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As of Monday more than 23,000 acres have burned since the Line Fire ignited Thursday evening, threatening multiple mountain communities above San Bernardino.
Extreme weather: The fire has burned so hot and consumed so much fuel that it has generated its own weather, including erratic winds and lightning strikes which can make the fire extremely dangerous and difficult to fight.
Keep reading... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This story is no longer being updated. You can read the latest at: Strong winds may prove challenge for firefighters on Line Fire in San Bernardino mountains
As of Monday evening, the Line Fire in San Bernardino County has grown to 25,813 acres and is threatening mountain communities near Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear.
Multiple evacuation orders are in place for nearby residents. Authorities warn that more than 38,000 structures, including homes and businesses, are still threatened. Some, 8,800 structures are in places under mandatory evacuation orders and another 29,200 structures are under warnings, according to a Monday evening update.
The fire broke out last Thursday and has been a challenge for firefighters because off a mixture of high temperatures, steep terrain and dense brush. It has also created its own weather, generating erratic winds that cast embers far and wide.
The concern going into Tuesday: stronger winds, which could increase spotting, which happens when embers ignite more spot fires.
Fire officials say "the fire could remain active overnight as vegetation remains critically dry."
Cooler weather is on the way, and temperatures should drop back down to around normal later in the week.
On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in San Bernardino County to secure federal assistance for firefighting efforts.
Terrifyingly awesome pyrocumulonimbus clouds formed on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, generating erratic winds and lightning strikes which threaten new fire starts. There's a good chance they'll show up again on Monday, according to the National Weather Service in San Diego.
Omg pic.twitter.com/nFl2wp7LlS
— FirePhotoGirl (@FirePhotoGirl) September 8, 2024
To form, the clouds need both a source of lift and a source of moisture. When the fire burns extremely hot, that hot air rises high into the atmosphere, carrying with it a whole lot of water released by live plants, primed to burn after months of extreme temperatures throughout Southern California.
The towering pyrocumulonimbus clouds can climb to 40,000 feet in the air.
Notable PyroCu plumes already on three significant SoCal fires this afternoon, as labeled, including #LineFire, #BridgeFire, and new #AirportFire. PyroCb possible later this PM, with lightning/outflow & downdraft winds as hazards. #CAwx #CAfire pic.twitter.com/f22jMqrE4c
— Dr. Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) September 9, 2024
A wildfire smoke advisory has been extended until Monday night as the smoky air will continue to impact San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles counties. We have a guide on how to keep yourself safe from wildfire smoke.
Evacuation orders have been issued by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for the following areas:
Authorities say those who require additional time to evacuate and those with pets and livestock should leave immediately.
For people:
For animals: Devore Animal Shelter, 19777 Shelter Way, San Bernardino
The Line Fire broke out Thursday evening in the city of Highland at Baseline Road on the edge of open space and a residential neighborhood. The cause is under investigation.
Editors Fiona Ng and Megan Garvey, and reporter Erin Stone contributed to this report.
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The state has approved money to help create a special district for childcare in Moreno Valley and Perris in Riverside County — the first of its kind in the state.
What’s new: State assemblymember Corey Jackson, who pushed for the initiative, said the $2 million state allocation would help with local startup costs in launching the district.
What does a special district do? Special districts are local government agencies in California created to provide a specific service, like water or sanitation in a community. There are also special districts that support healthcare and recreational services.
What’s next? Jackson said creation of the special district and how it will be funded will still have to go before voters.
The state has approved money to help create a special district for childcare within Riverside County — the first of its kind in the state.
Special districts are local government agencies in California created to provide a specific service to a community, like water or healthcare.
The district would serve Moreno Valley and Perris. State Assemblymember Corey Jackson said $2 million in state funding would help with local startup costs.
Voters living in the area will still need to approve a funding mechanism for the initiative, like a tax.
“I believe it's my obligation to set up families and children for success, but I was equally tired of waiting for the state to provide enough childcare slots, for the federal government to provide childcare slots," Jackson said. "So I figured why not give my district an opportunity to decide for themselves whether they wanted to invest in childcare?”
A bill he sponsored that would have created the special district as a pilot for five years failed to pass the Legislature this year.
Jackson said the details of the special district, including who will sit on its board, still need to be worked out.
A vote could come before voters in 2028 on how to fund the district to support childcare services.
Jackson said he hopes that additional funding could help create universal childcare for families in the district, regardless of income, but the exact services and subsidies will have to be determined based on the revenue.
“ We are at a crisis point and our families are begging for help, and it's time for us to do everything that we can to deliver, ” Jackson said.
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By the time Democrat Xavier Becerra left Washington, D.C., more Americans than ever had health insurance, owing partly to his work over the years to pass, defend, and expand the Affordable Care Act. It’s an achievement the former congressman and former U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services often touts as he campaigns for California governor against Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator.
Why it matters: By 2030, the number of uninsured Californians under 65 is expected to nearly double from 2.4 million to 4.6 million, as recently enacted state and federal cuts to Medicaid and ACA marketplaces begin to roll back historic gains in health coverage, according to a May analysis by the University of California-Berkeley Labor Center. The anticipated rise in the uninsured population could have broad implications for hospital systems, insurers, and the economy.
Some background: California achieved one of the most dramatic drops in its uninsured population in the nation, largely credited to the state’s robust adoption of the ACA.
Read on... for more on what California's next governor will face.
By the time Democrat Xavier Becerra left Washington, D.C., more Americans than ever had health insurance, owing partly to his work over the years to pass, defend, and expand the Affordable Care Act.
It’s an achievement the former congressman and former U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services often touts as he campaigns for California governor against Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator.
But should Becerra cruise to victory in November, as polling suggests, he will face what may be the steepest decline in health insurance coverage in a generation, one that will land especially hard in his home state.
By 2030, the number of uninsured Californians under 65 is expected to nearly double from 2.4 million to 4.6 million, as recently enacted state and federal cuts to Medicaid and ACA marketplaces begin to roll back historic gains in health coverage, according to a May analysis by the University of California-Berkeley Labor Center. The anticipated rise in the uninsured population could have broad implications for hospital systems, insurers, and the economy.
In February, Miranda Dietz, the labor center’s healthcare program director, told legislators the changes could end up costing California about 200,000 jobs, mostly in the healthcare industry.
Hospital executives have begun reporting more unpaid medical bills, and experts warn health plans will raise premiums further as they’re left with enrollees who are, on average, sicker and more expensive to cover.
“It’s triage,” said Jessica Altman, executive director of Covered California, the nation’s largest state-run health insurance marketplace. “That’s what the next governor is walking into.”
California achieved one of the most dramatic drops in its uninsured population in the nation, largely credited to the state’s robust adoption of the ACA. If tapped to lead the wealthy, progressive state, Becerra would wrestle with how uninsured Californians get care and who pays as the Trump administration shrinks a federal safety net he once oversaw.
Becerra has some experience pushing back against Washington, D.C. As California attorney general, he successfully defended many provisions of the Affordable Care Act, including access to birth control.
Becerra said he would issue an executive order to keep those affected by federal cuts insured. But he has not detailed how the state would backfill as much as $30 billion in federal funding California stands to lose annually.
At a policy forum hosted by Politico last month, Becerra promised Californians would not lose health coverage despite federal cutbacks, saying he would push the industry to eliminate waste from “attorneys, accountants, pencil pushers” that cost consumers billions.
“I’m going to ask them to help me extract some of that waste and put it into healthcare, which helps us cover the cost of keeping Californians insured,” he said.
His opponent, Hilton, is trying to appeal to voters opposed to President Donald Trump, despite receiving the president’s endorsement, and has stumped on cutting off coverage for Californians without legal status, which is paid for with state funds. Hilton has vowed to use those savings to issue state income tax breaks, calling it an immediate antidote to high costs.
“We all understand that the healthcare system is a mess and needs major reform,” Hilton said in an interview. “The quickest thing we can do on healthcare costs is actually to tax people less.”
In 2010, Becerra was part of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team and helped whip up votes to pass the law. He also had a hand in crafting it, though his attempt to include a government-backed coverage option failed.
A decade later, when lawmakers considered him for the nation’s top healthcare job, Becerra said his primary mission would be to carry out President Joe Biden’s vision to expand access and cut costs under the Affordable Care Act.
Before the ACA, some 50 million Americans — roughly 1 in 6 — were uninsured. Within a few years of the law’s passage in 2010, its expansion of Medicaid eligibility and financial aid to lower-income marketplace enrollees helped slash the U.S. uninsured rate by nearly half.
Millions more gained coverage during the covid-19 pandemic after Becerra implemented a freeze on Medicaid disenrollment and administered generous but temporary tax credits that put the cost of Obamacare plans within reach for more people.
As Biden’s health secretary, Becerra launched aggressive public awareness campaigns, loosened enrollment rules, and distributed hundreds of millions in grants to pay consumer assistants, also known as healthcare navigators, to help enrollees wade through paperwork.
“One of the common things we would hear from him as a leader was, ‘Who’s being left behind?’” said Benjamin Sommers, a Harvard health policy professor who was a deputy assistant secretary under Becerra.
Under Biden and Becerra, the percentage of people with health insurance reached a historical high of 92%, or 310 million Americans having health coverage in 2024.
But conservatives said those policies inflated enrollment by attracting fraudulent and wasteful coverage. In response, the second Trump administration has tightened enrollment windows and toughened income reporting.
“It’s simple and easy to say, well, the numbers are up so the program must be working,” said Edmund Haislmaier, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. “My argument would be that’s the wrong metric.”
Last summer, the GOP-led Congress passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Republicans argued preserves Medicaid for those who need it most while rooting out fraud and waste. Altogether, the law is expected to cut Medicaid spending by $900 billion-plus over a decade.
Congress also allowed enhanced premium tax credits for Obamacare plans to expire last year, spiking premium payments for middle-income Americans and driving down enrollment by nearly 3 million this year.
“We are now witnessing almost a wholesale reversal of pretty much all those policies” that helped cover millions more Americans, said Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University.
For Eric Maciel, the $800 monthly cost of a Covered California plan is too much. To avoid injury, the 28-year-old stays home more and rarely plays pickup soccer at the park — the other players, he added, can get pretty rough.
“That’s another car note,” Maciel said. “I’d be left with nothing.”
Health economists say Maciel is the type of customer insurers need to stabilize their risk pools: young, healthy, and less costly.
Hilton criticized state leaders for passing a revised provider tax he asserts will send premiums soaring and said he wants to inject more competition into California’s health insurance market — but he offered no specific ideas.
Higher-than-expected state costs coupled with federal cuts have prompted California to retreat on healthcare coverage. Federal funds account for one-third of the state’s budget and more than 60% of spending by Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has frozen enrollment for immigrants without legal status, enacted monthly premiums for some, and plans to only temporarily backfill federal assistance for legal immigrants such as asylees and refugees.
Newsom and Democratic lawmakers agreed to delay some cuts until July 2027, leaving the next governor to weigh further rollbacks against increased taxes. Becerra, a California native born to Mexican immigrants, opposes what’s known as the billionaire tax, on November’s ballot. Last month, he said he supported legislative efforts to penalize large corporations whose workers rely on Medi-Cal, arguing that taxpayers are subsidizing employers’ low wages and paltry benefits.
County governments, which are legally required to provide healthcare to uninsured residents too poor to afford care, are lobbying lawmakers for funding to treat what they describe as a fresh deluge of patients who need free care.
“It’s a pretty big cliff if all this stuff goes into effect,” said Dietz, the labor center’s healthcare program director. “And there’s a choice whether to make it less bad and maintain coverage for folks.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says she is not available to testify before Congress next Tuesday, but that her office looks forward to working with the House of Representatives subcommittee that made the request.
Why it matters: Bass' attorney sent a letter responding to the subcommittee Friday afternoon, writing that "unfortunately" the mayor is not available on Sept. 15. Bass’ team has reached out to the subcommittee to discuss the scheduling issue, and the mayor “looks forward to working” with them, according to the letter.
Records request: The subcommittee also requested a trove of documents, including specific communications between the Mayor’s Office, the L.A. City Council, the L.A. Homeless Services Authority and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors dating back to 2020. In the letter, Bass’ office said “we will do our best to provide records as soon as possible.”
Bass’ response: The letter pushed back against the subcommittee’s statement that homelessness has grown worse under her watch. It points to data from the region’s annual point-in-time counts, which she said showed “the first decrease in many years” during her tenure.
But this year’s count bucked the trend, showing a nearly 8% rise in the population of people living outdoors in the city of L.A.
[Read the mayor's full letter here]
The backstory: The House of Representatives Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency sent a letter to Bass last week about its concerns with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, specifically “reports of blatant corruption” in LAHSA’s contracting process and "potential misallocation" of federal dollars.
What's next: The mayor’s letter didn’t completely close the door on her testifying. It’s unclear if the "Fixing Fraud and Failure in Federally Funded Homelessness Services” hearing will be rescheduled.
Go deeper: LA Mayor Karen Bass asked to testify to Congress for fraud hearing on federal homelessness dollars
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Want to get involved in your L.A. neighborhood? You don’t have to be a policy expert. Here’s how to find your neighborhood council, check meeting agendas and speak up at a meeting.
Why it matters: There are 99 neighborhood councils across L.A., each serving about 40,000 residents. That gives residents a more local forum for raising concerns than the city’s 15 City Council districts, which each represent nearly 260,000 people.
What to expect at your first meeting: Every neighborhood council is a little different, but most include updates, agenda items and public comment. If you want to speak, check the meeting instructions or ask how to sign up. And it’s OK to just listen the first time.
Read on... for more to know before attending a neighborhood council meeting.
This story first appeared on The LA Local.
First, find your neighborhood council:
If you’ve ever complained about something happening on your block, wondered why a project was approved or wanted your neighborhood to get funding for an event, a neighborhood council meeting is a place to start.
The Neighborhood Council system, established in 1999, is made up of volunteer-led councils that give residents a direct way to weigh in on hyper-local issues, proposed projects and neighborhood programs.
There are 99 neighborhood councils across L.A., each serving about 40,000 residents. That gives residents a more local forum for raising concerns than the city’s 15 City Council districts, which each represent nearly 260,000 people.
So what can a neighborhood council actually do?
Neighborhood councils don’t make city laws or set city policy. But they do have a couple of ways to make their voices heard. They can approve Neighborhood Purpose Grants of up to $5,000 for nonprofits and schools, helping pay for neighborhood events and programs.
They can also draft Community Impact Statements (CIS) that tell the mayor or City Council whether the neighborhood council supports, opposes or wants changes to a proposed policy or project. And meetings are a chance to hear directly from city, county and state representatives about what their offices are working on.
Neighborhood Council meetings are generally open to anyone who lives, works, studies or runs a business within the council’s boundaries. And you don’t have to sit on the board to speak during public comment.
What to expect at your first meeting: Every neighborhood council is a little different, but most include updates, agenda items and public comment. If you want to speak, check the meeting instructions or ask how to sign up. And it’s OK to just listen the first time.
This is the part that can save you from showing up to a two-hour meeting only to find that the issue you care about has been moved to another meeting — or that the meeting itself has been canceled at the last minute.
The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, also known as EmpowerLA, maintains a database of neighborhood councils, including their members, meeting frequency and locations.
Meeting schedules are also available through the LA Documenters public meetings database under the “Meetings” tab.
Some councils also maintain their own websites and social media pages with meeting dates, locations and agendas. Before you head out, check at least one of those sources — and ideally the council’s own website or social media — to make sure the meeting time, location and agenda haven’t changed.
