Topline:
Southern California Edison recently released its payout plan for survivors of the Eaton Fire. As fire survivors navigate their recovery and decide if the program makes sense for them, LAist put together a guide to answer some of the most common questions.
The backstory: We spoke to several lawyers and insurance experts, listened to two town hall meetings and asked Edison questions directly.
Read on ... to get into the details of the compensation program.
Southern California Edison recently released its payout plan for survivors of the Eaton Fire. As fire survivors navigate their recovery and decide if the program makes sense for them, LAist put together this guide to answer some of the most common questions.
We spoke to several lawyers and insurance experts, listened to two town hall meetings and asked Edison questions directly.
Edison said this program can help fill “the gap,” shorthand for the difference between how much survivors get from insurance or otherwise have to rebuild and how much rebuilding actually costs. The program is meant to cover what insurance doesn’t, not to make survivors whole.
Lawyers told LAist the program is likely to pay out less money than litigation, though it could make sense for uninsured or severely underinsured survivors who don’t have the funds or desire to wait through a longer legal process.
Ultimately, experts emphasized, the decision on how to move forward is deeply personal and unique to each survivor’s circumstance.
At a recent town hall, Edison Chief Executive Pedro Pizarro said more than 380 claims already have been submitted, with more than 180 in progress. Most survivors who have submitted so far have not used a lawyer, he said.
Edison plans to host more town halls about its compensation program. Check the bottom of this page for the latest dates when they're available.
If you need assistance with submitting a claim, here's how to reach Edison representatives:
Find more details about the program on the company's frequently asked questions page.
Southern California Edison has never provided such a program, and this one is unique among compensation programs in California, which have been carried out by one of the other three major investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, after the 2015 Butte, 2017 North Bay and 2018 Camp fires.
The 2017 and 2018 fires led to PG&E declaring bankruptcy, and the compensation program was administered via a trust. The program, which still is paying out survivors years later, has faced allegations of slow, low payouts and high overhead costs. That funding was limited due to the utility’s bankruptcy, so payouts were capped.
Edison says its program has no cap on payouts. Because the Edison program does not operate through a trust and the utility is not expected to declare bankruptcy, it’s hard to directly compare the programs, experts told LAist.
Edison told LAist the first $1 billion of claims will be paid via the utility’s ratepayer-funded insurance. If claims exceed that amount, the company will seek reimbursement through the state’s Wildfire Fund, which was established in 2019 after the 2017 Thomas Fire in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
“The program is structured to minimize financial impact to the company while providing meaningful support to those affected,” said Edison spokesperson Gabriela Ornelas in an email to LAist.
State officials warned earlier this year that that $21 billion fund could be drained by costs associated with the Eaton Fire, which are estimated to be as high as $45 billion. In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to expand the fund by $18 billion. The fund had been initially paid for by the utilities’ equity and shareholder earnings, but the new law could allow Southern California Edison to shift billions of dollars of Eaton Fire costs to its customers.
Earlier this year, the state approved a rate hike to help Edison cover the ongoing costs from past fires. And the utility is seeking further rate hikes to pay for wildfire mitigation and to cover “reasonable costs of its operations, facilities [and] infrastructure.”
Edison will accept claims from homeowners, renters and businesses affected by the Eaton Fire within an identified zone.
Property damage will have to be documented in Cal Fire’s Damage Inspection data. Properties within the fire perimeter (designated "Zone 1") and slightly beyond ("Zone 2) are eligible. You can see a detailed map of eligibility when you start a claim. (You can save your progress on the Edison website, so you don’t have to complete everything in one sitting.)
Claims will cover total or partial structure losses, commercial property loss, business interruption, homes with non-burn damage (such as smoke, soot or ash), physical injuries and deaths.
Survivors who already sold their properties are also eligible for the program (more on that below). Hedge funds and insurance companies are not eligible.
The program will accept applications until Nov. 30, 2026.
Zone 1 includes the original fire perimeter and is extended about 400 feet beyond it.
Zone 2 covers more properties, based on their proximity to the smoke plume, other destroyed structures and the fire’s origin, according to Edison.
There are a few elements of the program that will vary, depending on which zone your property is in. For example, no extra documentation is needed for properties in Zone 1 to receive the flat payment of $10,000 for landscaping damage.
The company says it is using a model developed by economic consulting firm Compass Lexecon, with methodology independently analyzed by RAND, to determine a property’s value and how much to pay out.
The RAND analysis states that about 20% of estimates are expected to be off by more than $200 per square foot, with about half of those errors being overestimates and half being underestimates.
“In general, the model tends to underestimate pre-fire value for … homes at the luxury, or high end, of the local market,” the report states. “It tends to overestimate value for homes … at the low end of the market or in below-average structural condition.”
You can find examples of calculations at the “View Sample Offers” tab on this page.
Pizarro said at a recent town hall that Edison’s team may add examples to the page as questions continue to arise. Below are direct links to some examples:
A single claim is required per household, and there are two paths for a payout: “fast pay” and “detailed review.” Every survivor is required to start with the “fast pay” option.
Edison’s “fast pay” option will provide an offer within 90 days of an applicant submitting a "substantially complete” claim. If the survivor accepts the offer, payment will be made within 30 days.
If survivors don’t feel the first offer is fair, they can choose to have a “detailed review,” which requires more steps and documentation and can take up to nine months for a payment offer. There’s no guarantee that offer will be higher. If you don’t like the "detailed review" offer, you can still accept the initial "fast pay" offer.
If survivors use an attorney to apply for Edison’s payout program, which is not required, they will receive an offer for additional compensation equal to 10% of their net damages to help cover that cost.
An insurance expert LAist spoke with recommended survivors speak with a lawyer before deciding on the claim, and ask them about establishing a “special needs trust,” which can protect survivors who rely on public assistance from losing that assistance with the payout or even insurance reimbursement.
Edison has identified three categories: economic, non-economic, and what the company is calling a “direct claim premium.”
Economic loss includes costs associated with property damage, personal property, loss of use, business disruption, business interruption, physical injury and death. Find the details for economic loss calculations on page 16 of the plan.
Non-economic loss includes fixed payments to survivors for the emotional trauma of the fire, as well as compensation for those injured in the fire or to the heirs of someone who died. Find the details for non-economic loss on page 24 of the plan.
The “direct claim premium” is a fixed amount added on top of the offer. Find the details of the direct claim premiums on page 25 of the plan.
Non-economic damages, the direct claim premium, and the 10% increase to help cover attorney fees will not be included in the insurance deduction. Non-economic damage offers also won’t change if a survivor chooses to go with the detailed review after receiving their fast pay offer.
A survivor’s entire insurance policy, regardless if they have received an insurance payment, will be subtracted from the economic losses portion of Edison’s offer, but not the non-economic, “direct claims premium,” or the attorney compensation.
Insurance companies may seek reimbursement for their costs from Edison through a process called “subrogation.” Edison has already agreed to pay one undisclosed insurance company 52 cents on the dollar for claims related to the Eaton Fire.
The offers through Edison’s program are nonnegotiable, but survivors can ask for reconsideration within 14 days of the offer, which triggers the detailed review process.
Accepting a payout will include agreeing not to sue Edison, the company said.
Instead of accepting a payout, survivors can pursue a lawsuit against Edison. Survivors can continue their litigation at the same time as applying for the payout program.
The first set of lawsuits against SoCal Edison are not set to go to trial until early 2027, though some may be settled before then.
Lawyers told LAist there are a lot of questions about the payout timeline, though they acknowledged it will almost certainly be faster than litigation.
For example, Edison determines if a claim is “substantially complete” before accepting it and launching the 90-day timeline. Furthermore, survivors have to go through that "fast pay" track, even if they have unusual circumstances and will likely require the "detailed review" track, which Edison says will take up to nine months.
Meanwhile, the first set of Eaton Fire lawsuits are not set to go to trial until early 2027, though some could be settled before then.
At a recent webinar, Edison representatives said the plan includes three and a half years of temporary housing for single family homeowners with a destroyed residence. (See pages 18 through 21 of the plan.)
For renters, the temporary housing assistance adds up to three months of pre-fire rent. (See pages 21 through 23 of the plan.)
In this instance, according to Edison representatives, the Compass Lexecon model would use your sale price plus the pre-fire value estimate. Appraisal documentation will only be considered in the detailed review process.
Pizarro said people who apply quickly could be paid out before the end of the year, avoiding a change in federal tax policy next year.
“We have a team ready to process offers as quickly as possible, in large part, being mindful of that potential tax deadline, unless the government changes that,” Pizarro said at a town hall last week.
He said he expects the first offers to be made soon.
The Internal Revenue Service does have specific tax reporting requirements for settlement payments, and there’s a deadline coming very soon.
The Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act, signed into law by former President Joe Biden at the end of last year to provide tax relief for victims of major disasters, expires at the end of 2025.
Non-reportable payments include:
Unless Congress passes an extension, more types of payments will become taxable in 2026.
Reportable payments, after 2026:
California, however, extended its tax protections for disaster survivors through 2030. Experts told LAist it’s still not clear if the Edison program falls under those regulations.
However, Manoj Viswanathan, a law professor at UC Law San Francisco, said it seems “very likely” that Edison’s compensation program would qualify under that California law because fire victims are giving up their rights to sue, similar to a settlement. Other law and tax experts LAist spoke to agreed the wording of California’s tax relief law likely would cover Edison’s program.
U.S Sen. Alex Padilla of California has proposed making the payments exempt from taxes.
What to expect: Some morning clouds followed by a sunny afternoon. Temperatures to reach the mid-80s for some areas and up into the triple digits in some parts of Coachella Valley.
Read on ... for where it's going to be the warmest today.
Warm temperatures are on tap again today as we head into a toasty weekend with temps set to reach the triple digits in desert communities.
L.A. County beaches will see daytime highs from 67 to 72 degrees. It'll be between 69 and 76 degrees along the Orange County coast. More inland areas like downtown L.A., Hollywood and Anaheim will see temperatures from 75 to 81 degrees.
Meanwhile, the valleys will see varying temperatures. Areas closer to the coast will see highs from 78 to 83 degrees, and further inland, temps will stay in the upper 80s, up to 89 degrees.
Meanwhile in Coachella Valley, temperatures will rise to 101 to 106 degrees.
Looking ahead to the weekend, the valleys will reach the 90s for Mother's Day, up to 100 degrees in the Antelope Valley too. Come Sunday, an Extreme Heat Warning kicks in for the Coachella Valley, where temperatures will stay in the low 100s, with up to 109 degrees possible. Make sure to stay hydrated!
Topline:
The first phase of the Los Angeles Metro D Line extension opens today, with the public able to start riding to the three new stations at 12:30 p.m.
The new stops: The three new Wilshire Boulevard stops are located at La Brea and Fairfax avenues and La Cienega Boulevard. The first phase of the extension will stretch D Line service from downtown L.A. to Beverly Hills. Before today, the D Line ran until Koreatown, largely parallel to the B Line.
Free fares: The entire Metro system — including bus, rail, bike share and Metro Micro — will be free starting Friday morning through early morning Monday. If you’re using Metro Bike Share, make sure to input the code 050826.
Celebrations at the new stations: KCRW DJs and food vendors will be at each of the new stations and the Western Avenue station in Koreatown. Throughout May and June, there will be activations at the new stations, including salsa dancing and basket weaving classes.
More to come: Two additional extensions of the D Line, currently forecast to open in 2027, will add four additional stations through Beverly Hills, Century City and Westwood Village.
Topline:
Jessica Wang has been waiting nearly two years for the City of Los Angeles to approve permits for Gu Grocery, a Chinese-Taiwanese grocery store and community hub in Chinatown.
Why it matters: In a neighborhood where half of residents are low-income and one in five are seniors 65 and older, Chinatown has lost multiple grocery stores in recent years — including its last two full-service markets in 2019 and Yue Wa Market in fall 2024. Gu Grocery would be the first to offer EBT-eligible prepared foods, filling a critical gap for seniors and low-income families who rely on walking to shop.
Why now: Wang launched a GoFundMe campaign in mid-April after spending more than $200,000 on a buildout, permits and rent on a space she can't operate. The community response was swift — 134 donors raised nearly $12,000 in two weeks — but money can't solve her core problem: she's still waiting for at least seven final city inspections with no opening date in sight.
What's next: Wang hopes to open by Father's Day — her general contractor dad's birthday — with a phased approach: prepared foods only through a takeout window, then slowly stocking shelves as revenue allows.
Jessica Wang has experienced delay after delay for nearly two years as she tried to open Gu Grocery in Chinatown. Her father, a contractor, had told her it would take nine months.
Instead, she says, there have been issues with city permits, inspectors, inaccurate information, illness and wayward appliance installers which have pushed things back.
The community didn't take nearly as long. In two weeks, 134 donors contributed nearly $12,000 to keep Wang afloat. But money can't solve her problem — she still needs the city's approval to open the doors.
Wang signed the lease at the end of 2023, envisioning a Chinese-Taiwanese grocery store and community hub where seniors could use EBT to buy fresh tofu, where kids from nearby elementary schools could stop by after class, and where her mother, Peggy, could teach neighbors how to make their grandmother's pickles.
Now, more than two years into a five-year lease, and nearly out of money after paying for permits, buildout, and rent on a space she can't operate, Wang launched a GoFundMe campaign a few weeks ago. The response showed the community believes in Gu Grocery and wants to see it succeed. But she's still waiting for at least seven final inspections by the city before she can open.
The name "Gu" carries layered meaning: the character 菇 means "mushroom" in Chinese, a traditional symbol of prosperity, while the sound "gu" also means "auntie" in Mandarin — honoring intergenerational caretakers. Wang's mission for the space is to provide a place to purchase Chinese-Taiwanese pantry staples and prepared foods, and to host community workshops.
The communal aspect is central to Wang's vision of social entrepreneurship, not solely focused on profit. In addition to workshops, Gu Grocery plans to accept EBT and offer senior discounts for those on fixed incomes.
"I wanted a space where I could share knowledge and share culture and also just learn from the community," Wang said.
Ultimately, she hopes to convert the store into a worker-owned co-op.
Wang grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and worked as a pastry chef at San Francisco's State Bird Provisions before a pre-diabetic diagnosis at age 29 prompted her return to L.A. She began volunteering with API Forward Movement, a local nonprofit focused on health equity and food access in AAPI communities, and saw firsthand the need during COVID food distributions at L.A. State Historic Park.
Chinatown had lost its last two full-service grocery stores in 2019. Last fall, the neighborhood lost another: Yue Wa Market, a small produce shop that had served residents for 18 years before rising rent and pandemic losses forced it to shut its doors. The closures hit especially hard in a neighborhood where, according to American Community Survey data, half of the residents are low-income and one in five are seniors 65 and older — many of whom rely on walking to shop.
Much of bringing Gu Grocery to reality has been made possible by support from Wang's friends and family. Her father, Willie Wang, serves as her general contractor. When plans were submitted to the city in March 2024, he told her the buildout would take nine months if everything went smoothly.
Instead, she’s experienced delays from all directions, from slow bureaucracy, to issues with contractors. A hood installation contractor rescheduled multiple times, she said, then doubled his price the day before a rescheduled appointment. Drywall contractors said their workers had been detained by ICE and never returned.
The process hasn't just taken time — it's been expensive. One inspector approved a makeup air unit for the kitchen hood system, she said, only to have a senior inspector overturn the decision and order a complete replacement at nearly $6,000. Her father paid out of pocket — even as he was recovering from March surgery to remove a cancerous lung growth.
"Who would have thought that something an inspector asked us to do would be completely overturned by another inspector?" Wang said. "That's just so wild."
LAist has reached out to the city's Department of Building Services for comment but has not heard back.
Wang estimates she's spent more than $200,000 so far — more than $100,000 on buildout and permits alone, plus a full year of rent on a space she can't operate, equipment, insurance and taxes.
She draws no income from Gu Grocery. To cover personal expenses, she teaches fermentation workshops through her other business, Picklepickle, though that work has been inconsistent lately. Her health insurance doubled this year. The GoFundMe money, she said, is a "rainy day fund" in case she needs it to pay future bills.
The financial strain has touched her entire family. Her mother, who received a small inheritance when Wang's grandparents died, got scammed late last year trying to grow that money to help with the store. Targeted through online ads, she was convinced by an "investment tutor" based in Taiwan to hand over cash to a stranger in a parking lot.
"I didn't realize this would become part of what it's like to have aging parents in the age of technology," Wang said. "But it's scary how they get targeted."
Once Gu Grocery opens, it won't operate as a full-service market — there won't be a meat counter. Instead, it will function like a corner store with a focus on healthy prepared foods: butter mochi, sesame noodles and daily congee.
"Something that Chinatown has never had was prepared food that is EBT eligible," Wang said.
In 2020, Wang surveyed seniors through API Forward Movement's Tai Chi fitness program to understand their shopping habits following the closure of local grocery stores. Many told her they now ride the bus to Super King on San Fernando Road in Glendale, nearly 5 miles away, for produce deals, or rely on family members to drive them to 99 Ranch in Alhambra. Some grow their own food in gardening plots, Wang said, "but they can't produce everything they need."
When she launched her Go FundMe in mid-April, she was overwhelmed by the response. "I have a hard time asking for help," said Wang. "So actually receiving help, it's very moving."
The donors range from former pop-up customers and friends to a range of assorted well-wishers — a musician who had her food once at an event, fellow food business owners, farmer's market regulars and even her insurance agent.
"The generosity is beyond my expectations," Wang said. "Some of these people only had my food once. People are showing their support truly in a personal way and really believing in the vision."
The GoFundMe money helps Wang stay "afloat for now," but she's had to rethink her opening strategy. She won't be able to afford full inventory when she opens. Instead, she plans a phased opening: prepared foods only, served through a takeout window, then using revenue to slowly stock shelves with the retail items she originally envisioned.
The community raised more than $14,000 in three weeks. After nearly two years of delays, Wang is still waiting for permits. She hopes to open by Father's Day — her general contractor dad's birthday. But she's learned to expect the unexpected.
Many donors sent her direct messages saying simply: "We got this, Jess, we got you."
Topline:
Olympics organizers have released a first look at plans for a celebration of arts and culture across Los Angeles during the summer of 2028.
What will it include? A poster series by local artists, film screenings across the city and a calendar of events including live performances and art installations at different institutions. The city of L.A. will also put on its own events, including culture festivals in each council district, in the lead up to the Games.
The backstory: Arts programming is a long Olympic tradition — starting in 1912 as artistic competitions and eventually evolving into festivals. The 1984 Olympic arts festival in Los Angeles was hailed as a huge success that changed the city's art scene.
Read on … for more on what's planned for 2028.
Olympics organizers have released a first look at plans for a celebration of arts and culture across Los Angeles during the summer of 2028.
Known as the "Cultural Olympiad," the programming will include a poster series by local artists, film screenings across the city and a calendar of events, including live performances and art installations at different institutions. The city of L.A. will also put on its own events, including culture festivals in each council district, in the lead up to the Games.
Arts programming is a long Olympic tradition — starting in 1912 as artistic competitions and eventually evolving into festivals.
When Los Angeles last hosted the Olympics in 1984, the city hosted a weeks-long spectacle that included more than 400 performances and launched with the unveiling of a sculpture by artist Robert Graham topped with two statues depicting the naked female and male form, each without a head. The statues still stand at the entrance to the Coliseum today.
The 1984 festival is credited with transforming the city's arts scene. After the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion put on opera productions in the summer of 1984, local patrons launched L.A. Opera, which had its first season in 1986.
“That moment — when this city chose to present itself to the world not only through sport but through the full force of its artistic imagination — gave rise to an institution that has, for four decades, reflected the scale, diversity and ambition of Los Angeles itself," Christopher Koelsch, president of L.A. Opera said in a statement provided by LA28.
L.A.'s artistic contributions in 1984 in turn transformed the Olympics. John Williams composed the "Olympic Fanfare" for the Opening Ceremony, which is still associated with the Games today.
The legacy of 1984 means expectations for the 2028 Olympiad are high — but most details on what's in store are still to come. Some in Los Angeles have criticized LA28, saying that planning is lagging.
Another big question is funding. The city of L.A.'s initial plan for cultural programming estimates a budget of $15 million, which would cover local festivals in each council district. But the city also painted a vision for what it could do with $45 million in funding, including a seven-week arts festival across the city.
Documents from the city's Department of Cultural Affairs says full funding will depend on external partnerships, including LA28. LA28 told LAist that the Cultural Olympiad will be funded through private fundraising but didn't provide further details.
The first event associated with the Olympiad will launch in July 2027, when winners of the local artist poster contest are announced.
