Environment

Some schools destroyed years ago in the Sonoma and Butte fires are just now reopening. The long, expensive process of rebuilding in LA may eat up much of the money voters approved in November for school repairs statewide.

Trump apparently wants to override new Biden-Newsom rules that have widespread support among Southern California cities and some Central Valley farmers.

California sued Donald Trump 123 times during his first presidency. Trump lost about two-thirds of cases filed against his administration, but that doesn't guarantee the same results this time around.

Gardeners, housekeepers and car wash workers living paycheck to paycheck are out of work in Los Angeles County as fires damaged homes and businesses. Their income losses may be permanent.

The LA fires have left domestic workers and day laborers jobless. They may soon be hired for wildfire cleanup work, where they can be exposed to ash and other toxins.

As wildfires rage on in Los Angeles, California lawmakers are rushing to offer ideas for wildfire response and prevention. Few, however, have provided specifics on how they would work — and how the state could afford them.

Key moisture measurements are only 2% to 5% of average, leaving dusty soils. And the recent swing from wet to dry is among the most extreme on record. This combination of climatic conditions crossed into a danger zone, priming much of Southern California for wind-whipped fires.

Because Trump is unlikely to approve them, California has no choice but to abandon its groundbreaking rules for zero-emission trucks and cleaner locomotives.

The fires sweeping across Los Angeles County for the past week have burned more than 50,000 acres, an area roughly equivalent to 2,200 Alcatraz Islands or 500 Disneylands, or larger than Washington, D.C. An arid fall and winter has dried out vegetation after two wetter-than-average years, providing fuel as a windstorm, with hurricane-force gusts topping […]

CalMatters photographers captured the devastation as fierce Santa Ana winds and bone-dry conditions propelled multiple wildfires across Los Angeles County.