible families, a spokesperson for the Trust said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only 334 families have had their claims fully processed. Those families are \u003ca href=\"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210312005517/en/Fire-Victim-Trust-to-Begin-Making-First-Pro-Rata-Payments-to-Fire-Victims\">getting 30% of what they’re owed\u003c/a>, the Trust said, while the Trust collects its own fees in full.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11872435\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11872435\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Pre-fire-Exterior-cook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Pre-fire-Exterior-cook.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Pre-fire-Exterior-cook-160x104.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of Bill Cook's family home in Paradise before it was destroyed by the Camp Fire in 2018. Two and a half years later, Cook and his family are barely scraping by, and haven't seen a dime from the Fire Victim Trust. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Bill Cook)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Who's Getting Paid\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Trust’s annual report is short on details about who got paid, and how much. It reports operating expenses solely by category – $16.3 million “claims processor fees and expenses,” for example, and $6.8 million for “insurance, data and other expenses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trust declined to provide KQED with a list of companies it is working with and what it has paid them. But KQED’s review of documents identified more than half a dozen law firms and financial institutions that have profited off the Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, the Trust told fire victims in an April letter that it had retained Richmond, Virginia-based BrownGreer for claims processing. John Trotter, the trustee, wrote that the firm, which specializes in resolving complex legal settlements, had 300 staff members \"committed to this project, including attorneys, project managers, analysts, claim reviewers, and software developers,\" and was adding staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trust also tallied $6.2 million in legal fees during the period. Again, the Trust refused to provide an accounting of this work. Last year, Trotter retained the firm \u003ca href=\"https://restructuring.primeclerk.com/pge/Home-DownloadPDF?id1=NDAxNjA3&id2=0\">Brown Rudnick\u003c/a> to represent him in bankruptcy court, and \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M344/K182/344182620.PDF\">Morgan Lewis\u003c/a> to represent him at the CPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='pge']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Financial advisers have been paid $3 million. The Trust has retained the services of \u003ca href=\"https://www.firevictimtrust.com/Docs/Letter_from_the_Trustee.pdf\">Morgan Stanley and Houlihan Lokey\u003c/a> to monetize its vast holdings of PG&E stock, according to a January letter Trotter wrote to fire victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trust also listed $303,706 in unspecified consulting fees. The Trust’s public relations firm, Zumado, would not elaborate on what those fees entailed. Zumado also refused to comment on how much it has been paid by the Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The accounting firm BDO \u003ca href=\"https://www.firevictimtrust.com/Docs/Fire_Victim_Trust_Annual_Report_2020.pdf\">prepared\u003c/a> the Trust’s annual report. Again, no one was willing to share any records about how much they were paid for that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED contacted all the firms, seeking confirmation that they received money from the Trust, and asking how much. BDO was the only one to respond but declined to answer questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Falling Short by Design?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>As PG&E approached the end of its bankruptcy last year, Singleton and several other mass tort attorneys were busy persuading their fire victim clients to vote in favor of the complicated part-stock settlement. Some fire survivors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11801571/fire-victims-ask-judge-to-reconsider-13-5-billion-pge-settlement\">wrote to Judge Montali\u003c/a> expressing outrage at the idea of accepting stock in the company that harmed them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of the stock component, the value of the Trust fluctuates every day. So far, the Fire Victim Trust’s financial advisers haven’t liquidated any shares as the stock price has languished. Today, the Trust holds almost a quarter of all PG&E shares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Camp Fire survivor Mary Wallace was among a group of fire survivors who fought against the stock component last year. At the time, she argued in court it would slow down the process of compensating victims. To her, those concerns have come home to roost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We’re still living in squalor,\" said Wallace, who lives in a shed with no insulation on her property in Paradise. \"We still don’t have anything. It’s beyond belief. I am thoroughly disappointed.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wallace said she grew so disillusioned with the process, she abandoned her claim altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is a collaborative project of NPR’s California Newsroom, including Northern California Public Media, CapRadio and KQED.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer Bill Cook lost his home in Paradise during the Camp Fire, the 2018 blaze \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11824596/pge-pleads-guilty-to-84-deaths-in-wildfire-that-destroyed-paradise\">sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. equipment\u003c/a> that ranks as the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two years later, Cook, 70, and his family are barely scraping by. Like Cook, the vast majority of the 67,000 PG&E fire victims included in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11791785/pge-axes-requirement-for-newsom-to-ok-13-5-billion-settlement-with-wildfire-victims\">December 2019 settlement\u003c/a> with the company have yet to see a dime. That's as lawyers and administrators have been paid millions, with the money coming directly from funds set aside to help survivors like Cook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A KQED investigation found that while they waited, a special Fire Victim Trust in charge of compensating survivors racked up $51 million in overhead costs last year. During that same period, the Trust disbursed just $7 million to fire victims – less than 0.1% of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/12/07/785775074/pg-e-announces-13-5-billion-settlement-of-claims-linked-to-california-wildfires\">$13.5 billion promised\u003c/a> – according to an analysis of federal bankruptcy court filings, court transcripts and correspondence between staff of the Fire Victim Trust and the victims themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During its first year of operation, the Trust spent nearly 90% of its funds on overhead, while fire victims waited for help, KQED found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Cook lives 100 miles away from Paradise in Davis, where he shares a three-bedroom rental with his 68-year-old wife, Leslie, their four adult children and three grandchildren. He’s eaten into his savings to pay rent, which costs triple what he paid for his mortgage in Paradise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You’re stuck,\" Cook said. \"You can’t go anywhere. You can’t get anything. You can’t move forward.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11872334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11872334\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1436\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis-800x598.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Cook-Living-Room-Davis-1536x1149.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bill Cook sits at a table in the three-bedroom rental home in Davis where he now lives with his wife, Leslie, their four adult children including Evan (left) and their three grandchildren. The family used paper dividers in the den to create another bedroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Bill Cook)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Representatives for the Fire Victim Trust declined to be interviewed. An \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20698865-m034140771109-rep-2904080931?responsive=1&title=1\">annual report\u003c/a> filed in federal bankruptcy court last week by its trustee, John Trotter, reported $38.7 million spent on financial professionals, claims administrators, consultants and other operating expenses between July 1 and the end of 2020. Documents reviewed by KQED show the Trust took in an additional $12.7 million in funding provided by PG&E \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20698873-m034139804869-rep-1404090738?responsive=1&title=1\">last Spring\u003c/a> – cash spent to set up the claims process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trotter, a retired California Appeals Court judge, charges $1,500 an hour, according to another court \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20698873-m034139804869-rep-1404090738?responsive=1&title=1\">filing\u003c/a>, while claims administrator Cathy Yanni bills $1,250 an hour. Both work at Irvine-based JAMS, previously known as Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc, one of the nation's largest private dispute resolution provider firms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They're paying themselves very well. They have these enormous legal costs and there's not much to show for it,\" Cook said. \"It’s like everything is a black hole and nothing moves, and there’s nothing you can do about it.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11872556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1149\" height=\"1460\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust.jpg 1149w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-800x1017.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-1020x1296.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/pge-trust-160x203.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, Yanni told KQED she expected it would take two years to pay all victims with claims. Some fire survivors fear it will take much longer. The longer it takes, the higher the cost of overhead will be. Trotter wrote in April, in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20699521-letter_from_the_trustee_4-12-21?responsive=1&title=1\">letter addressed to fire victims\u003c/a>, that past claims processes he’s overseen ended up costing between 2% and 4% of overall funds, on average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"My goal is to keep the cost of administration below or as close to 1% as possible,\" Trotter wrote of the Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E announced its plans to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2019, 10 weeks after its equipment sparked the Camp Fire, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11824596/pge-pleads-guilty-to-84-deaths-in-wildfire-that-destroyed-paradise\">killed at least 85 people\u003c/a> and destroyed almost 19,000 homes and businesses in and around Paradise. The settlement with tens of thousands of fire victims resulted from those proceedings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>There were concerns about overhead expenses as early as last Spring, when U.S. bankruptcy judge Dennis Montali mulled whether to approve startup costs for the Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Tell me why I shouldn't think this is just a risk to have a very large amount of money be paid out without any kind of control over what happens,\" Montali said at a hearing last April. Attorneys representing fire victims pleaded with Montali to approve Trotter’s appointment. Minutes later, Montali relented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Montali was encouraged to greenlight the overhead by some of the fire victims’ own attorneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gerald Singleton, an attorney who represents 6,500 fire victims and sits on the Fire Victim Trust Oversight Committee’s budget subcommittee, said he’s not concerned about the Trust’s overhead. \"When you’re talking about what they have to do, I certainly think the money is reasonable,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The amounts they make are phenomenal. They're just incredible amounts,\" Singleton said. \"But that's what people at their level make.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singleton agreed that the payments to victims have trickled out slowly, but he said the pace is picking up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Scott McNutt, a former California State Bar governor and veteran bankruptcy attorney told KQED the amounts are excessive for the meager results obtained so far and that the Trust \"has been completely non-transparent about what it’s doing for this money.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"One of the hallmarks of the bankruptcy process is transparency,\" he said. \"One of the hallmarks of trust administration is transparency. That’s why they’re called trusts.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process has been complicated by the terms of PG&E’s settlement with fire victims, which was funded half with cash and half with PG&E stock. The complicated arrangement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11805766/pge-victims-weigh-rare-stock-funded-trust-amid-market-turmoil\">which has few precedents\u003c/a>, made the fire victims major shareholders in the utility and made administering the Trust far more complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Fire Victims Trust told KQED the Trust had increased its payments to families this year and had now put $195.2 million into the hands of those who lost loved ones, homes and businesses lost to fires caused by PG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That figure still comes to less than 2% of the amount promised to families when they voted on the settlement last year. The spokesman also said the Trust had begun to make partial payments to a small percentage of families. Those partial payments, which average approximately $13,000, have gone to 9,532 of the 67,170 eligible families, a spokesperson for the Trust said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only 334 families have had their claims fully processed. Those families are \u003ca href=\"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210312005517/en/Fire-Victim-Trust-to-Begin-Making-First-Pro-Rata-Payments-to-Fire-Victims\">getting 30% of what they’re owed\u003c/a>, the Trust said, while the Trust collects its own fees in full.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11872435\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11872435\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Pre-fire-Exterior-cook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Pre-fire-Exterior-cook.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/Pre-fire-Exterior-cook-160x104.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of Bill Cook's family home in Paradise before it was destroyed by the Camp Fire in 2018. Two and a half years later, Cook and his family are barely scraping by, and haven't seen a dime from the Fire Victim Trust. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Bill Cook)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Who's Getting Paid\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Trust’s annual report is short on details about who got paid, and how much. It reports operating expenses solely by category – $16.3 million “claims processor fees and expenses,” for example, and $6.8 million for “insurance, data and other expenses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trust declined to provide KQED with a list of companies it is working with and what it has paid them. But KQED’s review of documents identified more than half a dozen law firms and financial institutions that have profited off the Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, the Trust told fire victims in an April letter that it had retained Richmond, Virginia-based BrownGreer for claims processing. John Trotter, the trustee, wrote that the firm, which specializes in resolving complex legal settlements, had 300 staff members \"committed to this project, including attorneys, project managers, analysts, claim reviewers, and software developers,\" and was adding staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trust also tallied $6.2 million in legal fees during the period. Again, the Trust refused to provide an accounting of this work. Last year, Trotter retained the firm \u003ca href=\"https://restructuring.primeclerk.com/pge/Home-DownloadPDF?id1=NDAxNjA3&id2=0\">Brown Rudnick\u003c/a> to represent him in bankruptcy court, and \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M344/K182/344182620.PDF\">Morgan Lewis\u003c/a> to represent him at the CPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Financial advisers have been paid $3 million. The Trust has retained the services of \u003ca href=\"https://www.firevictimtrust.com/Docs/Letter_from_the_Trustee.pdf\">Morgan Stanley and Houlihan Lokey\u003c/a> to monetize its vast holdings of PG&E stock, according to a January letter Trotter wrote to fire victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trust also listed $303,706 in unspecified consulting fees. The Trust’s public relations firm, Zumado, would not elaborate on what those fees entailed. Zumado also refused to comment on how much it has been paid by the Fire Victim Trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The accounting firm BDO \u003ca href=\"https://www.firevictimtrust.com/Docs/Fire_Victim_Trust_Annual_Report_2020.pdf\">prepared\u003c/a> the Trust’s annual report. Again, no one was willing to share any records about how much they were paid for that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED contacted all the firms, seeking confirmation that they received money from the Trust, and asking how much. BDO was the only one to respond but declined to answer questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Falling Short by Design?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>As PG&E approached the end of its bankruptcy last year, Singleton and several other mass tort attorneys were busy persuading their fire victim clients to vote in favor of the complicated part-stock settlement. Some fire survivors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11801571/fire-victims-ask-judge-to-reconsider-13-5-billion-pge-settlement\">wrote to Judge Montali\u003c/a> expressing outrage at the idea of accepting stock in the company that harmed them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of the stock component, the value of the Trust fluctuates every day. So far, the Fire Victim Trust’s financial advisers haven’t liquidated any shares as the stock price has languished. Today, the Trust holds almost a quarter of all PG&E shares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Camp Fire survivor Mary Wallace was among a group of fire survivors who fought against the stock component last year. At the time, she argued in court it would slow down the process of compensating victims. To her, those concerns have come home to roost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We’re still living in squalor,\" said Wallace, who lives in a shed with no insulation on her property in Paradise. \"We still don’t have anything. It’s beyond belief. I am thoroughly disappointed.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wallace said she grew so disillusioned with the process, she abandoned her claim altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is a collaborative project of NPR’s California Newsroom, including Northern California Public Media, CapRadio and KQED.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "PG&E Exits Bankruptcy, Pays $5 Billion Into Wildfire Fund",
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"content": "\u003cp>Pacific Gas & Electric officially emerged from a contentious bankruptcy saga \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11721861/pge-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection\">that began\u003c/a> after its long-neglected electrical grid ignited wildfires in California, killing more than 100 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nation's largest utility on Wednesday announced its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and paid $5.4 billion in initial funds and more than 22% of its stock into a trust for victims of wildfires caused by its outdated equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"PG&E interim CEO Bill Smith\"]'Our emergence from Chapter 11 marks just the beginning of PG&E’s next era — as a fundamentally improved company and the safe, reliable utility that our customers, communities and California deserve.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an important milestone, but our work is far from over,” Bill Smith, PG&E's interim CEO, said in a statement. “Our emergence from Chapter 11 marks just the beginning of PG&E’s next era — as a fundamentally improved company and the safe, reliable utility that our customers, communities and California deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A federal judge last month \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825532/judge-to-ok-58b-plan-to-end-pge-bankruptcy-after-wildfires\">approved a $58 billion plan\u003c/a> for the company to emerge from bankruptcy by June 30, the deadline it was required to meet to qualify for coverage from a $21 billion wildfire insurance fund created by California last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali's decision cleared the way for PG&E to pay $25.5 billion for losses from devastating fires in 2017 and 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of lawsuits were settled during the ordeal, with $13.5 billion earmarked for more than 80,000 people who lost family, homes, businesses and other property in the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rare outcome, half of the settlement funds have been paid into the fire victims' trust in the form of PG&E stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lackluster performance of those shares has reduced the value of the trust considerably; its estimated worth is now closer to $11 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What has happened really is that PG&E and the major shareholders have sold fire victims a bill of goods,\" said attorney Tom Tosdal, who represents Camp Fire victim Kirk Trostle. In March, Trostle was one of three people who stepped down in protest from the official committee representing fire victims so he could speak out against the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What's really being delivered in terms of stock value will be more than $2 billion less than what was promised,\" Tosdal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Longtime supporters of the deal remain optimistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That value, however, could change if PG&E shares make gains. The company's participation in the state wildfire insurance fund may help the stock weather what is expected to be a particularly risky fire season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E officials have also noted that the stock portion of the settlement agreement is expected to eventually be sold, which could maximize the value of trust assets used to satisfy wildfire claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The ultimate value of the stock component of the settlement therefore is not known at this time and could exceed $6.75 billion over time,\" PG&E spokesperson Lynsey Paulo said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"more PG&E coverage\" tag=\"bankruptcy\"]\"Everybody expects this stock to go up, and it has been going up,\" said attorney Gerald Singleton, who represents 7,000 fire victims. \"We're hoping that when it's time to sell, it's going to be $14 or $15 billion and that our clients will get more. There's no way to tell and that was the risk that we took.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the run-up to its exit from bankruptcy, PG&E began making sweeping organizational changes. The company is searching for a new CEO to replace Bill Johnson, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11813601/after-a-tumultuous-year-pges-ceo-bill-johnson-plans-to-step-down\">who stepped down June 30\u003c/a> after just 14 tumultuous months on the job. In June, the company also \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-06-11/pge-edges-toward-bankruptcy-exit-with-a-new-board-and-a-planned-move-to-oakland\">overhauled its board of directors\u003c/a>, including 11 members who were just recently appointed, and announced plans to sell its downtown San Francisco headquarters and relocate to Oakland to lower costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, it committed to slicing up its sprawling territory into regional units to be more responsive to the different needs of the 16 million people who rely on it for power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Financing the plan requires PG&E to nearly double its debt, saddling the company with a burden its critics fear will make it more difficult to raise the estimated $40 billion for improvements it still needs to make to its electrical grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This marks the second time in 16 years the utility has navigated a complex bankruptcy case. The last time it emerged from bankruptcy, in 2004, electricity rates soared and management focused even more on boosting profits instead of upgrading its power supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This report includes reporting from KQED's Lily Jamali and The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Pacific Gas & Electric officially emerged from a contentious bankruptcy saga \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11721861/pge-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection\">that began\u003c/a> after its long-neglected electrical grid ignited wildfires in California, killing more than 100 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nation's largest utility on Wednesday announced its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and paid $5.4 billion in initial funds and more than 22% of its stock into a trust for victims of wildfires caused by its outdated equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an important milestone, but our work is far from over,” Bill Smith, PG&E's interim CEO, said in a statement. “Our emergence from Chapter 11 marks just the beginning of PG&E’s next era — as a fundamentally improved company and the safe, reliable utility that our customers, communities and California deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A federal judge last month \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825532/judge-to-ok-58b-plan-to-end-pge-bankruptcy-after-wildfires\">approved a $58 billion plan\u003c/a> for the company to emerge from bankruptcy by June 30, the deadline it was required to meet to qualify for coverage from a $21 billion wildfire insurance fund created by California last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali's decision cleared the way for PG&E to pay $25.5 billion for losses from devastating fires in 2017 and 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of lawsuits were settled during the ordeal, with $13.5 billion earmarked for more than 80,000 people who lost family, homes, businesses and other property in the fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rare outcome, half of the settlement funds have been paid into the fire victims' trust in the form of PG&E stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lackluster performance of those shares has reduced the value of the trust considerably; its estimated worth is now closer to $11 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What has happened really is that PG&E and the major shareholders have sold fire victims a bill of goods,\" said attorney Tom Tosdal, who represents Camp Fire victim Kirk Trostle. In March, Trostle was one of three people who stepped down in protest from the official committee representing fire victims so he could speak out against the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"What's really being delivered in terms of stock value will be more than $2 billion less than what was promised,\" Tosdal said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Longtime supporters of the deal remain optimistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That value, however, could change if PG&E shares make gains. The company's participation in the state wildfire insurance fund may help the stock weather what is expected to be a particularly risky fire season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E officials have also noted that the stock portion of the settlement agreement is expected to eventually be sold, which could maximize the value of trust assets used to satisfy wildfire claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The ultimate value of the stock component of the settlement therefore is not known at this time and could exceed $6.75 billion over time,\" PG&E spokesperson Lynsey Paulo said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\"Everybody expects this stock to go up, and it has been going up,\" said attorney Gerald Singleton, who represents 7,000 fire victims. \"We're hoping that when it's time to sell, it's going to be $14 or $15 billion and that our clients will get more. There's no way to tell and that was the risk that we took.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the run-up to its exit from bankruptcy, PG&E began making sweeping organizational changes. The company is searching for a new CEO to replace Bill Johnson, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11813601/after-a-tumultuous-year-pges-ceo-bill-johnson-plans-to-step-down\">who stepped down June 30\u003c/a> after just 14 tumultuous months on the job. In June, the company also \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-06-11/pge-edges-toward-bankruptcy-exit-with-a-new-board-and-a-planned-move-to-oakland\">overhauled its board of directors\u003c/a>, including 11 members who were just recently appointed, and announced plans to sell its downtown San Francisco headquarters and relocate to Oakland to lower costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, it committed to slicing up its sprawling territory into regional units to be more responsive to the different needs of the 16 million people who rely on it for power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Financing the plan requires PG&E to nearly double its debt, saddling the company with a burden its critics fear will make it more difficult to raise the estimated $40 billion for improvements it still needs to make to its electrical grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This marks the second time in 16 years the utility has navigated a complex bankruptcy case. The last time it emerged from bankruptcy, in 2004, electricity rates soared and management focused even more on boosting profits instead of upgrading its power supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This report includes reporting from KQED's Lily Jamali and The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Most PG&E Fire Victims Won't Be Able to Appeal Claim Decisions in Court ... With Some Exceptions",
"title": "Most PG&E Fire Victims Won't Be Able to Appeal Claim Decisions in Court ... With Some Exceptions",
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"content": "\u003cp>When the trustee overseeing the compensation fund for PG&E fire victims determines the values of some 80,000 claims, the vast majority of claimants won't have the opportunity to appeal the decision in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the judge overseeing the utility's bankruptcy case has granted exceptions to a handful of local government agencies, corporations and individuals. They include Comcast, Adventist Health, Paradise Unified School District and five individual fire victims, who will have the right to what’s known as “judicial review” if they are dissatisfied with their awards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ability to contest decisions could take on relevance soon, as the disgraced utility is set to emerge from bankruptcy protection as early as today, and begin funding the trust. The company \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11721861/pge-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection\">filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection\u003c/a> in January 2019, citing billions in wildfire liabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a deal reached in December, fire survivors were promised approximately $13.5 billion paid out in a combination of cash and PG&E stock. But the lackluster performance of PG&E shares means the deal is now worth \u003ca href=\"https://www.ft.com/content/6902e071-22fc-4fac-aeaa-7d1a5f3b99bc\">closer to $11.2 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, retired Justice John Trotter, the fund trustee, announced the names of those chosen to be on the committee overseeing the trust, a group comprised almost exclusively of mass tort lawyers representing PG&E fire victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them is attorney Doug Boxer — the son of former California Sen. Barbara Boxer — whose firm has partnered with the Watts Guerra law group. Amy Bach of the consumer group United Policyholders is the only advocate on the list.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trust will begin \u003ca href=\"https://www.firevictimtrust.com/\">accepting claims information\u003c/a> from fire victims this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say access to judicial review can be a valuable bargaining chip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The advantage of judicial review is that it's a second bite at the apple. You get another chance to make your case that the administrator made a mistake. The carve-out for those people gives them an advantage that nobody else has,” said Kenneth Feinberg, an attorney who has administered major trusts, including those stemming from the BP oil spill and the 9/11 attacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"more PG&E coverage\" tag=\"bankruptcy\"] Feinberg said he's never seen exceptions like the ones granted in the PG&E case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very unusual,” he said. “There may be a very good reason. But the idea that a very small number can get judicial review, but everybody else is bound by the administrator's determination, is rare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Court appeals in this type of bankruptcy case are often restricted to allow the trustee to process claims more efficiently, said Jared Ellias, a bankruptcy law professor at UC Hastings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have lots of appeals, that can slow everything down to a crawl, and people can end up waiting years to get paid,” Ellias said. But, he added, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The setup procedures should be the same for everybody, not just the people who are sophisticated enough to represent their own interests.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Judicial review is rarely used, Ellias noted. But, he said, having the right to appeal does offer claimants more leverage.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"My strong hope is that it won’t matter. If it does matter, it probably works in favor of the VIP fire survivors.\" \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The very small group of individuals granted the right to appeal — largely because they raised concerns about the process — includes Debra Grassgreen, a bankruptcy attorney, and her husband, who lost their home in the 2017 Atlas Fire. Grassgreen has served on the team representing The Baupost Group, a hedge fund, which is set to reap a large profit from PG&E's bankruptcy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eric and Julie Carlson, who lost their home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire, and Camp Fire survivor Mary Kim Wallace are the only other individuals granted the right to seek a court review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The only thing that makes you different from 70-some-odd or 80,000 other victims ... is that you complained that there was no access to a court if you were not satisfied with what the trustee determines,\" Judge Dennis Montali told Wallace in a hearing last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the terms of the fire victims' trust agreement, unsatisfied claimants can ask mediators to review award determinations. But the trustee has the power to override those decisions. Aside from those granted the court review exception, most fire victims will not be able to appeal to an outside court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For months, some claimants have lobbied the Tort Claimants Committee (TCC), the group representing fire survivors in the case, to push for judicial review for all victims or, at the very least, to ensure that claimants are fully aware they won't have the right to appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When KQED asked why the group did not advocate for this, a TCC attorney declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One fire survivor is now attempting to secure the right to judicial review for all of the approximately 6,000 survivors who rejected the deal when they voted on it this spring. The vote to reject, argues Camp Fire survivor Theresa Ann McDonald, constitutes an objection similar to those brought by the parties who now have access to a court appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge has asked PG&E, the TCC and the trustee to weigh in on McDonald's request.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When the trustee overseeing the compensation fund for PG&E fire victims determines the values of some 80,000 claims, the vast majority of claimants won't have the opportunity to appeal the decision in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the judge overseeing the utility's bankruptcy case has granted exceptions to a handful of local government agencies, corporations and individuals. They include Comcast, Adventist Health, Paradise Unified School District and five individual fire victims, who will have the right to what’s known as “judicial review” if they are dissatisfied with their awards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ability to contest decisions could take on relevance soon, as the disgraced utility is set to emerge from bankruptcy protection as early as today, and begin funding the trust. The company \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11721861/pge-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection\">filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection\u003c/a> in January 2019, citing billions in wildfire liabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a deal reached in December, fire survivors were promised approximately $13.5 billion paid out in a combination of cash and PG&E stock. But the lackluster performance of PG&E shares means the deal is now worth \u003ca href=\"https://www.ft.com/content/6902e071-22fc-4fac-aeaa-7d1a5f3b99bc\">closer to $11.2 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, retired Justice John Trotter, the fund trustee, announced the names of those chosen to be on the committee overseeing the trust, a group comprised almost exclusively of mass tort lawyers representing PG&E fire victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them is attorney Doug Boxer — the son of former California Sen. Barbara Boxer — whose firm has partnered with the Watts Guerra law group. Amy Bach of the consumer group United Policyholders is the only advocate on the list.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trust will begin \u003ca href=\"https://www.firevictimtrust.com/\">accepting claims information\u003c/a> from fire victims this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say access to judicial review can be a valuable bargaining chip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The advantage of judicial review is that it's a second bite at the apple. You get another chance to make your case that the administrator made a mistake. The carve-out for those people gives them an advantage that nobody else has,” said Kenneth Feinberg, an attorney who has administered major trusts, including those stemming from the BP oil spill and the 9/11 attacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Feinberg said he's never seen exceptions like the ones granted in the PG&E case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very unusual,” he said. “There may be a very good reason. But the idea that a very small number can get judicial review, but everybody else is bound by the administrator's determination, is rare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Court appeals in this type of bankruptcy case are often restricted to allow the trustee to process claims more efficiently, said Jared Ellias, a bankruptcy law professor at UC Hastings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have lots of appeals, that can slow everything down to a crawl, and people can end up waiting years to get paid,” Ellias said. But, he added, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The setup procedures should be the same for everybody, not just the people who are sophisticated enough to represent their own interests.\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Judicial review is rarely used, Ellias noted. But, he said, having the right to appeal does offer claimants more leverage.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\"My strong hope is that it won’t matter. If it does matter, it probably works in favor of the VIP fire survivors.\" \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The very small group of individuals granted the right to appeal — largely because they raised concerns about the process — includes Debra Grassgreen, a bankruptcy attorney, and her husband, who lost their home in the 2017 Atlas Fire. Grassgreen has served on the team representing The Baupost Group, a hedge fund, which is set to reap a large profit from PG&E's bankruptcy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eric and Julie Carlson, who lost their home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire, and Camp Fire survivor Mary Kim Wallace are the only other individuals granted the right to seek a court review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The only thing that makes you different from 70-some-odd or 80,000 other victims ... is that you complained that there was no access to a court if you were not satisfied with what the trustee determines,\" Judge Dennis Montali told Wallace in a hearing last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the terms of the fire victims' trust agreement, unsatisfied claimants can ask mediators to review award determinations. But the trustee has the power to override those decisions. Aside from those granted the court review exception, most fire victims will not be able to appeal to an outside court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For months, some claimants have lobbied the Tort Claimants Committee (TCC), the group representing fire survivors in the case, to push for judicial review for all victims or, at the very least, to ensure that claimants are fully aware they won't have the right to appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When KQED asked why the group did not advocate for this, a TCC attorney declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One fire survivor is now attempting to secure the right to judicial review for all of the approximately 6,000 survivors who rejected the deal when they voted on it this spring. The vote to reject, argues Camp Fire survivor Theresa Ann McDonald, constitutes an objection similar to those brought by the parties who now have access to a court appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge has asked PG&E, the TCC and the trustee to weigh in on McDonald's request.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A federal judge has refused to put his stamp of approval on a letter to wildfire victims from attorneys who allege that PG&E may be breaking its promises as it tries to preserve a plan for getting out of bankruptcy in an unraveling economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision issued late Tuesday by Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali bolsters PG&E’s efforts to hold together its plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Montali rejected the request from the committee representing wildfire victims after listening to nearly two hours of sometimes acrimonious arguments during a hearing held earlier in the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The four-page ruling left the door open for the wildfire victims’ committee to send out a letter outlining its concerns as the voting continues on PG&E’s plan for dealing with the death and destruction caused by its electrical grid. A request for comment from the victims’ committee after Montali’s rebuff wasn’t immediately answered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s lawyers had scoffed at the allegations as a desperate bid to renegotiate a $13.5 billion settlement reached with wildfire victims four months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11808166,news_11705306,news_11741019\" label=\"PG&E and the Camp Fire\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s courtroom wrangling focused on the real value of the $13.5 billion deal, and when the money will be available to help more than 81,000 people who lost family members, homes and businesses during 2017 and 2018 a series of wildfires that killed nearly 130 people and destroyed thousands of homes. PG&E plans to plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the 2018 fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wildfire victims’ committee wanted Montali to take the unusual step of approving a letter raising red flags about the settlement in the midst of the voting on PG&E’s complex plan for emerging from bankruptcy. The plan envisions paying out more than $25.5 billion in settlements, including the one with wildfire victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Montali concluded the committee squandered its opportunity to express its misgivings while a disclosure statement for PG&E’s plan was being hashed out during hearings held in February and March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E had fiercely opposed the attempt to send out a court-approved letter attacking its plan because it feared the missive would torpedo its frantic effort to get out of bankruptcy by June 30. The company needs to meet that deadline to qualify for coverage from a wildfire insurance fund created by California to help utilities deal with future risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wildfire victims’ biggest concerns center on the rapidly declining value of PG&E’s stock amid the recent market turmoil as well as the possibility that the company might not raise all the money it needs to start paying people for its misconduct until late this year or early next year, said Robert Julian, a lawyer for the victims’ committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Half of the $13.5 billion settlement is supposed to be funded with PG&E stock, but the market turmoil has caused the company’s shares to lose half their value since Feb. 11. A veteran investment banker submitted a declaration last week in another court proceeding that the stock earmarked for the settlement is now worth $4.85 billion, a 28% reduction from the original target of $6.75 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E attorney Stephen Karotkin told Montali that it was always known the stock portion of the settlement could end up being worth more or less than $6.75 billion. He also pointed out that PG&E’s stock is currently worth more than its average price of $7.80 during the two months leading up to the Dec. 6 settlement. The company’s shares closed Tuesday at $8.57.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another attorney for wildfire victims, Gerald Singleton, told Montali that he still thinks the current settlement is the best deal available. “There are risks here, but we believe the benefits outweigh the risks,” said Singleton, who represents more than 7,000 victims. Attorney Mikal Watts, who represents 18,000 wildfire clients, echoed this sentiment. He said that nearly 12,000 have voted yes on the deal, while 68 have voted against it. \"This is the best deal available,\" Watts said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Robert Julian said worries about PG&E’s stock price are being compounded by uncertainty about when the victims will be allowed to sell their shares to get the money they need to rebuild their lives. The victims will own a nearly 21% stake in the company, a chunk so large that it will have to be sold in periodic phases to prevent a collapse in the stock price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wildfire victims committee also had entered into the settlement believing PG&E would have lined up the financing for the cash portion by Aug. 29, according to Julian. He told the judge he now believes PG&E plans to hold off on securing some loans until late December or early January. Karotkin didn’t address that allegation in the hearing, but insisted the Aug. 29 date was never a concrete commitment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The doubts about PG&E’s plan have reached the point where a growing number of victims “don’t believe anything PG&E has to say in these confirmation hearings,” Julian said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karotkin blasted Julian for trying to win court approval of a letter that’s “totally inappropriate” and “misleading.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Additional reporting by KQED's Lily Jamali\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A federal judge has refused to put his stamp of approval on a letter to wildfire victims from attorneys who allege that PG&E may be breaking its promises as it tries to preserve a plan for getting out of bankruptcy in an unraveling economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision issued late Tuesday by Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali bolsters PG&E’s efforts to hold together its plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Montali rejected the request from the committee representing wildfire victims after listening to nearly two hours of sometimes acrimonious arguments during a hearing held earlier in the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The four-page ruling left the door open for the wildfire victims’ committee to send out a letter outlining its concerns as the voting continues on PG&E’s plan for dealing with the death and destruction caused by its electrical grid. A request for comment from the victims’ committee after Montali’s rebuff wasn’t immediately answered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s lawyers had scoffed at the allegations as a desperate bid to renegotiate a $13.5 billion settlement reached with wildfire victims four months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s courtroom wrangling focused on the real value of the $13.5 billion deal, and when the money will be available to help more than 81,000 people who lost family members, homes and businesses during 2017 and 2018 a series of wildfires that killed nearly 130 people and destroyed thousands of homes. PG&E plans to plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the 2018 fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wildfire victims’ committee wanted Montali to take the unusual step of approving a letter raising red flags about the settlement in the midst of the voting on PG&E’s complex plan for emerging from bankruptcy. The plan envisions paying out more than $25.5 billion in settlements, including the one with wildfire victims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Montali concluded the committee squandered its opportunity to express its misgivings while a disclosure statement for PG&E’s plan was being hashed out during hearings held in February and March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E had fiercely opposed the attempt to send out a court-approved letter attacking its plan because it feared the missive would torpedo its frantic effort to get out of bankruptcy by June 30. The company needs to meet that deadline to qualify for coverage from a wildfire insurance fund created by California to help utilities deal with future risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wildfire victims’ biggest concerns center on the rapidly declining value of PG&E’s stock amid the recent market turmoil as well as the possibility that the company might not raise all the money it needs to start paying people for its misconduct until late this year or early next year, said Robert Julian, a lawyer for the victims’ committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Half of the $13.5 billion settlement is supposed to be funded with PG&E stock, but the market turmoil has caused the company’s shares to lose half their value since Feb. 11. A veteran investment banker submitted a declaration last week in another court proceeding that the stock earmarked for the settlement is now worth $4.85 billion, a 28% reduction from the original target of $6.75 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E attorney Stephen Karotkin told Montali that it was always known the stock portion of the settlement could end up being worth more or less than $6.75 billion. He also pointed out that PG&E’s stock is currently worth more than its average price of $7.80 during the two months leading up to the Dec. 6 settlement. The company’s shares closed Tuesday at $8.57.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another attorney for wildfire victims, Gerald Singleton, told Montali that he still thinks the current settlement is the best deal available. “There are risks here, but we believe the benefits outweigh the risks,” said Singleton, who represents more than 7,000 victims. Attorney Mikal Watts, who represents 18,000 wildfire clients, echoed this sentiment. He said that nearly 12,000 have voted yes on the deal, while 68 have voted against it. \"This is the best deal available,\" Watts said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Robert Julian said worries about PG&E’s stock price are being compounded by uncertainty about when the victims will be allowed to sell their shares to get the money they need to rebuild their lives. The victims will own a nearly 21% stake in the company, a chunk so large that it will have to be sold in periodic phases to prevent a collapse in the stock price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wildfire victims committee also had entered into the settlement believing PG&E would have lined up the financing for the cash portion by Aug. 29, according to Julian. He told the judge he now believes PG&E plans to hold off on securing some loans until late December or early January. Karotkin didn’t address that allegation in the hearing, but insisted the Aug. 29 date was never a concrete commitment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The doubts about PG&E’s plan have reached the point where a growing number of victims “don’t believe anything PG&E has to say in these confirmation hearings,” Julian said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karotkin blasted Julian for trying to win court approval of a letter that’s “totally inappropriate” and “misleading.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Additional reporting by KQED's Lily Jamali\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "PG&E Victims Weigh Rare Stock-Funded Trust Amid Market Turmoil",
"title": "PG&E Victims Weigh Rare Stock-Funded Trust Amid Market Turmoil",
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"content": "\u003cp>The surge of market volatility brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has roiled U.S. stocks — and PG&E shares, which have lost half their value since last month, are no exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a growing number of people who lost property and loved ones in recent fires linked to PG&E equipment are speaking out against a plan brokered by their lawyers for a $13.5 billion victims' compensation trust, half of which would be paid in the form of PG&E stock. The group of fire survivors are set to start voting on the trust this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Lisa Williams, Camp Fire survivor\"]'We've already lost so much. For our settlement to depend on PG&E stock is psychological torture.'[/pullquote]The trust’s stock component has long concerned some survivors. But in the last week, three fire victims who served on the committee representing survivors in the bankruptcy\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808826/fire-survivor-resigns-in-protest-from-pge-bankruptcy-committee\"> have taken the stunning step of resigning their positions\u003c/a>. One, former Chico Police Chief Kirk Trostle, called the plan \"deeply flawed and very risky.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another, Adolfo Veronese, who lost his business in the 2017 Nuns Fire, said market turmoil prompted his decision to step down. \"I decided to [resign] because of the pandemic,” Veronese told KQED. “It opened my eyes a lot more because of the stock, because the value will fluctuate so much. We don't know what the value is. It fluctuates on a day-to-day basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The impacts were underscored Thursday when attorneys for the victims' committee told a federal judge in a court filing that PG&E is refusing to guarantee that the $6.75 billion in stock it has promised victims will actually hold its value amid the current market turmoil. PG&E said in a statement it is reviewing the filing and remains committed to doing right by communities impacted by wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Cash is King’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>PG&E's top brass have characterized the inclusion of the company’s stock as routine in large victims' compensation trusts like this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's a fairly common practice,” PG&E President and CEO Bill Johnson told KQED following a recent California Public Utilities Commission hearing. “There are a lot of people that support this. I mean, it got approved in a bankruptcy court. That doesn't happen just by itself.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the stock price is up so that when they sell it, they get a good price and distribute that to the victims,” Johnson added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But bankruptcy experts interviewed by KQED say the inclusion of a company’s stock — particularly one still enmeshed in bankruptcy proceedings — is exceedingly rare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know of a trust that I’ve worked on where there was a stock component,” said Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the fund for victims of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and more than a dozen other high-profile trusts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not to say it isn’t a rather creative compensatory mechanism,” he said. “But that’s news to me in my experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added, “Cash is king.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The few previous instances of stock-funded trusts are a fraction of the size of PG&E’s trust for fire victims. A PG&E spokesperson pointed to Armstrong World Industries, a onetime asbestos manufacturer based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB976117743538120812\">that filed for bankruptcy in 2000\u003c/a>. The Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement trust — worth an estimated $2 billion — was given two-thirds of Armstrong shares when the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2006. The trust was still \u003ca href=\"https://lancasteronline.com/business/local_business/armstrong-asbestos-trust-sells-m-worth-of-armstrong-stock/article_d983f6e2-05fa-11e5-9780-e79c66761193.html\">selling off shares a decade later.\u003c/a> Through the trust, victims remained one of the company’s largest shareholders for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘We Should Have Been Put First’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Becoming long-term PG&E shareholders is a fate many fire survivors hope to avoid, and one that may weigh on them as they prepare to vote on the settlement. If approved, it would effectively make them 21% of the company's shareholders. Ballots are being sent out over the next few days as part of the bankruptcy process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We've already lost so much,\" said Lisa Williams, a Camp Fire survivor who relocated from Paradise, California, to Las Vegas after her home was destroyed in the 2018 blaze. In multiple letters to Judge Dennis Montali, who is overseeing the PG&E bankruptcy,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams has vociferously aired her misgivings about being compensated with stock in a company responsible for such devastation. “For our settlement to depend on PG&E stock is psychological torture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams notes that PG&E agreed to pay all cash in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11774069/pge-insurance-companies-strike-11-billion-deal-to-settle-wildfire-claims\">$11 billion deal with insurance claim holders\u003c/a> — many of them hedge funds — in September. At the time, attorneys for wildfire survivors were still negotiating with the utility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The insurance companies and investors wouldn't take the stock, so it's being forced on us,” Williams said. “It isn't fair to victims. We should have been put first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"bankruptcy\"]There’s also the possibility that another major fire could be sparked by PG&E equipment in the dry season ahead, an outcome that could potentially send PG&E shares into free fall, decimating the victims' trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A fire, particularly a fire in the 2020 fire season, is a really scary prospect,” acknowledged Cecily Dumas, an attorney for the survivors’ committee and one of the lead negotiators of the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E stock was included in the settlement as a way of maximizing the potential amount that survivors could receive, she said in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re hoping the stock will actually increase in value because the company will have access to the state wildfire fund,” Dumas said, referring to the fund \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11760618/newsom-signs-wildfire-liability-bill-utility-customers-to-pay-10-5-billion-into-new-fund\">state lawmakers set up last year\u003c/a> to pay victims of future fires caused by California utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Human Shields’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Regardless, stocks comes with big risk. Skeptics of the current deal argue that PG&E’s strategy is partly aimed at placing fire victims in the same proverbial boat as the company, making them less likely to advocate for proposals like a public takeover of the utility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The company appears to be using these victims as human shields against any effort to dismantle PG&E in the future,” said attorney Michael Sweet, of the firm Fox Rothschild LLP, who was a candidate to represent the survivors’ committee in the bankruptcy proceedings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The assumption is that dismantling PG&E would reduce the value of the stock. They’re going to put those victims out there and say, ‘If you tear apart this company, you’re going to actually reduce the money that we got for the victims,’ ” Sweet said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, with the coronavirus pandemic rattling markets, the survivors committee — having just lost three of its 11 members — is seeking additional guarantees about the money for fire victims from PG&E about how and when the stock can be liquidated, even as ballots are going out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The [committee representing wildfire survivors] is shining a spotlight on these problems with the plan and are insisting they be fixed so victims get the benefits of the deal they believe they negotiated last December,\" said Robert Julian, a committee attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As they mull how to vote, some survivors say they're considering PG&E’s future as much as their own, including the utility's need to upgrade its infrastructure to cope with climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“PG&E's system has to be strengthened and made more resilient,” said Tubbs Fire survivor Karen Erickson. “It has a lot of work to do and it's going to take a lot of money. It's important that we don't bring them down to zero.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added, “We can’t be in the situation next year, the next year, and the next year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The surge of market volatility brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has roiled U.S. stocks — and PG&E shares, which have lost half their value since last month, are no exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a growing number of people who lost property and loved ones in recent fires linked to PG&E equipment are speaking out against a plan brokered by their lawyers for a $13.5 billion victims' compensation trust, half of which would be paid in the form of PG&E stock. The group of fire survivors are set to start voting on the trust this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The trust’s stock component has long concerned some survivors. But in the last week, three fire victims who served on the committee representing survivors in the bankruptcy\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11808826/fire-survivor-resigns-in-protest-from-pge-bankruptcy-committee\"> have taken the stunning step of resigning their positions\u003c/a>. One, former Chico Police Chief Kirk Trostle, called the plan \"deeply flawed and very risky.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another, Adolfo Veronese, who lost his business in the 2017 Nuns Fire, said market turmoil prompted his decision to step down. \"I decided to [resign] because of the pandemic,” Veronese told KQED. “It opened my eyes a lot more because of the stock, because the value will fluctuate so much. We don't know what the value is. It fluctuates on a day-to-day basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The impacts were underscored Thursday when attorneys for the victims' committee told a federal judge in a court filing that PG&E is refusing to guarantee that the $6.75 billion in stock it has promised victims will actually hold its value amid the current market turmoil. PG&E said in a statement it is reviewing the filing and remains committed to doing right by communities impacted by wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Cash is King’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>PG&E's top brass have characterized the inclusion of the company’s stock as routine in large victims' compensation trusts like this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It's a fairly common practice,” PG&E President and CEO Bill Johnson told KQED following a recent California Public Utilities Commission hearing. “There are a lot of people that support this. I mean, it got approved in a bankruptcy court. That doesn't happen just by itself.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the stock price is up so that when they sell it, they get a good price and distribute that to the victims,” Johnson added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But bankruptcy experts interviewed by KQED say the inclusion of a company’s stock — particularly one still enmeshed in bankruptcy proceedings — is exceedingly rare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know of a trust that I’ve worked on where there was a stock component,” said Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the fund for victims of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and more than a dozen other high-profile trusts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not to say it isn’t a rather creative compensatory mechanism,” he said. “But that’s news to me in my experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added, “Cash is king.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The few previous instances of stock-funded trusts are a fraction of the size of PG&E’s trust for fire victims. A PG&E spokesperson pointed to Armstrong World Industries, a onetime asbestos manufacturer based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB976117743538120812\">that filed for bankruptcy in 2000\u003c/a>. The Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement trust — worth an estimated $2 billion — was given two-thirds of Armstrong shares when the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2006. The trust was still \u003ca href=\"https://lancasteronline.com/business/local_business/armstrong-asbestos-trust-sells-m-worth-of-armstrong-stock/article_d983f6e2-05fa-11e5-9780-e79c66761193.html\">selling off shares a decade later.\u003c/a> Through the trust, victims remained one of the company’s largest shareholders for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘We Should Have Been Put First’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Becoming long-term PG&E shareholders is a fate many fire survivors hope to avoid, and one that may weigh on them as they prepare to vote on the settlement. If approved, it would effectively make them 21% of the company's shareholders. Ballots are being sent out over the next few days as part of the bankruptcy process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We've already lost so much,\" said Lisa Williams, a Camp Fire survivor who relocated from Paradise, California, to Las Vegas after her home was destroyed in the 2018 blaze. In multiple letters to Judge Dennis Montali, who is overseeing the PG&E bankruptcy,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams has vociferously aired her misgivings about being compensated with stock in a company responsible for such devastation. “For our settlement to depend on PG&E stock is psychological torture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams notes that PG&E agreed to pay all cash in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11774069/pge-insurance-companies-strike-11-billion-deal-to-settle-wildfire-claims\">$11 billion deal with insurance claim holders\u003c/a> — many of them hedge funds — in September. At the time, attorneys for wildfire survivors were still negotiating with the utility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The insurance companies and investors wouldn't take the stock, so it's being forced on us,” Williams said. “It isn't fair to victims. We should have been put first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>There’s also the possibility that another major fire could be sparked by PG&E equipment in the dry season ahead, an outcome that could potentially send PG&E shares into free fall, decimating the victims' trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A fire, particularly a fire in the 2020 fire season, is a really scary prospect,” acknowledged Cecily Dumas, an attorney for the survivors’ committee and one of the lead negotiators of the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E stock was included in the settlement as a way of maximizing the potential amount that survivors could receive, she said in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re hoping the stock will actually increase in value because the company will have access to the state wildfire fund,” Dumas said, referring to the fund \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11760618/newsom-signs-wildfire-liability-bill-utility-customers-to-pay-10-5-billion-into-new-fund\">state lawmakers set up last year\u003c/a> to pay victims of future fires caused by California utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Human Shields’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Regardless, stocks comes with big risk. Skeptics of the current deal argue that PG&E’s strategy is partly aimed at placing fire victims in the same proverbial boat as the company, making them less likely to advocate for proposals like a public takeover of the utility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The company appears to be using these victims as human shields against any effort to dismantle PG&E in the future,” said attorney Michael Sweet, of the firm Fox Rothschild LLP, who was a candidate to represent the survivors’ committee in the bankruptcy proceedings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The assumption is that dismantling PG&E would reduce the value of the stock. They’re going to put those victims out there and say, ‘If you tear apart this company, you’re going to actually reduce the money that we got for the victims,’ ” Sweet said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, with the coronavirus pandemic rattling markets, the survivors committee — having just lost three of its 11 members — is seeking additional guarantees about the money for fire victims from PG&E about how and when the stock can be liquidated, even as ballots are going out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Commonwealth-Club-of-California-p1060/"
}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"id": "here-and-now",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Here-And-Now-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0OLWoyizopu6tY1XiuX70x",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
}
},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-breakdown/id1327641087",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5Nzk2MzI2MTEx",
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