The Brief

Library patrons like myself are familiar with long wait times on popular titles: For example, don't even think about putting in a hold for Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem at the Los Angeles Public Library now that it's been adapted into a hit Netflix show, unless you're willing to wait about 15 weeks for it.

But if you really want to read a book and don't mind taking on a side quest, there's a way to hack the system: Find a local library that does have a copy on hand and apply for a card there. If you plan it right, you can walk out with the book on the same day.

That's because most California public libraries allow you to get a card with them as long as you reside somewhere in the state. That includes many of the state's biggest library systems like the LAPL, as well as smaller library systems like the City of Commerce or Irwindale Public Libraries.

I can tell you this from experience: Earlier this week, I was tired of waiting for a hold I'd placed with the L.A. Public Library — which is run by the city of Los Angeles — to come through. (No hard feelings, LAPL!) Normally I'd be fine waiting for the hold to arrive, but it was a new book by my favorite author — Helen Oyeyemi's Parasol Against the Axe, if you're wondering.

So I did the next best thing: I placed a hold at the L.A. County Library, waited a few days, headed over to Culver City, and checked out the book with my L.A. County Library card. I even made a lovely afternoon of the trip, walking around the Culver City Julian Dixon Library's beautiful meditation garden.

That's possible even though I live in the city of L.A., which normally falls under the L.A. Public Library's jurisdiction. But it would've been fine if I lived anywhere from Crescent City to Calexico.

"We're happy to accept all residents of California to apply for a library card," said Jesse Walker-Lanz, assistant director of public services for L.A. County Public Library. "It doesn't matter if you don't happen to live in one of the cities or areas of the county that we serve. And the same is true for most other public libraries in California."

Walker-Lanz said that's especially useful in L.A. County, which is home to dozens of library systems, often right next to each other. For instance, Altadena, Pasadena, and South Pasadena each have their own library system.

"Often, depending on where you live, you may have two or three different library systems within a very short radius," Walker-Lanz said. "We know that our customers use multiple libraries, and we're happy that they have those choices."

How to get a card

For most library systems, all you need to do is show up to any library branch, give them your state ID, and fill out a form or two. You can find a list of libraries in the Southern California Library Cooperative here. Each system's website will have information about applying for a card (though again, you can do this for nearly any library in the state).

If you don't have a California state ID, you can often still apply for a card with alternate identification. For instance, the Los Angeles Public Library will accept passports, student or work IDs, or other photo IDs alongside a proof of current address, like a credit card statement or government mail.

Some libraries do have more restrictions: The Beverly Hills Public Library, for instance, only gives out free cards to residents of Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties.

One more catch: You'll usually have to register for the cards in person, though some libraries do allow you to register for an e-card for online materials. Plus, you'll usually have to visit the library again to renew the card.

The perks of having multiple library cards

Speaking from experience: Having fun is even less hard when you have more than one library card.

Many libraries offer a lot of the same perks, like access to ebook systems like Libby and streaming services like Kanopy. But it never hurts to have more than one library card loaded into Libby to cut down on wait times. It's a practice I like to call "cardmaxxing," and it's saved me a lot of waiting on popular titles.

Another perk: If you're planning a longer trip to, say, San Francisco, you can get a library card while you're there. Not only can you check out reading material for the trip, you can also take advantage of San Francisco Public Library's other offerings, like free admission to more than a dozen area museums and state parks passes (for now, at least).

And if you feel like you're cheating the system, please know that the librarians are cool with you doing this — they encourage it, even.

"San Francisco Public Library is proud of the fact that any California resident can sign up for our library card," SFPL Director of Communications Kate Patterson said in an email to LAist. "We are fortunate to live in a progressive state like California, where residents across county lines can take advantage of the rich diversity of collections and access programs and services in multiple municipalities."

And if you're not planning to leave Southern California, or if you're planning to visit here, both LAPL and LA County Library offer museum passes, not to mention Chromebooks, mobile hotspots, and a host of other services.

So if you pass a library on the regular but didn't realize you could get a card there, consider this your reminder to stop in and register. You never know when they'll have a copy of the book you need.

As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

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