Topline:
Crews have continued making steady progress in containing the Franklin Fire in Malibu after red flag conditions subsided last week.
What we know so far: The Franklin Fire started shortly before 11 p.m. last Monday near Malibu Canyon Road and Station Boundary, according to L.A. County Fire officials. It's currently 89% contained.
Keep reading... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This is a developing story and will be updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Crews have continued making steady progress in containing the Franklin Fire in Malibu after red flag conditions subsided. But with hazardous fire weather this week, officials are warning that the flames could flare back up.
People are being urged to prepare for evacuations and power outages with moderate Santa Ana winds, dry vegetation, and low humidity expected. A fire weather warning is in effect for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties from 3 p.m. Tuesday through 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The city of Malibu has asked residents to call 911 if they see smoke, and to check on their elderly or disabled neighbors. Several circuits may have been shutoff Tuesday evening by Southern California Edison, according to the city of Malibu, with more power safety shut offs being considered for roughly 15,000 L.A. County customers.
As of Wednesday, the fire has grown to 4,037 acres, but containment had increased to 89%, officials reported. Fire crews were aided by higher humidity levels, slight precipitation, and calmer conditions.
So far, officials said 20 structures have been destroyed, with another 28 damaged, about half of which were homes.
All evacuation warnings have been lifted as of Monday, and the 6,300 people forced from their homes were able to return as of Friday evening, when the evacuation orders were downgraded. Malibu schools are also reopening this week.
Jan Smutz, fire behavior analyst with CalFire, said at a news conference Friday evening that the likelihood of an increase in fire activity continues to go down, but we’re not out of the woods just yet, especially with Santa Ana wind conditions expected to return Tuesday through Thursday.
“ We're going to remain vigilant and continue working until all those heat sources have been extinguished,” he said.
The Franklin Fire started shortly before 11 p.m. last Monday near Malibu Canyon Road and Station Boundary, according to L.A. County Fire officials. City officials said the fire sparked about three miles north of Pacific Coast Highway, and that the cause was not immediately clear.
At around 3 a.m. last Tuesday, Malibu officials reported that the fire had spread south over PCH, threatening structures by Malibu Pier, Malibu Road, Malibu Knolls and Sweetwater Mesa. The threat stretched to Serra, Civic Center, and other central Malibu neighborhoods by Tuesday evening.
As the fire advanced, Pepperdine University officials told anyone on campus at 1 a.m. to relocate to the campus center or library to shelter in place. Later Tuesday, officials said the worst of the fire had moved on and lifted the shelter-in-place order around 7:30 a.m.
City Hall reopened at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18, according to Marianne Riggins, mayor pro tem for Malibu. A community meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, which will be livestreamed here. You can submit questions on comments in person, or by emailing citycouncil@malibucity.org.
An air quality alert was issued until 7 p.m. last Thursday, and CalOSHA reminded employers that they’re required to protect their workers by adjusting practices and providing N-95 masks. You can find more information in English here and in Spanish here.
As of Thursday morning, power had been restored to Malibu.
Residents were also asked to stop outdoor irrigation to conserve water and make sure there’s enough resources for firefighters.
“Fire season is not a season,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference last Tuesday. “It's year round in the state of California.”
No evacuation orders were in place as of Friday evening, and all evacuation warnings were lifted Monday morning, according to the city of Malibu.
All residents can return to their homes, but you may need a photo ID to access certain roads.
These areas have been thoroughly inspected and deemed safe, according to the city of Malibu, but people are being urged to remain cautious. For example, keep children and pets away from ash, and use N-95 masks during clean-up.
You can find tips for what to do when you return home after a fire in English here, and in Spanish here. You can also find soot and smoke cleaning tips in English here, and in Spanish here. And some suggestions for managing mental health and stress after an emergency in English here, and in Spanish here.
The following roads are open to residents with proper ID only:
Please note: Pacific Coast Highway is now fully open with traffic moving in both directions.
A Local Assistance Center opened at Malibu City Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 17, from 10 a.m. through 4 p.m., according to the city. Representatives from various agencies, city departments, the Red Cross, and AT&T were available to assist residents.
SoCal Edison has an assistance program for customers experiencing an extended outage. The special rates can be tapped at participating hotels within 20 miles of an outage. Those hotels are listed here.
The Boys and Girls Club of Malibu is offering free counseling services and emotional support to those impacted by the fire. You can find more information here, by calling (310) 457-6801 ext. 7414, or by emailing wellnessinfo@bgcmalibu.org.
Malibu Elementary, Malibu Middle, and Malibu High Schools reopened Monday after being closed for nearly a week. The campuses were spared from any damage.
But Webster Elementary School, which officials previously said suffered “significant damage”, remains closed for cleaning and repairs. The campus is expected to reopen on Jan. 6, after winter break.
Webster students and staff will temporarily relocate to Malibu Elementary School in the meantime, starting on Tuesday, Dec. 17, for those that are ready to return to in-person learning.
Parking restrictions on Grayfox Street will be temporarily lifted, except for Fernhill Drive to the elementary school’s entrance, which will be used for pickup and drop-off. The schools will also stagger those pickup and drop-off times for Webster and Malibu Elementary students to ease traffic congestion.
“Upon return to school, we understand that some families will still be dealing with the aftermath of this distressing event, including a few of our families who have lost homes or have damage,” Antonio Shelton, superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, said in a statement to families and staff last Thursday.
Topline:
California’s wine industry is still trying to figure out how to adapt to a world with fewer alcohol drinkers, where even the most high-end wineries are fighting a losing battle. Because the state has more wine than people want to drink, some wineries are quietly selling their premium bottles under generic retail home brands like Costco’s Kirkland Signature or Kroger and Aldi labels.
Sales: Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period, causing grape prices to drop and prompting California growers to take roughly a quarter of the state’s vineyards out of production.
“They have way too much of it, and they haven’t been able to sell it the last few years,” said Jess Lander, wine reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, during a conversation on AirTalk, LAist 89.3’s daily news show.
Bargain bottles: Lander has reported that bottles that typically cost around $150 are now, in some cases, going for less than $30 under a different brand label.
How to take advantage: Lander says if you’re looking to take advantage of the surplus bargain, look at the region on the bottle and then do a little experimenting with your palate.
Listen to the full conversation above: To learn more about the wine industry’s outlook and the effects on consumers.
Topline:
California’s wine industry is still trying to figure out how to adapt to a world with fewer alcohol drinkers, where even the most high-end wineries are fighting a losing battle. Because the state has more wine than people want to drink, some wineries are quietly selling their premium bottles under generic retail home brands like Costco’s Kirkland Signature or Kroger and Aldi labels.
Sales: Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period, causing grape prices to drop and prompting California growers to take roughly a quarter of the state’s vineyards out of production.
“They have way too much of it, and they haven’t been able to sell it the last few years,” said Jess Lander, wine reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, during a conversation on AirTalk, LAist 89.3’s daily news show.
Bargain bottles: Lander has reported that bottles that typically cost around $150 are now, in some cases, going for less than $30 under a different label.
How to take advantage: Lander says if you’re looking to take advantage of the surplus bargain, look at the region on the bottle and then do a little experimenting with your palate.
Listen to the full conversation above: To learn more about the wine industry’s outlook and the effects on consumers.
Topline:
California’s graduation rates reached a decade high last school year, while chronic absenteeism and suspensions continued to decline, according to the California School Dashboard released Thursday.
Why now: The California Department of Education’s dashboard tracks student success across several measures, including chronic absenteeism, suspensions, English learner progress, graduation rates and college and career readiness. This is the first year the dashboard has been released alongside the state’s Smarter Balanced Assessment scores in English language arts, math and, now, science, giving educators and families a broader view of student outcomes.
The backstory: The 2025-26 data comes amid a significant, ongoing decline in California student enrollment. Since the 2016-17 academic year, the state has lost 496,975 students — an 8% enrollment decrease.
California’s graduation rates reached a decade high last school year, while chronic absenteeism and suspensions continued to decline, according to the California School Dashboard released Thursday.
But progress remained uneven. Chronic absenteeism is still higher than before the pandemic, suspension rates have fallen only minimally and substantial disparities persist among student groups.
“At a time when California continues to focus on accelerating learning and closing opportunity gaps, these results provide important evidence that our sustained investments are making a difference,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement.
The California Department of Education’s dashboard tracks student success across several measures, including chronic absenteeism, suspensions, English learner progress, graduation rates and college and career readiness.
This is the first year the dashboard has been released alongside the state’s Smarter Balanced Assessment scores in English language arts, math and, now, science, giving educators and families a broader view of student outcomes.
“That’s a smart thing to do,” said Tyrone Howard, a professor of education at UCLA. “I think that way we kind of get as holistic of a picture as we can from multiple standpoints.”
The 2025-26 data comes amid a significant, ongoing decline in California student enrollment. Since the 2016-17 academic year, the state has lost 496,975 students — an 8% enrollment decrease.
Over the past decade, the state has also seen significant changes in the student population, with more students identifying as Asian, two or more races and not reported. There has also been an increase in students with disabilities and in homeless youths.
Chronic absenteeism continued to decline in California during the 2025-26 school year, falling 1.1% from the previous year to 18.3% among students in transitional kindergarten through 12th grade. The rate reached 30% during the pandemic-era spike in 2021-22. Students who are chronically absent have missed at least 18 instructional days, or 10% or more of the school year.
“The fact that we’re seeing drops, but not huge drops, is not too different from what you’re seeing across the country,” said Hedy Chang, CEO and president of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that works with school districts to reduce absenteeism.
The persistence of a high percentage of students chronically absent “points to the need for us to even deepen our work to reduce chronic absence to be even more strategic,” she added.
Downey Unified School District is among the districts that lowered its TK-8 chronic absenteeism rate from 19.2% last year to 18.4% in 2025-26. Its TK-12 rate also declined, from 20.4% to 19.9%.
Roger Brossmer, Downey Unified’s superintendent, attributes the progress to new schedules tailored to students’ needs. The district plans to “double down,” on its efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism, which remains higher than the state average, with a special focus on English learners.
Brossmer said Downey’s strong improvement in test scores – among the highest in the state – has reinforced his belief in the connection between student achievement and attendance.
“If they weren’t progressing, the number one thing they had in common was they weren’t coming to school,” Brossmer said. “And so we’ve shifted from a punitive model to more of a ‘we miss you, we need you here’ model.”
Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska native, African American and Hispanic or Latino students continued to experience chronic absenteeism at higher rates than the statewide average. The same was true for foster youths, homeless youths, students with disabilities, socioeconomically disadvantaged students and English learners.
Migrant students had a lower rate of chronic absenteeism than the state average, however.
Chang said that migrant student rates may be lower because students are leaving the state, or being detained, before they reach the 30-day attendance requirement to be counted toward chronic absenteeism data.
“It is possible that migrant youth are moving too far. You’d have to look at mobility issues at the same time,” Chang said.
California’s suspension rate measures the number of students who were suspended for at least one day. It fell by 0.1 percentage points between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, to 2.8%.
That is part of a several-year trend of falling suspension rates since 2022-23, when the rate was 3.6%.
“It’s encouraging that suspensions are going down, but the racial disparities are still pretty noticeable and pretty significant,” Howard said.
African American students had the highest suspension rates among racial and ethnic groups, followed by American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander students. Hispanic or Latino students were close to the statewide rate.
Foster youths had a much higher suspension rate of 13%, while homeless youths, students with disabilities, migrant youths, socioeconomically disadvantaged students and English learners also exceeded the statewide rate.
Howard said the state should provide more comprehensive data that includes both in-school and out-of-school suspensions.
“I’ve seen in other states (cases) where their out-of-school suspension rates have gone down, which is what they lead with,” Howard said. “But then, when you do a deeper dive looking at the in-school suspension rates, they have gone up.”
California’s graduation rate reached 87.9% in 2025-26, the highest in a decade, according to the dashboard.
Graduation rates among Filipino, Asian and students identifying as two or more races exceeded the statewide average. Migrant students also graduated at a higher rate than the state average.
It’s likely that graduation rates are even higher in the state. The California average was skewed downward by two schools — Highlands Community Charter and California Innovative Career Academy.
Highlands Community Charter, an adult school, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month after an audit found it owed the state $180 million for funds it was not eligible to receive.
The school’s enrollment plummeted from 11,713 in 2024-25 to 487 in 2025-26. Its four-year graduation rate was 6.6%, according to Dataquest.
Statewide, Highlands lowered the graduation rate among Asian students by 2.8 percentage points and among white students by 4.7 percentage points.
The California Innovative Career Academy, one of the Highlands Community Charter schools, had a four-year graduation rate of 8.3%. Its enrollment fell from 1,729 students in 2024-25 to 800 in 2025-26.
College readiness also improved. Nearly 55% of graduates met the basic minimum requirements for the CSU and UC systems, a 0.9 percentage point increase from the previous year.
Meanwhile, 17.1% earned the State Seal of Biliteracy, a special designation on a student’s diploma showing a high rate of proficiency in a second language. And 33.8% received the Golden State Seal Merit Diploma, which shows mastery in at least six subject areas, marking a 0.8 and a 1.5 percentage point increase, respectively.
Troy Flint, spokesperson for the California School Boards Association, said graduation rates and college readiness are moving in the right direction, but more students need to meet standards in English language and math.
“A certain percentage of students are being pushed through without gaining the knowledge and skills that signify they’ve achieved a truly meaningful high school education and are prepared for their next step, whether that’s college or career,” Flint said.
This story was originally published by EdSource.
EdSource is an independent nonprofit organization that provides analysis on key education issues facing California and the nation. LAist republishes articles from EdSource with permission.
Topline:
The star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers, so used to winning year after year, find themselves in unfamiliar territory lately — on the brink of playoff elimination. The Dodgers are facing a 3-0 deficit against Milwaukee in the National League Championship Series after losing 6-2 on Wednesday and now need to win four games in a row to advance.
Why it matters: The two-time defending World Series champions are aiming to become the first National League team to win a third straight title and the first club to three-peat since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.
The backstory: Offense has been sparse in the postseason. The Dodgers are 3 for 32 with runners in scoring position overall and 1 for 14 against the Brewers. Los Angeles cranked out 204 homers in the regular season — seventh in MLB — but have none so far in the NLCS.
Did you know: The only team in major league history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven postseason series was the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who got a gutsy stolen base from Dodgers' Manager Dave Roberts, then a utility player for Boston, to spark their comeback against the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series.
What's next: Game 4 is tonight at 5 p.m. at Dodger Stadium. Tyler Glasnow will start for the Dodgers.
The star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers, so used to winning year after year, find themselves in unfamiliar territory lately — on the brink of playoff elimination.
The two-time defending World Series champions are aiming to become the first National League team to win a third straight title and the first club to three-peat since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.
But that seems increasingly unlikely.
The Dodgers are facing a 3-0 deficit against Milwaukee in the National League Championship Series after losing 6-2 on Wednesday. They’ll need to win four games in a row to advance, starting Thursday in Game 4 at Dodger Stadium.
“It looks like we’re going to have to make a little more history along the way if we want to accomplish that,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “We still have the pitching staff to be able to do it. We just have to get some hits.”
Offense has been sparse in the postseason. The Dodgers are 3 for 32 with runners in scoring position overall and 1 for 14 against the Brewers. Los Angeles cranked out 204 homers in the regular season — seventh in MLB — but have none so far in the NLCS.
“It’s just this whole series they’ve outslugged us, outhit us,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We’ve got to get a lead and find a way to tack on.”
The Dodgers scored twice in the sixth inning to take a 2-1 lead in Game 3 before pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández came up with runners on second and third and one out. But he struck out swinging, and Tommy Edman took a called third strike to end the inning.
“That was the game right there,” Hernández said. “We need to put the ball in play. I struck out and gave Tommy a way harder job with two outs. I have had two of the biggest at-bats in the series for our team and I haven’t been able to come through. I just need to do my job.”
Tyler Glasnow is scheduled to pitch Thursday for the Dodgers, who are 44-42 in postseason elimination games. If they can find a way to win, they would host Game 5 on Friday.
“We’ve never been in this big of a hole,” Hernández said, “but we’ve had our backs against the wall plenty of times before, and we’ve come out of it. We’re just trying to do it one more time.”
Except none of the Dodgers’ hitters are doing much of anything. Kyle Tucker, who struggled mightily in the regular season, has been a bright spot. He’s batting .304 after going 1 for 3 on Wednesday.
But the top of the lineup — Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández — was a combined 1 for 11 in Game 3, when the Dodgers totaled five hits.
The deepest slumps involve four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani and catcher Will Smith. Ohtani was 1 for 2, raising his average to .182 a year after being MVP of the NLCS sweep against the Brewers. Smith was 1 for 4 with a two-run double, but his average is far south of the Mendoza Line at .074.
In Game 2, the Dodgers mustered just three hits in a 7-4 loss.
The only team in major league history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven postseason series was the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who got a gutsy stolen base from Roberts to spark their comeback against the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series.
Roberts was asked if he might reminisce with his Dodgers players about that before Thursday’s game.
“I don’t think so. I think they’ve seen the documentary. They know it can happen,” he said.
Topline:
Evacuation orders and warnings have been issued for a brush fire north of San Gabriel Canyon Road in Azusa. The Peak Fire has burned about 22 acres since igniting on Thursday afternoon. Authorities warn that structures northeast of the fire are threatened.
What we know so far: Firefighters from L.A. County and the Angeles National Forest were among the first to respond.
Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This is a developing story. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Evacuation orders and warnings have been issued near a brush fire north of San Gabriel Canyon Road in Azusa. The Peak Fire has burned about 22 acres since igniting on Thursday afternoon. Authorities warn that structures are threatened to the northeast of the fire.
Southern California is under a red flag warning because of heat, low humidity and Santa Ana winds. Those conditions will continue through Saturday, according to National Weather Service forecasters.
Evacuation orders have been issued by the Azusa Police Department for the following areas:
Authorities say those who require additional time to evacuate and those with pets and livestock should leave immediately. Details here.
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