The Brief

On a beautiful July day earlier this year, out of the blue, catastrophe visited residents of Rolling Hills Estates on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

It’d been about four months since the last heavy rains, but the precipitation from one of the wettest years on record appears to have been working its way deep into the earth.

It appears that raindrops percolated through the silt and sand and past deposits of volcanic ash in the Altamira Shale, before settling on layers of montmorillonite rich clays, lifted from the ocean during the Pliocene some three million years ago.

An aerial view of upscale homes destroyed by a landslide on Palos Verdes Peninsula in July, 2023.

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It's possible that the particles of clay then took on the water, compromising the ability of the earth beneath the homes to stick together, leading them to separate like an unevenly stacked layer cake. The constituent parts of the neighborhood – the homes, streets and sewer – began to move, pulled by gravity down an embankment into the canyon below.

A preliminary report compiled for the city of Rolling Hills Estates by the geotechnical firm GeoKinetics said that a "high level of precipitation" was likely the main factor behind the slope failure. Though, it should be noted, other inquiries are ongoing .

If you know a bit about the area, landslides should come as little surprise, especially considering there are roughly 150 others that've have been documented there.

A view of upscale homes destroyed by a landslide on Palos Verdes Peninsula in July 2023.

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“Is the geology conducive to land sliding along the Palos Verdes Peninsula? The answer is yes,” said Jeremy Lancaster, state geologist and director of the California Geological Survey.

Given that another year of heavy rain might be on the way, influenced by a strong El Niño, what are the odds we’ll see even more homes sliding into canyons below?

Can we predict landslides?

There are two key types of landslides that you should be aware of: shallow and deep seated landslides.

The one's I'm usually on LAist screaming about are the shallow ones, particularly in hilly areas that've just burned. They're a bit more predictable because we know that after a fire, hillsides are covered in a waxy, water repelling layer and have had most of their vegetation removed. So, when rain falls from the sky, there's not much to slow it down, keep it from knocking dirt loose, picking up speed and turning into a huge destructive wall of water, like what we saw in Montecito in 2018 .

When reporting on landslide risk during major storms, I'm usually on the lookout for recently burned areas anticipated to receive an inch of rain per hour, because heavy rainfall makes the shallow slides more likely.

Debris from a mudslide covers a home on January 10, 2018 in Montecito, California.

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Deep–seated landslides, like what we often see in the Palos Verdes Peninsula are a whole other beast,

We know that they typically need three things to occur: steep slopes, weak rocks and some sort of triggering mechanism, such as earthquakes or water (the peninsula has all three), to get them going.

But unless there's apparent movement on the surface, they're terribly difficult to anticipate because it's unclear what's going on deep in the ground. As soon as you're dealing with layer upon layer of material from different epochs all stacked upon each other, things get much more complex.

All it takes is one weak layer of water loving clay to give out between a whole bunch of big strong rock, for a whole hillside to come down.

Terrifyingly, a deep slide can occur months after a rainy season ends because it can take water a long time to slowly percolate through the earth to get to one of those weak layers.

"Because these landslides are at greater depths, it's really difficult geologically to have precise controls on when and how exactly that motion starts. But generally we expect that an above average rainfall seasons, particularly ones that are back to back, the probability or likelihood of motion is there," said Matthew Thomas, a research hydrologist with the USGS landslide hazards program.

It can take many cycles of wetting and drying for one of those weaker layers to become a problem.

Take for instance, bentonite clay found throughout the peninsula. According to Lancaster, while the clay is quite strong when it's dry, when it's wet it weakens and expands slightly, allowing for a slight amount of creep. Over time, cracks can grow and fill with water, further jeopardizing the hill structure. Add a whole bunch of weight and steep slopes and things can destabilize over time.

So if you can't predict a slide, what's there to look out for?

Listen for creaks and groans, look for evidence of movement, including broken water pipes and growing cracks.

It’s not always rain that’s responsible. Broken sewer or irrigation lines can also compromise layers and add weight to a hillside and cause it to give out.

Workers search for victims of a mudslide that left four people dead and 20 missing January 11, 2005 in La Conchita, California.

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What risk does El Niño bring?

El Niño is sometimes linked to wetter winters here in Southern California, which means more opportunity for water to percolate deep underground and destabilize hillsides.

There’s no guarantee that slides will follow a heavy rain year, but it does increase the risk that one will happen, especially in areas that’ve already seen slides, or have active slides ongoing.

According to the preliminary report prepared for the city, there were no earlier slides detected where the July 8 slide occurred in the Rolling Hills Estates area.

What can be done?

Preventing the percolation of water deep into the soil is key. Good surface drainage is an important. Concrete can be used to fill cracks that open up to prevent further infiltration. And in places like Abalone Cove, they've also installed dewatering wells, which actively pump water out.

At the behest of the city of Rolling Hills Estates, the homeowners association began winterization work in November, according to a letter provided by Assistant City Manager Alexa Davis. It includes various measures meant to clear water away from vulnerable parts of the hillside, including temporary drainage, grading and sandbags.

If you’re nervous about your property, you need to be on the lookout for growing cracks and listening for sounds of the earth moving. If your doors have suddenly fallen out of plumb and your windows aren’t opening, you may be facing a catastrophic issue.

If it’s not an emergency, but you're curious about what's going on beneath your home, hire an engineer to look at the geotechnical report relevant to your property.

State Farm is facing another investigation into its handling of Eaton and Palisades fire insurance claims, Los Angeles County’s top attorney announced Thursday.

The civil investigation is focusing on “potential violations” of the state’s unfair competition law , which prohibits unlawful or unfair business practices, the Office of County Counsel said.

“We are committed to thoroughly investigating State Farm’s actions and making sure they are treating claimants fairly and resolving their claims quickly and in full compliance with the law,” County Counsel Dawyn Harrison said in a statement.

How we got here

The move comes as the insurance giant already is dealing with a state probe into the same issue. Some residents have raised concerns that State Farm isn’t moving fast enough.

“In the absence of state leadership, today's county investigation is a major step forward,” the Eaton Fire Survivors Network said in a statement. “It matters not only for Los Angeles fire survivors but for every Californian who pays premiums and expects the protection they paid for when disaster strikes.”

Customers have reported much higher rates of denials, lowball claim estimates, poor communication and challenges with multiple adjusters, according to a third-party survey of fire survivors.

State Farm won the first emergency rate hike in the state earlier this year. The company told officials it was in financial distress and expected to pay more than $7 billion in January fire claims.

Signs of that came back in July, when a nearly $900,000 check for an Altadena resident was put on hold because of insufficient funds.

About the investigation

In response to the investigation, State Farm said it has been "cooperating fully" with the California Department of Insurance.

"The goals of this investigation by L.A. County are unclear, but what is clear is that it will be another distraction from our ongoing work in California to help our customers recover from this tragedy," the company said in an update , alongside a list of actions it's taken.

The county counsel has sent State Farm a letter with demands for claim information. It says the investigation is looking at a number of alleged problems, including:

• Timely communications
• Switching adjusters, resulting in delays
• Misrepresenting policy language
• Failing to reimburse survivors’ living expenses
• Failing to disclose estimate documents upon request
• Not reasonably investigating smoke damage or paying for testing and remediation

County officials have given State Farm until Nov. 20 to respond. As California’s largest private insurance provider, State Farm manages more than 2.8 million residential and commercial policies statewide.

In the latest culture war to hit Westminster city hall, the City Council on Wednesday voted to rename a street after Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist who was shot and killed in September, and designate Oct. 14 in his honor.

The vote came despite the majority of public speakers at the meeting calling it a political move meant to serve congressional ambitions at a time when city leaders should be focusing on serious ongoing financial challenges.

Westminster has flirted with filing for bankruptcy numerous times in the past few years, and one reason observers and residents say they haven't been able to address the issues is because City Council meetings get pulled into culture wars and in fighting .

Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen, who proposed changing All American Way to Charlie Kirk Way, said it would “honor someone who has encouraged a new generation to care about their country, to get involved and to speak up for what they believe in.”

“This is freedom of speech,” he said. “Charlie Kirk’s message has inspired countless young Americans to think critically, serve their communities and appreciate the freedom we enjoy.”

In September, Kirk, a right-wing activist and ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during an outdoor speaking event at Utah Valley University. Kirk rose to fame for espousing right-wing Christian values and connecting with young people on college campuses.

But Councilmember Carlos Manzo, the sole voice of dissent on the dais against the street renaming, said the move  was just “exploiting a tragedy for political gain.” He pointed out that Nguyen and Councilmember Amy Phan West are running for Congress in 2026 and using their nonpartisan council seats to spotlight “national divisive issues” that they can use to campaign on a Republican platform.

Public weighs in

A cross section of city residents, including self-identified conservative Republicans, spoke out against the proposals, calling them a waste of money and time.

“ I am against spending tax dollars to name the street after Charlie, as much as I like him,” said Michael Verrengia, a longtime Westminster resident and veteran. “He didn't live in Westminster. He didn't do anything for Westminster.”

Another resident, Tammy Hamill, called the move “campaigning from the dais.”

“You guys are putting this stuff on there to get the word out to your party leaders,” she said.

Westminster residents approved increasing the city’s sales tax in 2022 and again in 2024 to save the city from filing for bankruptcy. Hamill said residents reluctantly voted for those tax increases to save the city from filing bankruptcy, not to spend on “pet projects.”

Others suggested the council use the $3,000 allocated to renaming the street toward youth programming or honoring the Mendez family. In the 1940s, the Mendez family in Westminster successfully challenged the segregation of Mexican American children in California schools, which was used as a precedent for the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that desegregated schools across the country.

California’s K-12 students showed moderate progress academically last year, with some bright spots but otherwise plateauing after years of post-pandemic improvements, according to the new California School Dashboard released today.

Chronic absenteeism, discipline rates and progress among English learners all remained mostly unchanged, with slight improvements. Academic performance improved , but still lagged behind pre-pandemic levels.

The Dashboard is a user-friendly, color-coded guide for the public to understand schools’ performance. Schools get credit for their students’ scores, but also for how much progress they’ve made — a metric that some have said can be misleading . The dashboard assigns colors to reflect schools’ performance, with blue being the best and red triggering interventions from the state. Last year was the first year all categories earned a yellow or green, indicating improvement.

“Seeing modest improvements on every Dashboard indicator should encourage us to deepen our investments in every child’s progress,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said. “We must not rest until all students’ outcomes represent their brilliance and potential.”

College and career readiness a bright spot

A highlight was college and career readiness, with a record-high number of students graduating last year prepared for college and the job market.

Nearly 52% of last year’s crop of graduating seniors satisfied the requirements to attend a public university in California or completed a 2-to-4-year career pathway. The number was up 3.1% over the previous year, bringing the overall total to its highest level since the state introduced the dashboard almost a decade ago.

California has been promoting career pathways in high schools for years, providing money and guidance for schools to train students in health care, engineering, environmental science, agriculture and other careers. Typically, students take a sequence of career-themed courses linked to their academic work, often combined with out-of-school internships or classes at local community colleges.

Last year, nearly 27% of students completed a career pathway, up about 1 percentage point from the previous year.

College readiness also improved, but that was partly because the state now includes completion of Advanced Placement courses among its measurements. Last year, 55% of students took at least one AP class.

Record-high graduation rate

The graduation rate also hit its highest level — 88% — since the Dashboard was introduced in 2017, when the rate was about 83%.

“Today’s Dashboard results show California continuing to make important strides in post-pandemic recovery — we’re getting more students reengaged in the classroom, graduating students in greater numbers, and getting more of them prepared for college and careers,” California State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond said in a statement.

Slight improvement in absenteeism 

But other dashboard measurements were lackluster. Chronic absenteeism, for example, which soared to 30% during the pandemic, fell only 1 percentage point last year. After several years of steep declines, the rate all but stalled at just over 19%. Before the pandemic, about 11% of students were chronically absent, which means they missed 10% or more of the school year.

The Los Angeles wildfires and a surge in immigration raids are among the reasons for the stalled progress in attendance, said Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, a research and policy organization. Thousands of students missed school due to the fires, while others stayed away due to fears of deportation.

"I'm not surprised," Chang said. "It's a sign that we need a statewide game plan to address attendance. I also think this will require perseverance over time."

Schools that prioritized personal relationships with families tended to have better attendance, she said. Attendance also improved at schools that identified individual students who needed assistance getting to school every day and then provided that assistance.

English learner progress was also stagnant, with only 46.4% of students making progress toward English language proficiency. The number increased less than 1% from last year.

Big improvements in Dinuba

Dinuba Unified, a rural district southeast of Fresno, was among the state’s bright spots. The 6,000-student district, where a third of students are English learners and more than 85% are low-income, saw across-the-board improvements last year. English language arts test scores soared more than 10 percentage points, math scores jumped nearly 6 percentage points, and the graduation rate topped 95%.

District administrators attributed the success to low staff turnover and grant funding that allows teachers ample time to prepare lesson plans, collaborate and understand new curriculum, particularly in math. The newly rebuilt high school also has popular career pathways, including construction management and transportation, which entice students to stay in school and graduate, said Lisa Benslay, the district’s director of intervention.

“Our mission is to end generational poverty through education,” Benslay said. “People have really bought into that. They see the need, and feel a moral conviction.”

Funding expires

Statewide, students’ performance tanked during the pandemic, when most schools closed for in-person learning, but rebounded significantly the past few years. The state and federal government poured billions into programs to help students recover, such as tutoring, after-school and summer programs, mental health counseling and enticements meant to boost attendance.

But that money largely expired last year, and schools have had to cut many of those programs. Some are also getting less money from the state due to declining enrollment.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.