The Brief

Homeowners who lost everything in the January wildfires are still on the hook for their mortgage payments. And in the coming months, some of them could end up paying rent for their temporary housing too.

It could take years for displaced homeowners to rebuild and move back into their neighborhoods. But some fire survivors will run out of insurance money to pay for temporary housing before they can return home, according to a new survey of nearly 2,000 survivors compiled by the organization Department of Angels.

Some people have already run out. Others didn't have coverage for costs like temporary housing — typically known as "loss of use" or "additional living expenses" coverage.

In all, the report found that 6 in 10 of people displaced by the Eaton and Palisades fires won't have coverage left for temporary housing within the year.

The same report found that 77% of survivors who are displaced estimated rebuilding would take two years or more. This could stick displaced families with yet another challenge to returning to their neighborhoods: paying rent and a mortgage at the same time.

Andrew King, who has been helping neighbors navigate fire recovery since their block went up in flames, said he sees a crisis brewing that could upend plans to rebuild.

" If they run out of the temporary housing coverage, then they're gonna be forced to make a really difficult decision about whether or not they have to sell their home or figure out a way to keep paying their rent and their mortgage," he said. " I started kind of imagining this as a ticking time bomb."

How did we get here? 

Home insurance typically includes coverage for “loss of use” or “additional living expenses” that come from not being able to use a home after a loss. This bucket of coverage pays for things like rent for a temporary home. Under the California FAIR Plan, the insurance pot used for these costs is “fair rental value," which is coverage based on the rental value of the home before the loss.

The problem is that money for displacement costs has a limit that often doesn't cover all of survivors' needs, according to Amy Bach with the advocacy organization United Policyholders. She helps disaster survivors navigate their insurance policies and said it's a problem she's seen after other fires.

" People running out — it's been such a big problem," she said.

Rents skyrocketed in the weeks after the January fires, as displaced families entered an already tight housing market. Angela Giacchetti, who works for the Department of Angels, said this means that many families are paying rent far higher than their mortgage.

"People are kind of burning through that money very quickly," Giacchetti said. "And so what we're looking at essentially is a cliff of displacement on top of displacement."

It's a problem Nicole Wirth saw coming when she and her husband lost their Altadena home in the Eaton Fire. Her insurance offers a maximum of $95,000 for "loss of use" of their house, and she worried that wouldn't last them until their rebuild was over.

After looking at the high price of rentals, including a back house across the street from the rubble of their home going for $4,250 a month, they decided not to move into a short-term or year-long rental right away. Instead they moved around, living with family, in hotels, in back houses, and even in their camper van for periods.

Over five months, Wirth estimated that she moved 26 times, including extended stays at campsites, before landing at a place in May that is affordable enough to last until their rebuild is complete.

" This whole loss-of-use situation was probably the most traumatic part of all of it," she said, speaking about life since January. "Just because of trying to find a place within the budget that we were given by our insurance."

Options once you run out

Disaster experts told LAist that one option for people facing an insurance cliff is appealing a claim with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which can cover up to 18 months of rental assistance.

FEMA has faced criticisms from some fire survivors who say it hasn't met their expectations. According to a recent LAist analysis of FEMA data, assistance to eligible survivors has covered around 7% of their assessed damage costs so far on average.

The deadline for filing an application with FEMA has passed, but it's still possible to appeal its decisions.

Aimee Williams, who works with homeowners at Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles, said in past disasters, some homeowners have moved back onto their lots during the rebuilding process and lived in an ADU or tiny house to avoid paying rent and a mortgage at the same time.

" We are seeing a lot of people who are underinsured," Williams said. "Unfortunately that's really common. And people often find that out only when a disaster like this happens, how common that actually is."

Could this lead people to sell?

Coming insurance woes aren't the only issue for homeowners. Some are already struggling to pay their mortgages. Homeowners who delayed payments through a state forbearance program told LAist that their mortgage companies are now demanding quick, full repayment despite state rules.

Andrew King, who lost his home in the Eaton Fire, said he fears that insurance money running dry will derail his neighbors' plans to return to Altadena.

" You are going to have folks that are likely not going to be able to stay in their homes, and that is going to dramatically impact recovery," he said.

Most survey respondents who were displaced by the Eaton and Palisades fires said they want to return and rebuild.

It remains unclear how many of them will be able to.

A woman was arrested for allegedly trafficking arms on behalf of the Iranian government at LAX on Saturday night, according to authorities.

Shamim Mafi of Woodland Hills is charged with helping the regime sell drones, bombs and millions of rounds of ammunition to Sudan.

Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, made the arrest announcement Sunday morning on social media.

The 44-year-old Mafi is expected to appear in court for a bond hearing Monday afternoon in downtown L.A.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the Department of Justice and obtained by LAist, Mafi allegedly brokered weapons deals on behalf of Iran through Atlas International, a business in Oman she co-owns, including facilitating a contract valued at more than €60 million (or some US $70 million) for the sale of Iranian-made armed drones to Sudan.

She is also being accused of brokering the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses, AK-47 machine guns and other weapons to the Sudanese Ministry of Defense.

Mafi faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Essayli said Mafi is an Iranian national who became a permanent resident of the U.S. in 2016.

After weeks of waiting to hear how — or whether — the U.S. government might refund the tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court, Monday is the day it finally begins.

Imagine tens of thousands of business owners with their fingers hovering over laptops, ready to enter America's hottest new queue: the U.S. tariff-refund portal.

U.S. Customs is launching just the first phase of payouts, so not all the goods imported under the illegal tariffs will immediately qualify. And the latest federal guidance says that after refund requests are approved, it could take 60 to 90 days to return the money to the importer.

Still, this marks a turning point for U.S. importers, who've waited for clarity for exactly two months since the U.S. Supreme Court declared most of President Trump's tariffs unconstitutional. The high court did not opine on the process of refunds, and government officials at first suggested the process could prove unwieldy.

"Small businesses organized, spoke out, and won a major victory," said Main Street Alliance, which advocates for U.S. small businesses, in a statement. "Now, the federal government must follow through with a refund process that truly works for Main Street."

U.S. Customs has estimated that it owes a total of $166 billion in tariff refunds, and the agency's legal filings suggest that the initial phase would tackle the majority of affected imports. On Tuesday, a Customs official told a judge that the vast majority of eligible importers signed up for electronic payments, as the agency is requiring, and that group is owed about $127 billion.

Will consumers see any of that money land in their pockets? Probably not, economics and legal experts say.

The cost of tariffs has been woven into the prices of many products in a way that can make it hard to separate out what customers ultimately paid. Often, manufacturers, suppliers, importers, retailers and shoppers all absorb costs along the way. And with tariffs landing on the heels of historic inflation, companies big and small have argued that they ate much of the cost to avoid spooking shoppers with higher prices.

In fact, many retailers find themselves in a similar quandary because tariff refunds will go to whoever paid the actual customs bill. It's unclear how, or if, the refunds might trickle down to store owners who paid tariff surcharges to their suppliers.

"As a retailer, I didn't pay tariffs directly. However, I did pay them indirectly in the form of higher wholesale prices," says Joe Kimray, owner of B & W Hardware in North Carolina. Most of his products are either made abroad or use imported parts.

"I plan to have conversations with a number of manufacturers and hope that they will do the right thing and share some of the tariff refund money with us," he says. "I don't expect to get a direct refund check from anyone, but it could be even as simple as offering discounts on the wholesale cost of future product purchases."

Shoppers hoping to recoup their own tariff expenses have launched class-action lawsuits against several companies, including Costco and FedEx. The shipping giant has pledged to pass down any refunds it receives. Costco's CEO last month told investors the company would return shoppers' money through "lower prices and better values" and would be transparent about its plans.

U.S. Customs' initial phase of refunds will focus on tariff payments that haven't been finalized because they technically are still under federal review. (Companies typically pay import duties as soon as their goods arrive at the border, but the complete customs review that follows can take nearly a year.) The government will continue to set up its new system, called CAPE, so that it can later on refund older, finalized tariff payments.

NPR asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection about the scale of tariff refunds it expects to handle in the first phase, including the volume of claims the agency's new tool is prepared to handle on Monday. A CBP spokesperson in response said that CAPE was developed "to efficiently process refunds" and referred importers and brokers to the agency's updated tariff-refund guidance.

NPR's Scott Horsley contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Monopoly lovers can now buy up the Queen Mary, collect rent on Belmont Shore and park their token at a storied tattoo shop, Outer Limits.

The Long Beach landmarks line the spaces of a new Monopoly edition themed around L.A. County’s second biggest city, released just this month.

The Long Beach edition is part of an expanding series of Monopoly games featuring dozens of American cities, which Hasbro licensee Top Trumps started to produce about five years ago when interest in board games surged during the pandemic.

What it takes to make the cut

How does a city land on one of the world's most popular board games? Turns out, it’s not just a roll of the dice.

“We’re looking for places with strong community pride, places where people will really love seeing their city on a Monopoly board,” said Jennifer Tripsea, a partnership sales executive with Top Trumps.

Long Beach fit the bill and got to join a list of SoCal cities on Monopoly boards including Huntington Beach, Riverside and Palm Springs.

Tripsea said in some instances, a city will pitch themselves to the company — she didn’t disclose which have — but not every place makes the cut.

There has to be enough population — or local enthusiasm — to support a run of thousands of games.

Top Trumps sells the games online and through local businesses, sometimes the same ones featured on the board. That creates a built-in customer base: residents, tourists and collectors hunting for their next addition.

And while some businesses may offer to sponsor their way into consideration, their inclusion isn’t a given.

Tripsea said when deciding who earns a spot, the company weighs cultural relevance, brand standards and community input.

The community gets a turn

Once a city is selected, residents are invited to help shape the board.

That means emailing suggested landmarks and drafting potential Chance and Community Chest cards. For Long Beach, one Community Chest card directs players to collect $100 if they "attend a beach cleanup at Alamitos Beach."

Hundreds of submissions flooded in over the last year, many pointing to the same top attractions, Tripsea said. The Queen Mary and Aquarium of the Pacific take up the same spots on the board that are occupied by Park Place and Boardwalk in the original game.

Of course the Queen Mary historic ocean liner landed a plum spot on the Long Beach version of Monopoly.

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Patrick T. Fallon

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Getty Images

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Others featured on the board are lesser known to outsiders, like Rosie’s Dog Beach and the Arts Council for Long Beach.

The arts nonprofit was “surprised and excited” to hear from Top Trumps last year that they were being included in a version all about Long Beach, said interim executive director Lisa DeSmidt.

“I describe Long Beach as a big city that's run like a small town, and that everybody kind of knows each other to some degree,” DeSmidt said. “Long Beach has a sense of community in that Long Beach takes care of Long Beach people.”

An intern for the Arts Council for Long Beach designed its space on the Monopoly board.

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Arts Council for Long Beach

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An intern for the arts council, Peyton Smith, designed its space on the board, featuring small, intricate renderings of landmarks like the Long Beach Airport and the pyramid arena at Cal State Long Beach.

For DeSmidt, the game serves as a kind of cultural snapshot highlighting the city’s mix of arts, neighborhoods and institutions. It’s reminiscent of the council’s own project mapping the city’s cultural assets.

“This ties into uplifting what makes Long Beach unique and what people love about it,” DeSmidt said.

Monopoly's lasting pull

Outer Limits Tattoo was also invited to be part of the game, where it now appears next to VIP Records on the board.

Recognized as the country’s oldest continuously working tattoo shop, Outer Limits’ history dates back to 1927, when it opened in the waterfront amusement district known as The Pike, now home to the Pike Outlets.

Outer Limits' general manager Matt Hand said once word got out that the shop was stocking the game, customers started showing up just to buy it.

“It’s just a cool thing,” Hand said. “Especially when it’s like, ‘The business where I get tattooed’ is on the board.”

A big reason Hand thinks these editions are catching on is nostalgia. Seeing your own city in a board game that you played as a kid — and may be now playing with your own kids — is thrilling.

“You're basically like a part of the game now,” Hand said.

You might have noticed a little more purple on your commute in Los Angeles recently. Turns out the jacarandas are putting on their annual show of blooms a little early this year.

Originally from the tropics, jacarandas respond to changes in temperature. They typically flower in our region from late April to mid-June.

But remember that sweltering heat wave we got in March?

“They got the clear sign: ‘It’s over 90 [degrees], it’s hot out. Even though you weren’t quite prepared, it’s time to put out some flowers,'” Loral Hall, community forestry senior program manager at environmental nonprofit TreePeople, told LAist.

Hall said not only do jacarandas grace us every year with thick canopies and carpets of purple, they’re relatively drought tolerant, pest resistant and able to grow in urban areas (like in a small square patch of dirt surrounded by concrete).

“They’re attention-grabbers here in Southern California,” said Hall, who grew up in Hollywood and has childhood memories of playing with the fallen purple blooms at a local park. “In a place where we don’t have really obvious seasons, [jacaranda blooms] are a sign that warmer weather is on the way.”

Hall also shared a lesser-known fact about jacarandas: There’s a white cultivar, too. The white version is much more rare in L.A., though with some of the trees rumored to be in a non-public area of the L.A. County Arboretum, Hall said.

A jacaranda at the LA Arboretum.

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Katherine Garrova

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How’d they get here? 

The jacaranda is native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Argentina and Brazil.

While we don’t know exactly when the jacaranda first arrived in our area, we do know they were brought to Southern California in the late 19th century and proliferated thanks to a local horticulturist named Kate Sessions.

Where are the purple hot spots? 

A couple years ago, a local data graphics editor even created an interactive map so you can find the purple hot spots.

They’re... everywhere, so it shouldn’t be too hard to stumble upon a jacaranda show.