The Brief

The Los Angeles County firestorm continues to rage, taking at least five lives, causing injuries and destroying thousands of buildings. Many homes in some of the most affected areas are covered by the California FAIR plan, the state’s insurer of last resort.

The fires could further destabilize an already rickety insurance market.

Where things stand

The timing of the disaster threatens to undermine the fledgling progress state officials have made in attracting insurance companies back to the California market. In the past year, officials have overhauled insurance regulations, working to increase coverage availability to consumers in high-risk areas while responding to long-standing industry requests.

“We’re just going to be in a challenging situation. I think it’s not clear yet how challenging it will be,” said Michael Wara, energy and climate expert at Stanford University.

It’s too early to assess the extent of the destruction, but the fires are likely to be one of the most damaging events in state history. JP Morgan issued a preliminary estimate of $10 billion.

Whatever the final tally, the fires are sure to be a major hit to large insurers like State Farm, Allstate and Farmers, and to the California FAIR Plan.

High value areas hit by fire

“The fires have hit one of the highest value areas,” said Ben Collier, professor of risk management and insurance at Temple University.

The FAIR Plan lists Pacific Palisades as one of the areas where it is most financially exposed, responsible for up to $5.9 billion. Last year, Victoria Roach, the FAIR Plan president, said the plan has about $200 million in surplus and $2.5 billion in reinsurance.

The state recently clarified what would happen if the FAIR Plan does not have enough money to pay out claims. Other insurance companies will have to pick up the bill — and will be allowed to pass some of the costs onto customers.

The state protects consumers from any changes to their insurance policy for one year following a disaster.

Joshua Martinez waters a neighbor's property in Altadena.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement that his department is committed to ensuring consumers “receive the services you contracted for with your insurance company,” adding that companies are pledging their commitment to the state.

“We will hold them accountable for the promises they have made,” Lara said.

While it’s too early to tell if the fires will eclipse the available FAIR Plan funds, if they did “then the next round of claims would be paid by a combination of insurance companies and from other policyholders of private insurance companies,” Collier said.

It can already be hard to get insurance in the state, he said, “and this is likely to make the situation notably worse.”

Fact checking internet rumors

Within hours of these fires breaking out, internet rumors began to circulate that these fires would bankrupt insurance companies, including the FAIR Plan. That is unlikely to happen, experts said, because insurance carriers have planned for this contingency.

In a statement emailed to KQED, a FAIR Plan spokesperson said they are aware of what they called “misinformation being posted online,” but added that it is “too early to provide loss estimates as claims are just beginning to be submitted and processed.”

“The FAIR Plan has payment mechanisms in place, including reinsurance, to ensure all covered claims are paid,” the statement said. “The FAIR Plan remains vigilant in working with its customers in these challenging times.”

A massive overhaul is already in progress

State’s insurance regulators have been implementing a massive overhaul of insurance rules designed to ease the crisis in the insurance markets and to allow companies to charge what they think aligns with the risk exposure. In response, some companies are loosening up, offering more coverage to attract customers. The fires could back track that progress.

The past year has been accompanied by eye-popping rate increases, particularly areas with wildfire-risk. But Wara said the worst is likely ahead of us.

“The rate increases we’ve had, which have been extreme, especially for the people in the high-risk areas, such as the Sierra or Pacific Palisades, but that is a preview at this point of what is to come,” Wara said.

Customers and insurance companies are likely to feel the pain. Companies often use reinsurance — insurance for insurers — to guarantee they’ll have enough money to payout claims.

“Insurance companies in a catastrophe are like a bank during a bank run,” Wara said. “And as long as you have enough money in the vault to survive the bank run, you’re OK. But reinsurance means you can keep less money in your own vault because someone else’s vault is available to you.”

However, seeing this destruction could prompt reinsurance companies to pull back further from California, which would mean insurance companies either have to raise that capital themselves or further reduce their exposure in the state.

What's next

While the state regulates insurance companies, it does not get to exert the same level of control over reinsurers. Nor does the federal government.

Insurance is already pricey in California. Make it much worse and it could become too expensive for many people to own a home here.

“There are places in Florida where insurance costs $50,000 a year,” Wara said. “If that were to happen in California in the wildland urban interface, we would be in a very different kind of challenge.”

What has been, until now, an insurance problem could balloon into a homeownership problem, where middle- and working-class people can’t own homes because mortgage, insurance and property taxes simply become too much.

“And [then] you have to sell your house,” Wara said. “And you find that your home value has gone down a lot because the cost of owning your home, including taxes and insurance, is a lot higher than it used to be. And that’s where we might be heading. I hope not.”

But the chances that we are moving in that direction went up as soon as the fires broke out.

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Fire resources and tips

If you have to evacuate

• Cheat sheet: Your very short guide to getting packed up right now to evacuate
• Cheat sheet: A very short guide for how to leave your house if you need to evacuate

If you have more time to get ready:

• Every day is now fire season. Let's get you ready for the next wildfire burning near you

Things to consider:

• Evacuation terms can be confusing. Here’s what they mean and how to sign up for alerts
• This is why fire officials don't want you to stay and defend your home

Navigating fire conditions

• Cheat sheet: Your very short guide to driving in high winds and fire danger
• High winds and fires mean power outages. Here's how to prep

How to help yourself and others

• Resources for SoCal fire victims, evacuees and first responders
• What to do — and not do — when you get home after a wildfire
• If you want to help fire victims, resist the urge to volunteer

Understanding how it got this bad

• Yes, wildfires are getting worse. The history that got us to this moment
  

Several Republican lawmakers are ramping up anti-Muslim comments and facing little to no response from their leadership.

"Muslims don't belong in American society," Rep. Andy Ogles posted on Monday. "Pluralism is a lie."

The Tennessee Republican, whose seat is in a safe red district, has previously expressed support for banning immigration from Muslim-majority countries and said in a speech last year that "America is and must always be a Christian nation."

The United States was not established as a Christian nation.

"He didn't start this this week," said Sabina Mohyuddin, executive director of the American Muslim Advisory Council in Tennessee. "This has been building up."

Mohyuddin estimates Ogles has tens of thousands of Muslim constituents in his district.

"We know this kind of rhetoric leads to more bullying in school, discrimination in the workplace, hate crimes and vandalism against mosques," Mohyuddin said. "But it is an election year and these politicians believe if they spew this hateful rhetoric, they are going to get more votes."

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was asked about Ogles' rhetoric during a press conference at the House GOP's annual retreat this week.

"Look, there's a lot of energy in the country and a lot of popular sentiment that the demand to impose Sharia law in America is a serious problem — that's what animates this," Johnson said Tuesday, adding, "It is not about people as Muslims."

Johnson's comments echo a growing chorus among Republican lawmakers, who've been increasingly vocal about denouncing Sharia law and raising questions about Muslims immigrating to the U.S. and those already in the country. There are now 50 Republicans in the "Sharia-Free America" caucus.

Republicans have also spent more than $10 million on political TV ads that mention "Sharia" or "Islam" in a negative way, most of it in Texas ahead of its primaries, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. That's about 10 times what had been spent in each of the last four election cycles.

Sharia law — a religious framework — does not have standing over the U.S. Constitution.

"Because people don't really know or have any idea what Sharia law is, it's the boogeyman. You just throw the word out there and people get scared," Mohyuddin said. "This is how we practice our religion. And last I heard, the Constitution still protects the freedom of religion."

A handful of Congressional Republicans have denounced Ogles' comments.

"I have many Muslim constituents, neighbors and friends who have contributed greatly to our community and country. Freedom of religion is a pillar of our nation and broad brush statements like this are offensive and completely inappropriate," Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said in a statement to NPR.

But the majority of House Republicans have stayed silent, with some choosing to double down on the rhetoric.

"No more Muslims immigrating to America," posted Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas on Thursday.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who recently faced criticism for saying he'd choose dogs over Muslims, wrote: "We need more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational."

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., posted a photo of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks side-by-side with a photo of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim. The caption read: "The enemy is inside the gates."

These statements came in the wake of several attacks in the U.S., including a shooting at a Virginia college Thursday and an attempted attack on an anti-Muslim protest in New York held outside of Mayor Mamdani's home. Authorities say the suspects in the attacks were either inspired by ISIS or had supported the group in the past.

A far cry from previous political eras 

Johnson's office did not respond to a request for comment about the additional anti-Muslim posts from his members.

The lack of response from GOP leadership stands in sharp contrast to the swift and decisive condemnation from Republican House leaders in 2019 in the wake of an interview by Rep. Steve King in which the Iowa Republican questioned why the terms "white supremacist" and "white nationalist" were considered offensive.

Liz Cheney — then the No. 3 House Republican — reacted by saying King "should find another line of work."

"That language has no place in America," added then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

House leadership stripped King of his committee assignments.

Gregg Nunziata, executive director of Society for the Rule of Law, said the shift in response to King seven years ago and to lawmakers this week highlights two different political eras.

"There's this new energy on the right that kind of delights in provoking and offending and refuses to apologize," said Nunziata, who previously served as policy counsel to the Senate Republican Policy Committee and as policy advisor to then-Sen. Marco Rubio.

He draws a contrast between the leadership of former President George W. Bush, who in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks visited an Islamic Center and declared, "Islam is peace."

"Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America," Bush said. "They represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior."

Nunziata rejected Ogles' assertion that "plurality is a lie."

"I think the failure to condemn this is morally cowardly, but it's also politically shortsighted," he said. "The MAGA movement and the coalition that elected Donald Trump itself was pluralistic. Republicans had a good election year in part because they significantly expanded their support in minority communities and communities that have traditionally not been open to Republicans."

Censure effort underway from Democrats 

Democrats have blasted the tweets and the response from GOP leaders.

"Islamophobia is a cancer that must be eradicated from both the Congress and the Country. The shocking silence from Republican leadership is deafening," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

"We already know that Randy Fine and Tommy Tuberville are vile bigots," wrote Katherine Clarke, House Democratic whip. "But what's even worse is the silence from GOP leadership."

Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., has introduced a resolution to censure Ogles and remove him from the Homeland Security Committee. Thanedar has not yet said if he will force a vote on the measure and his office did not respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., the first Iranian American Democrat elected to Congress, posted on X that Fine's comments "should have already resulted in censure."

"I've asked before and I'm asking again: @SpeakerJohnson, will you reprimand Rep. Fine? Strip him of his committee assignments? Anything? Or does the Republican caucus condone racism?" she wrote.

The story first appeared on The LA Local.

For Los Angeles streetlight advocates, 2025 was another dark year, as calls to repair public lights remained nearly the same as the year before despite growing public and political scrutiny.

Malfunctioning streetlights are nothing new to Angelenos. For years, they have plagued neighborhoods and left residents to deal with darkened sidewalks, streets and parks — and the public safety challenges they pose.

An analysis by The LA Local of 311 calls for streetlight repairs showed that reports remained consistently high in 2025, with about 45,500 compared with 46,100 in 2024. That was an increase of roughly 10,000 calls from 2022 and 2023, when totals hovered around 35,000.

Downtown remained the neighborhood with the most streetlight calls: about 2,400 in 2025, an increase of about 200 from the year before.

While the total number remained relatively constant citywide, the locations of calls shifted. Some neighborhoods saw drops, while others saw surges – notably in some of LA’s higher-income neighborhoods.

Calls in Hollywood Hills tripled from about 300 to more than 1,000 in 2025. Silverlake calls similarly skyrocketed from 513 in 2024 to about 1,482 last year. Calls in Atwater Village and Los Feliz more than doubled.

Boyle Heights, once among the most affected neighborhoods, saw progress. The neighborhood had more than 1,900 calls for light repair in 2024 and about 1,100 in 2025.

Westlake saw a similar decrease, from 1,864 calls in 2024 to 1,042 in 2025. Calls in Pico Union and West Adams were cut in half.

According to the Los Angeles City Controller’s office, the LA Bureau of Street Lighting reported that copper wire theft has been trending down since last summer. Reported maintenance calls, however, doubled from about 2,000 in July 2025 to about 4,400 in January 2026.

The LA Bureau of Street Lighting, responsible for repairs and maintenance of the city’s 220,000 streetlights, saw a 5% budget cut in 2025. Its budget had long been among the smallest of public works departments.

Miguel Sangalang, the bureau’s director, told the City Council on March 4 that the department had a backlog of about 32,000 open service requests and that the average time to repair a light has grown to about a year. About a quarter of all installed lights were at the end stage of life, he said, and needed to be replaced.

“Theft and vandalism is our most glaring issue,” he told the city council. “This is the issue that takes out whole blocks and neighborhoods.”

The LA Local reported that the Los Angeles Police Department had disbanded a specialized unit — The Heavy Metal Task Force — investigating copper wire theft last July.

Sangalang said during the presentation that the department began fortifying streetlights, installing cages or shields to make the copper wiring more difficult to access. Installing battery- and solar-powered streetlights has helped, he added, because they use far less wire.

He noted that lights in areas that previously needed replacing multiple times per year had been replaced with solar-powered models and had remained intact for three years.

The bureau is expected to seek a tax increase to subsidize its budget, reduce the time it takes to repair lights and get back on track with its maintenance schedule.

Voyager Technologies unveiled a 140,000-square-foot facility Tuesday in Long Beach that will be used for designing and producing parts for missiles and commercial spacecraft.

The company wrote in a news release that the facility, which will employ 150 to 200 people, will be used to advance a number of the company’s ventures into aerospace and defense for the U.S. military and other clients.

“We are standing up capacity at Space Beach for one purpose: to deliver for our customers,” Matt Magaña, president of Space, Defense and National Security at Voyager, wrote — using a nickname for Long Beach’s burgeoning space industry.

The Denver-based company, which launched in 2019, has nearly a dozen locations across Ohio, California, Colorado and Texas. This announcement comes two months after it opened a 150,000-square-foot facility in Pueblo, Colo., also focused on missiles, defence and weaponry.

Through a network of former companies it has purchased, Voyager has researched and designed a variety of parts for spacecraft or rockets, from long-range radios and GPS guidance systems to commercial airlocks and propulsion systems.

It’s known for its Starlab project, a venture propelled by a $217 million NASA contract to replace the International Space Station, which is slated to retire in 2030.

But a majority of the company’s business is in defense. The net sales last year for its defense and national security program jumped 59%, making up $123 million of the $166 million it made. In the last quarter of 2025, the category made up nearly two-thirds of its sales.

By contrast, the company’s sales for “Space Solutions,” which designs spacecraft for commercial and research purposes, declined by 36% in 2025.

The company is working with Lockheed Martin to develop a new missile interceptor system — coined the “Next Generation Interceptor” — and has contracts to build parts for hypersonic missiles and military-grade payloads. Top officials at Voyager say they have a strong interest in competing for contracts on Golden Dome, a 10-year, $151 billion missile defense program.

It’s unclear whether the Long Beach facility will focus on a particular program or take on work as it is needed. In a release, company officials wrote it will help design A.I. software and other parts for “next-generation propulsion and defense systems and integrated sensing, communications and autonomy technologies.”

The company said it is working with neighbors Anduril Industries and True Anomaly, who recently set up facilities in Long Beach, to meet some contracts, but did not specify the venture.

It’s the latest in a wave of space tech companies to join “Space Beach” by moving to the 430-odd acres of industrial and warehouse space once used to build cargo planes outside Long Beach Airport.

In January, Anduril, an artificial-intelligence-backed weapons manufacturer, announced that it was building a $1 billion campus nearby to make drones and other A.I.-enabled weapons.

It’s an industry where successful businesses often curry favor with the federal government and military, and local representatives are eager to attract defense tech firms to create high-paying jobs.

Mayor Rex Richardson, left, and Matt Magaña, president of Space, Defense and National Security at Voyager. Photo Courtesy Voyager Technologies “We’re proud to welcome Voyager to our growing Space Beach ecosystem with a 140,000-square-foot facility advancing aerospace innovation, domestic manufacturing, and national security capabilities,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “This investment brings high-skilled jobs, strengthens our local economy, and further establishes Long Beach as a national hub for the industries shaping our future.”

These companies are in tight competition to take advantage of a growing national defense budget — $895 million in 2025 from $816 in 2023 — while taking advantage of the large pools of talent near existing research and military facilities like JPL in Pasadena, Mojave Air and Space port in Kern County and Vandenberg Space Force Base.

While the budget was shrunk to $838.7 billion in 2026, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has placed an increased priority on spending on U.S.-made drones and autonomous weapon systems. Buoyed by global conflicts, defense companies in Long Beach and across the region are anxious to accelerate their designs and production of weapons and defense systems.

The story first appeared on Boyle Heights Beat.

A free community food pantry that had been set up outside a market in East Los Angeles now has a new home in Boyle Heights, thanks to community members who rallied to keep it going.

Created by East L.A. native Rebecca Gonzales, the pantry had been stationed outside of Ramirez Meat Market on the corner of Folsom Street and Rowan Avenue since November, offering produce, snacks and shelf-stable items.

Gonzales created the resource after seeing how ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and SNAP delays were affecting the most vulnerable in her community. 

A few days after Boyle Heights Beat published an article about the pantry, the market’s owner asked Gonzales to move it.

Rosa Ramirez, who has owned Ramirez Meat Market for 26 years, said she hadn’t expected the pantry to be permanent and noticed that fewer people were coming into her store when the pantry was stocked. Ramirez appreciated Gonzales’ intentions, but said the piles of donated clothes and shoes next to the pantry were difficult to manage.

Soon after learning the pantry would have to move, Gonzales posted the news on Instagram. Within an hour, she received about a dozen messages from friends and community members reaching out to help. 

“I was worried that I was gonna have to just bring it home and it’s gonna be a lapse of services,” Gonzales said. 

That same day, Yvonne I. Monje Perez, owner of SuperNova Thrift — a shop near Mariachi Plaza that sells second-hand clothing — reached out. Though she had never met Gonzales, Perez didn’t think twice about offering help. 

The East LA free food pantry now sits outside of SuperNova Thrift on 1st Street in Boyle Heights.

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Laura Anaya-Morga

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Boyle Heights Beat

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“We could benefit from something like that here in this neighborhood,” Perez recalled thinking after seeing the post. 

With coordination from Gonzales and guidance from the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, Perez and her husband picked up the pantry last Friday and it was open for the community the following day. 

“It makes me so happy seeing people come to it and look at it, and just take from it,” said Perez. “It’s been received very well, a lot of people are very happy about it.”

Now, Perez and Gonzales have a schedule for opening and closing the pantry, and donations have continued to roll in. 

While Gonzales does not keep track of how many donations come in every day, she noticed items usually remain at the end of the day, a change from when the pantry would go empty in East L.A.  

Looking ahead, Gonzales hopes to inspire others to start free food pantries in their own communities.

“People want to help,” she said. “People want to do good things. People want to see other people not just survive, but thrive.”

The East LA free food pantry was recently moved in front of SuperNova Thrift on 1st Street in Boyle Heights.

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Laura Anaya-Morga

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Boyle Heights Beat

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