The Brief

I had the privilege of attending the House Museum’s Fire Memorial event in the Palisades last week, and I was so moved by the ingenuity of the team preserving the remaining chimneys from houses burned in the fire, the beauty of the space and the resilience of the community. While last week was filled with somber events, this one was bittersweet but overall so positive, and that’s the energy I hope we can all bring into 2026.

Music and art are scientifically proven to make you feel good. Licorice Pizza has your music picks, including Oscar-nominated composer Laura Karpman doing a live performance of her American Fiction score at the Blue Note L.A. on Monday. On Tuesday, legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz will be in conversation at the Grammy Museum. On Wednesday and Thursday, powerpop brothers the Lemon Twigs will be at the Troubadour. Also on Thursday, local indie rock hero Ty Segall will be doing an early DJ set — 5 p.m. for my fellow in-bed-by-10 friends out there — at Sid’s Bar at the Sid the Cat Auditorium, free with RSVP.

Elsewhere on LAist.com, you can check out Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas' new song inspired by his experience in the Eaton Fire and get our full coverage of the one-year anniversary of last year’s devastating wildfires from the LAist team.

Events

'Bakeries and Synagogues: The Shared Greek and Jewish Space of the Late Imperial Mediterranean'

Monday, January 12, 6 p.m.
Getty Villa + online
17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Getty’s president, Katherine Fleming, will speak about her research expertise at the Getty Villa in a lecture titled "Bakeries and Synagogues: Shared Greek and Jewish Space of the Late Imperial Mediterranean." (I would have called it "From Babka to Baklava," but no one asked me. It’s part of The Gennadius Library’s Thalia Potamianos Lecture Series, and Fleming’s research expertise focuses on Mediterranean, Jewish and Greek history and religion, including the emergence of the Modern Greek state. The event is also available to join online. Dr. Maria Georgopoulou, Director of the Gennadius Library, said Professor Fleming’s scholarship "not only illuminates the past but also fosters a greater understanding of the enduring impact of these traditions on the modern world."

Grease Drive-In 

Thursday, January 15, 4 to 9:30 p.m.
Santa Monica Pier
200 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
COST: FREE, CURRENTLY WAITLIST-ONLY; MORE INFO 

Put on your poodle skirt and slick your hair back for a drive-in screening of Grease on the Santa Monica Pier. There’s a waitlist for driving onto the pier, but I imagine it will be a fun, costumed, summer-lovin’ scene all the way down to the beach.

'Radical Histories: Chicano Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum'

Through Tuesday, March 31 
The Huntington 
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino
COST: $29; MORE INFO

(

Courtesy The Huntington

)

Experience the history of the Chicano rights movement through vibrant posters by 40 artists and collectives, on loan to The Huntington from the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The exhibit is broken down by theme rather than chronologically, and it looks at moments like the Delano Grape Strike, the anti-war movement and more, all through the medium of printmaking. Free admission days — the first Thursday of each month — are available to book in advance.

Foo Fighters: A Show Benefitting Hope United 

Wednesday, January 14, 7:30 p.m. 
Kia Forum
3900 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood 
COST: FROM $109; MORE INFO 

I have rarely felt better than after Dave Grohl has screamed at me for a couple of hours. Maybe I’m oversharing here, but you too can let it all out (and to be sure, there’s a lot to let out lately!) at the Forum when the Foo Fighters play Dave’s annual birthday show; this year, $25 of each ticket sale benefits Hope United. Sadly, they will have a substitute guitarist for the gig since Pat Smear injured his foot in a “bizarre gardening accident,” but the band – as they always do – are taking the setback in stride and with a sense of humor.

Writers Bloc: Jacob Soboroff 

Tuesday, January 13
Writers Guild Theater
135 S. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills
COST: $25; MORE INFO

(

Writers Bloc

)

Continuing the fire anniversary events this month, Palisades native and MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff has a new book out about the L.A. fires, Firestorm. He’ll be in conversation with Mariana van Zeller at Writers Bloc to discuss.

Zinque Dry January NA Cocktail Challenge

Monday, January 12, 5 to 10 p.m. 
Zinque
3446 Via Oporto, Newport Beach 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

(

Zinque

)

We're in the middle of dry January, so have a great, well-balanced non-alcoholic drink. The experts behind the bar at Zinque are hosting a $10 mocktail challenge, where guests will try three different NA drinks for $10 each and vote on the favorite that will make the menu all month long. On Jan. 12, the event is at the Newport Beach location; on Jan. 13, the event is at Zinque in West Hollywood.

Coquito cocktails

Monday, January 12, 6 to 9 p.m. 
DTLA Proper Hotel 
1100 S Broadway, Downtown L.A. 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

(

Proper Hotel

)

If you’re having a more damp than dry January, check out this creative cocktail night, where some of SoCal’s top bartenders will debut their own bold versions of the classic Puerto Rican holiday rum-based drink, the Coquito. Bacardi Reserva Ocho will be featured as the rum, and guests will have the opportunity to sample each drink and vote for their favorites.

CAP UCLA: Seth Parker Woods, Julia Bullock and Conor Hanick From Ordinary Things

Thursday, January 15, 8 p.m.
The Nimoy 
1262 Westwood Blvd., Westwood
COST: FROM $38.08; MORE INFO

(

Courtesy UCLA

)

Take a trip through the American songbook with a trio of elite musicians — Seth Parker Woods, Julia Bullock and Conor Hanick — at The Nimoy. 2022 Chamber Music America Michael Jaffee Visionary Award winner Woods is joined by Bullock, a Grammy-winning classical singer and artist and Hanick, a pianist “praised for his precision and articulation of classic and contemporary fare.” They will play works from George Walker, John Tavener, Maurice Ravel, Andre Previn and Nina Simone, as well as a new commission by Tania Leon.

The story first appeared on The LA Local.

Los Angeles residents were walking dark streets and passing broken lamps even as the LAPD quietly disbanded a specialized unit in July that tracked thieves stealing copper wire from streetlights. 

Known as the Heavy Metal Task Force, the unit launched in early 2024 to combat persistent copper wire theft from lamps lighting the Sixth Street Bridge connecting Boyle Heights to Downtown L.A.

Lt. Andrew Mathes confirmed to The LA Local this week that the unit was eliminated in July 2025 as the department and city tightened budgets. The L.A. Bureau of Street Lighting, the department responsible for maintaining the lights, also had its budget cut by about 5% in the current fiscal year as its backlog of reports continues to grow. 

The team led investigations that exposed organized wire theft, resulting in more than 300 arrests. And it conducted inspections of local scrapyards to make it harder for people to cash in on high copper resale prices.

“When you get an eye for it, copper is everywhere,” Mathes said. 

Public concerns about lights persist

Calls for repair of streetlights surged from about 35,000 in 2022, the year the Sixth Street Bridge was opened to the public, to 46,000 in 2024. There was only a slight dip in such calls in 2025.

The calls made to the city’s 311 line for non-emergency services include lamps that were hit by cars or could be malfunctioning due to age. But the jump in calls starting in 2022 also include a surge in thefts.

Reports of copper wire theft doubled from about 7,200 in fiscal year 2022-23 to nearly 16,000 in 2024-25, according to data from the L.A. City Controller. But starting last year, the monthly calls began trending down, from 1,500 in October 2024 to about 200 in May 2025. 

After previously leading a similar team on catalytic converter thefts, Mathes was tapped for leading the unit on heavy metal thefts in early 2024. The team was based in the LAPD’s Central Division near where such thefts had been focused.

“LA is the copper theft capital,” Mathes said. “It’s the worst of the worst here.”

At their most active, Mathes said, the unit was conducting two or three operations a week.

They inspected scrapyards for stolen metal and warned the owners of the penalties they could face for purchasing it. They found people impersonating construction workers removing reams of wire for resale. He’d find makeshift processing operations in decrepit RVs, with huge spools of wire spun by hand and toxic fire pits where people would melt away plastic shielding because the unwrapped copper fetches a higher price.

Mathes said they tracked a 70% reduction in such thefts in the Newton Division, south and east of downtown.

So what happens if there is no specialized unit? 

Mathes said it was fitting that the first and last arrests made by the heavy metal unit occurred near the iconic bridge on Sixth Street. 

The officers who served on the unit developed valuable experience, Mathes said. And soon before it disbanded, he said they redoubled efforts to prepare the members to continue the work in their new assignments. Central, Hollenbeck and Newton police divisions have a specialist for these kinds of investigations.

When asked about wire thefts growing in other parts of the city in 2025, he presumed it was because of the intensive work the unit was doing near downtown.

“They had to find new places to target,” Mathes said.

The Los Angeles County fires last year drove up insurance costs for many Californians. Now, a proposed settlement means some State Farm policyholders whose premiums rose won’t see additional increases, and others should even get refunds.

State Farm, the largest insurer in the state with about 20% market share, received approval for unprecedented emergency insurance rate increases in California last May. The company told the state that the billions of dollars it expected to pay out after the deadly fires placed it in financial peril.

The proposed deal among the state Insurance Department, consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog and State Farm, disclosed late last week, comes after months of public hearings convened by the insurance department and settlement talks.

Consumer Watchdog, which questioned the rate increases State Farm asked for, says the settlement saves the company’s California policyholders a total of $530 million. From the proposed settlement:

• Homeowners’ rate hikes will stay at the previously approved interim rate of 17% instead of the 30% the company sought.
• Condo owners who saw interim rate hikes of 15% will see their rates drop to an increase of 5.8%, and get refunds with interest dating back to June 1, 2025.
• Rental unit owners with interim rate hikes of 38% will see those increases drop to 32.8%, and receive refunds with interest. 
• Renter policyholders will see an increase of 15.65% vs. the interim rate hike of 15%.

In addition, State Farm has agreed not to cancel any new policies this year, and it won’t be canceling some policies it had planned not to renew in wildfire-affected areas. The insurance department characterized those provisions as important to the continued stability of the state’s insurance market, which has been beset with availability and affordability issues.

“When consumer advocates are able to challenge the data and present their own analysis, excessive requests are reduced and consumers are protected,” said Harvey Rosenfield in a statement. Rosenfield founded Consumer Watchdog and wrote Proposition 103, the voter-approved law that governs insurance in California.

State Farm has paid out more than $5 billion in claims from the L.A.-area fires so far, said spokesperson Tom Hartmann.

After consumer complaints and lawsuits, the insurance department is investigating the company’s handling of claims from the fires and expects results from that examination later this spring.

The agreement, which must be approved by an administrative law judge, also requires State Farm to undergo additional review of its rates in 2027. The company will be required to make a one time 2.5% premium discount available to renewing policyholders if its ratio of premiums to available cash reaches a certain level; Consumer Watchdog litigation director Will Pletcher said the deal will give the group more timely access to the company’s annual financial statements to help keep it accountable.

The insurance department expects the judge to decide on the settlement by April 7. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara will then review the judge’s decision and have the final say.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Iran's state media issued what it said was a statement by Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and keep up attacks on U.S. bases in the region, as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran entered its 13th day.

It was purported to be the new leader's first statement since he succeeded his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli strike on the first day of the war.

The statement said Iran will avenge the blood of its "martyrs," including the victims of a March 1 attack on a girls school in the city of Minab, which Iranian officials say killed at least 165 people, many of them children. NPR has confirmed the U.S. military is investigating how it could have targeted the school.

The Iranian statement said the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for a fifth of the world's oil supply, should remain closed. It said Iran continues to believe in friendship with its neighbors but will continue targeting U.S. bases in the region.

"The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must undoubtedly continue to be used.," the statement said, according to an English version published by Tasnim News Agency, run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

It's unclear if the statement was from Mojtaba Khamenei himself. Another person was heard reading out the remarks on Iranian state media, with a photo of Khamenei posted on the TV screen, as it was broadcast around the world.

There's been speculation about the leader's current condition and whereabouts. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly, told NPR that Khamenei was lightly injured early in the war.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

Here are other major updates about the conflict.

To jump to specific areas of coverage, use the links below:

Attacks on vessels | Oil stockpiles | Strikes across the Gulf | Israel-Hezbollah escalation | Iranian school attack

Two oil tankers hit in Iraqi waters

Two oil tankers were hit in Iraqi territorial waters near the southern port area of Basra, Iraqi officials said Thursday. It is the first oil-related strike reported in Iraq's waters during more than a week of war, in another sign of the conflict's escalation.

Iran, a critical ally of Iraq, took responsibility for attacking one of the tankers, which it said was owned by the U.S.

A port official said the attack targeted vessels near Basra's port approaches, and Iraq's security spokesman described it as sabotage.

Iraqi officials said one person was killed, and 38 crew members were rescued, with search operations continuing.

Iran has stepped up attacks on energy infrastructure and commercial shipping in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes, warning that the world should brace for oil prices to double.

— Jane Arraf

U.S. and allies to release record oil stockpiles  

The U.S. confirmed it will release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a coordinated International Energy Agency (IEA) release of 400 million barrels from emergency stockpiles.

The U.S. contribution amounts to roughly 40% of the total, to be released gradually over about four months.

The IEA's executive director, Fatih Birol, said the goal is to keep the supply of oil flowing as the conflict disrupts shipping routes and energy infrastructure. But analysts warn stockpile releases can only partially offset prolonged disruption in the Gulf, where roughly a fifth of global oil consumption normally transits the Strait of Hormuz.

On Wednesday, President Trump said the price spike is temporary and said the reserve release would push prices down.

According to the popular app Gas Buddy, the current average cost of regular unleaded is now up to $3.61 a gallon.

- Camila Domonoske

Iran continues attacks on Gulf States

Countries in the Gulf reported new incoming threats and interceptions Thursday, as Iran continued firing drones and missiles across the region – including at U.S. military bases.

The UAE's defense ministry said air defenses were responding to Iranian missile and drone attacks, and that sounds heard in parts of the country were from intercepts.

Kuwait's defense ministry said its air defenses intercepted ballistic missiles and drones that penetrated the northern and southern parts of the country's airspace.

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed drones headed toward the Shaybah oil field.

The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on Wednesday condemning Iran for recent attacks across the Persian Gulf region, calling them a "breach of international law" and "a serious threat to international peace and security."

- Rebecca Rosman

Israel launches large strikes on Hezbollah sites in Beirut after rocket fire into Israel

People inspect homes damaged by a projectile launched from Lebanon, in Haniel central Israel, on Thursday.

(

Baz Ratner

/

AP

)

The militant group Hezbollah launched its biggest rocket attack against Israel since the start of the war with Iran. The Israeli military said the Iranian-backed group fired heavy volleys toward northern Israel overnight into Thursday, triggering interceptions and sending residents repeatedly into shelters.

The Israeli military responded by launching more attacks against what it said were Hezbollah launch sites and command infrastructure.

Huge booms were heard across the capital and large black smoke billowed from the Dahieh neighborhood in south Beirut, while an attack in central Beirut – where thousands of people are displaced – killed 8 people and injured 31, according to Lebanese officials.

Wide evacuation orders for south Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs have displaced at least 800,000 people so far, according to the Lebanese government.

Lebanon, which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, has unusually called for direct talks with Israel to end the escalating fighting with Hezbollah. Israel has not officially responded.

Israeli strikes on Iran have continued, with Iran firing missiles at Israel intermittently, including overnight.

Israeli military officials say about half of the missiles Iran has launched at Israel have carried cluster warheads, which spread out into smaller bombs over a wider area – increasing the risk to civilians.

- Daniel Estrin, Hadeel Al-Shalchi and Rebecca Rosman

Pentagon: Preliminary assessment suggests U.S. likely responsible for strike on Iranian school

The Pentagon has opened a formal investigation into the missile strike on an Iranian girls school that killed at least 165 civilians, many of them children, after a preliminary assessment suggested the U.S. was at fault, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The investigation is expected to take months and will include interviews with all those involved, from planners and commanders to those who carried out the strike.

If a U.S. role in the attack is confirmed, it would rank among the military's most deadly incidents involving civilians in decades. Congress created a special Pentagon office to prevent the accidental targeting of civilians but it was dramatically scaled back by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth soon after he took office last year.

"This investigation is ongoing. As we have said, unlike the terrorist Iranian regime, the United States does not target civilians," said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly.

The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

NPR previously reported — based on commercial satellite imagery and independent expert analysis — that the strike was more extensive than initially reported and appeared consistent with a precision strike on a nearby military complex, raising questions about whether outdated targeting information contributed to the tragedy.

- Tom Bowman, Kat Lonsdorf, Geoff Brumfiel

Rebecca Rosman contributed to this report from Paris, Jane Arraf from Erbil, Iraq, Hadeel Al-Shalchi from Beirut, Daniel Estrin from Tel Aviv and Camila Domonoske, Tom Bowman, Kat Lonsdorf and Geoff Brumfiel from Washington.
Copyright 2026 NPR