Latest From This Author
Interviews with pilots paint a graphic picture of the struggle to maintain control of their ships amid one of the most intense and complicated airborne firefights in U.S. history.
Everyone knows California is disaster-prone. But wildfires are supposed to be in the hills, not on the beach, and certainly not inside the borders of one of the biggest and best-prepared cities on the planet. That makes the Palisades fire all the more unearthly.
Even as fire turned Santa Monica an apocalyptic shade of orange, hired hands went about their business as if it were just another day on the job. “We gotta pay bills,” said one UPS driver. “It’s not like they’re gonna pay us to stop working and leave.”
In the catastrophic Palisades fire, one of the city’s iconic thoroughfares was severely damaged and large swaths of homes were reduced to smoldering rubble.
On Dec. 23, a surfer from Santa Cruz rode a wave at Mavericks that witnesses say was over 100 feet tall, which would set a world record. But how do you reliably measure a wave?
The U.S. Forest Service has closed all trails to Mt. Baldy’s peak until December 2025 to help the ecosystem recover from a fire. Hikers are defying the closures.
Like many California resort towns, Mammoth Lakes is reliant on undocumented workers. Locals say the economy will grind to a halt if the town gets swept up in President-elect Donald Trump’s vows of mass deportations.
