The Brief

When she got the news, Bonnie Brimecombe was standing on a sidewalk outside her in-laws’ house in Monrovia, where she had evacuated amid the chaos of this month's fires. It was a video, sent by a colleague, showing the charred remnants of Odyssey South Charter School, where Brimecombe has been principal for three years.

Classrooms, desks, books, the owl murals, the fourth-graders’ quilt project, the newly planted native plant garden — all scorched by the Eaton Fire. Flames still lapped at one building, as the rest of the campus smouldered.

“It was gone,” Brimecombe said, choking back tears. “And then all the text messages from families started coming in. You’re just getting message after message, ‘My home is lost; I have nothing.’ The school didn’t even matter at that point. You just think about the families.”

Odyssey South, a popular TK-8 charter school in Altadena, was among the dozen or so schools destroyed in the Los Angeles fires. At least 40% of the school’s families and 10 staff members lost their homes. As of Friday, 5% of families were still unaccounted for.

Like at all the damaged schools, staff are navigating their own fire hardships while frantically scouring the city for new classroom space. With recovery just beginning, the most important thing, they said, is to bring an element of normalcy to children whose lives have been upended.

Searching for a new school

As soon as she saw the video, Brimecombe and her staff “grieved for a few minutes” and then got to work looking for a new school. They’ve toured other school sites, churches, office buildings, even a vacant Bed Bath & Beyond. They’ve talked to real estate agents and countless property owners who’ve offered to help.

But it’s not easy to find space for 375 students. The first hurdle is enrollment — Brimecome isn’t sure how many students will actually return. Some evacuated to other counties or even other states.

Another challenge is competition. There aren’t that many vacant spaces in the Pasadena area suitable for a school, yet there are at least five schools looking for space. Not all have the same needs, and they’re cooperating when they can, but there’s still not enough space for all the schools who need it.

The next obstacle is more practical. A vacant office building seemed perfect, but where would Brimecombe and her staff find hundreds of school desks and chairs? A nearby school offered to share its campus, but there wasn’t enough space for the entire student body so they’d have to split up — not a desirable option when students need continuity and to be with their friends, Brimecombe said.

And the final obstacle is money. Like many charter schools, Odyssey leases its campus from a school district. The school has insurance but no control over the district’s plans to rebuild. The state and federal governments will provide some funding, but as an independent charter organization, Odyssey is mostly on its own. It can’t raise money through a bond, and it lacks the staff to navigate the labyrinth of grants, permits and other paperwork. Although the school has launched an online fundraiser, staff aren’t sure how much money they’ll need or how much they can expect from various sources.

Odyssey isn’t alone. Los Angeles County has a high concentration of charter schools, and at least a half dozen were damaged or destroyed by the fires. Two charters near Odyssey — Pasadena Rosebud Academy and Aveson Charter School — not only burned down, but the principals also lost their homes.

Charter schools have a long road ahead as they wrangle with school districts and patch together money for rebuilding, said Keith Dell’Aquila, an advocate with the California Charter Schools Association who focuses on greater Los Angeles.

“For some schools, it’s total devastation,” Dell’Aquila said. “People who are leaders in their school communities also have no place to go at the end of the day, no place to put their kids to bed. It’s been unimaginable.”

His group is asking Pasadena Unified, which leases space to several damaged charter schools, to help find new space for those schools and to share funds from a recently passed pair of measures that are slated to bring in nearly $1 billion to district schools.

Pasadena Unified did not immediately respond to an email from CalMatters.

A ‘heartbreaking’ reality

Stacy Connor, head of Odyssey’s parent association, said the Eaton fire was the most terrifying experience of her life. She and her family had to evacuate their home in Pasadena at 4 a.m., as 100 mph winds howled and flames roared a block away.

She, her husband and two children spent a few days at a church in Glendale before moving in with family for 10 days. Their house survived — barely. Half the roof burned off, the siding was scorched and nearly all the contents were destroyed by smoke and ash.

Now she’s spending her days haggling with the insurance company and replacing items lost to the fire. She’s also facing the “heartbreaking” reality that she may have to find a new school for her 9-year-old daughter.

“Every single staff member at that school knew every single child. They truly loved children,” said Connor, who spent countless hours volunteering at Odyssey. “It was such an inclusive community where everyone felt welcome. I don’t know if we can replace that.”

Scenes from Odyssey South Charter School show the fire-damaged campus, top left and bottom right. Bonnie Brimecombe, principal at top right, sits in an unusable classroom in one of the only buildings that didn't burn down on campus. Before the fire, one class had a lesson on wildfires, bottom left.

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Jules Hotz

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Doubling down on mental health

Founded in 1999, not long after California legalized charter schools, Odyssey serves about 850 students on two campuses. (The other campus was not damaged in the fire.) Odyssey South is ethnically diverse, reflecting the demographics of Altadena — about 30% Latino, 45% white and the rest a mix of Black, Asian and people who identify as more than one race. About one-third are low-income. Students perform well above the state average in math and reading, and there’s typically a waiting list for enrollment.

The school has a strong focus on social-emotional learning, an approach that will help students and staff recover from the trauma of the fires, Brimecombe said. Students are used to talking about their feelings, listening to their classmates and supporting each other.

“In a way, we are ready for this kind of a situation. Resiliency is already built into our core values; we know how to come back,” Brimecombe said. “But it’s going to be tough. We’re going to need to double down to provide all the mental health support our students will need.”

The most immediate need was finding a place for students to go now. A few days after the fire, the local Boys & Girls Club offered to provide all-day care for the students, where they’ve been playing and talking and spending time together in a low-stress atmosphere. More important, parents can return to work and tend to insurance and rebuilding efforts.

Within a week, the school planned a community event for families in nearby San Gabriel

“We wanted to get everybody back to see each other’s faces. Have a minute to cry together,” Brimecombe said. “Some kids may have lost everything, but they could say, ‘My friend is still here, their mom is still here, my teachers are still here.’ It helps to understand [that] it’s not all gone.”

It was such a success that the school is planning a second event, this time with therapy dogs, mental health counselors, meditation sessions and representatives from the Red Cross, insurance companies and FEMA.

Meanwhile, Brimecombe and her colleagues hope to find a temporary campus and reopen within the next few weeks. The sooner students can get into a routine and resume learning, the faster their recovery will be, she said. She and her staff have been working 18-hour days, toiling through exhaustion and stress.

“It’s just been full force forward ever since the fire, but it’s up to us, right?” she said. “We need to do it for the kids, because they can’t do it for themselves. They need to see our faces. They need to know that beyond this awful thing they’re going through, we know them and we’re there for them.”

A full career as a California Highway Patrol officer or a CalFire firefighter often ends with a six-figure pension that provides a comfortable retirement after countless hours spent in harm’s way.

This year, the unions that represent CHP officers and state firefighters are seeking a different end-of-career incentive: The opportunity to accumulate one big check in addition to that annual pension.

They're backing legislation that would create a supplementary savings program to allow state law enforcement officers and firefighters to leave public service with a payout. It’s called a deferred retirement option plan, which several local law enforcement agencies already offer to their officers.

“It’s a retention tool,” said Jake Johnson, president of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen. He said late-career officers might choose to continue working for the CHP rather than retire if they have access to the supplementary savings plan, particularly if they have already locked in a pension amount that meets their needs.

So far, the measure is sailing through the Legislature with bipartisan support in the Assembly. Supporters argue it would help agencies keep experienced people in uniform and encourage veterans to stay on to train younger employees.

“Unfortunately, both Highway Patrol officers and CalFire struggle to keep on board personnel ideally suited to direct a response when needed the most in critical times when a fire or disaster is upon us,” said Assemblymember Mike Gipson, the Democrat from Gardena who is carrying the bill. “The deferred retirement option program known as DROP is neither revolutionary nor untested. It is working well in other parts of California.”

But certain deferred retirement plans have a poor reputation among taxpayer advocates because they risk driving up expenses from already-underfunded pension systems. Ten bills that would have created or expanded them in California have failed since 1999, according to a legislative committee analysis. Gov. Gray Davis vetoed five of them between 1999 and 2002, citing their potential to drive up costs.

Separately, one deferred retirement plan in Los Angeles allowed cops to gain seven-figure payouts while claiming disability and not working. And, a new program in San Diego County permits sheriff’s deputies to draw pensions while continuing to work in law enforcement — a practice that taxpayer advocates deride as “double dipping”.

“We are talking about people staying in government service for an additional five years, drawing a six-figure salary, then getting a lump sum payment of a million dollars each,” Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, a San Diego Republican, said during a debate on the measure last month. He was the only lawmaker to vote against it.

The CHP and CalFire unions counter that their proposal is simple compared to the ones past governors vetoed and the ones that recently drew scrutiny in Los Angeles and San Diego.

• Late-career CHP officers and CalFire firefighters would stop making contributions from their paychecks toward their pensions and instead put money in the deferred retirement plan. 
• They would stop accruing additional years of service toward their pensions if they participate in a deferred retirement plan, essentially freezing their pension income the moment they join the program.
• Officers and firefighters could continue working for up to five years. CalPERS would manage the deferred retirement plan and guarantee participants a 5% return. 
• When they retire, the officers and fighters would get a payout from the deferred retirement plan and also begin receiving monthly pension checks from CalPERS.

What's the cost to the state?

Their deferred retirement proposal leaves some room for union bargaining and it’s unclear how much it would cost.

For instance, it’s up for negotiation whether the state would make employer matches toward the deferred retirement accounts.

Today, the state contributes 70 cents to CalPERS to fund CHP pensions for every dollar it pays in salary to officers. It kicks in 51 cents to CalPERS for CalFire firefighter pensions for every dollar it pays in firefighter salaries for the same reasons.

The state would not have to make those pension contributions on behalf of officers and firefighters in a deferred retirement plan.

Those payroll costs haven’t come up explicitly in legislative hearings on the proposal, but Terence McHale, the longtime lobbyist for public safety unions, noted in a January hearing that officers in a deferred retirement plan would be “no longer accruing adjustments that are ascribable to California.”

“There is no reason not to support this bill,” he told lawmakers. “It does everything we need to do and it works for the administration and it works for both parties.”

Other pension legislation

The two unions keep a steady presence in the Capitol. CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database shows the CHP union has given $2.2 million to lawmakers since 2015, and the CalFire Union has given $1.8 million. Cal Fire Local 2881 over the past several years has prioritized legislation and contract agreements that would improve working conditions by compelling the state to hire more firefighters.

The request adds to the long push-and-pull over how to compensate California police and firefighters. CHP officers and firefighters hired before Jan. 1, 2013 could retire at 50 with a pension formula giving them 3% of their final wages for every year of service, meaning California Highway Patrol officers with 30 years on the job would get a pension worth 90% of their final year earnings.

Officers hired since then have to work until 57 to earn a fully vested pension that accrues at a rate of 2.7% per year, a change detailed in a 2012 pension reform law championed by former Gov. Jerry Brown.

The average pension for a CHP officer with 30 years of service was $99,831 as of 2024, according to an analysis by Transparent California, an online organization that publishes the salaries of California public employees.

Aside from the deferred retirement proposal, the CHP and Cal Fire unions also are backing a proposal that would allow public safety employees to retire at 55 and with a more generous formula. It passed the Assembly by a vote of 70-2, but drew opposition from local government employers and may have a more difficult path to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk than the deferred retirement measure.

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

President Donald Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and said GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma would replace her.

Noem "will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida," Trump posted on social media. "I thank Kristi for her service at 'Homeland.'"

Noem is the first cabinet secretary to leave the Trump administration in the second term. The announcement comes after Noem spent two days being grilled by lawmakers in Congress over her leadership.

Mullin has been a defender of the president and his immigration agenda.

"A MAGA Warrior, and former undefeated professional MMA fighter, Markwayne truly gets along well with people, and knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Advance our America First Agenda," Trump said in his post highlighting Mullin's position as the only Native American in the Senate. "Markwayne will make a spectacular Secretary of Homeland Security. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., (left), speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on last month.

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Mullin will need to be confirmed by the Senate in order to take on the role permanently.

Noem, who was formerly South Dakota's governor, had been at the forefront of Trump's efforts to carry out mass deportations. Following her confirmation, she quickly became the face of the administration's immigration agenda — making multimillion dollar ads urging people to self deport, conducting press conferences around the country touting deportation numbers and conducting international visits geared at promoting Trump's vision.

She is the highest-profile departure in recent weeks at the agency. Madison Sheehan, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputy director, left her post at the start of the year to run for Congress. Top agency spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin left her role last month.

At the start of her second year on the job, Noem faced bipartisan criticism over her leadership of an immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, where she deployed 3,000 officers and two U.S. citizens were killed. Some of the loudest voices on the right for her resignation came from Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., who is not running for reelection, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Other Republicans denounced Noem after she referred to 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was shot by two border patrol agents, as a "domestic terrorist" before any investigation had begun. Following the event, Congress, amid opposition from Democrats, failed to pass a budget to fund the Homeland Security Department and attempted to negotiate immigration enforcement reforms.

Noem was asked to testify before the Senate and House judiciary committees in early March — as her agency was in the third week of a shut down. She said 100,000 employees were furloughed including those who work in cybersecurity and disaster relief.

During the hearings she sparred with lawmakers of both parties over the tactics used by immigration officers, spending at her agency and her broader leadership. Noem also received questions regarding a letter sent by DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, which accused Noem's department of having "systematically obstructed the work of the DHS Office of Inspector General" as he sought data related to immigrant arrests, airport security programs and counterintelligence. 

Noem was the face of the mass deportation agenda 

During Noem's time helming the 250,000 person agency, DHS was at the center of an ambitious effort to arrest, detain and deport 1 million people without legal status per year. Data from DHS released in the fall shows the department deported 605,000 people and has a historic high number of people in immigration detention.

As secretary, Noem oversaw the start of a hiring surge to bring on thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the proliferation of Border Patrol agents as enforcers throughout the country.

Noem's confirmation out of the Senate sailed through, despite questions over how much money the agency was asking for to conduct immigration enforcement and policy directives coming from personnel high up at the White House, such as border czar Tom Homan.

While on the job, Noem drew scrutiny over the handling of national disaster relief and resources and her selection of Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign aide, for a DHS special employee advisory role. Noem's DHS has also consistently ended up in the crosshairs of legal scrutiny — from immigration courts to the Supreme court. Federal district judges have blocked DHS from using wartime powers to expedite deportations, and ordered some deportees returned.

If confirmed, Mullins will advise the president on a wide range of security issues. This also includes being in charge of the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and a prominent role in counter-terrorism, aviation security and cybersecurity.

Turnover within Trump's Cabinet has been minimal this term so far. Over the course of his first term, Trump had five DHS secretaries, including three who were acting secretaries.

Copyright 2026 NPR

For college students seeking a job that fits around their academic schedules, and the opportunity to do meaningful work in their communities, a popular state program offers both.

Since it launched in 2022, the state program known as College Corps has been paying college students for community service work. And it has become so popular that only 30% of students who apply get a position.

The program helps college students, including those who are immigrants lacking permanent legal status, pay for college while serving in community-based organizations.

Students are dispersed across California tackling diverse needs. Fellows were key, for instance, in helping food banks meet a surge in demand during last year’s government shutdown, said Josh Fryday, director of California Service Corps. And during the wildfires in Los Angeles last January, fellows were there to support, he said.

“When the government shut down and there was a huge shortage or huge demand at the food bank and they needed support, it was our College Corps members that got deployed. Same thing after the fires,” said Fryday.

The program has recruited more than 3,000 students each academic year since it started, some serving multiple years. Students serve 15 hours a week for 30 weeks and receive monthly stipends totaling $7,000 for the academic school year. At that time those who complete 450 service hours receive an additional $3,000 educational award.

Student volunteer Yongjie restocks shelves with canned goods at the UC Berkeley campus food pantry on Oct. 25, 2019.

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College Corps is just one program within California Service Corps, a statewide service initiative that consists of three other paid service programs sending members into communities around the state.

The state gave College Corps $83.6 million for 2026-27 in addition to a one-time $5 million allotment this academic year to help expand the program to additional campuses. The program currently has 45 participating campuses, 41 of them across California’s public community college and university systems. For the next cohort, they’re planning to expand to 52 campuses and recruit about 4,000 students. Some of the new partner sites include Cal State Northridge, Monterey Peninsula College and UC Santa Barbara.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office had recommended rejecting the request for more funding, and it was cut from the budget proposal in June. However, it was reinstated in the final Budget Act.

The program started as a pilot, intended to run through 2023-24 while receiving one-time funding each year. Now, according to the LAO budget overview for 2025-26, the intent is to continue with the $84 million in annual funding permanently starting in 2026-27. Of the $84 million, $45 million would go towards program support and administrative costs for the program while the rest would go toward aid for students.

The College Corps program is open to students at participating campuses, including those who qualify for AB 540, a state law that allows eligible students without legal status to qualify for California in-state tuition and aid. The state has about 100,000 immigrant students without permanent legal status who don’t qualify for federal work-study programs and many lack the necessary permits to work other jobs, according to the Higher Education Immigration Portal.

“I wanted to make sure that we gave an opportunity to our Dreamers to be part of [College Corps],” said Fryday. “We’ve had unbelievable success stories of AB 540 students… [by] having this program change their lives and giving them opportunities that they, quite frankly, have been excluded from for far too long.”

Officials with California Service Corps did not provide numbers on how many spots are filled by immigrant students eligible for in-state tuition and aid under AB 540.

Rafael, an immigrant student and College Corps fellow, came from Mexico to the United States at the age of 14. He requested that his full name not be used due to concerns about his legal status.

Job opportunities do not come easy for Rafael due to his lack of a Social Security number.

“For undocumented students, there are not a lot of things that you can apply to be part of,” he said. “So that was also kind of like my only opportunity.”

Within the program, fellows can choose to serve in K-12 education, climate action or food insecurity. Students often help with tutoring at school sites, work with food banks, and serve at their campus gardens and food pantries.

Eligible students must be full-time undergraduates and study at one of eight participating University of California campuses, 17 California State Universities, 23 community colleges, and four private colleges.

Fellows get sworn in by Gov. Gavin Newsom during a ceremony in Sacramento on Oct. 7, 2022.

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“We have students from all different backgrounds and our students are also getting different perspectives of diversity and empathy and learning how to see how other people live in their community,” said Katrina Gilmore, director of College Corps at Cal State Bakersfield.

Rafael, an English major, currently volunteers at a history museum in his community, a role he holds close to his heart. When he visited a museum for the first time in Mexico, he was amazed by the exhibits and the curiosity they sparked. He is now helping the museum develop an audio tour guide of the exhibits in English and Spanish to help more people feel included.

“It was really touching because my first language is Spanish and I remember having a hard time learning a lot of things,” he said. “I have been in that position. I know how it feels.”

Fellows are chosen based on their interest in service and availability to juggle the service hours with their academics. Eligible students must be full-time undergraduates, have good academic standing and demonstrate financial need.

Currently, UC Berkeley has 98 College Corps student workers. More than 200 students applied, said Ashley Kelly, a supervisor for the program at UC Berkeley.

“That just demonstrated to us that there's a huge desire and demand to do this program, that the program is working, it's impactful, and we just need to keep working to create more opportunities for students to be part of programs like this,” said Fryday.

California Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday speaks at the College Corps fellows swearing-in event in Sacramento on Oct. 7, 2022. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters For Lori Dominguez, a College Corps fellow at Cal State Bakersfield, the program has helped her pay for school. She said that if it wasn’t for the program, she would probably have to drop out of college.

“I have loans for my education, and, like, I’m broke, and I barely have job experience,” said Dominguez.

Dominguez struggled with school last year after leaving her job at her local library to take care of her mom who had surgery. She sought out College Corps as a way to pay for school with a program that understands that her education is her priority.

She currently serves with Habitat for Humanity ReStore, a secondhand store whose profits go towards building affordable homes in the community. Dominguez processes donated items such as clothing, toys and furniture.

The program is flexible with students' schedules, allowing Dominguez to make up missed hours at different work sites and giving her the opportunity to earn money while still being able to pursue a biology degree. She hopes to become a clinical lab scientist.

DJ Nunley and his wife, Lynn Nunley, in Albany on Feb. 27, 2026.

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Djuane "DJ” Nunley, a senior at UC Berkeley, has been a College Corps fellow since its pilot year. He joined the program at College of the Desert in Coachella Valley, before transferring to UC Berkeley.

He served in both campus’ food pantries and also worked at a food warehouse in Coachella Valley where he sorted food before it spoiled to see what could be preserved.

“I would see how families would just be so excited to get the food that they were getting,” said Nunley. “It was a humbling experience.”

He currently serves with UC Berkeley’s Incarceration to College program, tutoring incarcerated youth — and youth whose parents have been incarcerated — at Alameda County Juvenile Hall and with Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, a community-based organization.

Nunley’s wife Lynn attended College of the Desert and joined College Corps at the same time with a desire to help the community. They were both accepted and transferred to UC Berkeley, where they moved with their eight kids ranging in age from three to 16.

“[College Corps] helped us out a big deal… We have a lot of children and raising kids is not easy. And financially, it's a lot on us,” said Nunley.

For Nunley, the hardest thing about being a College Corps fellow is juggling his service hours, school and family. But he manages with the support of his wife and his older kids.

Nunley was in the entertainment business for 12 years, making music and working as a freelance writer. He started college as an English major hoping to brush up on his writing skills. Joining College Corps shifted his career aspirations away from his original plan and towards helping children.

He is now double majoring in psychology and social welfare with plans of going to graduate school and becoming a psychologist that specializes in talk therapy for youth with traumatic experiences. He wants to open a nonprofit organization in Coachella Valley with his wife to assist kids from underrepresented communities.

“Once I became a part of College Corps, my perspective in life changed, like I had a great epiphany… I realized how my words could actually uplift,” said Nunley.

Brittany Oceguera is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

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