The Brief

The thing with social media platforms is misinformation can spread as fast as the fires currently burning across the L.A. region. Hot off the announcement that Meta is doing away with fact checkers, social media has been ablaze with conspiracy theories and AI generated images and videos.

The Department of Homeland Security says scammers take advantage of disasters and emergency situations “to further an ulterior agenda” by playing on people’s emotions and using trending algorithms for “hijacking conversations and financial scams.”

Kristina Lerman, a research professor at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering who specializes in misinformation, AI and how people communicate in digital spaces, said during times of crises  everybody's talking about the same thing so it gives opportunities for people to push their misinformation.

“They use these opportunities, times of crisis, to push their agendas through propaganda,” she said. “They would take one grain of truth, and then they would twist it to fit the narrative, to promote their own specific narrative that they want to push.”

Cailin O'Connor, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, said sometimes when misinformation spreads, people can act on it, which could have consequences during an emergency situation.

" There's also kind of emotional impacts where sometimes people are upset or scared about things that they don't need to be because of misinformation spreading about something that's so scary and serious," she said.

LAist sorted through the fact and fiction for you regarding some of the misinformation that has cropped up recently:

• Should you book a ticket to L.A. to aid in clean up?

No, there is a false post making the rounds on Facebook asking people to come to California to aid in the cleanup of areas affected by the fires. CalFire officials say this is false and “there is no such opportunity available.”

• Are fire crews from South Africa aiding in the firefighting efforts?

No. A video circulating on social media shows firefighters from South Africa landing at a Canadian airport while supposedly enroute to Los Angeles. The video was from 2023 when South African crews aided in firefights in Mexico.

• Were Oregon firefighters turned away because their equipment did not pass emission tests?

No. They were not turned away and their equipment did pass safety checks. Oregon firefighters joined in the L.A. firefight Friday morning.  ”The L.A. County Fire Department has never turned down any offers for mutual aid assistance and resources,” L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at a news conference Monday.

• Did fire crews actually use handbags to put out the fire?

On the contrary, those bags in the videos circulating online are canvas bags, an LAFD spokesperson told CBS News. Canvas bags are a common tool used by first responders to put out smaller flames — an easier response than pulling out a hose.

• Did the Hollywood sign burn? Was a neighborhood mosque the only structure left standing?

WhatsApp messages a reporter received to verify a video doing the rounds.

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No and no. The image of the Hollywood sign on fire is AI generated and the mosque in question is in Indonesia. Want to fact check content forwarded to you? You can use Google Reverse Image Search.

• Is Gov. Gavin Newsom going to work with property developers to rebuild Pacific Palisades into apartments instead of single family homes?

No, Newsom took to X to refute those claims. And changes to zoning fall under the purview of city governments, not the state.

• Why didn’t Newsom sign the "water restoration" declaration?

There is no water restoration declaration, despite what President-elect Donald Trump said. Read more here.

• Why did the water hydrants in Pacific Palisades run dry?

They didn’t. Pressure in those water hydrants was reduced as demand for water – four times than normal – increased. My colleague Kevin Tidmarsh has a great explainer here.

• More brush clearance could have helped prevent the Palisades Fire, why wasn’t it done? 

Even if the excess vegetation was cleared, there was no stopping the powerful winds that fueled the spread of the wildfires. The winds could cast embers more than a mile away, making containing the spread impossible, my colleague Jacob Margolis writes.

• Can I donate to the L.A. County Fire Department via links I found online?

No, the L.A. County Fire Department is currently not accepting online donations as they do not have a system in place to accept them.  "We have staff working on a process to accept donations over the internet for our L.A. County Fire Department," said L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone. "I ask that those wanting to donate hold off until we have a process established that will guarantee the funds benefit our personnel."

• I am seeing reports online about how the L.A. Fire Department prioritized DEI efforts in the last few years and that's why the wildfires caused so much destruction. Is this true?

L.A. Fire Department is headed by a gay woman, Kristin Crowley. As our friends at NPR write, partisan politics during a crisis is used to drive engagement online.

"The story is something like this: We as a society used to hire on the basis of competence and meritocracy. But that system has been hijacked by powerful minorities," Ian Haney López, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the author "Dog Whistle Politics" told NPR.

• How can I get a permit for expedited reentry into Malibu?

You can't get one because they don't exist. The city of Malibu said people are not currently allowed into evacuation zones, neither are private contractors. If people need to check on a pet or obtain medication, they can call the city at (310) 456-2489.

• I have heard the billionaire owners of The Wonderful Company, Stewart and Lynda Resnick own most of the water in California. Is this true?

Stephanie Pincetl, director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA, told NPR that they do use a lot of the state's water, but it is not "distinct and not germane to the problem" of battling wildfires.

• Are we running out of water to fight the wildfires?

We are not. Local reservoirs have enough water to aid firefights. " There's way more water in local storage than you could ever fight a fire with," Marty Adams, former general manager and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told NPR.

• Did mansions belonging to Ukrainian military officers burn down in the fire?

No, that was misinformation pushed by pro-Kremlin accounts. "It is the latest in a long string of assertions by Russian officials, media, and the pro-Kremlin online ecosystem that Ukrainian officials are corrupt and use foreign aid money to enrich themselves." Léa Ronzaud, a senior investigator at research firm Graphika, told NPR.

• California has stringent environmental policies. Did those cause the wildfires?

No, this is a claim by people like Elon Musk doing the rounds on social media. Experts from UCLA's Law School Emmett Institute say the regulations help rather than hurt California. The L.A. Municipal Code requires homeowners to clear brush that could pose fire risk from near their property. The state also passed a law in 2020 requiring homeowners to create a 5-foot fire resistant buffer zone around their property. That law hasn't been formally enforced as some homeowners are resistant to the change because they don't find it aesthetically pleasing.

How to be a fact checker

Lerman and O'Connor shared some tips that people can use to sift through all the information:

• Take a moment to verify. Turn to other people in your social circles, the media or government officials to verify claims. For example, when the false alarm evacuation texts were sent out, a call to the local police station confirmed that it was indeed false. 
• Check your source. If the message has a political bias, ask whose agenda it could be serving. “ Anything that's linked to the blame game right now, like blaming somebody as being responsible for it, that's a sure sign that's actually being used for propaganda purposes and not to convey relevant information,” Lerman said.  Some of the best information comes from those who have vast experience and background on topics. “If it’s an online influencer, like a fashion influencer or celebrity or even a politician from outside of the state who really is not addressing the wildfires directly, then be skeptical about the information they are promoting because they could have some hidden agenda behind it.”
• Check if an image is AI generated — a tall tale sign is misplaced text or inaccuracies. For example, the viral photo of the Hollywood sign on fire had an extra L in “Hollywood.”
• Slow down. O'Connor said take a moment to pause before sharing information. Sometimes just stopping to think through what you are about to share can help distinguish whether it is false or not.

This story will be updated as more misinformation is spotted.

People have been taking to the streets nationwide this weekend to protest the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics following the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis, a 37-year-old woman who was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer this week.

At least 1,000 events across the U.S. were planned for Saturday and Sunday, according to Indivisible, a progressive grassroots coalition of activists helping coordinate the movement it calls "ICE Out For Good Weekend of Action."

Leah Greenberg, a co-executive director of Indivisible, said people are coming together to "grieve, honor those we've lost, and demand accountability from a system that has operated with impunity for far too long."

"Renee Nicole Good was a wife, a mother of three, and a member of her community. She, and the dozens of other sons, daughters, friends, siblings, parents, and community members who have been killed by ICE, should be alive today," Greenberg said in a statement on Friday. "ICE's violence is not a statistic, it has names, families, and futures attached to it, and we refuse to look away or stay silent."

Large crowds of demonstrators carried signs and shouted "ICE out now!" as protests continued across Minneapolis on Saturday. One of those protestors, Cameron Kritikos, told NPR that he is worried that the presence of more ICE agents in the city could lead to more violence or another death.

"If more ICE officers are deployed to the streets, especially a place here where there's very clear public opposition to the terrorizing of our neighborhoods, I'm nervous that there's going to be more violence," the 31-year grocery store worker said. "I'm nervous that there are going to be more clashes with law enforcement officials, and at the end of the day I think that's not what anyone wants."

Demonstrators in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026.

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The night before, hundreds of city and state police officers responded to a "noise protest" in downtown Minneapolis. An estimated 1,000 people gathered Friday night, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara, and 29 people were arrested.

People demonstrated outside of hotels where ICE agents were believed to be staying. They chanted, played drums and banged pots. O'Hara said that a group of people split from the main protest and began damaging hotel windows. One police officer was injured from a chunk of ice that was hurled at officers, he added.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey condemned the acts of violence but praised what he said was the "vast majority" of protesters who remained peaceful, during a morning news conference.

"To anyone who causes property damage or puts others in danger: you will be arrested. We are standing up to Donald Trump's chaos not with our own brand of chaos, but with care and unity," Frey wrote on social media.

Commenting on the protests, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NPR in a statement, "the First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly — not rioting, assault and destruction," adding, "DHS is taking measures to uphold the rule of law and protect public safety and our officers."

Good was fatally shot the day after DHS launched a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota set to deploy 2,000 immigration officers to the state.

In Philadelphia, police estimated about 500 demonstrators "were cooperative and peaceful" at a march that began Saturday morning at City Hall, Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson Tanya Little told NPR in a statement. And no arrests were made.

In Portland, Ore., demonstrators rallied and lined the streets outside of a hospital on Saturday afternoon, where immigration enforcement agents bring detainees who are injured during an arrest, reported Oregon Public Broadcasting.

A man and woman were shot and injured by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Thursday in the city. DHS said the shooting happened during a targeted vehicle stop and identified the driver as Luis David Nino-Moncada, and the passenger as Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, both from Venezuela. As was the case in their assertion about Good's fatal shooting, Homeland Security officials claimed the federal agent acted in self-defense after Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras "weaponized their vehicle."
Copyright 2026 NPR

Bob Weir, the guitarist and songwriter who was a founding member of the popular and massively influential American rock band the Grateful Dead, has died. According to a statement from his family posted on his website and social media pages, Weir died from underlying lung issues after recently beating cancer. He was 78.

A member of the Dead for its first three decades, and a keeper of the flame of the band's legacy for three more, Weir helped to write a new chapter of American popular music that influenced countless other musicians and brought together an enormous and loyal audience. The Grateful Dead's touring, bootlegging and merchandising set an example that helped initiate the jam-band scene. Its concerts created a community that brought together generations of followers.

Known to fans as "Bobby," he was born in San Francisco as Robert Hall Parber, but was given up for adoption and raised by Frederick and Eleanor Weir. In 1964, when he was still a teenager, Weir joined guitarist Jerry Garcia in a folk music band, Mother Mcree's Uptown Jug Band. In May of 1965 Weir and Garcia were joined by bassist Phil Lesh, keyboard player Ron "Pigpen" McKernan and drummer Bill Kreutzmann to form an electric, blues-based rock and roll band that was briefly named The Warlocks. After discovering that there was another band using that name, Jerry Garcia found a phrase that caught his eye in a dictionary and in December of that year they became the Grateful Dead, launching a 30-year run over which time they grew into a cultural institution.

Weir was a singular rhythm guitarist who rarely played solos, choosing instead to create his own particular style of chording and strumming that gracefully supported Garcia's distinctive guitar explorations especially during the extended jams which were the heart of the band's popularity.

Lyrics were largely a product of a communal effort between Weir and Garcia, as well as lyricists John Perry Barlow, Robert Hunter, that often blurred the lines between who wrote what. The opening lines to "Cassidy," which first appeared on Weir's 1972 solo album Ace and was played by the Dead on live recordings including the 1981 double album Reckoning, reflect the combination of metaphor, rhyme and storytelling set to memorable melodies that the band's audiences could memorize, analyze and sing along to:

I have seen where the wolf has slept by the silver stream
I can tell by the mark he left you were in his dream
Ah, child of countless trees
Ah, child of boundless seas
What you are, what you're meant to be
Speaks his name, though you were born to me
Born to me, Cassidy

Weir's emotive singing, on "Cassidy" and other songs like "Sugar Magnolia," "One More Saturday Night" and the band's unofficial theme, "Truckin', " often included whoops and yells, in contrast to Garcia's calm and steady approach. His occasional tendency to forget lyrics was usually greeted by thunderous applause from fans.

After Garcia's death in 1995, at age 53, the surviving members of the band carried on in various forms and arrangements, the longest running of which was Weir's Dead & Company, which also featured Grateful Dead drummers Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. Weir and the band concluded their "final tour" in July of 2023, but then returned to the stage for two extended residencies at the Sphere in Las Vegas, in 2024 and 2025.

A self-described "compulsive music maker," in 2018 Weir formed yet another band to mine the depths of the Grateful Dead catalog. It was a stripped-down guitar, acoustic bass and drums outfit that he called Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros. Its members included renowned bassist and producer Don Was.In October of 2022, Weir & Wolf Bros worked with a classical music arranger to present yet another iteration of the Dead's catalog, notable for never being played the same way twice, with a group that largely only plays what's written on the paper in front of them, the 80-piece National Symphony Orchestra.

In a 2022 interview with NPR, Weir explained the reason for that collaboration, and in doing so, seemed to offer a possible explanation for why the band's music stayed so popular for so long: "These songs are … living critters and they're visitors from another world — another dimension or whatever you want to call it — that come through the artists to visit this world, have a look around, tell their stories. I don't know exactly how that works, but I do know that it's real."

After Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, Weir kept the legacy of the Grateful Dead alive, touring with bands that came to include generations of musicians influenced by the group. Here, Weir performs with The Dead at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2009.

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Weir's work to shepherd and sustain the Dead's legacy was rewarded by ever younger generations of Deadheads, the band's loyal following, who attended tour after tour, often following the band from city to city as their parents and grandparents did during in the 1960's, '70s, '80s and '90s.

In an interview with Rolling Stone in March 2025, Weir shared his thoughts on his legacy, as well as on death and dying, that had a hint of the Eastern philosophies that were popular when the Grateful Dead emerged from the peace and love hippie movement of San Francisco. "I'll say this: I look forward to dying. I tend to think of death as a reward for a life well-lived," he said.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Planet Books, a long-running outpost known for its boundless collection of used books, toys, posters and other antiquities, must move — once again — by March or risk closure.

After 27 years in business, owner James Rappaport said the news came last fall from the proprietors of the neighboring Antique Mall II, which, since 2020, has sublet to him a 4,000-square-foot warehouse now cramped with rare tomes and second-hand memorabilia.

Andrew Jurkiewicz, who owns Antique Mall II alongside his partner, Linda, confirmed the move in a phone call Monday. They’re selling their own store, a decision that ran simultaneously to their landlord’s decision to sell the property altogether.

One person familiar with the sale said the listing — which opened in October — has drawn several interested buyers and is expected to enter escrow in the next week. A public record search found the properties, at 1851 to 1855 Freeman Ave., are owned by DPV Properties LLC, which recently moved its address from Seal Beach to out of state.

When reached by phone, one of the owners declined to comment on their reason for the sale.

After their leases end in March, the businesses are expected to vacate. The antique shop, Jurkiewicz said, will relocate to a space at 3588 Palo Verde Ave. — formerly a Joann Fabric and Crafts — under new ownership.

“We’re both tired,” he said of running the 37-year business that he moved into a former plywood business on Freeman Avenue in 2010.

The future of Planet Books, meanwhile, is far more uncertain. Rappaport has been quiet about his plight until now, insisting he didn’t want to “sound any alarms” that might disrupt the flow of business or scare his regulars.

“I don’t want to panic anybody, especially myself. Not really sure what to do, actually,” Rappaport said.

This marks the second time the bookstore has needed to vacate its location since it opened in 1998.

Its first incarnation on East Anaheim Street was a combination of a couple of hundred book crates left behind by San Pedro bookseller Vinegar Hill Books and collectible toys acquired by the store’s former owner, Michael Munns.

Monthly rent at that time was about $2,000 for 1,500-square feet. Today, Rappaport said, the building costs $5,200 a month to rent, with half of it currently vacant.

His search for a new space has spanned the city, even traveling into neighboring Seal Beach, each time running into the same story.

“Twice the money and one third the size,” he said.

It’s also difficult to find something to fit their needs. The current store has a bookstock of easily more than 100,000 titles.

There’s also the trove of toys, postcards, movie posters and other antiquities that line the walls, counters and shelves throughout. In the back area — the workers call it the “nether world” — towering stacks of books form trench lines leading to an aging work computer, limited-edition prints and a bathroom which hasn’t worked properly since they moved there.

Any storefront they find will likely require a “major purge” of inventory, Rappaport said. Planet Books has two music sections and three sections for both science fiction and mystery. He plans to downsize through donations to nearby schools, shelters and prisons.

If the store cannot find a new home, Rappaport said he’ll have to move his inventory into storage, likely at a facility in Stanton.

There’s also the definite possibility the store closes, he said, though workers are more optimistic.

For many, Planet Books has become the bookstore’s bookstore — the book hog’s mud puddle — where the clerks know the difference between Tom Wolfe and Thomas Wolfe and where patrons might lose themselves for the day among cheap out-of-print treasures on Zen and macrobiotics, Armenian dictionaries, Cantonese cookbooks and volumes on Lydia Maria Child, a 19th century abolitionist.

Wherever the store lands, Rappaport said it will be his last move.

“I’m 68, getting old, you know, I don’t need this,” he said. “I can’t retire because I don’t make anything in Social Security. I just want to have a little bit of fun.”

There are very few options to grab a cup of coffee and sit for a bit in downtown L.A.’s Skid Row. That’s in stark contrast to some of the bougie areas of downtown, where you can throw a rock and hit a four-dollar-a-cup coffee place.

But there’s one cafe that’s steadily served the Skid Row community for over a decade.

Walking into Made by Downtown Women’s Center Cafe and Boutique feels like walking into any non-chain coffee shop you might have come across downtown. There are smiling baristas, tables to work at and a glass case filled with pastries from Homeboy Industries.

But this coffee shop is different: it’s staffed and run by women who are transitioning from homelessness

Women like LaShornda. She’s worked here for about four years after the Downtown Women’s Center provided her with supportive housing. Now she lives independently with her kids. We’re not using LaShornda’s full name because she has concerns about her safety.

“We always get second chances. And it was a struggle,” she said, recalling her journey from being unhoused, to getting full-time work and housing and, recently, a promotion.

Now LaShornda works to train other women at the cafe, providing many with their first job after fighting to survive on the streets for years.

“I love it here... I love to see some of the women that come in here every day and I know [their] drinks,” LaShornda said.

The Downtown Women’s Center serves about 5,000 people annually with things like permanent supportive housing and job training at their cafe. The center started the cafe about 15 years ago.

“It’s not your normal image of providing services for people experiencing homelessness,” Amy Turk, Downtown Women’s Center’s CEO, said during a visit to the cafe. “Twenty-three thousand women are experiencing homelessness on any given night in Los Angeles. And primarily the reasons stem from gender-based violence, domestic violence and incomes that have never been on par with men."

Aprons hang on the wall at the Made by DWC candle-making studio.

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About five years ago — after moving from Texas and getting stranded without work during the height of the pandemic — Alexandria Piñeda found herself unhoused on Skid Row. That was before she got linked up with DWC.

“The Skid Row community was so good to me,” Piñeda said. “You know, they really looked out for me. And it’s nice for them to have something nice. For them to be able to escape the madness on the street.”

The cafe typically trains dozens of workers a year. And while you’re grabbing a cup of coffee, you might notice some handmade candles on the shelves, with scents like Halfmoon BAE and Joshua TEA. Under the brand Made by DWC, Piñeda and her team of trainees make those just a few blocks away, along with bath salts and other scented goods.

Alexandria Piñeda in her office at the Made by DWC studio in Downtown L.A.

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“A lot of them are stuck in survival mode because they’re straight off the street when they come to us,” she said. “But they’re with me for four months. So I kind of have the opportunity to train them out of that... It completely changes their life and I get to witness that. All the time.”

She said that’s the best part of the job.

How to visit:

MADE by DWC Cafe
438 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles
Hours: Mon - Fri, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The monthly Sip & Shop takes place on the last Friday of each month. This month’s event will be held on Jan. 30 at the resale boutique:

Made by DWC Resale Boutique
325 S. Los Angeles St, Los Angeles
Hours: Mon - Fri, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.