The Brief

As rebuilding from the Palisades and Eaton fires gets under way, some homeowners are choosing to build differently. Instead of the usual wood framing, they’re working with a material typically associated with freeways and skyscrapers: concrete.

Only 7% of homes nationwide are currently built with concrete, according to the National Association of Home Builders. But experts say this hardy, non-combustible material could become more popular in areas with high fire risk, such as the Los Angeles County neighborhoods where thousands of homes were destroyed in January 2025.

While concrete doesn’t make a home totally fire-proof, insurance companies are recognizing its safety benefits by offering homeowners lower premiums. While cost has been a barrier in the past, some homeowners say the expense of concrete now compares favorably with wood.

One recent morning on the Sunset Mesa lot where her home burned down, Karen Martinez adjusted her hard hat and flipped through the blueprints for her new home.

“These are my original chicken scratch drawings, which I love doing,” Martinez said.

Martinez has overseen the building process for many of her previous homes. But this will be her first project using concrete blocks. Technically called insulating composite concrete forms, the bulky gray blocks stacked all over her property are lighter than they appear.

“It's about 87% polystyrene and 13% cement,” said Martinez, who is soft-spoken and self-described as “nutty” about building materials.

“Basically they're non-combustible. So in a fire, you're pretty much safe from the walls burning,” she said.

These blocks, called insulated composite concrete forms, will be used to form the walls of Karen Martinez's new home.

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‘There are better ways to build’

It didn’t take long for Martinez to choose this material after her old wood-framed home was lost in the Palisades Fire.

“It was just probably a day or two of shock,” she said. “When I finally started thinking about, OK, I have to rebuild, obviously, I'm going to be building with something that's non-combustible.”

Martinez said there are other benefits beyond fire safety: she said the material can withstand earthquakes, and it won’t get termites because it contains no wood.

Martinez saw the need to do things differently. The hardest part, she said, was getting others on board. Securing permits from L.A. County, talking her architect into using this kind of concrete, even helping her neighbors with plans for their own concrete homes.

It all took some convincing.

“Most architects and contractors don't know how to use it,” Martinez said. “All they know is wood and maybe steel. It's hard to convince people to change their ways. That's my goal. I'm trying to just educate people and say that there are better ways to build.”

Some insurance companies agree. Victor Joseph, president and chief operating officer of Mercury Insurance, said his company is offering discounts to those who rebuild with fire resistant materials.

“What we're incentivizing with these types of discounts is really some combination of steel, concrete and glass,” Joseph said.

He said homeowners can get up to 50% off the wildfire portion of their premium by rebuilding with materials like concrete.

Why some Palisades rebuilds are going concrete

“In high wildfire areas, that results in a pretty substantial discount,” he said.

Concrete alone doesn’t fire-proof a home

Concrete blocks have been used for decades to build homes in other countries, but they are still an unusual building material in Southern California homes.

Tom Tietz, executive director of the California Nevada Cement Association, said growing awareness of fire risk could help the blocks catch on with more homeowners.

“There's clearly a desire from folks that have lost their homes to make sure that never happens again,” Tietz said.

Concrete homes aren’t automatically fire proof. Embers can still fly in through vents or windows. Steve Hawks, senior director for wildfire with the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, said even concrete homes need strong sealing.

“The structure is only as good as the weakest link,” Hawks said. “If you only address the siding material and don't address the window and the vents and the other components, you still leave the home very vulnerable to these significant, intense wildfires.”

Learning from L.A.’s concrete home history

Though rarely used in single-family homes, concrete does have a long history in Southern California architecture.

Architect R.M. Schindler built L.A.’s first modernist home in 1922 using concrete slabs poured on site and tilted up to form monolithic walls.

The Schindler House in West Hollywood was constructed more than a century ago in what is now West Hollywood, using concrete and redwood as its main building materials.

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“I think there's a perceived kind of coldness with concrete,” said Maeve Atkinson, education and engagement manager for the Schindler House through the MAK Center for Art and Architecture.

Atkinson said Schindler wanted to use new materials to build a new kind of home, one that was open to the outdoors and designed for not one, but two couples.

“It was about living differently,” Atkinson said. “It was about being much more in tune with the elements and with nature.”

Schindler decided to leave the raw concrete exposed. Its grooves and cracks remain visible, contrasting with the redwood beams that form the rest of the building’s open structure.

Homeowners recovering from January’s fires don’t need to go raw and radical like Schindler. Martinez said her home, covered with stucco, will look much like any other modern L.A. home.

“I'm hoping that this will actually become the future of building,” she said. “I think it's a much, much better way to build, and it's not more expensive. I think actually everybody should be doing it.”

If all goes according to plan, she said, her home should be done before the two year anniversary of the Palisades Fire — and ready to take on whatever comes next.

Costco now is one of the largest companies to sue the Trump administration over tariffs, hoping to secure a refund if the Supreme Court declares the new import duties illegal.

The Supreme Court is weighing the future of President Donald Trump's tariffs on nearly all imports. Justices seemed skeptical about their legality during last month's oral arguments. Lower courts previously had found Trump improperly used emergency economic powers to set most of the new levies.

Dozens of companies across industries have filed lawsuits to seek refunds in the event the Supreme Court finds Trump's tariffs illegal. The list includes makeup giant Revlon, the canned foods maker Bumble Bee and Kawasaki, which makes motorcycles and more. Now Costco has joined the queue.

"This is the first time we're seeing big companies take their heads out of the sand publicly," said Marc Busch, a trade law expert at Georgetown University. For the most part, small companies have been leading the legal action against tariffs, he said, adding, "It's nice to finally see some heavyweights joining in the fray."

In its suit filed with the U.S. Court of International Trade, Costco did not specify how much it's already paid in tariffs, but the retail giant worries that even if the Supreme Court eventually unravels Trump's tariff regime, it may not be able to recoup all that money.

Costco executives in May had said that about a third of what is sold in the U.S. comes from abroad, predominantly non-food items.

NPR's Scott Horsley contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 NPR

The L.A. City Council voted 8-4 on Tuesday to continue allowing the Los Angeles Police Department to be armed with 40 mm foam bullet launchers and tear gas.

California law enforcement agencies are required to track and publicly document how they use military equipment, including less-lethal bean bag shotgun rounds, drones and armored vehicles, under state law AB 481 passed in 2022. The law also requires city leaders to approve or disapprove military equipment use annually. That vote came in front of the council Tuesday.

Another law passed after the George Floyd protests of 2020 restricted the use of crowd-control weapons, including tear gas and foam bullets, unless specific criteria are met. In 2020, a federal judge also imposed an injunction restricting LAPD’s use of force at protests, citing the “unfortunate history of civil rights violations by LAPD officers.”

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez — who introduced an amendment asking city leaders to ban the LAPD’s use of 40 mm foam bullet launchers and tear gas — said military equipment use is allowed only in specific instances but that the police department has deployed the weapons “in ways that should make everyone here on this body pause.” He cited examples of weapons used against journalists and protesters during this summer’s protests against federal immigration activity in L.A.

“In recent months, we’ve watched this equipment deployed in ways that echo the same intimidation tactics we condemn in ICE raids — tactics that erode trust and violate basic legal protections,” he said. “Our residents should be able to exercise their rights without being met with [foam] bullets or tear gas.”

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell countered that such weapons are "a de-escalation tool, short of using deadly force. The last thing we want to use is deadly force."

He continued: "Taking a tool like this away from us puts us in a very bad position relative to city liability and relative to protecting our officers and the public that we serve.”

In 2024, Los Angeles was liable for more than $50 million in payouts related to civil rights violations and unlawful use of force by the LAPD, according to the city controller’s office.

 ”Rather than be swayed by emotion or swayed by the loud voices of a relative few," McDonnell said Tuesday, "we're here to protect 4 million residents of Los Angeles and all the visitors who come here."

How we got here

After this summer’s anti-ICE protests, the LAPD once again came under scrutiny for its use of foam bullet launchers and tear gas.

An LAist investigation found LAPD used crowd-dispersal tools on people who did not appear to pose a threat and, in some cases, did not appear to be protesting at all. LAist reporters witnessed LAPD officers firing less-lethal munitions into crowds and at protestors running away from police. They did not hear clear warnings about the use of crowd-dispersal weapons during some of the protests and could not locate evidence that adequate warning was provided during subsequent protests.

But at Tuesday’s council meeting, McDonnell said, these weapons are deployed as “a last resort to be able to restore order” and after people have been given time to leave.

The Los Angeles Press Club sued the LAPD after June’s protests, citing violations of journalists’ rights while covering protests. After a judge issued an injunction in that case prohibiting the use of force against journalists, the LAPD filed an emergency motion asking the judge to lift the injunction, stating it required “operationally impracticable standards.” The judge denied the LAPD’s request.

How to watchdog your police department

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention.

AB 481 requires police departments — including those at transit agencies, school districts and university campuses, sheriff’s departments, district attorney’s offices and probation departments — to provide reports about the use of military equipment.

So how do you know if they're in compliance? It’s simple. Search for the law enforcement agency name and "AB 481" on any search engine, and a public page should pop up. Here’s the LAPD’s.

The city of Los Angeles has been working on major changes to its charter, which is basically the city’s constitution. The changes could bring sweeping reform to how the city works.

The Los Angeles City Charter Reform Commission has been meeting for several months on a wide range of topics, including City Council expansion, ranked-choice voting systems and land-use planning changes.

“It is weedy. It is academic. But the charter touches Angelenos’ everyday lives,” said Raymond Meza, who chairs the commission.

This week, the commission will host a town hall meeting in Echo Park in an effort to get more people involved in the process. It will take place outside on the northeast lawn of the park — weather permitting.

Despite getting a slow start, the commission is hosting multiple meetings in an effort to meet an April 2 deadline to submit proposals to the City Council. It’ll be up to the council to decide whether to place reform proposals on the ballot next November.

The commission has broken reform down into four subject areas, with committees for each.

They are:

• planning and infrastructure
• government structure
• better government
• personnel and budget

“We’re in an exciting moment,” said David Levitus of L.A. Forward, an advocacy group.

“Looking at the charter for reform is long overdue”

Reform Commission

The L.A. City Council created the commission last year after a series of scandals rocked City Hall. Former Councilmember Jose Huizar went to prison on federal corruption charges and secret audio tapes revealed backroom dealing on redistricting.

The panel is made up of four appointees by Mayor Karen Bass, two by the council president and two by the president pro tempore. Those eight selected an additional five through an open application process.

On Thursday, the full commission is expected to take up proposals for a two-year budget cycle and an expedited city hiring process. Advocates of the changes say extending budget planning from one to two years will allow city leaders to better anticipate spending and revenue.

They say the city hiring process is slow and byzantine.

Meza said the Echo Park meeting Saturday is an opportunity for members of the public to learn more about the process and speak at length with commissioners.

“We absolutely want to hear from people what is important to them as residents of the city of Los Angeles when it comes to their expectations of their city government," he said.

How to get involved

For a list of all upcoming meetings, go here.

To submit a public comment, you can email reformLAcharter@lacity.org.

There’s also a survey on the commission’s website at reformlacharter.lacity.gov.

A bright full moon. One of the year’s best meteor showers. Even a chance to see Jupiter at its most striking.

Winter 2025–26 will bring a range of exciting space events for skygazers to enjoy, starting this week. Keep reading for what to mark on your calendar as the nights grow long.

A full moon at its closest point to Earth

When to see: Thursday

December opens this week with a full moon, dubbed the “Cold Moon,” that also happens to be near perigee: the point in the moon’s elliptical orbit when it’s closest to Earth.

That proximity on Dec. 4 makes the moon appear slightly larger and brighter. But should we be calling it a “supermoon” too?

“That’s a very misleading term,” said Andrew Fraknoi, astronomer and professor at the University of San Francisco’s Fromm Institute — one of the astronomers who rolls their eyes at this particular label.

This is because the average stargazer “cannot tell the difference between full moons that are regular or super: a complaint people sometimes have about cheap burger places, too,” Fraknoi said.

Still, whatever you want to call this event, this week brings a good excuse to appreciate our nearest celestial neighbor.

Day-to-night time-lapse panorama of downtown San Francisco with full moon.

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The Geminids meteor shower, with a moon-free show

When to see: Dec. 13 and 14

The Geminids meteor shower is considered one of the most reliable meteor displays of the year — and sometimes, it’s the most spectacular too.

This winter, conditions are nearly perfect to view the Geminids, since the shower peaks overnight around midnight on Dec. 13 and 14, but the moon won’t rise until around 2 a.m., according to the American Meteor Society. That means the skies will be wonderfully dark during the evening and just past midnight.

Long exposure of the sky taken during a past Geminids meteor shower.

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The Geminids are fragments shed from an asteroid-like object called 3200 Phaeton, which often produces bright, colorful meteors. And with the peak happening on a weekend this year, families can bundle up, find a dark spot away from city lights and look up without worrying about school the next morning.

Another reason to stay up for the Geminids: The next major meteor shower, the Quandratids on Jan. 3 and 4, are predicted to be largely washed out by a full moon.

The winter solstice

When to see: Dec. 21

This one may be less something to “see,” but the solstice is still a momentous milestone for winter: marking the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Astronomers believe that billions of years ago, Earth collided with a mini planet called Theia, which caused our planet to tilt by 23 degrees — giving our globe its seasons. “The Earth was in a traffic accident and has never been able to straighten out,” Fraknoi said.

After Dec. 21, daylight slowly begins its long climb back toward summer — good news for anyone who doesn’t enjoy the deep, dark nights of winter.

A teenage girl uses the astronomy telescope to observe the stars on a cold winter night.

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Earth at perihelion

When to see: Jan. 3

On Day 3 of 2026, at around 9:15 a.m. PST, our planet will be at “perihelion” — that is, at its closest to the sun.

To many who aren’t on the lookout, the sun may just look the same as any other day. But it will actually appear slightly larger than any other day in the year.

A fun fact: At perihelion, the Earth receives 7% more solar energy than when the planet is at its farthest from the sun.

Jupiter at opposition

When to see: Throughout January

Just after the New Year, Jupiter reaches opposition — the moment when the giant planet sits directly opposite the sun in our sky. As the sun sets, Jupiter rises and stays visible all night long, making the planet exceptionally bright in January.

NASA’s Juno mission captured this view of Jupiter’s southern hemisphere during the spacecraft’s 39th close flyby of the planet on Jan. 12, 2022.

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Since Jupiter reflects sunlight well, “it will be a brilliant point in the sky, easy to find with the naked eye,” Fraknoi said.

And with a small telescope, you can even try to spot Jupiter’s moons. “Galileo’s first small telescope revealed four big moons orbiting Jupiter, forever destroying the notion that everything has to go around the Earth,” Fraknoi said. And this winter, these moons will be widely spaced and easy for you to see.