The Brief

A brutal heatwave hit historic highs for parts of Southern California on Sunday, with new record temperatures set in several cities, including in the Antelope and Coachella valleys.

But the National Weather Service has warned that these numbers are preliminary, and the weather isn’t going to change over the next few days, so we could see the highs creep up even more before it's expected to cool off into next weekend.

“We're going to continue to see, you know, probably records being cliffed, or being near that every day through this week,” Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told LAist.

Antelope Valley

Palmdale reached 114 degrees on Sunday, breaking the 35-year-old daily record high of 110 degrees.

It was even hotter in neighboring Lancaster with temperatures reaching 115 degrees on Sunday. That broke the daily record of 110 degrees set in 2017 and 1989, as well as the July monthly high by a single degree.

Both areas also had their fourth day above 110 degrees over the weekend, which Hall said set a new record for the most consecutive days since the National Weather Service started keeping track of Palmdale in 1931 and Lancaster in 1945.

Sandberg saw 101 degrees on Sunday as well, breaking the old record set in 2018.

Palmdale, Lancaster, and the rest of the Antelope Valley are under an excessive heat warning until at least 9 p.m. Saturday.

Riverside County

The desert city of Palm Springs reached 124 degrees on Friday, breaking the previous all-time-high of 123 degrees, according to NWS.

Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains got up to 104 degrees, which tied the temperature record previously set in June 2021 and September 2020.

Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley are under an excessive heat warning until at least 9 p.m. Thursday, while Idyllwild and the Riverside County Mountains are under a heat advisory for the same time period.

“This is exceptional from the standpoint that it's going for an extended period of time,” Hall said. “We have a very stubborn high pressure system that's refusing to budge.”

Tips to keep in mind during extreme temperatures 

Be mindful of hydration and heat this week, Hall said, especially if you’ll be spending time outside.

One person died and another was taken to Las Vegas to be treated for severe heat illness this weekend after traveling through Death Valley on motorcycles, the National Park Service confirmed in a statement.

Temperatures reached 128 degrees on Saturday, breaking Death Valley’s previous record from 2007.

“If you're working outdoors the next couple days, you know, take more frequent breaks,” Hall said. “Avoid the midday sun if possible, drink plenty of water, try and avoid alcoholic drinks.”

And listen to your body. If you’re already feeling hot at home, it might not the best time to go on that hike.

Last year’s fires not only destroyed homes and businesses, but also critical infrastructure, such as water delivery systems. Rebuilding that infrastructure is particularly challenging in unincorporated areas such as Altadena, which is primarily served by three tiny, private water companies.

The Las Flores Water Company is one of them — the company lost its two reservoirs in the Eaton Fire. And it has only about 1,500 customers, 75% of whom lost their homes in the fire.

“So we're basically running the company off of 25% of the revenue that we used to have,” John Bednarksi, president of the company’s board, told LAist.

The company is presenting its plans to address that shortfall at a meeting tonight. But rumors about the purpose of the meeting have been spreading online.

Bednarski said that to keep from going bankrupt, the company is proposing charging customers an extra $50 a month for the next five years, or they can pay the lump sum of $3,000 and the company will pay them back interest at the end of the five-year period. The charges will apply only to households with existing water service. As others rebuild and connect to the system, the charge will kick in.

The company is also looking to consolidate with one of the three other private Altadena water suppliers, Lincoln Avenue Water Company, which serves about 5,000 homes and businesses. The water companies have applied for funding from the State Water Resources Control Board to study whether they can merge.

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Altadena, has publicly supported the idea.

“We have to keep the lights on at the company and keep the water company serving water because that's a primary utility for people,” Bednarski said. “But I also think that as we start rebuilding, we want to build back better than we were before.”

The company will present its final bill charge proposal and discuss consolidation with residents tonight. The proposals will not be voted on until a later date, Bednarski said.

Lack of public funds

Another challenge with rebuilding private water companies is that they are ineligible for state and federal funds that public utilities have access to, said Greg Pierce, senior director of the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA and lead author of reports on the damage to water systems after the fires and how water systems can rebuild more resiliently.

“These systems really have been on their own,” Pierce said.

That largely means the costs to rebuild will fall on customers. Consolidation, he added, can lower costs over the long term.

But the $3,000 charge over five years has “come as a big shock” to many residents, said Morgan Z Whirledge, who lost his home in the Eaton Fire and was recently elected to the Altadena Town Council.

“This is an added layer of burden,” he said. “ This comes at a really inopportune time for people in this recovery process.”

Still, Whirledge said he understands the need to keep the company solvent and sees consolidation as a good long term solution.

“ I'm hoping that ultimately Altadena is going to be better served in the future, better served with stronger water infrastructure,” Whirledge said.

The big picture

Overall, the fires caused more than $2 billion in damage to infrastructure overseen by L.A. County — excluding the costs of restoring these small water companies, said Anish Saraiya,  director of Altadena recovery for Barger’s office. And, he added, the total budget for the county Public Works Department, which serves all of L.A. County, is around $5 billion,

“Ultimately their pathway to restoration and recovery is going to be one that's going to require help from both state and federal governments,” Saraiya said.

But federal funding in particular has lagged — the Trump administration has still not approved nearly $40 million in recovery funds requested by Gov. Gavin Newsom last February. Some of that funding could flow to these small water companies, something Barger advocated for, Saraiya said.

“It is paramount that the county gets that funding,” Saraiya said. “It is going to take that kind of scale of assistance to help us rebuild this community.”

In the past, state and federal funding has been essential, though slow, to rebuild water systems after fires. For example, the Northern California town of Paradise was destroyed by the 2018 Camp Fire, but it did not receive state funds to help rebuild its Irrigation District until 2020, and federal funds did not come until 2022.

As L.A. County waits for funding to come through, officials are looking for other ways to fund infrastructure. The county recently established an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District. The same type of district has also been established for unincorporated areas affected by the Palisades Fire.

Such districts allow the county to dedicate a portion of future property tax revenue to rebuild infrastructure. It also allows the county to take out bonds or loans to finance the rebuild.

“ The next step for us is to build out the infrastructure plan and then also pursue the financing side of it to be able to generate revenues, either through bonds or through other creative financing strategies to get us the money we'd need,” Saraiya said, “ because these districts don't generate revenue until development starts to occur and homes are rebuilt.”

The line of cars stretched a quarter-mile down Sierra Madre Villa Avenue in Pasadena. For hours, they inched into the parking lot, where volunteers filled trunks with bottled water, produce, diapers, toothbrushes — and, on this particular Saturday during the December holiday season, toys.

Pasadena Church became a distribution hub when the Eaton Fire began — and never stopped.

“People respond to crises… So everybody responded, all of the companies, all of the agencies, they all tried to do something. And then the resources started shifting,” Pastor Kerwin Manning of Pasadena Church said. “After a couple of months, all of the hype died down… It became apparent that those of us who were remaining were in it for the long haul.”

Cars line up outside Pasadena Church as Pastor Kerwin Manning and volunteers distribute food to families during a community distribution in December.

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Erin Rode

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The LA Local

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A year after the Palisades and Eaton fires, many Angelenos are still struggling to afford food and other basic necessities. An October survey of 2,335 fire survivors commissioned by the Department of Angels found that 27% of those with incomes under $50,000 and 22% of those earning between $50,000 and $99,999 have had to cut back on food.

Around half of those surveyed are making up the difference by “blowing through their savings and taking on debt,” Angela Giacchetti, head of communications at the Department of Angels told The LA Local. “And that’s not good, but there’s a smaller percentage, but an alarming number of survivors who are experiencing even worse outcomes… People are going without food. They’re skipping meals. They’re skipping medical care, they’re taking on extra jobs to make ends meet, they’re falling behind on their bills.”

For many families, that tradeoff has become impossible. Before the Eaton Fire, “We had a place to stay, so if we had to spend our last money on food, then that was fine,” Danielle Valdes said at a recent “Come Get Some Event” by local non-profit Home of Kings and Queens, which runs a free weekly farmer’s market for Eaton Fire victims. Now, the family is juggling paying rent while trying to stretch their insurance money as far as possible so that “it can go towards housing or getting our way back to Altadena.”

Local non-profit Home of Kings and Queens runs a free weekly farmer’s market for Eaton Fire victims.

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Erin Rode

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The LA Local

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For most people impacted by the fires, there is a significant gap between what was lost and what insurance and other aid has covered. A January survey from the Department of Angels found that 60% of survivors face a gap in coverage of at least $100,000, and for more than half of respondents, that amount exceeds their annual household income.

When it comes to these more severe hardships, “the disparity between white and nonwhite survivors is large,” according to the January survey. Black and Latino survivors are two to three times as likely as white survivors to have cut back on food or experienced other forms of severe hardship, such as falling behind on rent, mortgage, or utility bills, relying on food assistance, or experiencing homelessness. Single parents and renters are also experiencing these challenges at higher rates.

For Alexa Rodriguez, losing her family’s Altadena apartment of 17 years pushed them over the edge. Rodriguez landed in a Pasadena apartment with her two teenage children after the fire, but now pays $800 more a month. As a renter, she didn’t receive insurance money for temporary housing, and has struggled to piece together financial support. “To get back on your feet it might take a year or two, the first month I did get help, but since then I’ve been on my own,” Rodriguez said, who takes the bus to the Home of Kings and Queens’ distributions every week.

In the weeks after the fires, events like those at Pasadena Church were a common scene. Brandon Lamar, founder of Project Passion, said he once counted more than 30 separate distribution events in the area on a single Saturday.

Now, the weekly events at Pasadena Church (a collaborative effort with Project Passion and other partners) are among the few remaining regular distribution events for people impacted by the Eaton Fire. Lamar calls it “the longest-lasting distribution hub in our community.” Project Passion also offers an appointment-only free store every Monday and Tuesday.

“People told us early on that this might change in the long haul, because when people get settled and things of that nature, but what we’ve started to see is that the need has actually increased, but the donations have decreased,” Lamar said.

Some national organizations that were on-the-ground immediately after the fires have moved on. FEMA ended its in-person presence in October (although virtual support is still available). And some local groups that pivoted to provide support after the fires have also returned to their usual focus areas. The remaining food distributions are mostly run by residents of the fire-impacted communities, according to Giacchetti.

As direct aid has slowed, some have also turned to longstanding food programs. Foothill Unity Center, which offers six weekly food distribution events for residents across 12 foothill communities (including Altadena and Pasadena), saw about six times as many people in 2025 versus 2024, according to Julie Swayze, director of advancement and institutional giving at the nonprofit.

Foothill Unity Center offers six weekly food distribution events for residents across 12 foothill communities, including Altadena and Pasadena.

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Erin Rode

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The LA Local

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Many fire survivors are “likely to face years of deficits” before they can recover financially, according to the Department of Angels report. A year after the fire, Manning and Lamar believe they’re seeing increasing need.

Finding new work, rebuilding a home or securing housing all takes time, Manning said, complicated by factors like paying higher rent or running out of insurance for temporary housing. That’s why he believes in supporting people through the “middle passage” of recovery. When members of his congregation ask how much longer the church’s parking lot will be a food distribution hub, he gives a one-word answer: “Until.”

Oscar nominations are out, kicking off seven weeks of conversations about what the Academy got right (and wrong) today and predictions about what voters might still get wrong during the awards on March 15.

Here's what struck me when the lists were announced this morning.

Sinners dominated, followed by One Battle After Another 

Before this year, no movie had ever gotten more than 14 Oscar nominations. Three films — All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land — shared the top spot. This year, Ryan Coogler's brilliant vampire story Sinners bested that by two, landing 16 nominations. If it had been 15, you could argue that the new category honoring best casting (in which Sinners, yes, was nominated) was the difference. But with 16, that's a straight-up record-breaker. Of course, nomination numbers do not always equal wins, let alone wins for a big category like best picture.

One Battle After Another, with 13 nominations, is also formidable on numbers alone. But Sinners was nominated in every category in which it was competing, which is a stunning accomplishment. Since each branch of the Academy votes on its own nominees (and everyone votes for best picture nominees), that suggests that the film has strong support across every single group of Oscars voters. And it's fair to ask: If every element of a movie is top-notch, from its design to its performances to its script to its music, how does it not deserve to be best picture?

Non-English language features continued their strong showing

Four non-English language acting performances were nominated this year, three from Norway's drama Sentimental Value (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård) and one from the Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent (Wagner Moura). That's a record. Both of those films were nominated for best picture as well, which continues the pattern from recent years of non-English-language films like Parasite, I'm Still Here, Emilia Pérez, Drive My Car and others earning nominations in the top category. Consider this: 10 such best picture nominations happened between 1938 and 2017; 12 have now happened between 2018 and 2026. (On the other hand, it's worth noting that the highly-regarded Korean movie No Other Choice from filmmaker Park Chan-wook was shut out, disappointing its many supporters.)

F1 overperformed

The car-racing movie F1, which felt a lot like a promotional film for F1 racing itself, received what will be, for some, an eyebrow-raising best picture nomination in addition to nominations for editing, sound and visual effects. Both the Broadway drama Blue Moon and Iranian thriller It Was Just An Accident received original screenplay nominations, Blue Moon landed a lead actor nomination for Ethan Hawke, and It Was Just An Accident was nominated for best international feature (for France, which submitted it); neither appeared on the best picture list. People really like cars going vroom vroom, apparently.

New Avatar and Wicked stories lost steam 

The first Avatar received nine Oscar nominations; the second, Avatar: The Way of Water, received four; this morning, the third, Avatar: Fire and Ash, received only two, for costume design and visual effects. A year ago, Wicked received 10 nominations; this year, Wicked: For Good received zero. Avatar: Fire and Ash still made a mountain of money and Wicked: For Good made plenty, but the one-two punch of big box office and awards sparkle has worn off for both.

Diane Warren is Diane Warren, now and forever

The least-surprising possible news on Oscar nomination morning is a nomination for Diane Warren, who received her 17th nod, this time for the song "Dear Me" in the documentary Diane Warren: Relentless. She has never won — except for an honorary award in 2022 — which perhaps makes her the Susan Lucci of best original song, in honor of the All My Children actress nominated 21 times for a Daytime Emmy for playing Erica Kane. But one fact should be foremost in the mind: Susan Lucci eventually won. Yes, it took until her 19th nomination, but it happened. This year, Warren is nominated for a song she wrote for a documentary about herself; wouldn't it be fun if this were her year? If not, she should not lose heart, because let's be real: She will be nominated again next year.

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